Not a lot of Love for the 986
 

Mostly from writers who have never owned a Porsche. They know that writing crap like this will get a response from people who do know what they are talking about. Then they claim "internet popularity". The only things that matters to them is "number of views" and "number of responses".

In other words, the writer is a troll. :troll:

Let him have his Miata and think he made a better decision!

Sounds like jealousy to me. He obviously couldn't afford 10K or 11K (IF he had to put in the IMS) for a real sports car. The Boxster is the perfect low cost alternative to the 911 and having owned both, I really like the Boxster better. The best is rarely the cheapest. I am sure he can afford to pick up an old VW bug. It is probably more his speed.

Thank you Dumbass
 

As long as people read reviews like this, we will still have the best damn handling sports car out there, and we'll be able to afford it.

I agree, Porsche for the money, performance, fun, chick magnet is the best. Its just an amazing car.

Hilarious. If you buy a 3200 dollar luxury sports car should you really be surprised at the larger maintenance bills? Can't handle the heat stay out of the kitchen.

I really don't see why everybody think Porsche repair bills are so high ... do the easy stuff yourself. any idiot could change the oil in a boxster hell my wife's honda is harder to change the oil in.

pretty easy to source reasonable parts for a good price and look for a good indy

Wow, the hate, fear, ignorance and arrogance in the comments below is staggering (with the exception of a couple of commenters that had actually owned or driven them...go figure).
But those are the masses that the journalists sing to. It's a co-dependency.

My favorites are the ones that complain and whine about the "cheap interiors", "aging looks", and "high maintenance" and then turn around and highly recommend an old C4 Vette. Are they #%*+@ serious?!

2002 Bosxter S
 

What cheap Porsche, the first owner of my 2002 Bosxter S MSRP was $112,000. I am third owner and love it. :cheers:

I used to be in the camp of: "Boxsters are the cheap/slow Porsche." This was many years ago in my teenage years. Its amazing at how many people show this car no respect. In my circle of friends I'm the biggest car enthusiast. When I got my car I caught a lot of crap for buying the cheap Porsche. I just laugh and take them for a ride in my 12 year old sports car. Every person, so far, has been impressed and has changed their opinion on the Boxster. The best one was just last weekend when my aunt and 16 year old cousin came to visit for the weekend. My cousin is just getting into cars and he loves talking to me about cars. Neither of them knew I had bought a Porsche so when I told my cousin he thought I was just joking around. I told him to go look in the garage. He obviously wanted to go for a ride. I took him on a nice ride through some nice twisty roads. Halfway through the ride he goes, "I had no idea Boxsters were this sick!! I always thought they were slow and crappy." It just made me laugh and was glad I could change his mind. People love to judge things with zero first hand experience. We've all done it at some point in our lives. Hell, my wife just bought a new GTI and while test driving a bunch of cars she told me she didn't want to drive a couple simply because of what she heard...

Just wait then. You'll see. Parts are expensive and they do not last nearly long enough compared to most every other car I've owned apart from the 07 BMW 550i I owned (POS).

It's still worth owning a Boxster though... I enjoy driving my car a lot.

I guess the term 'high maintenance" is relative. If you think you are going to maintain your Boxster for the same cost as your civic, you are in for a surprise!! But a buddy of mine has a vette, and he spends a bundle to take care of that puppy!!
I had heard and partly believed all that talk about the Boxster. My search originally was for a vette, or 350Z. That lasted until I drove my first Boxster, and was hooked!!

112K, WOW! First owner must of check off every option box possible.

Plus he's in Canada were for some reason they take our friends to the north to the cleaners.

Screw the haters.

I like having a unique, "Rare" car that looks like it came out of the showroom after 15 years, and still looks Hot and contemporary.

Fine by me if the consensus out there reduces demand. More options for me then.

If only folks would have thought those aircooled Porsches were junk and not worth the price of scrap.

Sure like to get my hands on a few of those for under $10K :p

Maybe it's because I don't live in Southern California but my 13 year old "cheap slow porsche" still turns heads and gets compliments every time I take it out.

These Boxsters are horrible. Absolutely terrible. They blow up if you look at them and roll over in almost every turn. They are no fun to drive. Porsche should have provided complimentary grass stain remover for the roofs when they were new. Owners should be forced to hire tow trucks to follow them around. There is a federal law stating you must have each paint chip immediately repaired at the dealer and it costs a minimum of $10K per chip. It's a capital offense to do any maintenance, including washing the car yourself. Tell everyone to save themselves, Boxsters are terrible cars and should be avoided at all costs!

I get "Wow, nice car......
 

....what year is it?" nearly every time I take it out. I love telling them its a 2003. Or even that it cost me less than their Corolla. Will it cost more to maintain? Surely. Will it bankrupt me to take care of it....nope.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and fun is in the person lucky (and smart) enough to be driving one of these awesome cars :cool:

These cars are so underpowered. You get in trouble with the law in 3rd gear rather then second.

Clearly not worth the money they are going for.

Mine get compliments all the time.

Still waiting for someone to say something negative or a "I guess you couldn't afford a 911" comment so I can say been there done that twice and find the Boxster to be superior.

At this point a 1997-2000 Boxster costs the same or really less to own as a new 25,000 car. People worry about the maintenance costs when forgetting about the depreciation costs.

All cars depreciate about 10-15% per year. So a car costing 25K will go down about 2500-3500 in value in a year and add in 200 maintenance.

An early Boxster costs now about 10-12K. Over the last year prices have stopped falling. They are getting so close to parts value that they may not drop further. So let's say about 500-1000 depreciation per year plus maintenance of 1500-2000 per year.

It's highly likely to cost you less to own a Boxster and the Boxster even has a chance in 15 years of going up in value whereas the new car has no chance.

Of course the Boxster has a chance of dying but that's where the 1.5-2k per years goes - it can be used to maintain and restore the car and worst case you can sell it as a roller and still be ahead.

Now this analysis doesn't work for 20-45k Boxsters that are newer.

Initially in the parking lot at work I felt guilty when folks said, "You drive a Porsche!?" so I was a bit humble and told them that my 15 year old car only cost me less than a cheap KIA, but then I thought better of it and stopped telling how inexpensive it is and just agree with their high opinion of the car.

I'm still the only Porsche in a Parking lot of a couple hundred cars and I like it that way, because my car is "Special" and I am immediately considered a serious Driver and Enthusiast!

Thanks Porsche Marketing machine!

Well, I never thought of showing off with my Boxster, it was actually quite the opposite. In that matter I never cared about other people's opinion of what I like.

Retrospectively, I knew from day 1 how special the 986 was and realize even more now, what a pearl we got. To me it is a timeless classic, probably the only PORSCHE with a wonderful and unmatched interchangeability of parts/engines and designs (996 / Cayman).
Boxster 981 OEM Hardtop? Boxster 981 Cayman Hardtop? Boxster 981 with 991 gauges? Boxster 981 with a 991 engine? Even the 987 (not to mention 997 and 991) is not as versatile as a 986.

Ergo: The 986 is the most underrated Porsche. I realized that 15 years ago, other people might realize that in 15 years to come. :cheers:

Part of the problem is that most "car guys" are totally duped by marketing spin, not entirely their fault since they never get to drive more than a few cars unless they're in that line of work of reviewing cars or go out and get certified as instructors.

Whatever marketing spin Porsche put out, the public are sure to eat up. Here's a great exmaple. The Boxster has been setting the bar in its category from day one. If four guys came along in a Z3, SLK, Boxster and S2000 no one would say "oh it's only a Z3".
Nor does is it likely that someone has ever said "oh it's only an SLK", "oh it's only an S2000". But why do people say this about the best roadster Porsche sells? And ironically the best roadster you can buy? 100% Porsche B.S. marketing spin. Which is fine, that's Porsche's job to influence the public perception. The part that amazes is how people fall for it. I think it's that same part of the brain that is easily duped into believing one political parties or dishwasher detergent is better than another.

I didn't read all the comments on the article, but quite a few were very positive reviews of the Boxster.