saabin

I’m really mad at myself for letting this one get away…

SO our neighborhood has a local yahoo group that people can post to about neighborhood issues, items for sale, etc.. I get on average 2 ot 3 emails a day from it.. don’t pay a whole lot of attention to them usually..

I was at work the other day and this post comes thru from one of the , ahem, “elderly” people in the ‘hood. Lady says she is having more back problems and is now selling her pride and joy because she can’t drive it anymore.. a 2004 Boxster. I’m kinda surprised as I’ve never seen the car in the neighborhood before..

I email her back right before I leave work and enquire about price, etc. I honestly don’t know a whole lot about the 986.

I don’t get a response until after 10pm that night…

2004 Boxster
31000 miles
Manual tranny
Original owner, always garaged, never driven in bad weather.
Silver ext, black interior
All service records/maint up to date. IMS pre-emptively replaced 2 years ago.
Everything works, only issue was a broken gas cap strap.

Price: 11K firm.

I email her right back that yes I want to see the car.

Well, I’ve been very busy at work lately and the earliest I could get over there to see in person was 5pm the next day. I set up an appt to see in person.

As I was leaving work at 4pm the next day to come see it, I get an email from her that someone else in the ‘hood just came by and bought it..

And to make matters worse, I saw the car in person last night parked on the street a few blocks away (new owner is already enjoying it) and I REALLY am mad I reacted too slowly on this..

grc0456

Too bad, but there will be plenty of other fish in the sea. But she should have given you a shot, maybe gotten a better price.

Macster

Once in awhile a good car gets away. Couple of years ago just after I brought my Mom and Dad out to live with me -- they could no longer live on their own -- I needed a car suitable for transporting them. The Boxster and the Turbo were just not the best cars for very elderly people.

I found a very nice looking 2006 Crown Vic Interceptor in white. Now usually police cars are all beat to heck and with big miles, but this was very nice looking car and had just 50K miles. I did some research and was told it was likely a chief's car that he used just to drive back and forth to the police station. It never was involved in any high speed pursuits, never carried any suspects, drunks, etc. and I should snap it up before someone bought it and turned it into a cab.

Well, the asking price was a bit high and I just didn't feel like paying it. But with Mom and Dad newly arrived and me dealing with getting them back up to speed regarding their medical care and such plus work I just didn't have the time to drive to the car -- located about 40 miles from where I live -- to negotiate.

As a result the car sold and I had to make do with ferrying Mom and Dad -- separately although Dad managed to squeeze into the back seat of the Turbo (!) a few times when I took Mom to the eye doctor -- to the doctor and Walmart and the grocery store in the Boxster or later the Turbo when I needed to carry a wheel chair.

saabin

Yeah, I wasnt actively looking nor in the market, so it was just one of those "Cars of Opportunity" that pops up now and then..

Disaster

I got in a bidding war on a boxster this summer. It had an immaculate service record including a intermediate shaft bearing upgrade and the owner listed it for $10k. In my last email I offered $13,5. He sold it before I could get over that night to see it. I wish I had offered more because the car I finally picked up for $10,5 ended up costing me $3k in service catch up and is still running on it's original bearing.

sugarwood

Was that really such a rare find?
Low mileage Base Boxsters seem common, and at a lower price.
For $14k you can get an S, which is much more desirable.

mtgadbois

Just trolling around here but as a Porsche car owner for 34 years here goes:
1972 911T S/R coupe with 26K miles for $6500 (former museum car) passed on it 'cause I was stupid
1988 911 Cab with Turbo body for $20K, some SOB bought it 3 hours before it was to be shown to me
1972 911T Targa with 100K for $4K asking - on vacation when I found it and too afraid to drive it home.
And a long time ago
1968 Hemi Belvidere for $2200 cause I was too afraid to see if I could pay for insurance.
1969 Ford Boss 302 for ? just sitting on the side of the road in Wisc. with a for sale sign.
At least I didn't let the 1997 911 Turbo get away in 2007 - still have it.

Mark near Chicago

Shred

Me personally, I feel like the Boxster 986 needs to age in terms of miles to be better, like around 90k. What I mean is, look for a car with all the 'early revision' parts which are bound to fail and expensive to fix replaced/already taken care of.

Seems to me a low mileage one is a bigger risk with plenty of costs which are bounce to happen.
That's just my experience, of course it's hard to find a car like that, since most cars out there don't have full service records.

bwdz

If it isn't meant to be don't sweat it. Personally I wasn't even looking for my Boxster. I stopped by my buddy's shop and it was sitting there. I asked who's car it was and he told me it was a regular customer's wife and he bought her something new. I called her and pried around for the info. Offered her $2500 which she found insulting and she came back with $3k. I promptly went and gave her the 3k (it did only have 64k and my buddy just serviced it after the winter and put new brakes on it) She told me to come to the garage and pick up the extras she has, didn't know about them but sure I'll take them, it was a hardtop, a custom cover bought from the dealer and a set of BBS rims with new winter tires. I feel like I scored. I sold the hardtop for $800 and repaired the broken arm in the top (only thing that did not work correctly) so I am sitting at $2260 for this wonderful little car. It has a couple parking lot dings and some minor scratches but you have to look closely for them. I only put 2k miles on it this season so I haven't even changed the oil on it so I have zero maintenance $$ in it so far.

sugarwood

How does someone sell their Boxster for $3000?
Did they make any attempt to sell it ?

Macster

The only things that had "failed" on my 2002 at 90K miles was the RMS (at 25K miles and fixed under warranty), a rear wheel bearing, and the AOS.

Not until over 170K miles did the water pump fail. Fuel pump quit at around 200K miles.

Oh, and a couple of O2 sensors between 90K and 172K miles.

bwdz

I'm sure that is about what they were offered wholesale from the dealer, I really don't know. I called and said I heard it was for sale, she said what are you thinking, I said $2500, she said that is too low and she would need 3k and I said sure I'll come by in an hour with cash. Oh and I just sold the extra wheels that came with it for 700 and still have a set of Blizzak snow tires to sell so now the total is $1760 into the car and going down, I'd love to be at 1500 before something breaks and the number starts climbing.

Shred

@Macster: I think your Boxster is one of the most reliable I've ever heard of with its miles. Has it been on the track much?

My 03 986S history:
AOS failed at 89k
3rd Waterpump at 105k (2nd pump was Pierberg and the pulley came off with only 34k miles on it)
Ignition switch - 62k
Right Radiator fan - 85k
Left door lock assembly 90k
Camshaft Sensor bank 1-3 98k
Camshaft sensor bank 4-6 90k
Crankshaft sensor 98k
Coolant tank replaced - 30k
Power steering tank leak - 112k (DIY replaced the pump, return line and tank while in there and also cleaned the Throattle body while out.
IMS replaced with LN Eng. at 95k (no problem with the previous IMS, car full qualified for Retrofit)
Gearbox replaced at 60k (by 1st owner)
I just replaced all 4 lower control arms to solve the noise issue. Easy DIYs

I have to say though, most were minor things and wear items like waterpump.
Overall, the car is reliable and still running strong at 113k, best sports car for the money (if you can DIY most easy things) as everybody already knows.