You'all scare me...................

[Soetekouw]

I really love my Boxster, but ...........is the Porsche Boxster a dependable car, or not?

I read about IMS failures, and bigger IMS's that can't be fixed without engine teardown, and that we have to have Jake install his mods for a more dependable engine, etc., etc.

I have a 2007 Boxster S with 45K miles, and I am scared to death that at any time my car will blow up and become a piece of junk. Should I be worried, or is there a good chance that this thing will last me another 50K+ miles (without spending a king's ransom)? I drive it daily (mostly highway) and I drive it normally; don't race or abuse. All services are done when scheduled.

Anyone out there that has a boxster with 100K on their original engine?

Maybe, for carefree driving, I need to start looking at the BMW Z4, Lexus SC430, Nissan, or maybe even a Mazda, while i still have some trade-in value on my Porsche.

[JFP in PA]

Look, the M96 engine is known to have some issues. Some don't live to see old age, but many do. I'm aware of more than one with over 200,000 miles on them. Enjoy the car, but don't immerse your head in the sand thinking that all (or any) of them are guaranteed bullet proof; they are not. But then neither are any of the others you mentioned.............

[jcb986]

2007 engines are a lot better than the 97-99. I believe this is where most the d-chunk and IMS failures are. Worried, get an extended warranty and in the mean time, drive and enjoy.

[JFP in PA]

Actually, anyone that has an intermediate shaft can (and do) have the dreaded IMS failure; so that is right up to the latest, and shaft-less versions of 2009………….

[johnsimion]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

Actually, anyone that has an intermediate shaft can (and do) have the dreaded IMS failure; so that is right up to the latest, and shaft-less versions of 2009………….

I can't argue that IMS failure is *possible* for any car up to 2009 -- but I have never read any actual owner reports of an IMS failure since the 2006 IMS redesign. I see fair numbers of failure reports on 2005's and early 2006's, but I have never seen an actual IMS failure report for later 2006's, 2007's, or 2008's from someone who personally suffered such a failure. In fact, I've only seen a couple of engine failure reports for these years at all, and those were both cars being tracked, and the failure was thought to be oil starvation. If you can point me to an IMS failure report for a late-model 987, please do so and I will gladly retract this.

After 9 years of trying and trying to fix the problem, it is logical to think that Porsche would have provided a *better* IMS in the 2006-up IMS's than in the old ones. Not infallible, for sure, but likely better and less likely to fail.

[JFP in PA]

While I can't direct you to a "report", I can tell you we just did an engine replacement in an '07 with an IMS engine failure, and I personally know of at least three more that fall into your suspect model years category; I have also talked to three dealers in my area that have seen one or more of them as well. What is not known is if the larger assembly was any better or worse than the earlier designs. And as a further reference point, the larger (and final) IMS bearing assembly appeared in M96's as early as the second half of 2005, so these newer designs are only recently getting into the IMS “sweet spot” mileage, so the ones known to exist may only be the “tip of the iceberg” as for the most part, many of the later failures were covered under warranty, so no knowledgeable individual outside of the dealer network may have had a chance to examine the engine before it went back to Germany, so the owner may not have been given all the pertinent data……… But, in any case, the larger IMS bearing definitely did not end the issue…………..

[Steve Tinker]

I contribute to a couple of the UK Porsche magazines and the general consensus by the British experts (Autofarm & Hartech Engineering) follows the same advice as Flat 6 and LN Engineering - change the engine oil & filter more frequently than Porsche recommends, use a very good synthetic oil, and keep on top of the maintenance schedule, ie don't put off what needs to be done.

About 8 years ago I bought an early MX-5 (Miata in the US) and then started reading about massive failures of the short nose cranks, diff failures, water pump shafts snapping etc etc. I was kept awake at nights and continually checking the crank pulley for the tell tale wobble....
I kept the car for 4 years and never experienced any of the above, nore did I hear of any breakages in the MX-5 club here in Australia.

I then bought a Mazda RX-8 and found the websites full of blown apex seals, huge replacement engine $$ costs for high oil usage, Mazda building an engine re-man plant in the US to help stem the flood of broken engines, having to add oil to the fuel to assist seal wear etc, etc.

Sound familiar ??

Honestly, the real truth lies not in listening to ALL the hype on the internet but taking a long carefull look at what reputable, knowlegable experts tell us and see if their recommendations fit in with what we expect from our cars.

[dennis]

It's like anything....the more you obsess about it, the more you will find negative press to bak up your fears....like plane crashes or cancer or....I was the same way when I first bought mine ('01 Boxster) but now I just try to enjoy the hell out of it and take very good care of it.

[mikefocke]

Let me know when you find an engine design without faults.

I own a Honda and an Acura of around the same year/miles as my '01S 58k Boxster. All maintained better than by the book. Boxster most reliable by far. Least expensive to own. Least trips to repair shop. Best miles/gal too.

[SoK]

Originally Posted by dennis

It's like anything....the more you obsess about it, the more you will find negative press to bak up your fears....like plane crashes or cancer or....I was the same way when I first bought mine ('01 Boxster) but now I just try to enjoy the hell out of it and take very good care of it.

I was the same way. I freaked out when I found this site after buying my 01. Luckily the dealer OK'd my IMS, repaired anything it needed, so now I just drive it.

My dad did get scared out of buying one though after surfing this and a couple other sites. He was going to trade his 03 350z for a 04 05 box, but opted to keep it after hearing about the IMS issue. I tried to tell him that you're really only hearing from the people that have the issue and that all the satisfied owners usually go unnoticed, just like with anything. But the damage was already done.

It seems like if you just get the PPI done, change the oil every 5k, and have the preventative maintanance done, they'll drive for a long time. So at that point, what's the difference between this and any other car?

[pothole]

I believe the consensus is that actual engine failures are in the low single digit percentage region. On the one hand, that's pretty bad if true compared to what you might expect from a properly engineered engine. On the other, think of it this way - if you ran 50 Boxsters in parallel, you'd probably only expect one of the engines to fail. In that context, if you only buy a single Boxster you'd have to be fairly lucky for it to be the one that dies.

The way people talk about it, it seems like you're really rolling the dice on a 50/50 chance of the engine going pop. But I don't think it's anything like that bad a risk.

[Brucelee]

My subjective take is that yes, the Box engine has design flaws and yes, they are more than one might find in a chevy small block or Lexus V8.

The larger issue is the cost of the flaw. I think that gets to the heart of the issue. If one could find a rebuild for three grand or so, this may be less alarming.

If it were me, I would run Red Line Oil and change it out at no more than 7500 miles or 6 months.

[SeaNile31]

I've had previous Boxster cars but didn't know about any of the RMS or IMS issues. I drove the cars all over and never had a care in the world. More importantly. never had an issue with either of the cars. Now I find myself thinking about getting another Boxster S (987) and all I can think about is the IMS issue. Upper $40's for an 09 is too much for me now so I will be looking at an 05 or so. Hopefully for us buyers the winter months will bring the prices down even more....