New Boxster Fan - Boxster Safety and Reliability

[Kan-O-Z]

I am in the process of buying a Boxster S. I would like to know how the safety and reliability of a Boxster is.

Safety:
I am coming from a Miata and was going to purchase a 350Z. I understand that sports car may not be the safest things on the road. So how well does the Boxster do in crashes. Is it a death trap or does it fair pretty well in terms of protecting occupants? One thing that is different in the Boxster is that the engine is not in the front. I don't know if that gives front engine cars an advantage in frontal collisions or not.

Reliability:
I have always driven Japanese cars and have had very little problems. This will be my first German car. I haven't heard good things about some other brands such as Audi/VW, Mercedes and even BMW. I think of those the BMWs are better but I hear that they are not good high mileage cars. They need work and it's expensive.

I really haven't heard a whole lot about Porsche Boxsters as far as relibility.
How is the reliability on the Boxster particularly the S? Is there any particular year that had problems that I should stay away from. Are there a lot of Boxsters out there with high miles and still running strong with not too many problems? Is maintenance a big issue as this is a Porsche and being hard to access mid-engine can make repairs even more expensive. Any information here would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for all your help,

Kan-O-Z