Looking to Purchase - Boxster - 99 25000mls 1 owner ADVISE ?? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

miniboxster · 01-10-2008, 10:25 AM

Hello All,

I have found a 1 owner, very low miles, gorgeous 1999 - Boxster good price and wanted some imput on 99 pros and cons.

The owner is in his late 60's and has grown to old for the car he says but has all records and orginal SO Cal Car. He starts and drives it once or twice a week and has new rubber, up to date maintenance and all service records thru porsche.

Sounds good but what should I look for?

1st time boxster owner. - Had 911 in the 80's.

Thanks for any advice.

Johnny

986speedster · 01-10-2008, 01:10 PM

Ask him if the was ever a problem with the RMS leak. Also, is it coming with Litronics? If you buy a Boxster without them, it will bother you until you get them, and they are not cheap.

ppbon · 01-10-2008, 02:27 PM

I have a '98 daily driver (160K miles) and a '99 (75K miles) which is for sale.
When I purchased my '99 I wanted to build a spec racer. Aside from testing it and making sure that all was fine was that I did not want a very low mile car. My situation changed and the racecar never got built, and that's why it's for sale.
In '98 and '99 there were some issues with porous blocks and slipped ceramic cylinder sleeves.
Most of those failures occurred between 20K and 50K miles and generally when it happened to the 1st owner of the car, Porsche generally took care of the engine replacement even when the car was out of warranty. The same is not true for 2nd or 3rd owners.
So with a 25K mile car you won't be "out-of-the-woods" so to speak for a while. It's not a given that all '98s and '99 will fail, or even that a large percentage of them will fail, but my '98 did (at 23K - Porsche replaced the engine and it's been bullet proof since) and I know quite a few others that had engine failures as well.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but you did ask for pros and cons.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro.

Acid_J · 01-10-2008, 04:26 PM

Make sure you get a PPI done (Pre Purchase Inspection). Even though he has all the books and everything is up to date it is still worth doing (especially since he only drove it infrequently). Issues can arise when a vehicle is not driven enough or when driven is not given time to really warm up (and lubricate correctly, dry out all condensation in exhaust etc).

I love my '99. Even though I get bit green when I see the new models come out I also recognize that there is not much difference between those and the car I am driving (a few HP and some nifty bits but the real pcar experience is still the same). I also feel that I am still better off upgrading my car (with suspension, wheels, tires, turbo, SC etc) than I am to go and buy another new model boxster.

If you can get your hands on a low mileage 99 for a good price then I would do it (although Pedro raises a good point

)

miniboxster · 01-10-2008, 07:50 PM

Thanks everyone !!!! I have written down everything. I have heard about the RMS issues as well as some other seal issues if the car hasn't been driven that much as they tend to dry out and crack/split etc.

I see by lots of threads the Boxster is an amazing car but also a money pit if you don't look it over carefully.

Acid J - I have a Independent guy referred by a friend that has worked on all of his porsches and has all the PPI equipment. But for this would you recommend the dealer or would that be a waste of money for the same outcome?

What should a PPI cost?

I have always used independent mechanics for my cars and aside from saving lots of $$ they do better work.

Good mechanic is is our life blood for us car nuts.

Thanks again everyone and keep the imput coming.

I check out the car Saturday.

Acid_J · 01-10-2008, 08:54 PM

A good recommended independent would be my choice. Word of mouth in the pcar business means a lot.....

I would recommend while asking for a PPI you also give them some focus items especially with car having such low miles (as you mentioned..seals, rms, boots etc). The cost depends on how indepth they go and how good they are...a good mechanic should be able to run through it pretty quickly but you don't want it just combed over. You should also be run through the PPI at the end so the mechanic can show you what was good / bad. I have seen between $150 and $200 for a PPI...anything higher and you should push a bit harder IMO. Note though that at $75/hr your looking at 2 - 2.5 hours...at $100/hr that will push the price up.

There is some good info on buying a pcar in these two links:

http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/buyingorsellinga1997-2004boxster
http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/buyingcontinued

The second link mentions things to look for and the information is very good.

Good luck with the car...and I hope it all works out....

NickCats · 01-11-2008, 04:57 AM

miniboxster,

Not sure if you saw this thread or not but a ton of good information here :

http://986forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14685

Happy Hunting !

Nick

miniboxster · 01-11-2008, 01:56 PM

Nick and Acid -

Checked out the info and I have appt with my mech tomorrow to look over this car.

I will keep posted on how it turns out.

Hopefully I will be driving her on Sunday if all goes well.

Pictures to follow for sure if I do.

75 here in LA this weekend so I need the top DOWN !!!!!!!!

Thanks again everyone.