autobahnNY

What I mean by offensive is the way you express your opinion. Take a look at some of the past threads you have replied in. I don't think I'm the only one who thinks you 'r rude and offend people when you express your opinion. Believe me, I'm not here crying over you're comments, but you seem to be a bit of a...nevermind. I need therapy huh? Yea, ok...I'll let you be.

ELUSIVE

I have not yet tracked my 987S and I really don't plan on it anytime soon. Not because it's not a capable track toy, but because my family has 3 fully built race cars (including a 2005 World Challenge Touring Car and a 1987 Porsche 944 ITS car) that I can jump in and drive whenever I want.

I am at different tracks all over the country just about every other weekend or so and I see many newer porsches quite often and talk with many of the owners. These cars while they have electronic toys inside if you will are pure performance machines with amazing reliability.

On the street they are far more than just grocery getters and the new porshes are in my opinion superior in every way to the older ones.

As far as reliability goes, I just recently read a JD power survey which showed reliability of 2002 vehicles over the last several years. Lexus was #1, and Porsche was #2. Somehow I don't think that was the case in the mid 80's.

The original thread was one in which FormulaRX was being the bigger person and saying, wow, as much as I've never been a big fan of the Boxster, I saw one and it was beautiful...and now i'm going to go drive one. I have no doubt that he/she will love it. Will it perform like a new 997S?...probably not, but for $25K it's sure pretty close.

FormulaRX..please don't believe this about the Boxster. At the local PCA events here in Colorado there are many Boxsters running very hard, very often, and many times have some of the fastest lap times of the day.

As far as mechanics, I'm with palting. Most, if not all of them believe that pcars just keep getting better and better. Yes, they have more gadgets, but they have more power, better brakes and perform outstanding.

Check out one of the IMSA GT3 cup races and see how many mechanical failures they have in a field of 25-40 cars. Not very many.

pcar964

Stacey, apparently even with all your racing background, you still don't know that the GT3 cars have little in common with street versions of 996s. Please do some research on this, there is little correlation between those cars and street cars, unless you're talking about the limited production street GT3s.

pcar964

Your experiences are far different from mine, but equally valid, thanks for sharing - I will however point out, that I was not trying to compare the 996s to 986s in terms of quality, because ALL the new Pcars are built with this new mass-produced mentality, not just the boxsters.

pcar964

You obviously have a problem with some of my earlier posts, which is irrelevant- I don't know what that has to do with my posts on this thread - I state my opinion about boxsters based on my experiences, and I'm accused of being offensive.

Like I said, if you're personally offended by comments from someone you don't know.. about a CAR no less... please get some perspective, it's not worth getting upset over.

SJP3003

I just traded in a hard-core track car (Elise) for a new left-over '04 Boxster S. I previously owned a 996 & also never considered the Boxster much. Could not be happier with trade after the first 300 miles.

pcar964

Why did you trade in your Elise? I've driven a couple, they're a lot of fun but pretty soft even with the sport package. Why did you choose a 986 over another 996, was it the convertible factor, or something else?

mooty

elise is NOT A HARDCORE track car. ppl just don't get it. it's WAY TOO SOFT. i got one, i thrashed it around thus i know.

i hear some arguments with regard to quality. yes, 996 is build terribly compared to 993. but 993 is a joke compared to 964, and 964 isn't as solid as 911 3.2. i had all of them, and the quality contiues to slip. but that's not just with porsche.

i went to see 3rd gen miata yestreday. compared to my ten 1 and 2 miata, the new one is cheaply built.

i drove the new e46m3, compared to e36 adn e30, the newer car's interior is POS.

my parents have had every S lass from 1970's and each successive version gets more placticky.

HOWEVER, compared p car quality to it's contemporaries, we are still way ahead. sure porsche can make them better. but it will make a boxster cost 90k, a GT3 200k...

i never had the opportunity to track my box S when i had it. but a friend of mine thrashed his around CA tracks for 5 years (over 100 track days) not a prob. i put 8000 miles on various 996's i have had, never a prob.... but a 996c4s that i babied and never tracked, got RMS. a good frined of mine has two 993's, both tracked a lot. one never had prob, the other blows up every other event. they all got problem, so of us just got lucky and got a good car others got something that's build on early monday or late fridays.

Palting

So far, Pcar964 is the only one here claiming bad things about the reliability of the car for the track. He asked for personal experiences on the Boxster at the track. He's gotten it.

Sorry you had a bad experience, Pcar964. So far, nobody else seems to have had the same. On this board, anyway.

sonny1

I hope 986S guys don't have ever a problem with their synchros,because if you do,you have to change the tranny, Porsche don't offer replacement parts for these at all.,to go further, the other day I got to replace a transmission mount for a 996Tip,when I call the dealer for the part, they say="Sir you got to replace the trans,since there is no replacement mount",go figure.,cheers, Sonny.

SJP3003

I traded in the Elise after 5K miles for a stupid detail: the AC can't cope with Miami's hot, humid summer weather when it's in stop & go traffic. I took it in 3 times to get it checked. First time the gas was replaced & carefully measured. Second time the temp sensor was re-located pursuant to a Tech Service Bulletin. Third time (2 weeks ago) the compressor was changed to an updated version with newer pulleys. None of these worked.

The Lotus board has a few threads on this & the conclusion by most is that "they all do that" & it's part of the Lotus experience. Last week I attended the Lotus Owner Group's 25th gathering in St Louis. I heard the same from Elise owners from hot climates like Houston. The AC blows cold for 30 minutes & then dies. It can't overcome the ambient heat combined with the heat the car itself generates. The aluminim sills in the cockpit get very hot as the plumbing that runs front to back to cool the engine is in there. The sills add heat to the cabin that the AC unit can't overcome.

This was not an issue at all between November & May. It became an issue for me during the summer & I had enough after the 3rd attempt to fix it.

I used the Elise as a daily driver & it's quicker & more visceral than a Boxster, but I couldn't rationalize sweating for 4 months out of the year.

I had the sport pack on mine & it didn't find it soft at all...you could feel every nook & cranny of the road & minor potholes were bone-jarring. The Boxster & 996 soak them in by comparison.

I chose the '04 Boxster over the 996, 997 & newer Boxster because:

1) It will be my daily driver and I already have a higher performance GT: a Maser '03 CC Coupe
2) I wanted a convertible since my Maser is a hardtop-- the winter here is ideal for a convertible.
3) I liked the car: Decent HP & handling, nice cabin compared to my previous '99 996, decent Bose sound system, 4 yr warranty & my top choice in colors (boring/classic arctic silver on black) & good options package (preferred Plus).

Today I put a few more break-in miles on the Boxster & wound up picking up a good amount of odd shaped stuff at Home Depot as well as take out dinner for 5 while I tooled around w/ my wife. This Boxster is as practical as a 2 seater convertible can get.

pcar964

I hardly think that you can extrapolate from the few people responding to this thread that nobody else is having problems. Besides, I believe my point has been made, and if you don't accept this, then you're just plain in denial:

Porsche quality is not even close to what it used to be. Saying that "the new pcars are better than the old" simply based on paper numbers, is asanine. If we bought cars based on statistics alone, nobody would own a new pcar, we'd all be in Z06 Vettes.

If you're content to purchase a sportscar that was built as a compromise between highway cruisers and soccer moms in order to cash in off the Porsche name, you're free to do so... However, it's people like you who don't even raise an eyebrow when quality suffers so much, that allow Porsche to continue taking great concepts like the Boxster, and ruining them (imho) with Kia build quality and wet sump motors.

Don't you people understand, that if the majority of you demanded better, we just might all be driving 964/993-quality Boxsters with GT3 motors? That's what Porsche is CAPABLE OF, but instead because of your complacency and capitulation, we have 996s depreciating so fast that most new pcar drivers are LEASING as opposed to buying their cars, diluting the brand in the marketplace.

SJP3003

Whoa...my Elise was hard as a rock...in a good sense. It had the Sport pack & I found myself constantly scanning the road to avoid potholes & ripples that are soaked up by most cars. You can feel every road imperfection in the Elise.

On the sports car spectrum, the Elise w/sport pack was designed closer to the track end of the spectrum than the Boxster for sure. I've done the 2 Day Porsche Driving Experience at Birmingham with 996's where we were also able to try Cayennes and a Boxster in our session. Have done 2 defensive driving schools in various vehicles due to work assignments in hardship countries where there was a chance of finding yourself in a threatening situation while you were driving. Had a 446 RWHP C5 with coil overs & stiffer anti sway bars for tracking. And now own a Maser coupe with adjustable suspension.

By comparison with these, the Elise had relatively stiff suspension. That doesn't mean it's delivered with a race setup...a serious racer would likely put Ohlins' $2500 adjustable units to good use.

kilrgt

Boxster well its a Porsche so I have respect for the crest...however no person can convince me to buy on. I drove an S once...fun car, but I cant believe some of you are comparing it to a 996

SJP3003

Yep I see the Box S as just that, a fun car, actually very fun & practical for a 2 seater. In my case it makes a good daily driver and the soft top is a plus in Florida's winter.

The 996 I had was quicker & sharper.