Dead Boxster?

[Paul]

If they give you a couple of years of warranty, probably not nuts.

How's your roof, tires, struts, rotors, track arms, window regulators, etc. doing?

Your existing car will probably go for $3000 to $5000 with a dead motor, add that to the $14,000 that will probably become higher once they start and see what you can buy for $17,000 to $19,000 would be my suggestion.

[Cloudsurfer]

If I were in your position, I would either sell the car as a roller and go buy something else, or if you are set on putting a new motor into the car, go with a 996 based motor and enjoy the added performance. If you go the latter route, while everything is out, I'd freshen the gearbox and install an LSD.

For reference, the IMS assemblies are made by LN Engineering, and if you do go with a used motor, I would absolutely toss a new IMS bearing in the thing.

[Surfncpa]

It comes with a 12K warranty. Not much but that's a year of being covered and at that point I will turn it over to my son who won't be driving many miles.

The top is in good shape and so is the hard top. I just put on new front tires and the back ones are ok. Windows seem good. Brakes ok, prob will get those done within the next 10K miles. Needs a new windshield and a few minor things on the interior.

For $20K I could get another Boxster that would probably be in better shape than the one I have. But, I am thinking the engine would be a much bigger gamble than a rebuilt one with the IMS upgrade and a couple other upgrades. Am I wrong there? I'll get the specifics of all the upgrades and post them here.

The other thing is I can come up with $14K or a little more but probably not $20K and certainly not the $30K+ to get a certified preowned. I hate the idea of two car payments and the wife's car still has $25K to go to be paid off.

The car is an automatic and from what I have heard they are less problematic than manual. I have no idea what an LSD is. If I went with the bigger engine wouldn't the exhaust need to be reconfigured as well? I'm really not that concerned about performance just dependability.

[jhandy]

not to point out the obvious, but you if put 14K into this car, it will not be worth 14k more.
You will never get the return on the investment.

Also, the motor will last for a number of years more, however as you may already know, the motor blowing is not the only expense you will have, you will dump more money into this black hole.

The car as it sits is worth 5K, running blue book trade in value is 13k.

drop a used 4k motor in it and trade it in on the way home from the mechanic. Use the 10 that you saved for a down payment.

Simple question... would you buy a 2000 Boxster with a rebuilt motor for 14K$, because that is what you are talking about.
dont be crazy

[Surfncpa]

I'm not wanting an investment, I want to drive it. Buying a 2000 with a rebuilt engine for $14k seems like a good deal to me since what I seem to be reading here and elsewhere is that a rebuilt engine is fairly reliable. Or is that a bad assumption? Could I get 30k to 45K miles out of one? Again, I only plan to drive it a year and then give
it to my son to drive to school, which is about 2 miles away. I'll have the money by then to get a new one or at least close to new.

Am I being too optimistic on how much I can get from a rebuilt engine?

[jhandy]

you are not understanding the point i am trying to make.

14K for a used boxster with a rebuilt motor is too much. nobody in their right mind is going to touch that car unless you get it done at a dealer with a certified motor (more than 14K), and even then, I would not touch it.

My guess, that with a new motor, it is worth about 11K trade in.
If you are willing to drop 14 into the car, then fix it cheap 4K, trade it in for 11, take the extra 10K you saved because you bought cheap, and put it for a down payment, And find your son a boxster for 21K. You could get a 2005, or something different.

Or take your 14 and buy another boxster and sell them both in a year for 20.

My point is that for the money you are putting in, You are about to spend more money to fix your car, than if you went out and just replaced it.

If their rebuilt motor is so good, why do they only stand behind it for a year?
A rebuilt motor is only as good as the warranty, because I dont think that you will be willing to spend another 14K in a year.

There is so many expensive things that can break on these cars, That I can not see why anyone would put 14-20K into a 12 year old car.

You are not thinking with your head, you are attached to the car.

So you will have a 12yo car that can not be resold for anything close to what you put into it, and then what will you do when the next big thing happens ( your tranny/shocks/ AC/ ......).

if you want reliable trade it in for a toyota.

[GTA_G20]

Originally Posted by jhandy

you are not understanding the point i am trying to make.

14K for a used boxster with a rebuilt motor is too much. nobody in their right mind is going to touch that car unless you get it done at a dealer with a certified motor (more than 14K), and even then, I would not touch it.

My guess, that with a new motor, it is worth about 11K trade in.
If you are willing to drop 14 into the car, then fix it cheap 4K, trade it in for 11, take the extra 10K you saved because you bought cheap, and put it for a down payment, And find your son a boxster for 21K. You could get a 2005, or something different.

Or take your 14 and buy another boxster and sell them both in a year for 20.

My point is that for the money you are putting in, You are about to spend more money to fix your car, than if you went out and just replaced it.

If their rebuilt motor is so good, why do they only stand behind it for a year?
A rebuilt motor is only as good as the warranty, because I dont think that you will be willing to spend another 14K in a year.

There is so many expensive things that can break on these cars, That I can not see why anyone would put 14-20K into a 12 year old car.

You are not thinking with your head, you are attached to the car.

So you will have a 12yo car that can not be resold for anything close to what you put into it, and then what will you do when the next big thing happens ( your tranny/shocks/ AC/ ......).

if you want reliable trade it in for a toyota.

\\

+1

You could sell the roller for 5k. Hell I'd pay close to that for it tomorrow. Hardtop alone is worth 1K!

If you want to keep costs down buy a used motor from car-part.com or ebay for $3k add install costs ims/rms upgrades $2500. You'd be back on the road for under 6K

I would not hand this car down to a 16yr old if you are even considering costs. I'll assure you it'll be back in the shop within 4months of a 16yr boy behind the wheel

[johnsimion]

Originally Posted by Surfncpa

It comes with a 12K warranty. Not much but that's a year of being covered and at that point I will turn it over to my son who won't be driving many miles.

The top is in good shape and so is the hard top. I just put on new front tires and the back ones are ok. Windows seem good. Brakes ok, prob will get those done within the next 10K miles. Needs a new windshield and a few minor things on the interior.

For $20K I could get another Boxster that would probably be in better shape than the one I have. But, I am thinking the engine would be a much bigger gamble than a rebuilt one with the IMS upgrade and a couple other upgrades. Am I wrong there? I'll get the specifics of all the upgrades and post them here.

The other thing is I can come up with $14K or a little more but probably not $20K and certainly not the $30K+ to get a certified preowned. I hate the idea of two car payments and the wife's car still has $25K to go to be paid off.

It would be very difficult and time-consuming to try to sell a "roller" for $5K as some suggest, and I also think it is unrealistic to think you could buy AND install a used engine for $4K. Might take months to git 'r dun and all that time you would be looking at your inert metal sculpture and wondering if you made the right choice. Personally I have better things to do with my time than trying to coordinate all that. You've got the money for the rebuilt engine and that is a one-shot solution. The rebuilt engine with the LN Engineering IMS shaft sounds like a good choice to me, especially if you plan to keep the car for a couple of years. The longer you keep it, the less it costs you in the long run.

[Surfncpa]

Johnsimion, you are hitting a lot of the points in my mind. I am probably going to end up renting a car for most of this transition time. I'm driving my daughter's vehicle for now but she will have school to go to in a couple weeks. So there's rental car expense to consider plus the hassle factor of trying to sell the dead one. On the other hand, the mechanic that will put in the used one said it will take 2-4 weeks to be done which I interpret as 4-6 weeks. Even if I didn't need the $ from selling the dead one to get the new one, it would likely take some weeks to find the new one.

The warranty on the rebuilt engine is 12K miles 1 year. The 1 year isn't relevant since the car will be driven about 15k miles in the year before I turn it over to my son.

Even if the choice was between buying another Boxster for $20K vs current Boxster + $14K, which choice would likely give me the most miles out of the car? I don't think about resale because either car will very likely be driven until it is dead. Maybe I am under estimating the quality of the Boxster I can get for $20K? I am thinking the engine in the $20K Boxster would be more likely to crater than the rebuilt engine for $14K.

[Paul]

This 2000 with a blown motor sold for $5300 with 12 bids. (space down to see car)


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320707239416&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

[Paul]

This 2000S with a rebuilt engine and Jake's IMS has no bids at $16K. No offers either.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BOXSTER-S-FRESH-0-MILE-REBUILT-ENGINE-MUST-SEE-/160604417691?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item2564c4ee9b