[Closed] Porsche Boxter. Getting very cheap now. Should I?

Should I?

yes, yes you should

*thinks you should*

No, but get one with decent history.

Can even get a bike on it!
[img] [/img]

Why not. Or an Elise. Or an S2000.

The car may be cheap, the bills will not be. Depends if you have the cash to keep the thing on the road once you have bought it.

Wow,
Didnt know you could get a bike rack for them as well?

It gets better.

Ummmmmmmmm...im looking at a v Reg one tomorrow 54k (2.7 engine) Full Porsche history. Silver with Black though so bit boring.

Anybody know of anything to look out for? Engine, hood , electrics etc ?

Check the curlers still work, they usually burn out first.

Good point on running costs Dave,
I have had (in my single days) a few 911's so realise repairs etc could be expensive.
Then again my less than two year old company car just had 2.5k spent on it. So all cars can be expensive.

A colleague had one, and chopped it in for a Celica. Think he got a particularly bad 'un but had no end of problems and bills.

I'd get an S2000 if you have to drive it every day, or an Elise if it's for fun time ... though you'll struggle to get partner and weekend luggage in an Elise. Just take a toothbrush, there's room for one each 🙂

Lifer,
Sorry, dont get it.

A referenxce to hairdressers car?

Old high milers can be had for £5K I'd be tempted seriously!

Plus your bike can go on the roof:
[img] [/img]

For some reason one of my aims in life is to get a 911, then bolt a roof rack on top!

So all cars can be expensive.

I know that all too well; I've got a Vauxhall Astra, supercar running costs and none of the joy 😥

I've got a Cayman S at the moment that I'm about to get rid of after 2 months of ownership.

First off I'd aim for an S if you can, there's a big difference between the two and I seem to remember the 2.5/7 having issues with oil consumption. A non S also comes with a 5-speed box if thats an issue (it would be for me, the noise gets a bit much on long journeys and thats with a longer 6 speed box).

I'd also look at the performance per pound ratio. Handling wise my Cayman is awesome but straight line speed in my opinion is lacking. The 2.5 I had a go in was VERY slow for what it was. For the amount it costs in tyres, fuel, discs and pads its not actually that quick. To put it in perspective, my RS4 cost similar money to run but was leagues ahead in terms of pace. If its a weekend toy then maybe something a bit more special?

To be fair, those cheaper boxsters do look good vfm but I'd be wary of high mileage cars or ones that haven't been looked after. And find a decent Indy specialist. Theres no such thing as a cheap porsche.

You might also want to consider a 350z. Had one of these for a bit and it was much more fun to drive, LSD as standard and parts were 'a bit' cheaper. Similar money will get you a much newer car. If it's a soft top you're after, an S2000 (if you're not over 5ft11). 7k also gets you an M3 (E46) with similar running costs, an M5 (with astronomical running costs), probably an SLK (which would be rubbish) or....er...I dunno.

Not much help really, sorry!

LOL, Dave.
Even worse for me Peugeot 407.!

At least Vauxhal make some good cars.

Will,
A saw one the other day with 165k on it, they must be OK to do those sort of miles. Cant see my Pug getting to 80K the way things are going.

There's a 996 GT3 for sale currently with 180k on it, still on the original ceramics on the front..so yeah, if you get a good un they do last. However, as a 'cheaper' porsche they tend not to have the same caring owners looking after them - I bought mine cheap as the bloke before me couldn't afford to have it serviced. Its now drinking oil like its going out of fashion and its £5k for a rebuild...

Flange,
Some good advise there, even if I didnt want to hear it.!

S2000? Now thats got me thinking, your the second to suggest that.

Not a Porsche though is it.

Even more undecided now 🙁

The Boxster is a good car, but its not a cheap car to run and its not that quick. They do handle amazingly well though.

S2000's are lovely, but you need to have pretty much no mechanical sympathy to get them shifting. They are also VERY small inside, think my mates brother is about 5ft10 and he has the seat all the way back.

Depends on how much you want to spend and what you want to do with it. For me I'd avoid the S1 Elise because I HATE the K series engines in them and the build quality is terrible, but that might be just me.

Seriously, if it were me then I'd be looking at a 350z...

M8 recently had 10K to spend on a weekend car, the porsche ownesr he knew simply said get a 'cheap' porsche and you'll end up with 10K worth of dept.. he got a 350Z and is very happy.

Flange.
The 350Z really doesnt do it for me, shame as Im sure its a great car.
Also not a soft top which appeals.

Elise looks a bit too er... niche for me, K Series are trouble too.

supercar running costs and none of the joy

Sounds like my TDCi C-Max...

Okay doke, other potentials then

[url= http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3221361.htm ]Z4[/url]

[url= http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3329416.htm ]TT Cab[/url]

[url= http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3354418.htm ]Z3M [/url]

[url= http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3403602.htm ]350 Roadster - I know I know, I'll stand away from them...[/url]

Ha... The Male MenoPorsche...

(says a bloke who keeps an MX5 for sunny days 😳 )

[url= http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3025473.htm ]And these are hilarious fun, but the auto box is a bit....steady....[/url]

and finally...

[url= http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3395832.htm ]VX220[/url]

get a 968 and you can get a bike in the back?

you should probably only get a sports car if you are a complete and utter bell end..

HTH

you should probably only get a sports car if you are a complete and utter bell end..

Words fail me...

Z3M I like them.! Probably rare though.
Am I ready for BMW ownership?

Audi TT, had one of those, a bit too good dare I say. Good in a borring sort of way. Not really the sort of car you look forward to getting-up early on a Sunday and driving.

''MenoPorshe'' I like that.

you should probably only get a sports car if you are a complete and utter bell end..

If thats so..Guilty as charged.

 

Certainly not to everone's taste but you will never be accused of hairdressing............

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3401234.htm

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/3393614.htm

I had a serious look earlier this year before the tax man decided he wanted some more.

Go for the 3.2 if you possibly can. The 2.5 and 2.7 can suffer from engine problems with ovalized cylider bores. The 2.7 is worse for this. 3.4 is likely to suffer similarly because of the thinner walls.

Go for it and ignore the jibes from others.

Words fail me...

If you honestly didn't expect any jibes at all then I'm surprised that you had any coherent words* available in the first place..

*Clarksonisms not included

As with the other guys, if you can find a 3.2 then go for that. The chassis on the Boxster is very good, but the 2.5 will feel very underpowered after a short while. I'm a big Porsche fan (used to have a 911) and the idea of an older Boxster still keeps coming back to me. Equally, find yourself a good independent garage - it's still a £30-40k car in terms of servicing.

I tried a 350Z and found it a bit too heavy for what it was, sounded good though. S2000 is too small inside for me to be comfortable on longer journeys, and an S2 Elise/VX220 is a great option if it will live in the garage a lot and be brought out for special drives. They are not so good as daily drives due to the limited practicality. The one that surprised me most was a Z4 Coupe - taut and a real hoot to drive, with a large smattering of practicality.

Good luck with whatever you go for.

Plenty of advice [url= http://www.hartech.org/buyers.html ]here[/url] - I'd consider one myself, especially if you are realistic about running costs. Personally I'd avoid the 2.5, just not quick enough, but a decent 2.7 on standard size wheels is an amazing drive.

If you have bought the biggest house you will need in this life, and paid off the mortgage, and got £500,000 in your pension fund, and all the cash you may need for Uni fees, and £100,000 in cash for a rainy day, then, and ONLY then can you justify pi$$ing away money on a tin box that can only depreciate. We're in a recession, you could lose your job. The mid life crisis / insecurity will pass.

Hh45 - who are you to advise someone that bullshit?

Fella I used to work with bought one (an early one). Had been an owners club car so FSH, well looked after etc. Cost him £6k in the first year alone! I'm guessing they're not all like that but blimey...

hh45 - most boring person in the world. Do you enjoy Antiques Roadshow?

Had one for the summer last year, was fantastic fun for the money, all in cost less than a mediocre weeks holiday in spain to run it for 12 months. I'd highly recommend having a nose around here:

www.boxa.net

absolute wealth of info, and a very helpful bunch of guys/girls on there.

Best advice I can give if find a decent indy nearby and pay them to look over the car before you buy it, I'm pretty handy with cars but it's great to have someone knowledgable to chat to about the car, however nice the seller may be (and maybe even a porsche enthusiast) but they're still out to sell the car.

If you do get on don't even dream of posting a pic on here, I'll be dead jealous, I miss mine a lot, and if the reason we chopped it in wasn't my first born son I'd be resenting selling it, but he just about makes up for it!

go for a 2.7 over a 2.5, much better engine early 2.5 boxter had know engine faults.

I currently own a Cayman S which we have had since 1yrs old, the car has been fault free for the 2 years we have currently owned it. A mate of mine has had an early 2.7 boxter which he also had from about 2yrs old and kept for 3yrs and again was fault free. He has also owned a Cayenne which he has recently sold after 2 yrs of ownership, and guess what?? Fault free again.

so between us, 3 Porsche cars between the 2 of us totaling 7yrs of ownership all with out any probs.

Yes when the cars are in warrenty, Porsche servicing at main dealers are expensive. But for older cars plenty of specialists around, pads and discs can be had a decent prices from OEM parts suppliers. Tyres are what you cant avoid price wise, but any decent sportie car is in the same situation. Get a price for a tyre for say a golf GTI etc they make your eyes water nearly as much as a tyre for a porsche.

Tyre wear on my Cayman has been great, 25000miles from new and i put some new rubber on the rears (old ones still had 3mm left when taken off) but it was coming to winter so i wanted new tyres for the wife who uses it daily. Front tyres are still on from new, now have 5mm left on em after 34000 miles and the rears are still like new since getting new un's 9000 miles ago.

So for me 2x rear tyres in 34000miles of use from the car being new (cost £550 to replace the 2), front tyres are still on the originals and as said still have about 5mm left on em. i have had front brake pads replaced at 25000miles (£160), 20k serv by Porsche main dealer £400 and will be due another september next year or when the cars done 40k.

so for me servicing, tyres & pads has cost me just over £1100 on the car from new to 3yrs old. Excluding the cost of the car in the 1st place, i bet sum ut like a focus ST or golf GTI, Astra VXR would cost as much maintance wise. If not more, as i cant see front wheel drive cars that pump out nearly 300HP will be any wear near as good as the Cayman tyre wear wise. The engine being in the middle on the cayman makes it very well balanced, and inturn tyre wear is awsome IMHO

If you just fancy a laugh, save the cash and get a mk1 mx5.
Otherwise, £7k will get you a nice standard RX7 with a couple of grand left over for your first thousand miles of petrol.
How about an Infinti G35 coupe? Then again, if you don't like the 350Z maybe not.

S2000 again. Maybe even get a supercharged one for that if you're lucky.

I've had a 986 3.2 Boxster S and a S2000. Loved the Porsche but preferred the Honda. Would have another S2000 tomorrow. The Porsche had more grunt and was quicker although not by much if you drove the S2000 like it was designed, hard! Screamed all the way to 9200 rpm.

Dibs on the MX5. I had a Jap import Eunos Roadster that my wife gave me and it was ace! Terrific fun to drive - even going slowly felt quick and the rear wheel drive made for good sport. I still hanker after one as it was just so much fun. I'll raise your Astra with a C4 Grand Picasso - under 25000 miles and it needs new driveshafts! WTF!?!?! The gear box has some interesting foibles, the bulkhead filled with water, the drivers door regularly fills with water etc. To think I could have had a Passat Sport Estate instead. Doh!

Sanny

Thanks for all the advice, whats peoples views on 'tiptronic'? Just found a nice low miles Boxter S 3.2 But its Tip.
Is that just Porsche speak for Auto?

Yep - the 'flappy paddle' auto box, or in Porsche's case a 'pushy button' box. No idea why Porsche decided that they'd put the gear change on the front of the steering wheel rather than the back like everyone else.

I've got a tiptronic box in my 997 and it's perfectly fine. Probably not the 'drivers' choice, but that's personal preference.

Should be fine and dandy for ya's, it's only a flappy paddle box afterall..
My mate (old mate now) had a BoxyS 3.2, he loved it, Black, nice wheels, red trim that kinda thing, he was a keen skier and bought a roof rack thing for it from Thule and even though it was a bit like an oil rig it actually fitted the car really well and made the car (for him) very practical. He ran his daily/trips to the Alps/Sweden (a lot), only form of transport just him and his Mrs and I think (haven't spoken to him in a couple of years) he's got a Cayman now, a white one with big wheels on it IIRC.
Seems like good fun if you ask me.

buy a Maxi, or an Avenger, or a Princess everything else is just an unhappy compromise.

Other than looks, I don't get the original Boxster - the R32 Golf is as quick in a straight line and not that much slower in the bends, and can take several bikes in the boot!

what the hell is wrong with you people..!!?

seriously.. why not blow the moolah on psychedelic drugs and broad-minded women instead..?

much more stimulating, wholesome, creative, fulfilling and manly

your children will thank you for it..

I think i love you Yunki, fancy a Peyote sweatlodge trip sometime?

You could save yourself a load of money and buy an MR2 Turbo.

£4k will get you a low mileage, fresly imported example.

242 bhp, mid-engined, lsd, Toyota reliability and it'll take a roof rack with 2 bikes!

Then spend the rest on what Yunki said.

Otherwise, £7k will get you a nice standard RX7 with a couple of grand left over for your first thousand miles of petrol.

A friend had two Boxster engine replacements in the space of 18 months. He wasn't thrashing it or crashing it.

a mate loves his quick cars and bought one but decided it wasn't that great so chopped it in for a Z4 m series which he disliked equally as much. He's now got a 911 which he loves and he said you can't compare a boxster with a 911. He's a bit of a posh tw..

He said it was the most expensive to keep going

Its a brave man that spends 7k on an RX7. In fact, its a brave man that spends any money on an RX7.

Elise looks a bit too er... niche for me, K Series are trouble too.

Lotus rebuilt them with metal dowels and better gasgets so should be no problems, if you're still worried the cooling system can be re-plummed in the conventional way at the expense of waitign longer for the engine to warm up.

Check the clutch hose has been replaced though with a metal or braided replacement.

The Flying Ox - Member
And they're achingly gorgeous cars

Not getting carried away I see... 😉

If you can only afford Boxster's below £7k, does this mean you can't afford to run them ie if something goes badly wrong?

The boxster line up had two versions the 986 and 987. I'd ignore the 2.5, although 208hp is not that slow in a light car!) The 2.7 and S versions had various face lifts over the years and engine upgrades.

If i was set on a Boxster I'd go down either one of two routes - really try and stretch to a facelift mark 1 986 from 2003 onwards - on top of the 2.7 being upgraded to 227hp, the trim and interior quality is a step up. Either that or an early 987 from circa 2005 with again power upgrades, significant interior improvements and most of all better steering IMO. Oh, and ignore the split rim alloys - corrode and need continual referb.

I've explained on different threads that looks are an entirely subjective thing. I'm aware others may see the RX7 as bulbous Jap crap, but I'm not one of them.

Have a look here http://www.911box.co.uk/ if you are Kent/Surrey/S London area. Pat & Geoff know lots about Porsche. My brother has had a couple of 911's from them over the last few years and they did a cracking job on selling a Merc 500SL for me - their stock tends to be a bit pricey but for advice and servicing they are pretty good. HTH (enjoy whatever you get!)

I've had a 2.7 Boxster for a couple of years now and love it. It isn't my main car but I do use it for trips away with the bike on the back. Tax, insurance, servicing and fuel consumption aren't excessive. Yes, repair bills can be pricey but they can be with any car and hopefully few will be needed.
If you really fancy a Porsche - go for it. If you just want a little convertible there'll probably but more sensible choices.

Wife almost literally had a run in with a Boxster on the M62/M6 interchange, where the boxster driver seemed intent on running her onto the hard shoulder. Memorable private plate so she called the plod and it eventually went to court, he was charged with careless driving. Didn't stick sadly, but the scare may have made him change his driving ways. Since seen him texting on the M62 though, so maybe not, and he's progressed to an Audi TT so maybe the Boxster phase was shortlived for him.

Sadly it is episodes like this that result in drivers or certain cars being stereotyped, and consequently neither my wife or I are keen on Boxster type drivers.

It's a weekend car - so your mileage won't be *that* high will it?

Some real good advise here.
Glad I asked.

Been doing a bit of homework and actually dont like the styling on the latest ones. The interior estesially the dash is a bit borring dare I say.
Cerberra...tempting but to scary for me.!

So I have my heart set on a 2.7 around 2005 ish.
May end-up spending a bit more than I had wished but there you go.
Looking at one on Saturday and taking the wife, she will almost certainly fall in love with it, so watch this space.

Sorry forgot to say...
No miles wont be that much, holidays and highdays really so less than 4k per year tops.

Well done you!.

Should be a good weekend here for top down'idge.

Jerseychaz
Thanks for the link.

I may just book a veiwing on the blue one. (last one in list)
Very nice.

K series aren't really trouble in an S1 - they aren't really stressed by the weight of the car.

Worst bit is cooling at front, engine at back. It's hypothesised that the HGF issues you're probably thinking of may be caused by the shift in temp causing the head to expand and contract .. but I think it's what cooling is supposed to do .. maybe it's where the water goes in ❓

I spent way more on suspension and tyres than I did on the engine, in terms of maintenance.

I've explained on different threads that looks are an entirely subjective thing. I'm aware others may see the RX7 as bulbous Jap crap, but I'm not one of them.

Love the way they look, applaud the individualism of a rotary, couldn't live with the result though 🙁 - unreliable and uneconomic. I think they've been retired now.

Love the way they look, applaud the individualism of a rotary, couldn't live with the result though - unreliable and uneconomic. I think they've been retired now.

That, and the fact they use more petrol than any of their competitors by a country mile and use more oil than they use petrol.

The choice is easy

VX220 Turbo

Cheap, reliable, fast and peanut servicing costs

And a Vauxhall key fob 😉

People are always focused on whatever they want. Dude buy the car and close the thread, you know you want it, so put up and shut up! 🙂

Tipinman, owner of a real Porsche, a 911 C4S. Two years ownership, zero problems.

Love the way they look, applaud the individualism of a rotary, couldn't live with the result though - unreliable and uneconomic. I think they've been retired now.

I especially like the fact that if you start the engine it has to be left running for several minutes before you can switch it off again. That would be a real PITA if you just needed to move the car to let someone out of your drive.

That, and the fact they use more petrol than any of their competitors by a country mile and use more oil than they use petrol.

and they sound the mutt's nuts

Don't get me wrong, I think they are a great car and have some big plus points (the power of the engine and the looks) but have some massive downsides. Three years ago I looked into getting one but decided on a TT instead - *slightly* down on performance but almost half the fuel consumption in most driving conditions. And I didn't have to top up the oil more than twice in three years.

Can you ping me your email addy (not in your profile), yes I'm a dealer, but I won't try to sell you anything, just want to give some friendly advice 😉

A Boxter would be on my shopping list for a weekend car, but so would an MX5 Mk 1 or Mk 2, Elise S1, Caterham/Westfield. I'd love to add TVR but a friends experience put me off them.

Get one.. brilliant fun.

Had my 911 for 2yrs - still (sort of) looking for a bike rack for the roof!

[IMG] [/IMG]

[IMG] [/IMG]

Digger90 - Member
Get one.. brilliant fun.

Had my 911 for 2yrs - still (sort of) looking for a bike rack for the roof!

I got the dealer to throw one in when I bought it a couple of years back. Quite a practical car considering...

[IMG] [/IMG]