Bought my car today!!
 

Hi all,

Title says it all. I bought my car today. Been looking online for couple months & test driving seriously looking for the last 3 weeks or so & today its finally mine :)

Saw a lot of cars, read lots of posts, articles & blogs. Huge thank you to all of you who take your time to give out so much info that has helped me from jumping in too fast & not looking at all the right things when making this purchase. especially this forum, mike focke & his blog & pedros blog. Thanks to this information I knew how to talk to the sellers & mechanics, what questions to ask, what to look for & caused me to spend more than I originally planned (but will save me thousands over the next several years)

If you read my test drive notes post from a few weeks ago I started out looking at several brand roadsters & quickly narrowed it down to the 986 boxster. (I never did get around to test driving that BMW Z4)

At this point I got a bit bogged down with concerns about the porsche, including IMS issues, whether or not low mileage cars may be problematic, not having service records, which year is best, base vs S (because the first S I drove was a tiptronic & I couldn't feel a performance advantage over base) I also had difficulty finding a nice condition car that had all the records locally. Over the last couple weeks I drove about 8 local boxsters ranging in price from $7,000-$17,000 then expanded my search out nationally, looking at literally hundreds of cars. By this Monday I had narrowed it down to 10 cars all over the country & made my calls, a few had sold, a couple I didn't like the vibe of the dealer. I explaining to the dealers that the process I planned on pursuing was to come to a preliminary agreement on price but it would be dependent on a PPI by a local specialist, all the dealers I spoke to said the inspection was fine & they had no problem with that, but almost none of them would follow up or return my calls after that?? Finally after days of calls, examining photos & carfaxes I made a deal on a car, found a mechanic & in the couple hours before the PPI appointment they tell me they sold the car locally & cancelled my deal. All in all I ended up negotiating on 6 different cars, none of which panned out. Then I came across one that had all its records including IMS replacement, the car looked clean & it all went smoothly from there, dealer agreed to PPI, transported the car there & back for me. The independent porsche mechanic gave me a thorough inspection & told me the car is in excellent cosmetic condition, mechanically & electrically sound. I need to do a few things (brake rotors soon, wiper blades now & oil pan gasket is seeping) nothing else needed.

The point of this long story is to have patience there are lots of cars out there & If one doesn't come together the next one will & you may just be better off with it in the end. I believe that by telling sellers I intended to have the car thoroughly inspected by a porsche specialist has filtered out those who didn't really have confidence in the quality of what they were offering. I mean why else would a used car salesman not call back someone with a hard offer?

My new car is an all black '04 "S" manual w/88k & excellent condition. Its being shipped out of Texas tomorrow & I should have it Monday. How awesome is that!http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/04_s1486793248.jpg

Awesome! Just needs clear side markers.

Looks great. You will enjoy driving now.


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That is really awesome, congrats and welcome.
Most probably you are infected with the incurable PORSCHE virus by now. :cheers:

P.S.: Chrome windshield trim, awesome.

Nice car, great story. The 2004 model is the best of the 986's. Love the wheels, lose the amber side markers... Drive it like you stole it

Congrats!

Nice looking car. Instead of de-ambering the lights, why not add orange highlights to the car. I suggest calling in sick Monday and going for a nice long drive.

Alex

Car is perfect the way it is. I wouldn't change a thing. Congrats, excellent color.

Nice car. Right of the bat you have three great things going for you:
Glass window top
Factory litronics
Nice wheels

The IMS replacement is also a plus in a 2004.

Great write up and great find. You did it the right way! Enjoy.

Congrats and safe travels. Long live the orange side markers.

You will love this car!

Nice! I think you're really going to like it. First thing I did to my 04S was ditch the orange side markers. It's a must do on the facelift cars IMO.

Outstandingly and congrats on a beautiful car!

Gorgeous!!

Can we ask what you paid? Beautiful car.

$12,500 + another $1,000 in fees shipping,& inspection.

I'm already working on my to do list, in addition to the things from inspection
- drive it
- side markers
- drive it
- move The ac controls down to install double din touchscreen head unit (it already has the Bose with sub & speakers behind seats)
- drive it some more
- New floor mats & pedals
- drive it again & again & again

Maybe next winter ill do a sport exhaust, gotta see what the stock sounds like first.

This weekend is just crawling along. Tomorrow I'm cleaning the garage.

Great car, nice story. welcome to the fold. Enjoy it!

Very nice, enjoy

Beautiful car!! Congrats and enjoy :cheers:

Unfortunately you're going to be in a lot of pain installing a double din f you have the bose system with an amplifier. You may have to replace a lot (amp, speakers, etc). Have a little look on google at people who have tried a similar thing, it's very difficult!

THAT is a good looking car!!!!! Welcome to the addiction and good luck on Monday. Don't get frost-bite standing at the end of the drive looking for the truck.

You can replace the radio with with a double DIN, just understand that you will also be replacing the amp.

If you just want to add BT for audio streaming and hands free calling. Google the iSimple Tranzit Blu. It's about $80 and will work with the Bose system (or any other radio). It connects through the antenna so no over the air FM modulation issues.

I bought this system for an 03S a few years back but sold the car prior to installing. Last summer I stuck it in a 2002 4Runner and it works great. It pairs quickly upon starting the car and the hands free is very clear. Audio streaming is basically FM quality as far as stereo separation and dynamic range are concerned.....not CD quality but certainly listenable.

2003 and 2004 Boxsters have the M.O.S.T. (is the least) fiber optic bus for the stereo. I don't know what that means, I just know my 2003 has it and I believe there is more re-wiring to replace the head unit. It has been done though. Crutchfield stereo may have some good info on their website.

As far as stereos go this guy is the best (Rod @ Car Audio Innovations). He sells components, kits and installs if you live in Ca
https://cai-store.com/collections/996-986-porsche-audio-upgrades

Basically, you've got a M.O.S.T. system (fibre optic setup) rather than a conventional setup, which doesn't allow retrofitting of normal stereos as the wiring is completely different. Normal wiring adapters won't work either due to the wiring being fibre optic.

You've got a few choices:

All new setup:
One of them is to rip out the amp, speakers and head unit, and replace them all with aftermarket kit. New speakers, connected to a new amp, connected to a new headunit. It's basically a full overhaul but it'll be completely doable. Speakers have come on since the Bose system in the Boxster. This would require quite a bit of work.


Adapter (very expensive)
I've heard that here is a company called NavTV that makes an adapter for the Bose setup so that you can plug in your new headunit and it'll be plug and play with your existing amp and speakers, but it's something silly like $700. It sucks, but it's a unique piece of kit that was developed to work between fibre optic and copper wires, so it's not your average wire adapter - it's quite a complicated bit of kit, but it does allow you to plug in your old connections and plug in your new head unit, albeit for a huge price. This is the easier option.


AUX Input
If you have anything other than the CDR23 unit, just plug an AUX adapter into the back of it for very cheap from Ebay. It plugs into the CD changer port in the back of the radio so at least you can play your own music. If I had the Bose system, that would be my choice as I wouldn't spend $700 on an adapter, and I sure as hell wouldn't spend days ripping out an original Bose system. Yes speakers have improved since, but it's a good selling point to the car in the future and a real nice originality part. This is the easiest and cheapest option, but you wouldn't get a touch screen.

Sorry to put a downer on it, but there's your options :)

I have the bose system and I just bought a $10 fm transmitter from amazon. The sound quality is as good as the radio. I'm not a huge audiophile so all I really cared about was being able to listen to music on my phone. Plus it just plugs into the cigarette lighter. No need to fuss with anything.

Yeah, on second thought I'll just be adding an aux into the existing head unit. I'm not looking to create headaches. Thanks for the heads up before I spend hours sorting through all the different units out there.

Drive on.

Contrarian view, I have tried the FM transmitter route with a name brand and the sound was awful, so proceed with caution if you decide to go this route. I have a direct connection lead into the auxiliary plug and that works well imo. Mine is a '02, so perhaps that is a difference, but I am doubtful on that....

I'll bet you have a CRD-23 radio so you will not be adding AUX...sorry! Just look on the radio face to see your model number.

Great looking car BTW! It has my favorite Boxster wheels...

Agreed, from what I've read the transmitters can be pretty hit or miss. I figured it was worth the $10 risk though. It turned out to be no better or worse than the radio in my case but I might have gotten lucky. I would have went the aux route but it is a bit more complex with the CDR23 from what I can recall when I looked into it.

Congratulations! That is a fantastic looking car!

Nice job on finding it - it must have been extremely frustrating to have all those people not call you back, then have that one dealer sell the car out from under you, but in the end, you wouldn't have this car unless you went through all that, so it worked out!

Side markers - I'm probably the only person on the planet who likes the cracked egg headlights and orange side markers (I think they look good on my Speed Yellow 01 S), but I think in your case, since you already have the clear headlights, you should swap out the side markers for clear ones.

Those are also my favorite Boxster wheels!

Have fun!

Congratulations on finding your pearl!

The car looks awesome!

Prepare to go from enthusiastic to in love in quite a short while! :)