944S2NUT

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Brent 89-GT:
<strong>DougC, Look around, the values already have dropped out of sight. You can buy '97-99 Boxsters for $20k all day long. Those cars sold for a good $50k new, as virtually none of them sell anywhere near base price. It is pretty bad when my 14 yr old, 75k mile 928, commands the same price as a 5 yr old Boxster with half the miles.

I do think they are great little cars. They sound almost as good as my V8, they are droptops, they have great style and the performance is good enough for all but serious power junkies. If I had another garage space, I just might.......</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Even in USD I havent seen boxters go that cheap. Even if there was one priced at that, I wouldn't touch it something must be seriously wrong.

944S2NUT

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Sean:
<strong>A current rumor is that Porsche will start limiting production of the Boxster a bit, in order to help keep resale values from further plummeting. That is, they will limit the numbers of cars sent out to dealers.

As someone once told me, "Porsche does not like to see Boxsters lining up at Fred's Used Car Lot."

Porsche is in the business of selling new cars. And quite simply, the lower resale value hurts sales of new Porsches. Why buy a 2003 Boxster S when you can get a 2002 and save $20k? A lot of people are seeing these resale values and questioning why they should pony up the cash to buy a brand new Porsche. This is one of the reasons (albeit not the only reason) that Boxster sales have fallen recently.

BTW, yes the Boxster did debut before the 996. The 986 & 996 share some 40% of components...pretty much from the front seats forward they are the same car. Same dash, front console, front chassis, etc.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">I believe tail lights aswell. A friend of mine order the 996 tail lights from his buddy at strutg.

Brent 89-GT

If you haven't seen them that cheap, you were not looking very hard. A search of auto trader reveals 20 '97-99 Boxsters under $22k. There are at least 10 viable looking choices in that group, several under 50k miles. I would not assume there is something wrong with them. The market is flush with them right now, there are 121 <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="eek.gif" /> on ebay right now. Two of them for sure are within a whisker of $20k, likely many more than that when the auctions end with unsold cars.

Silverbullet951

Boring plastic interior is very true. I saw a late 90's model (98), and the interior look was very disappointing. I've seen better interiors in some japanese cars. All i know is that the boxster will most likely hit rock bottom, but it wont recover because those motors are not even close to as easy to work on or upgrade as our cars are. meanwhile, The 951 has been going up in price hasn't it? I saw an 87 go for 16 K an 86 go for close to that and I don't see any 88s at all. to tell you the truth, I see more 89s than 88s.

M758

I have heard about a lot of engine replacements in Boxster and 996s. To me this really sucks. Sure the 944 line has had its issues, but to buy and 20k boxster and then have to replace the engine after a couple years is quite spooky.

Not sure if they really are a good car for us who either can't or won't spend big money on a New P-car and really rely on a few years depreciation.

Porsh-uh

Exactly Deni... I hate when people start ragging on Porsche for making smart business decisions and "selling out". Hey- they HAVE to survive. Would you rather have Porsche making the most kick-*** SUV on the planet and thriving or going bankrupt and folding? Porsche is a little fish in a pond full of much bigger fish and they seems to be doing pretty well for themselves considering. I would gladly take Porsche doing what it can to stay independant rather than LITERALLY selling out to VW or some other large manufacturer and being told what direction to go in.

ringo951

For these prices I'll start looking. They are fun.

txhedg

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by M758:
<strong>I have heard about a lot of engine replacements in Boxster and 996s. To me this really sucks. Sure the 944 line has had its issues, but to buy and 20k boxster and then have to replace the engine after a couple years is quite spooky.
</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Kinda like spending $15k on a 951S and spinning the #2 bearing???? IMHO, given how many of the boxsters have been made in the last 6 years, and how many of the owners are either (1) posers who buy them because they are cool, and (2) enthusiats who buy them and flog them at the track, the number of engine failures seems pretty reasonable, IMHO. Seems like most of the failures were in the 2.5L models, and failed in the first 20k or so. I have not yet heard of PCNA NOT covering a blown engine, btw. Even when I'm sure some of them were due to a 5th to 2nd "money shift".

This thread got me thinking, and I went and looked at the completed auctions on Ebay. For the life of me, I could only find 2 or 3 auctions that actually closed (met the reserve price). For the most part it seemed like the market for a 97/98 Box was $20k bid at $26 offered (reserve), and the 2.7L (2000+) $24-$25k bid @ $30-$34k offer.

And as a previous owner of a '98 boxster (both street and some track time), at $20k for even the small motored 2.5L, that is a SCREAMING buy IMHO.

I thought build quality on mine was very good btw, and actually thought the interior was fine.

deni durrell

the boxster people seem to not have much to say about this, hmmm....

<a href="http://forums.rennlist.com/forums/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=000603" target="_blank">link</a>

oh, but there seems to be *one* guys saying something, if i listen closely, i can make out some faint noises, but i'm not sure i know what it is.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">No front engine. Hmmm. That alone has to bug our 944 brethren.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">

Brent 89-GT

As far as I know the engine problem was a limited run of early Boxsters. Most if not all been taken care of gratis. I have never heard of this problem on the 996.

At least try to be forthright in the dicussion. Throwing garbage talk out there doesn't do anybody any good.

I really do think that about $20k will buy a nice early Boxster. That is a bargain IMO.

Silverbullet951

I found one on autotrader for about 15K. It was in good condition too.

M758

My information comes from visits to the local dealer and the seemingly large number of engines both 996 and boxster models that are being replaced by the techs. Sure PCNA is paying for them under warrenty, but what happens to it when the car is NOT under warrenty.

BTW the 944 rod bearing is really not an issue except for high milage or heavily track driven cars. Oil and Coolant mixing was a big issue back in the day.

Sean

With regard to M96 catastrophic engine failures, my understanding is that the bulk occured in the first 2.5L engines. And those failed due to "slipped sleeves," thanks to Porsche perfecting a new block casting process. Now that they have the process under control, the quality of the engine build does not seem to be a problem.

Note that BMW has experienced similar engine failure problems with its E46 M3. But I would not kick an M3 out of my garage! The problems at BMW were so bad that they increased warranty coverage to 6 years! Good for BMW.

As time passes we are getting a pretty clear picture of Boxster design quality. And the good news is that there have been no major problems to date. If there were SERIOUS problems with 986 longevity, we would be hearing about them by now. Instead, there are a lot of high mileage Boxsters out there....that gives at least some assurance about the longevity of these cars.

There will always be maintenance & repair horror stories - I just looked at a 951 that has 12 miles on a $3500 repair bill (timing belt snapped!) - but so far, the Boxster seems to be holding up pretty well.

Will it depreciate? Yes, but only for the next 40 years. Then watch the curve start to go back in the right direction.

JGriff

Thirteen years ago, my S2 cost the same as a new Boxster today!! Perhaps the prices were inflated back then... but nonetheless... I'm driving what... a $70k car, in "today's" dollars?

And... my S2 has more HP/Torque!! (At least versus the early and base-model Boxsters... not versus the Boxster S.)

And my S2 has near-perfect 50/50 weight distribution... and very forgiving handling.

And my S2 has a back seat... which means that I will be able to put my two little boys back there eventually, for country-road driving and trips to the local auto-x.

And my S2 cost me half what a used Boxster is selling for now.

Looks like I'll be keeping my S2 for quite a while (unless for some reason I am tempted by a 911 C4).