[ChairmanRon]

I was pretty excited to become a Boxster owner for the second time (first one was a '98 986). My new one is an '03 986 with 81K miles on it. (Photo below)

When I got it home, here's what I did. I'm sharing this for the benefit of new, first time owners and also for any additional feedback on what *should* be on this list.

1. Oil change. Who knows what the heck the dealer put in there when they did an oil change. So out comes whatever they put in, and in goes Mobil 1 0w40 synthetic.

2. Replace air filter. One would think the dealer would do this, but judging by its condition, it had not been changed recently. Out! In with a new one. 30 second job once in the compartment.

3. New convertible top. Seal gray Boxster with a tan/beige roof? No sense of fashion. Plus, it was showing some signs of fading, and had somewhat blackened in the back on the sides where it folds when retracted. New GAHH top installed in black. Looks fantastic. Car looks new. Cost: $1,250.

4. New lids for the door pockets. These had shown signs of wear and were a drag on the interior. New black lids were $65 apiece and well worth it. I wanted to go with the aluminum look, but $400 is a bit much for these.

5. Wind deflector kit. I had noticed while the car was still on the lot that the car was missing the center wind deflector and the screens that fit into the roll bar. Looked up the price for a complete kit and had the dealer knock $600 off the price. The window sticker was another $10.

6. Durametric cable and software. Absolute best $300 you can spend on the car. Check control codes, real time reporting of data while the car is running, just fantastic.

7. HID headlight kit. What an improvement in lighting and appearance. The 3 hour timeframe to do the install advertised on Pelican Parts proved to be a huge overstatement. I was done in 30 minutes.

8. New hood latch cover. For some reason, the plastic panel covering the front hood latch was chipped on each side and looked weak when opening the front trunk. A replacement was just $32. (BTW, does anyone have an explanation as to why it would be chipped on the sides?)

9. Non-smokers kit. Out with the ashtray, in with a neat little pocket that once might actually use. Super easy install.

10. Replace polyrib serpentine belt. What a blessing that because of the Boxster's unique design this is literally a 3 minute job once you have access to the front of the engine by pulling the carpet off the back of the passenger compartment and removing the panel beneath. $30 total cost. Be sure to have a 24 mm socket or wrench to release the tension on the tensioner. Anyone can do this job. If you bring it in to have a shop do it, they're going to charge you their hourly rate to get access to the engine compartment, which takes 99% of the time on this job and a 5 year old could do.

Still on my "to do" list:

1. Replace rear badge with chrome unit.

2. On board computer activation. I'm not doing the full activation with the new stalk. Not worth the hassle IMHO when you can have the thing fully functional using a new dash button.

3. Clean the MAF sensor.

4. Install Pioneer AVIC Z130BT navigation system.

5. Replace transmission fluid, filter.

6. Check for signs of IMS bearing wear.

Cheers everyone,
Ron