I am instilled with confidence about buying a Boxster

[smcgeary]

I am kind of with you on the negative bias to the forums. I am not however of the belief that many OEM motors are designed to last 200k trouble free miles. I think most cars today are designed to last the warranty period + a have a good chance of making it through a CPO process. Also the water cooled M96 was designed and built at a time of high stress, and increased accounting meddling at Porsche. They almost bought the farm in the nineties for slow sales and margins (unlike the idiot financial engineering that caused it this go around). This was also the first go on the water cooled flat six in high volume. I would expect some problems with any large change like this. That said there are some undeniable weaknesses in these motors. Porsche should have adressed several of these sooner than they did with the evolution into the new 09+ MY motors.

However I have seen several higher mileage M96 motors that get beat repeatedly on the track tick along quite well. One example has an estimated 300+ hours of door to door racing and DE's under its belt and still pulls along well. Another with a similar usage has well over 100k and is completely trouble free. All of these examples are fastidiously cared for and get new oil frequently.

I would say buy one, maintain it well, do an IMS update from LN / flat six, and drive the crap out of it. Also have a good PPI done by a reputable Porsche mechanic. If the PPI is really cheap it isn't worth it get someone that digs a little deeper.

Looks like a few after market vendors have risen to the needs of these vehicles and is starting to supply both seriously uprated choices, as well as economical choices given the vehicles values.

I don't know where else you could find such a cool and rewarding car to drive in this price range. There are several cars cheaper, and more expensive but few have the overall package of the Boxsters.

[nasomi]

Thanks for your replies. I'm not sure what the IMS is though. I'm pretty mechanically minded but I don't think I've heard the term. Also, PPI is Point to Point Inspection?

In my head at the moment is a C5 vette, audi tt, and 986 boxster, all in the 20k range for the bells and whistles. The audi, a bit more consumer-ish, with it's practical awd, makes good power and handles well. The vette goes with the mentality of an all american garage queen, and the guy that couldn't afford a porsche. The Boxster goes with the poor man's porsche mentality, to a person who knows porsche, but over all I like hte styling, and as said, smiles per buck is extremely good.

I'm completely set on a manual transmission, but what other features should I look for that if I didn't have, I'd find out about 6 months from now and say "damn, i really wish i had that." For instance, my truck has xm radio, and it's diesel engine, my rv has hydraulic leveling jacks, which no rv should be without, and my bike has 100lb of torque. I wasn't able to find a good spec sheet of what options were offered. I did find one convertible that came with both the cloth top and hard top, which I thought would be nice. Anything else out there I should be looking for?

[blue2000s]

About once a month or so someone's first post on the board is exactly the same as yours, they thought about buying a Boxster, read the forum, got scared, and looked for comfort from current owners. It's kind of amusing.

[Lucky]

PPI = pre-purchase inspection. This is a thorough going over by a qualified Porsche mechanic looking for accident repairs and any mechanical flaws.

As far as options go, there are many and they vary by year. Big ones are xenon headlights (litronics), updated stereos, 18" & 19" wheels, and full leather.

If you share your price target, we can guide you to the best years and options that fit your budget.

[sd_boxster]

I've had my '03 for 2 years (bought it certified pre owned from a dealership with 22K miles on it) and love it more than the day I bought it. I autocross it, drive it harder than most, and maintain it rigorously, and it's been trouble-free so far.

Maybe it'll last for 100K miles, maybe it'll grenade sooner than later, but either way, it's been worth it for me. I bought a $60K car for $25K, and I figure I've gotten $1K a month in fun out of it since, so everything from here on out is gravy!

[ekam]

At least he's not asking "Can I afford a boxster for $500 a month? Ok what about $600?"

Worse case scenario, have $10k in your bank account so if the engine blows you can get another one put in.

Or just have the IMS retrofit done.

[nasomi]

I was looking in the 20k range price-wise. However I don't like to put hard numbers on things, it sometimes makes you compromise on what you want, and I'm not a big fan of compromises.

Yeah, I have to have 10k set aside at any given time in case my truck engine grenades.

So the IMS retrofit solves the weak point in the engine making it much more reliable?