At a crossroads with my car

[OKCShooter]

17 year old car with ~ 100K miles on it?

Only going to get worse...

[BYprodriver]

There comes a point in every vehicle ownership with a big bill looming that you have to weigh pro's & con's of selling it. Sounds like you need to fix the rattle either way, & it could be something simple like a chain tensioner. If you love the car might want to go all in & get it where you can enjoy it more. If it needs shocks for 3years, good chance most of the suspension is worn. I believe all 986s are done depreciateing assuming they are well maintained.

[oc-boxster]

I can relate, I don't have chronic issues like you describe, but I have replaced all the same parts you listed. I always think about spending money on cosmetic changes to my 02, but I've always held off. For example, I almost bought a wheel spacer kit yesterday but remembered I am going to need brake pads soon. I always pick mechanical over cosmetic-the way I look at it, there is no sense in a great looking car that is no fun to drive, and you can't go wrong with having a stack of receipts for the day you sell.

[dbansal]

even if you do sell it.. what your most optimistic figure? Now take that figure and what are your options? Nothing as close to cool as the Box...

If you're thinking about buying another car.. you might get a descent japanese car...

Sorry for all your mishaps... at this point i think the marginal cost of some maintenance might outweigh selling costs, capital loss on the car, and then the costs of buying another car.

[husker boxster]

I owned an 01S for 2.5 yrs and it was always needing something fixed. Some of it was covered under CPO, some of it wasn't. Since then I've owned 3 987Ss and they've been rock solid reliable.