Pareday

I want a 2008 Boxer as a fun daily driver. Only problem is I drive approximately 600 highway miles a week. I could get a beater but I would rather drive a Porsche. Life is too short for a beater.

I have 115K miles on my WRX and had 172K miles on my 2004 WRX. Both only cost me for oil changes and tires.

Will I have similar luck with a Boxster?

Macster

You could.

My 2002 Boxster has covered over 315K miles. However, I have had to deal with more than just oil changes and tires over the miles.

(Might mention the oil gets changed every 5K miles.)

As the miles add up more things turn into/become wear items. Water pump (172K miles). Fuel pump (200K miles). Coolant tank failed in there somewhere.

Plugs are due every 60K miles I think. At 305K miles I had all 4 O2 sensors replaced. A couple were replaced before that but I don't recall the miles now. Just replaced a MAF. Brakes of course. Just had the front brakes done and these lasted 51K miles.

Oh, and the engine is on its 3rd AOS. These last for my Boxster around 80K to 120K miles.

The only engine biggie was the passenger cylinder bank VarioCam solenoid/actuator had to be replaced. This was after 250K miles. (The other side is original now with over 315K miles.)

Radiators are original. Hoses are original. Just one wheel bearing had to be replaced. (At 80K miles.) Clutch is original. CV boots split and the shafts were removed, bearings cleaned, inspected, found to be ok, and repacked and the shafts put back in the car. Around 50K miles later the shafts/bearngs are just fine.

I don't see why with a bit of luck -- and it reads like you have that luck (as do I for I've managed to get some good life out of my cars over the years) -- you can't enjoy a similar experience with a 2008 Boxster.

'course, I can't make any promises. But these cars appear to do better with regular use.

You have to keep on top of things. When I heard a rumble I diagnosed it as a bad water pump. I put the belt back on and buttoned the car up and called for a flat bed tow truck to have the car hauled to a 20+ mile distant dealer. Didn't want to risk the pump failing on the way there.

(With my other car when I smelled anti-freeze on a hot day I drove the car just a half a mile to the dealer to have it checked out. A leaking water pump was found and I left the car there to have this addressed. No nursing a leaking water pump for me.)

One has to be prepared to if a problem develops and symptom appears to diagnose it and have it dealt with pronto. I have a 2nd car, a 996 Turbo, which I can use as a back up while the Boxster is in the shop. If one doesn't have a good backup car then the tendency might be to push the Boxster to ignore signs of a problem, until a small problem turns into a big one.

'course, the back up doesn't have to be a Turbo. At one time my back up was a nice (bought it new just 2 months after I bought the Boxster) 2002 VW Golf TDi. Then I replaced that with a new 2006 Pontiac GTO. After a few years and 40K miles that got replaced -- everytime I took the car in for service the techs would take the car out and hotrod it around so I traded it in for a new Porsche -- with a new 2008 Cayman S which after it was hit and destroyed just 4 weeks later I brought on board the Turbo.