New '06 Boxster S: Stuttgart or Finland?

[Carl AMG]

Originally Posted by joeker

The "S" in your vin means that your car was built in Finland. It would start with a "W" if it was Germany.

My '06 has a "U" as the eleventh digit and the window sticker indicated it was built in Finland. I would think the "S" in your VIN would indicate it was built in Stuttgart.

[frankkerfoot]

I'm pretty sure it is an 06. I ordered it (by changing an existing dealer order to inventory) in May '05 as a July '05 build, which as I understand it should make it an '06. It was actually built in early July from what I can tell. The 10th digit of the VIN is a "6", which I believe designates the model year (based on the old 986faq.com decoding) and appears to translate to 2006. The sequence number is 30081 (I can't explain the 3, but other than that it looks very early in the production run, and therefore not a late '05). In addition the window sticker says 2006 at the top. All of the options I ordered appear to be on the car as well as the sticker (I ordered a modest set of options).

On the 11 digit, the old 686faq.com decoding says that S = Stuttgart and that U = Uusikaupunki (Finland), which would appear to make a lot of sense (of course choosing an easy decoding isn't always a German characteristic-). This matches one of the other posters. Does anybody else wtih a 987 ('05 or '06) have an S in the 11th digit of the VIN, and if so what does the top of your window sticker say?

I'm not all that hung up about this, just curious.
Frank

[Carl AMG]

I definitely have an '06 and the 10th digit is a 6. I'm pretty sure you have a Stuttgart built '06.

Do you have the smart passenger airbag with the indicator light on the console? Does your owner's manual material (maintenance book?) that says Cayman on it? I think these are clear indications you have an '06.

[Tool Pants]

Do you have a scan of the sticker for the trivia link?

Compare the VIN on the window sticker, windshield, and black door sticker. The door sticker will also tell you the month and year the car was built.

From what you said so far you have a German 2006 and there is a mistake on the window sticker. This sticker is put on at the port to comply with US law.

[frankkerfoot]

I (apparently) have the "smart" airbag with an indicator on the console. The light is lit when I place a relatively heavy briefcase on the passenger seat. Was that not on the 2005 models? The sticker (of course) charged me the 2006 base price, which was up 2.8% over the 2005 price. I'll have to look at my maintenance manual for the Cayman reference.

I don't have a scanner handy, but I'll snap a JPG of the sticker. Can I just post it to Renntech, or what? I'll also verify the VIN on the window sticker matches that on the car in both places (it never dawned on me they might not match).

I think that as long as a 6 as the 10th digit indicates a 2006 car and I have a 6 (on the car as well as on the sticker) it is pretty clear that mine is a 2006. I didn't realize that so few Boxsters were being made in Stuttgart (apparently just enough to convince Porsche they could build them there if there was a bust in the Finland factory). If that few are made in Stuttgart the POE process which applies the US window sticker may just assume they are all made in Finland (explaining why mine says Finland on the top in spite of the 11th digit being an S).

Frank