matt777

This guy dropped by my place last night to pick-up my Cup IIs and PS2s for his Boxster that he just paid $11k for. He was intending to drive it year round. I ended up installing the tires for him and he put the old set of 18" junkers in the car! One in each of the trunks and 2 side by side in the passenger seat. I was somewhat impressed at how much more storage space the Boxster had and got to thinking that it might make a good daily driver. Hmmmm

Rinty

Well, when I was a student at U of A, I drove an MG Midget year round.

And after each spring semester, when I returned to Calgary, I'd put in a new exhaust header pipe.

matt777

Aren't you kinda tall for an MG Midget?

Chuck W.

I 've got an '01 Boxster S I bought new in 2001. The sticker on it was over 60K. With 18K miles on it, it is worth perhaps $20K. There are some great buys out there on well optioned Boxsters. It is a fun car to drive. Completely differant than the 993, but a great car. There is the IMS concern, but there is now a fix for it for under $1K if you do it yourself and $2K if you have it done. The trans has to be dropped. The gas mileage is very good; 28 MPG on the highway.

Harry L

I pretty regularly see Boxsters on CL in the $7,500 range and have been thinking about picking one up as a third car/"beater"/make-the-wife-happy (she wants a convertible) purchase.

But I would need to get a license plate frame that says "My other car is a 993."

I have always thought that, if I were to get a Boxster, I would put Cup IIs on it. But I have never seen anyone do it.

How did it look?

Do you have photos?

matt777

The guy was asking me what I thought and I said they looked like they belonged. We tried them with and without 5/8 spacers and the fitment was fine both ways. Didn't Boxsters come with a similar wheel? I didn't get any photos.

race911

Now that the smart is gone, I look at them again. Intermediate shaft bearing problems aside (or rear main seals), I just can't get past the "cheapest Porsche and who owns them" syndrome. Saw it with 914s, 924s, and 944s as they morphed from nice new/newish cars to neglected because the people who own them are usually strapped for cash. From that point, you've usually got an owner who just drives it into the ground.

So now you've moved into the $15K+ range, and if you're there why not spend the extra $10K for a 987? And if you're spending $25K, why not consider another 964/993? Or another E90 BMW like my wife's that I've put 1500 fantastically comfortable miles on in the past week.............

Harry L

I think that early Boxsters came with a 17" wheel that, to me, looks like a cross between Cup IIs and 18" twists.

matt777

Whether I could find one I liked for $12k or not is a whole other discussion. I don't know if I want something that's too rough around the edges. Spending more money just gets me a car that is still depreciating. Perhaps I should just throw new coil overs,a chip and some new wheels into the A3. I think it would respond nicely.

vjd3

The early Boxster (non S) had 16" rims standard, but almost every car you ever saw was ordered with the Sport Package, which included the 17" rims. I was on the waiting list for the car when it came out in 97, but passed on it after the test drive.

Changed my mind in 01. The Boxster is the only brand new Porsche I've owned; I bought an 01 non-S car on Sept. 7, 2001 and drove it from Tampa to Boston, detouring for the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a fun ride and a great way to spend a weekend. Then I was driving it to work on the morning of Sept 11, and it just kind of spoiled the car for me -- I associated that car with what happened and didn't feel like driving it after that. I traded it in the spring for a 95 Carrera 4 coupe.

They are fun to drive, though ... almost fell for an anniversary model (brown metallic with cocoa brown natural leather and GT silver rims) in 07, but came to my senses and bought the 97 cab I own now.

I was just over at the Starbucks and there was a black Cayman S in the lot ... some guy walked by it and said to his buddy, man if they made that as a convertible, I'd be all over it. LOL

Harry L

I agree with the cheap Boxster dilemma.

Somehow, I can't get myself to buy any Porsche "on the cheap" because I know what that means in terms of:

(A) prior ownership/maintenance practices (i.e., very different than those most of us employ);

(B) costs going forward; and

(C) the taint and shame of driving a Porsche that is not as pristine and/or solid as it should be.

TMc993

The RMS/IMS problem in Boxsters is one thing, but there are other significant issues that can develop, particularly in the earlier production runs...For the details on these issues, see the discussion on pg. 28-32 of the Tech Notes column in the December 2010 issue of Excellence.

JM993

That's funny, Mark D and I were just discussing this yesterday. I'm seriously considering picking a Boxster up sometime next year. Although you can buy non-S cars all day for around $7-8K, I'd probably hold our for an S which I've seen in the $13-17K range. The S has a lot of nice upgrades: Porsche sourced 6speed instead of Audi sourced 5speed, more displacement, better suspension, brakes, etc.

There's the IMS issue, but as Chuck states, there is now a preventative fix. The only other major concern is cracked heads/intermix. But at the prices these cars are commanding, there's not a huge risk.

Cheers,
Joe

Renaud Bizet

Prior to owning my daily driver 993 I have been using a 2000 Boxster S for 6 years as a daily driver as well. The car had been great, very confidence inspiring handling, very reliable, easy and cheap to work on. I could not care less about the RMS leak issue, would be worried about the IMS but as it was pointed out can be addressed now with a retrofit from LN Engineering.
Even at the track it was a lot of fun, and embarrassed more expensive machinery.
Would have to agree that more than any other Porsche model you have to pick one that was owned by a true enthusiast and not somebody who just wanted to own a Porsche on the cheap. Biggest issue is depreciation but if you get one of the earlier ones then you are pretty safe. Honestly I felt that the 986 had 90% of the fun of the 987 so personally I would rather own a pristine 986S and take the depreciation factor out of the equation.
As a point of reference I bought my car in mid 2004, it had a $65K sticker and with 17k miles I paid $32K. I sold it in January this year to pick up my 993, and got $20K for it with about 60k on the clock.

RDS928S

I like my daughters 01 S.

Unreal handling & comfort.
Picked it up for $12,700 down south. Came with Techquipment humps & pretty well tricked out.
Its a good daily-might be to low in moderate/deep snow.

Rich