I am instilled with confidence about buying a Boxster

[nasomi]

Or was. After reading some of the horror stories here, I'm sort of up in the air.

I'm a member of a ford forum, and a proud owner of a ford 6.0 liter diesel truck, the absolute most badmouthed diesel engine due to it's extremely high failure rate. And a grenaded 6.0 costs about the same as a grenaded 986 to replace, hard as it may be to believe. I am also about to turn over 200k trouble free miles, with proper maintenance from the start. Every once in a while, though, I start a thread saying how awesome my 6.0 is, among all the failure threads, just to remind people that it's not all bad.

So, please, tell me some success stories of your Boxsters please. Forums tend to be bias towards the negative, because generally people only check in when there's a problem. I've found a couple nice ones in the 30-50k range, I'm almost wondering if something with more miles is better, for the sake of anything that was going to go wrong would have already.

[Banana S]

I'm at 54,000 miles on a 2002 Boxster S with no really major problems, knock on wood. Bought the car 2 years ago this month with 39,000 miles on the odometer. I've since used my extended warranty to replace:
- the inner and outer rear CV boots;
- a faulty camshaft position sensor;
- the air/oil separator; and
- the front engine mount.

I had the IMS retrofit done for peace of mind, but according to Jake Raby, my IMS was actually in great shape when he removed it. I still feel better knowing that the retrofit is done, though.

With the prices of 986 Boxsters where they are, it's almost silly not to pick one up and just start saving up your pennies for a rebuild when it's time to do it. The $$ per grin ratio is really small...

[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!

[Jake Raby]

The question I have is cost for the IMS correction, I sent a note off to Flat 6 and will reach out to them but I figure there are ballpark costs for that correction.

The ENTIRE procedure and EXACT cost associated with our version of it can be found in this article on my website.

http://www.flat6innovations.com/services/intermediate-shaft-retrofit

[Jake Raby]

Steve,
Glad you remain in love with your car.. I look forward to seeing it for service next week and a fresh fill of Flat 6 Oil..

[just_me]

Boxsters are actually very, very reliable, and can run >200k miles, even driven hard. Why? among other things a big oil sump; locasil lined cylinders (very hard); stout manual trannies from Audi (5-sp) and the 996 (6-sp).

With one major issue, and its a biggie: the IMS.

So think like this. An improved IMS bearing from LN engineering is about $600. The labor is about 7-9 hours, all-in. So for $1300-1700 (or so) you can make that issue go away. RMS is an annoyance, and mine's bone dry anyway. A new clutch, RMS, etc would be additional, of course.

So add $1700 to the price and you have a car with no horror stories. Feel better?