Dead Boxster?

[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.

[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

[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

[Surfncpa]

How about a used engine with a 1 yr warranty for $4K including shipping and then $2K for installation?

I was very close to buying a 2008 for $30K today at the dealer but they wouldn't give me anything at all for the dead one on a trade.

[Paul]

To replace a motor you will need at least (for an automatic):

Power steering fluid
Antifreeze
Oil and filter
Exhaust manifold gaskets
Exhaust manifold bolts
Exhaust pipe gaskets

Likely things you will get a call about:

AOS
Water pump
Serpentine belt
Rollers for above
Front engine mount
Coolant tank
5 hoses that attach to the motor
Spark plugs
Spark plug tube seals
RMS
CV joint boots

[Surfncpa]

Another $1K? $2K?

[Paul]

If all you need is the first list, less than $400. If you elect to install all the items on the second list, around $2000.

[Paul]

I almost bought a 2011 987S but my famliy threatened to have me committed saying 4 Porsches are enough already.

[Surfncpa]

Tell them you will stop when you have one for every day of the week.

[Surfncpa]

For just little more I can get a 3.2 instead of the 2.7. Is that worth considering or would there be other costly changes needed to use the bigger engine?

[Paul]

What did you decide to do?