delon

i'm looking to buy a Porsche Boxster Base, i found a Porsche dealer selling a 2010 Boxster midnight blue with beige interior/ Navi/PDK/ sound package +/heated seats/windstop/ 18" Boxster S II wheels with 8,000 miles (executive car?). Base price of $59,835.....sale price at $44,995 with the remaining extended warranty( 3 yrs) + 1 year demo extended enhancement warranty. This will be my first porsche. is this a good deal? what should i be looking for a "executive car", should i get it inspected?

BostonDuce

The original net was somewhere around $53k.

Considering that the 2012's are in production, $43k plus oil service.

But clarify the "demo extended enhancement warranty" with some documentation-that's a new term to me.

You can never pay too little.

BD

delon

@Bostonduce: thank you for the reply. "demo extended enhancement warranty" was just another 1 year added "bumper-bumper warranty" to the remaining manufactures warranty.

MVDESQ

I'd say try to get it for low 40's as I bet there is back room funny money on that car to move it. I've considered the PDK too but those clutches scare the hell out of me. I know Ferrari F1's in 360's and 430's are lucky if they last 15k miles. While those are single clutch and this is dual I'm sure it lasts a bit longer, but i'm sure there is slippage built in that wears them down. These things are too new to know the real world ramifications yet. However, I will say the PDK is awesome but the wheel mounted shifters are garage, it really needs column mounted shifters like an exotic as the wheel ones are worthless in turns.

Macster

'executive car' may mean the car was used by some high muckity muck at the dealer for his (or her) daily transportation (or in some cases the wife's transportation). However, most high muckity mucks would not drive a base Boxster, but a higher end car, so 'executive car' is probably dealer speak for 'demo/loaner'.

The car was used for a demo/loaner is my guess.

Let's see, assuming the dealer's markup is 13%, the car cost the dealer $52K (in round numbers).

The instant the car was sold/registered the car depreciated 10% from this number to $46.8K. Then when the 2011's came out the car depreciated another 10% to $42.1K.

Hmmm... The dealer's offering the car at a price pretty close to the its estimated depreciated value. And with plenty of warranty and that extra year on top which is probably being underwritten by the dealer, which means the dealer will decide what's covered and by how much. I'd have to see the fine print on that '1 year demo extended enhancement warranty'.

I don't know. I'm always leery of a demo/loaner car though many have bought them and had very good experiences.

Oh, inspect the car for sure. It is not uncommon for a loaner/demo car to be bent from an accident. Oftentimes these are not severe though I spotted one base Boxster on a Texas dealer's back lot that was really hammered: Both air bags were deployed -- happened during a test drive and IIRC not the salesman/buyer fault. But still you want to be sure the car is free of any signs of poor body/paint work.

Ask to see a complete service record of the car. Find out what services are due based on time or miles. This can be not only oil/filter, but a brake fluid flush/bleed. Ask to see alignment paperwork or if not available insist a full 4 wheel alignment part of the deal. Get an alignnent printout showing the before and after numbers too.

Give the car a through test ride/drive. If you want more details on what this should involve ask or send me a PM and I'll respond.

The car might be ok. But you want to give the car a thorough checkout. I mean at this stage it is a used car and a proper/thorough used car checkout is a pretty involved checkout.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Macster

Actually with the PDK clutches there's very little slippage. And it is done under computer control. And the clutches wet. The clutches (brake bands) on regular transmissions last and last and last, so PDK clutch wear doesn't scare me.

But I would treat the PDK to an early fluid/filter service and regular fluid/filter services thereafter, just like I would a regular automatic were I to own a car equipped with either transmission.

On a related note, my info is that at least in some Porsche models with PDK and launch control Porsche doesn't audit the number of times launch control has been used.

Even so, I'd not use launch control on a new/unbroken in car or one with orignal engine oil/filter still present, or with the original PDK fluid/filter service still present but after engine break in, after the engine had an early oil/filter service, after the PDK had an early oil/filter service, I'd use it, once or twice. I watched a tech demo this once to a customer in the customer's car. Impressive to say the least.

Oh, yeah, other F1 style manu-matics suck. Short clutch life is a real problem. Which is why more companies are moving towards the dual clutch transmission solution though. And some of these will have 9 speeds.

Sincerely,

Macster.

delon

@Macster: Thank you so much for the info, i'll keep in mind about ur recomendation.