Shay.shay

Hi!

I waited a long time to buy my first porsche, although my Budget is very limited, I know there must be a rare find somewhere.
I was thinking about a boxster or Cayman.

Any tips? Preferred mileage (Like DO NOT BUY if mileage is more than a certain number)?

ANy piece of information will help!!

Balr14

Any Porsche is probably a bad choice for a "very limited budget", but if I had to chose based on that criteria, I guess I'd pick a Boxster with a manual transmission or tiptronic.

boisenelson

Agree. 986 Boxster with updated IMS and good service history. You can find them all day for under $10k, but don't think you won't need to put money into it every year. Even when little things go wrong with these cars they can add up to significant $$ due to the Porsche name associated with them.

My993C2

It took me 17+ years from when I first wanted to buy a Porsche 911 until I finally did it and it took three rounds of where on round one I absolutely could not afford one, but still wanted one. To round two a few years later where I could kind of afford one, but something in the back of my head told me the time was not ideal. To finally a number of years later for round three where hey check it out now I can afford to buy a Porsche. 17+ years of waiting, now 9 years of ownership of my 993C2 and now I am into the second week of owning and insuring two 911s when I recently added a 997.2 C2S to the fleet. With all that said one of my 911s (sadly the 993) will be going up for sale in the not too distant future to free up some money for the mods I want to do to the 997 to turn it into a street legal track car.

Anyway if you can find a good Porsche they are awesome cars. Not only are they fun to drive, but they can be very reliable if you find a good one. Hardly anything (except for the consumables) has gone wrong with my 993. However there is nothing cheap about owning a Porsche. The parts are pricey and so is the labor. I am no expert, but if you cannot wait, if you need one now, look for the best car you can afford and do remember you still need extra money for maintenance, insurance and all the other stuff. You might luck out and find an good older air cooled Porsche though as others have mentioned, a Boxster is likely your best bet. But do keep an eye open for 996s and maybe a base Cayman. I hate to say it, but you might come across someone down on their luck who needs to sell fast. Look for the best car you can afford and keep some money extra for the maintenance and do if at all possible find indoor parking. My dream Porsche is a GT3 RS, but to live the dream now I would need to sell my house, live in an apartment and park my quarter million dollar car on the street. Yeah ... as much as I would love to own the dream, that's not going to happen. Shop smart and make sure this is the right time to buy a Porsche. Waiting for me turned out to be the right choice. But that's just me. We still only live once and there is something to be said about actually living.

michaelo

Before you find the car, find a Porsche mechanic in your neighborhood first.

SpeedyD

For a limited budget I would do a 987.2 Cayman base. For a very limited budget, I would probably wait until I can remove the word "very".

You want at least half the value of the car set aside as "fun" money in case expenses pop up (so for a $21K Cayman base, another $10K)

General economic problem with Porsches is that the labor rate won't go down just because you purchased a lower-priced model... so I second the recommendation to find an indy if you are on a shoestring budget, and make sure their rates are significantly lower (and that they know their way around the cars).

I always service mine at a dealer, but that is as much about keeping papers/history, as anything else, and not entirely rational.

bstmusic

+1 for peace of mind and $$ savings. My new-to-me '07 C2 is lucky to have a wonderful indy 2 miles from my home. I'm treated like family, and my car is too.

Balr14

I also use an independent garage that specializes in German, Italian cars and exotics. The wait is long and you have to be flexible, but they charge less than 1/2 of what the dealers charge.

TheBruce

samwise

Let's do this - Budget Range:

$20-30k: Old 987 Cayman, Boxsters, older 996s
$30-40k: 996s (non-turbos),
$40-50k: 996, 997.1?
$50-60k: 997.2
$60k+:997.2, 991?

DesmoSD

+1

Before you even look at Porsches, define your budget range.

A Cayman or a 911 can be a hit or miss. In your search among Porsches you find some shiny turds and some solid ones so be prepared. Also, are you mechanically inclined or clueless about cars?