Buying a 986 Boxster

[Nko]

Hi, thanks for all your answers, very helpful !

Indeed, looks like if I can do at least some of the work myself, maintenance cost is very reasonable ! Thats a very good point for the 986 - I wish I could say as much for the 718 ! That one is still under warranty though so for now at least, no worries.

What do you think of high milleage 986 ? I have seen some people saying its actually safer to find a 100k+ that have been well maintained vs a lower milleage one, because of the IMS bearing issue - the logic would be that if a car make it to the 100k its highly unlikely the IMS issue will appear.
I spotted a 89K miles that fit the spec I'm looking for 4K pounds (S, Black, tan leather interior, thats its) - which seem reasonable to me - assuming nothing really bad is lurking inside.
There is some 100K+ for about the same price ...
High milleage and low price is key to me on that one - I cant justify paying a lot more for a fun weekend car.

I still have a bit of time before really comitting, not exactly the best time to go about try cars with whats happening in the world just now ! Hopefully before summer end.

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by Nko

the logic would be that if a car make it to the 100k its highly unlikely the IMS issue will appear.

That is not logic, just theories and assumptions. You know what happens when you assume - you make an ass out of u & me. There are too many unknowns about IMS to assign stone cold facts to anything about it. Your best bet is to find a Boxster with as much maintenance documentation as possible. It will give you a baseline for what's been done and what will need doing. Part of that maintenance should include oil change history, which may be an indicator of IMS longevity, regardless of age but it's not the final indicator. You should look for oil change mileage ranges from 5-8K mi or annually if the mileage is < 5K mi annually. Clean oil keeps the IMS bearing cleaner.

There's volumes of IMS threads available, none of which are THE definitive answer. Search and read up on the topic and make your own decisions.