Looking for advice
 

I'm looking to get a 986. Other than the IMS, are there other things I should be looking for over and above basic cosmetic appearance?

Is the S worth the price in the used market?


Thank you!

To each there own on the S model. I've got a base, yet have never complained once. Still blows the doors off most other cars out there and is more than I can use on our Canadian roads.
I would always recommend getting the newest car you can afford. No matter the km's, age still plays a big part in the condition.
That being said, buying a Porsche isn't much different than other cars. Water pump, suspension, engine mount, brakes....
Find a car you like and spend a couple bucks getting a PPI done at a reputable shop.

OK. Let's all re-type everything that's ever been said in this forum because this guy doesn't wanna use the search button.

I searched a ton. A lot of good info. No need to get testy.

Here is the Cliffs Notes version;

Base or S is entirely owner dependent. There are those who find the base models more than adequate and others who love the extra power of the S. Drive both and then decide which you like best and whether the price premium for the S is worth it to you.

In regards to condition, get a PPI. It will be the best $300 you ever spend. I know that a PPI can be a PITA to arrange but don't skip it.

Buy the newest and best maintained car you can afford. Then after you fix the things wrong with it at the time of purchase, be prepared to spend $2,000 a year on normal maintenance and repairs.

There are no cheap Porsche's.

This will be one of, if not the, most fun and enjoyable cars you will ever own. We all guarantee that you will love driving it.

If you "searched a ton" why did you ask the question?
Honestly, there are dozens of the same inquiries as you are making regarding the pitfalls of owning a M96 engined Boxster. Did you read mikesporscheboxsterwebpages or pedrosgarages.com-Site-Technolab.html

Preferring an S over a base is purely subjective and there is no right or wrong answer....

Try to find a car that has the proper maintenance done and has records.

Thank you for the answer!

I'm completely familiar with high-maintenance vehicles: my daily driver is a Range Rover :)

No, I didn't see those.. I'll look now.

I asked because as these vehicles age, their issues will become more prevalent. An issue ten years ago may not be an issue today, if say, it can be assumed most cars of this vintage have had the IMS and RMS replaced with a clutch maintenance.

Getting the most up to date info from the experts seemed like a prudent approach.

I realize that repetitive questions can get old, but there are a lot of threads, and a lot of information. Apologies for rehashing it.

You two sound like a pompous ass! He ask because like me he is new, we wish to learn, if you don’t wish to help him out simply don’t respond. Surely there are those with the decency to answer what is ask.
.

nice response..Im also a new viewer and afraid to ask the wrong questions.

The first click should be the sticky

http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/14685-thinking-buying-boxster-must-read.html

We all started as new, and don't be afraid to ask questions, searches don't always bring up everything. The best advice is to drive several Boxsters, there are a lot of them out there, some well cared for, some not. Be patient and you will find "the one." Get the newest one you can afford, and get a PPI! It will tell you the condition and will give you some negotiation points. Look at your local PCA classifieds, Excellence magazine, the classifieds on this forum, eBay, AutoTrader, craigslist, etc, watch them all. Find a local independent Porsche mechanic, first for your PPI, second, he may know of someone looking to sell. Don't be afraid to travel to get the right one, I traveled from Ft Worth, Texas to Atlanta for mine. Good luck on your search, and post prospects here and you will get opinions on whether to buy it or not. :cheers:

The only people who say not to get an S is people that dont have one. Sort of like people who say" money doesnt matter" they either have way too much or none. As far as this forum... it is great but you have to weed thru all the smart ass know it alls hiding behind the comp. Ask anything you want, someone will help. Old threads are fine but things change all the time. Want any oil or tire advice....ask away. I can say that if you buy one drive it ....hard and often, Fast and slow. Great machine

Proper responce
 

This is your answer

Well, that's an asinine comment that appears to actually be about yourself. :rolleyes:

All "S" models have a single row IMSB (don't bug me with the "well, my 2000S might have a dual row because it was a transition year" :p). They also have the weird gearing of the 6sp trans...these things could also be a factor in their choice.

I've driven both a base and an "S" back to back and noticed ZERO difference in acceleration or torque. The gearing on the "S" was also awful. Of course, there are tons of variables and maybe one is better maintained than the other.

Money doesn't matter ;)

I wish I would have seen the PCA classifieds when I was looking for my Boxster. They have some great, well cared for vehicles with full records maintained by enthusiasts. Not all, but many. I looked for a long time in the local CL and other places. Just wasn't coming up with quality vehicles to my liking. Found a car in Dallas that looked good via the interwebs and after asking some questions about what little I knew from searching this forum the sales guy at the dealership told me straight up, "don't buy this car, there are better ones out there."

I expanded my search to southern CA, where there are many more boxsters than South TX I found what I was looking for and couldn't be happier. I am sometimes a little envious of the prior owner though...when I asked him about the IMSB he got a little put out that "everybody keeps asking me about that and I don't even know what that is." It was his wife's car and he doesn't read Porsche forums. Turned out to be a great car.

Dave in TX.

Thank you both.

Thank you.

If I understand Canadian customs correctly, Mark_T has offended you and is now obligated to take you out to Timmy's and make reparations. Have him let you drive his car.

Like any 10+ year old used car, some are good, some are bad. If you are not familiar with them, hire a professional to do a pre-purchase inspection.

I generally buy them wrecked or highly depreciated at my own risk. I enjoy doing most of my own work, short of machine shop stuff. Competent shops that work on these cars charge a bit over $100/hour for labor and will not discount your parts. That makes a big difference in whether a problem is cheap or expensive to fix.

Very common problems:
-Missing/broken plastic panels on the undercarriage.
-Malfunctioning windows.
-Airbag system failure (most commonly seat belt wiring).
-Horn contact failure.
-Water pump failure.
-Coolant expansion tank (or cap) leak.
-Brake wear.
-Uneven tire wear.
-Worn suspension parts - rear trailing arms especially.
-Broken parts in the top mechanism - gears, cables, and linkage.
-Blocked drains. Leads to: Wet padding under carpet, failed immobilizer box, corrosion inside brake booster, and more.
-S models commonly have a problem with 2nd gear pop-out
-Spark plug tubes leak. (1997-2002)
-Alternator bearings/idler pulleys seize.
-The Air Oil Separators fail internally and dump oil directly into the intake.

Those are just some of the most common, easy to fix things that I have found on my cars. There's plenty more scary stuff that is less common:
-Failed hydraulic lifters.
-Bad chain tensioners.
-Sheared crankshaft.
-Oil pump failures.
-VarioCam actuator failure.
-Connecting rod bolt failure.
-Rear main seal failure.
Most of these can lead to a repair cost of thousands of dollars (or Very Many thousands of Canadian dollars).

My advice: Buy one that looks pretty and drive it hard. Consider your money gone. For me, it somehow worked out better than my investment in the Oil and Gas industry.
:cheers:

I would say get what you want. Do not make compromises or you will regret it later. I got the S cause I knew I would regret it eventually if I didn't. I had an Infiniti FX35, but later upgraded to the 45. Should have just started with the 45, but didn't want to pay the extra premium at the time. Ended up spending more money doing the upgrade! Never again!

You understand Canadian customs very well... but it would be rude of me to point out that I'd been offended ;)

He can take me in his Porsche - I'll reciprocate and take him out in my NAS Land Rover Defender 90. Or the Range Rover.. either way, it's a different kind of fun.

Appreciate all the recommendations to do a PPI - None of the local dealers want to do one, so I'm going to contact the local PCA chapter (yes, there's a few Canadian Chapters!) and start asking a lot of questions.

The only dealer that was interested in doing something like a PPI was offering a 110-point inspection, plus a 4-5 hour compression and leak-down test @ $159/hour... and I thought Land Rover dealerships had expensive shop rates! LOL

I also have a sailboat, so I'm familiar with shredding hundred dollar bills and getting wet...

Post what part of Canada, there might be someone close to you with a mechanic recommendation. Otherwise, the folks in your local PCA chapter will know someone.

Toronto - east end.

As a side-note, I have a highly modified 362HP 2007 Audi A3 going up for sale that will fund the purchase of the 986... APR tune, S3 intercooler, K04 Stage 2 Turbo, APR downpipe, carbonio intake, APR HPFP, Bosch Hi-Flow injectors, poly dog bone bushing, BSH engine mount, BSH PCV revamp, etc, etc.. list goes on for a while..

PCA UCR | Upper Canada Region of the Porsche Club of America, great resources, tons of owners in Toronto.

Sadly, fewer places are doing PPIs because they don't want the liability of something breaking 1 mo later and the customer coming back to them to pay for it. Good things always go bad when lawyers get involved.

And welcome to the world of expensive German cars, but you should be aware of this world if you have an Audi.

Good luck with your search. You are heading into a good time to buy with fall approaching. Any dealer in your area with a Boxster should be willing to deal on it. They don't want to go deep into Sep with a convertible sports car on their lot.

Wow, super arrogant. Many of us bought non 'S' models because the bigger engine simply isn't worth the extra purchase price, for us. Lots of other reasons too. I'm on my second Boxster, never even thought about an S this time as I am totally happy with 'the base' model.

I do all my own wrench work on the Audi, unless it's electronic...

The Upper Canada Region is the largest chapter of the PCA so you are in good hands out there in the Big Smoke. Join the PCA and make some friends, you won't regret it.

You are also lucky with a great selection of roads up in Muskoka, Halliburton and down in the Niagara region. I really miss those roads!

Just did both rear hub and bearings - you do NOT want to know what the torque setting is for those axle bolts... think as high as you reasonably think a bolt goes on, then add something insane, and you're getting close...

What, your torque wrench doesn't go to infinity?

<Off topic warning>
It's 150ft-lbs (ok, not too bad - my wrench goes to 250) plus a 180-degree turn (WTF??!!) The bolts are one-time use only, as the end 'twists' to set the hub just right.. and the bolts are 8.50$ each and the only place I could find them was the dealership...

I had to buy a 36" long, 1" format breaker bar with a 18mm triple square bit to get that bolt set right... INSANE. I had to stand on the bar and bounce to set it.
Took a month just to order the tools.

I'm 99.9% sure I'll never need that again. Even the hub bolts on my Rover were 202ft-lbs - no extra twist..

[QUOTE=Giller;506827]Wow, super arrogant. Many of us bought non 'S' models because the bigger engine simply isn't worth the extra purchase price, for us. Lots of other reasons too. I'm on my second Boxster, never even thought about an S this time as I am totally happy with 'the base' model.[/ Many of you need to chime in because I cant tell you how many times I have read "should have got the S " Maybe I should have searched for it first so I could be exact....too lazy I guess. Arrogant?

This is not true. 2000 was the transition year: early model year 2000's had the dual row, later 2000's had the single row. My 2000 S had a dual row bearing. I've even heard of 2001's that had the dual row.

Owned both an '01S and a '99 base, actually preferred the base! Loved them both. Neither was my first sports car nor my first Porsche. But they were both by far the best of both categories. Mine were economical to operate (lucky) once I had the PPI and resultant maintenance done.

Dozens of pages on buying a Boxster of the 986 vintage here. Includes model year differences, best and worst features, etc. One man's opinions.

Good luck.

You are correct kjc - my early 2001 S has the dual row bearing but I suspect the engine was built some time in 2000 and then shipped to Finland & co-joined with the chassis in January 2001.

I have a base model and am more than happy with it. I have also driven my buddies S and Cayman S models. While both are faster, they don't really seem faster. Maybe the lowish torque in the flat six engines has something to do with it. They just don't pin you to the seat like a WRX and Evo would. When I drove a friends Evo the other day I couldn't believe it had the same HP as the Cayman S, it felt much stronger. Of course with the turbo 4 it also sounded like crap compared to a flat six.

No, you can't assume that. Most cars have NOT had the IMS bearing replaced.

I've even seen a number that had the clutch replaced but not the IMS. Even single row cars (like the one I bought.)

I like the extra torque that the 'S' has.
The 6 speed is a non-issue for me (assume it's mostly for better gas mileage).

The base is still pretty peppy and they both handle very, very well.

Underpowered, yet slow, the base continues to fill a much needed void. :eek: :matchup:

Ok - I just posted that to see if there was anyone who would rise to the bait! :)

I did my axle nuts until the axle started to twist off and then I backed it out a little.