Thumbs up there, ProjectM96. Looks like you have yourself a decent car, all right.

I have to agree with Pothole to a point. There are many more cost effective cars out there than the Boxster, so it would really come down to how much you have your heart set on a Boxster than having your heart set on just getting a fun roadster. There are Miatas, Z3s, Z4s, SLKs, S2000s, or even the Solstice/Sky, all of which will fit the bill and be enjoyable to you if you find one that appeals to you (both in appearance and how it drives).

Now if you're set on a Boxster, go for it, and as you'll hear from advice given here time and again, get the youngest one you can afford, and get a pre-purchase inspection no matter what. You won't be disappointed, and if you can wrench it yourself or have a good buddy willing to dive in there with/for you, you won't be dumping money into it like you could.

My cost of ownership was even less
 

Once I had brought everything in the Boxster up to my standards on a car that had only 42k. But I was in a completely different economic situation than the OP, an engine failure would have been a relatively minor annoyance to my net worth. I could afford to employ experts to solve any problem I couldn't. And I came out ahead in $ totaling my first Boxster.

I recall college days (where I was making money) the angst of a used car and the difficulty finding a good mechanic and affording one. Never did find a good one for my Volvo and had to dump it, only found one great one for my Alfa and, when I got to where there was none, had an engine failure that cost me the car that I wouldn't have had had I access to a good brand-specific mechanic ... and I was a college grad with income.

Now if he told me he had wrenched on a fill-in-the-blank...maybe.

The question to me is can he afford to take the risk however slight? Because to me he is too vulnerable to anything that could happen. Plus I'd rather have date money.

My 2 cents here...it's a crap shoot on any used car with 80K, but, there are guys who decided to drive them until the wheels fall off. A lot of them have over 120K and still going strong. I remember one guy that had over 200K with just normal maintenance being done on a regular basis...he drove it daily. I have 70K on my 3.2 and the only real issue was an AOS going bad...anything else I've done was just pure maintenance. Good luck...don't worry, be happy.

bought my 02 s with 88,000, now I have 100,000 little less than a year. However spent 4800 to get it perfect I.E... R.M.S, bearings, c.v.joints, control arms, clutch ,window regulator,water pump belt. Normal wear items just do a ppi and get someone who knows the car but I personally love the car. No more maintenance than the Ford, Chevy, Boat, Minibikes house, camper lawntools. The forum has been very helpfull however can cause a little stress like the ims issue.My indy continually says "DRIVE IT " so I do alot