Mike C wrote:
I look sometimes at the Porsche Boxster as a possible next buy and they seem
to be very reasonable when bought second-hand now days. They also never
seem to have very many miles and an early one can be bought in the low 20K.
That is near to what most boring econoboxes sell for new. The Porsche could
be bought and provide a good bit of fun for the dollar.
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Good bit of fun for the dollar? Maybe... The car is a hoot to drive and you
can go insanely fast on curves in the mountains. The brakes are phenomenal.
Power is quite adequate, and you would have to be crazy to attempt top speed
on a public road.
But my advice is DON'T BUY. There are other roadsters which may be as much
fun to drive and not so expensive to run. As previously mentioned by Lester,
Porsche has been out of the "car guy" market for a while - heck, their best
selling vehicle is not a sport car but an SUV - Porsche sells more Cayennes
than Boxsters and 911 put together. The price of parts and service for
modern Porsches (996, 986, 997, 987) is high. Yes, you can buy a 1997
Boxster for under $20,000, and a 2000 Boxster S for about $30,000, but the
price for parts is still for a Porsche, and parts for a Porsche are a lot
more than for a Honda, or even a Mercedes.
Think of the highest price you can think of for a part or service, then
triple it. That will get you close. Examples? I thought I lost one of my
Boxster keys - there are only a couple of manufacturers for car keys of that
type (with remote control), and they are the same as on Chevys and Fords. It
cost me $100 to replace a damaged 2000 Chevy van key last month. The Porsche
dealer wanted $340 for the Boxster - that was at least two years ago, and
you cannot buy a key from another source... Just call a Porsche dealer and
ask how much they charge for a 30,000 or 60,000 service.
Like all cars, Boxsters have problems. Specific to 1997-2005 Porsches (986
and 996 series engines) is engine Rear Main Seal (RMS) leaks, and this can
happen at any mileage and irrespective of use. The Boxster intermediate
shaft in the transmission is also prone to failure. while the RMS can be
fixed for two or three thousand dollars, the repair is often not successful.
Both problems mentioned will eventually mean a new engine - that's $10,000
for the engine, and a few thousands for the labor. Some Boxster engines have
had total and sudden failures, apparently unrelated to use or mileage - as
the engines are shipped unopened to Germany, and Porsche isn't talking,
nobody knows the reason for those failures. Other problems are faulty
switches preventing various things to operate, rear plastic window cracking
(minimum $500 to replace just the window), lousy and failure prone sound
system, soft top mechanism (expensive to fix), wheel bearings, etc... The
Boxster is still usually rated average or better than average reliability by
magazines.
By the way, most Boxsters (including mine) are/were built in Finland,
alongside SAAB cars at the Valmet plan. Not necessarily a bad thing, as the
build quality is rumored to be at least as good as in Germany, and the paint
job better. All engines are made in Germany, not exactly a compliment to
German engineering as the biggest problem with the car seems to be engine
failures.
Check this Boxster forum: http://www.ppbb.com/board/986board.htm
Lots and lots of info... If you are still interested in buying a Boxster
after that, good luck, and I hope you find a good one.
Regards from JLC in San Diego
2001 Porsche Boxster S
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