'02 Base w/ Tiptronic and 7K

My wife and I are shopping for a replacement for her 98 XK8. We've found a dealer locally with a 2002 Lapis Blue (Almost the same color as the Jag) with less than 7K on the clock. Since the little lady can't shift we are looking for an automatic. this car has the Tiptronic S. The price seems fair and it's a Certified Used Car. Is there any reason to stay away from it? Other alternatives in the mix are BMW 330CiC, Audi A4 Convertibles and TT Roadsters. I'm not concerned about the interior space, or lack of it, just concerned about mechanical issues that might be inherent.

Paul

P Car Wannabe

[YellowJacket]

There is definitely a list of common problems that occur in these cars if you read these message boards, but you'd find the same thing on an Audi or BMW message board. I say this having owned several BMW's. Do a forum search for words like "considering" and "purchase" and you'll get 100 people asking the same question as you and 10 responses to each, from which the bottom line is generally that the cost of ownership is high but not out of proportion for the type of car, production rates, price, prestige, etc.

This car is not a Honda, it's not maintenance free, but on the other hand, a lot of people here drive the hell out of them with no problems. Maintenance is expensive (around $400-800 every 15k miles for me), but I would guess that's probably not much higher than what you're paying for your Jag. You'll hear a lot of people say that tires only last 6-10k miles, but I drive pretty aggressively and am well over 30k on my current set. There's little chance your wife will even spend tires as fast as I do.

Get a pre-purchase inspection from a Porsche dealership (very very very important), and spend a couple hours reading posts on this board, and you won't have many (any?) surprises.

Also, there's a guy on here who's name is Randallneighbor who has a great website with some helpful thoughts for people considering Boxsters.

Hope this incoherent post helps...

[dharrisonwu]

With a 2002 with less than 7K miles, that would be a concern to me. The car was obviously hardly touched and during that time, seals could dry out, lubricants get stale, and a host of other issues that creep up with the car not being used. I have a 2002 with 33,800 miles and have come across certain issues that arise from the car not being driven enough.

Just my 2 cents.

[wanna986]

I drive pretty aggressively and am well over 30k on my current set.

Now that's good to hear. The longevity part. O.K. maybe the aggressive part too.