Is this a good deal? '00 S for $10.5k

[kchristian]

I'm new to Boxsters but my wife has started talking about having kids so it's now or never.

I've found a 2000 S with 105k here locally. It has 19" wheels, tires are probably 40%, it has a chintzy early-2000's nav and bluetooth. It's clean, no chips or dings and everything works. It seems solid and from what I have read here, if it hasn't had issues with the IMS at this point, it probably won't, Is that correct?

I've got him down to $10.5k. Seeing as a baby is in the immediate future, this car will probably will need to go within a year or so.

Here are my concerns:
-Will it depreciate dramatically within the next 12-18 months?
-Am I in for costly repairs with a 100k+ mile Boxster?
-Will it properly fill the 2 seat roadster void in my life?

I'm pretty much sold on it. I think I'm just looking for validation.

The car in question:

[2003S]

Originally Posted by kchristian

-Will it depreciate dramatically within the next 12-18 months?
-Am I in for costly repairs with a 100k+ mile Boxster?
-Will it properly fill the 2 seat roadster void in my life?

1) If it doesn't break drastically, it'll probably maintain some of the value it has left. But then you'll probably catch the "mod" flu that tends to go around this forum, and spend as much updating it over the years ahead.

2) Possibly. There's not much cheap to fix if you don't do it yourself. Personally, I'd keep a $2K reserve for maintenance, if you don't spend that in year one, roll it over, whatever you spend, plan on replenishing each year

3) Positively

4) You didn't ask, but Yes, you do need to get a PPI before you buy it

[SeanZ4]

+1 on the PPI

I've had a '00S for about 4 years and it's been great!..(knock on wood) I like the rare (at least for around here) color. I like the wheels. Mine has the turbo-twists.

Can I ask???? Do you want to go to the trouble of a shakedown on the car only to get rid of it in a year? Every time I've ever thought of selling mine because it just sits all the time, I rationalize that they're just too cheap on the market right now...so I'll just keep it. I also paid around $20k for mine though...

Best of luck...

[thstone]

-Will it depreciate dramatically within the next 12-18 months? While the majority of the depreciation is done, you still might lose some money when you go to sell because of the economy and the number of other Boxster's for sale.

-Am I in for costly repairs with a 100k+ mile Boxster?Yes, most likely there will be some costly repairs. The clutch is a likely suspect as are the AOS, water pump, MAF, alternator, starter, brakes, or O2 sensors. On a $10K car these can seem significant. And yes, the IMS has lasted this long but it could go at any moment. Remember, there are no cheap Porsches (even if the purchase price is).

-Will it properly fill the 2 seat roadster void in my life? Yes, it will give you more two-seater sports car fun than you could ever imagine.

[jakobv84]

I agree with the last statement -- have you considered just leasing a convertible for part of the year (I know for us Texans convertible weather is spring and fall)? While the monthly rate may be high you're not missing anything in depreciation, repairs, etc. Might be worth considering.

[kchristian]

PPI is scheduled for tomorrow. Unfortunately, the dealer doesn't do them here so I am taking it to an independent shop. From what the girl at the desk said, it sounds like they test drive it, put it on a lift and check for leaks. No compression tests or anything too complicated.

I hadn't considered leasing. I may have to look into that.

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

Let me be the voice of good fortune. I purchased my first Boxster not knowing anything about this board. I was a complete Porsche virgin. I do have 40 years of mechanical experience and a pretty good set of mechanical skills.

All that being said, I purchased my first Boxster, a '98 base, in June of 2009. The car had 107 K miles on it. I purchased it from a private party seller who was a professional gentleman who has the passion. He was the third owner. He also had the complete history of the car along with the all the maintenance receipts and even the original purchase paperwork. The car looked great and operated flawlessly on the 40 minute test drive. I was satisfied it was a good car.

Shortly after the purchase I found this website. Oh boy ! What have I done ? To make a short story long. The car gave excellent service and when sold 25 months later it had 133K trouble free miles. Normal maintenance was oil every 5K miles. Annual air filters changed. Other things I did out of choice were spark plugs, brake pads and drilled rotors, trans gear lube and a leather repair on the driver seat left bolster. Oh, and a set of tires. Actually 2 sets of rear tires. Don't expect long tire life. I only sold the Base 7 months after purchasing our current '00 S to pay off one of my motorcycles and one of my cars. My wifes PHD school loan payments were about to start. Otherwise I would have kept the car.

Now the next thing is you can expect to loose a little money when you sell in 12 to 18 months. In my market I dropped about $4K when sold. I would almost guess with your purchase price being so low you may break even or only take a slight hit. My question is why can't you keep it when the baby comes? Look at it as a 4 wheeled motorcycle. I have always had a motorcycle even when raising my 3 kids. They only have 2 seats as well. Think you can sell the wife on that ? Even better, Make the Boxster the wife's daily driver. See who wants to sell it then.

BTW: I forgot the most important part of owning a Boxster. DRIVE IT EVERY DAY LIKE A PORSCHE. Don't waist such an excellent driving machine sitting unused in a garage.

One is not enough.

[tonycarreon]

Originally Posted by kchristian

PPI is scheduled for tomorrow. Unfortunately, the dealer doesn't do them here so I am taking it to an independent shop. From what the girl at the desk said, it sounds like they test drive it, put it on a lift and check for leaks. No compression tests or anything too complicated.

I hadn't considered leasing. I may have to look into that.

make sure your PPI is from someone knowledgeable about porsche / boxster cars, not just a general "is the engine leaking? is the coolant leaking? are the tires bald?" inspections.

- never let the dealer / seller do the PPI

- always talk to the shop/person doing the PPI and discuss what will be looked at, what won't be looked at (will he remove a spark plug or two to check for deposits? will the car be put in the air and the a/c line checked? (they're prone to being compressed since they run along the outside of the car near the jack point) will they take a sample of the oil to see what's floating in it? will they just drive it up and down the street for 2 miles and declare it "good"?)

[Perfectlap]

depreciation? You're looking at the wrong brand if you're worried about that sort of thing. If you want a Porsche that's going to hold value look into an air-cooled Porsche but those come with their own caveats, namely expensive engine rebuilds.

There is no such thing as a $10K Porsche with over 100K on odometer. Even if your PPI checks out on all counts something big can fail the very next month. With these cars it is not uncommon to have 2 or 3 repairs occurr within a short period of time that can easily add up to the 30% of that $10K purchase price. Parts for these cars are expensive and generally these cars require specialized labor. The Boxster has some well known weak points and many of those can fail without warning. Has this car had an AOS failure? Coolant expansion tank replaced? New clutch? RMS? MAF and 02s? Shocks? water pump? The IMS is a must do in my book no matter what condition the clutch is in, particularly if you have no history of how often the oil was changed and if Mobil 1 (no longer universally considered a good thing for your engine) was used. No matter the price of the car I'd slap $2K right onto it for the IMS/Clutch before I drove it even a mile.

Let me give you some perspective. My car had nowhere near 100K miles when I took it to the dealer for a full top to bottom diagnostic as I was considering getting something different, about the time Carreras were losing nearly 40% of their value in a single year (credit crisis). I kept the car and over the next year I ended up spending over $10K in repairs (not including upgrades). Of all those repairs only one (clutch) was on the dealer's list of needed repairs. A PPI can only tell you so much. With that sort of mileage I would budget at least $2K a year on maintenance, and by budget I mean expect to spend it if you are driving it every day over rough roads or harsh weather. These cars don't like extreme heat or extreme cold as much as people realize. Look for a Southern California car that was driven often but not far. Those always seem to be the cars that have high mileage and few if any repairs.

[fivepointnine]

10.5k is like trade-in price isnt it?

[kchristian]

Yeah it's around there on NADA. I just never trust the book price.

One other question... Is there any way to see if the engine was replaced early in the car's life? The guy who owns it now has only had it a year or so and he has no documentation from the PO.

[kchristian]

I like the 4-wheeled motorcycle philosophy, but I don't think the wife will go for it. I've got 3 other 2-doors that she knows I will never sell. So a 4th will be a temporary addition to the family. It will however be the wifey's dd in that time. So who knows... I'd daily drive it but I need to maintain a certain humble appearance during sales calls. I can't have folks think they are paying too much.

[deptotpr]

You only live once, buy it!

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

What are the other 3 cars ?

[kchristian]

Originally Posted by Idaho Red Rocket 3

What are the other 3 cars ?

Nothing to special but they all hold sentimental value that far outweighs their actual value.

2003 G35 6MT. This was the first nice car I bought. I completely fell in love with it and it symbolized my arrival so to speak. Blue book on it is around $10k but I couldn't let it go for that.
1980 Volvo 242. This is my DD. Picked it up in perfectly decent condition for $1300 and I'm slowly on track to spend nearly what the Boxster costs to turn it into the meanest swedish sleeper you'll never notice. Next up is an LSx engine swap. If you know of a good one, let me know.
1966 Volvo 122s. These things just keep getting more expensive. No point in selling it. It's outrunning my mutual funds by a long way.

[wvboxst3r]

Originally Posted by kchristian

I like the 4-wheeled motorcycle philosophy, but I don't think the wife will go for it. I've got 3 other 2-doors that she knows I will never sell. So a 4th will be a temporary addition to the family. It will however be the wifey's dd in that time. So who knows... I'd daily drive it but I need to maintain a certain humble appearance during sales calls. I can't have folks think they are paying too much.

I am curious what type of sales that you do not want to appear successful. I am a financial advisor and it has not hurt my appearance. It is actually a nice conversation piece and once they ask what I paid we get into budget and goals. If you plan right you can reach your goals. The Boxster is not over the top.

On the price I bought mine in Dec 2011 - it is a 2000 base with lots of options, drilled rotors, 18" wheels, heated seats, Boss stereo, leather package and the best part - a receipt for $5000 of work just completed on engine. I paid $11 and looks like most car lots are selling similar cars for $13 now in spring.
Forgot it has 50k miles.

[kchristian]

Here they are...





The bike is long gone. Stolen from my apt about a month after I got it. RIP wherever you are.

[fatmike]

Make the Porsche your DD and ditch the Infiniti.


No windstops? Those are nice wheels.



/

[jb92563]

Originally Posted by kchristian

Here they are...



The bike is long gone. Stolen from my apt about a month after I got it. RIP wherever you are.

Oh.....Car Ports...yikes, I lost my Camaro under a collapsed carport when someone was moving and backed into it with the moving van, knocking it down.

It was a terrible sight to come home to a beautiful red sports cars flattened to the door sills. (looking for the picture)

I drove the motorcycle that day....big mistake!

[BrokenLinkage]

Make him a better offer then, contingent on passing a PPI. At that price, you have room to maneuver and still get a great deal! Love the color & the wheels (18"?). At that mileage though, if there are no chips then paint has been applied, so ask..