Someone Talk Some Sense Into Me
12-07-2018, 09:48 PM
#17
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Thanks for all the very insightful comments. Yes I am probably the ideal candidate for a civic or Prius but god damn it I’m not going to do it. Going to see a 97 base boxster tomorrow. Let’s see how that turns out. Hopefully it’s mechanically solid and he’s got some room to negotiate.
I will make sure it gets its legs stretched out. Who knows maybe even take it to the track for a DE or two
I will make sure it gets its legs stretched out. Who knows maybe even take it to the track for a DE or two
12-07-2018, 09:54 PM
#18
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
I do have an X5 that the wife uses mostly as a family hauler that I can use on bad days. Will make something work
12-07-2018, 10:03 PM
#19
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Lot of good advice here. Thanks.
Back in the late 1990's I had a short commute. A bit over 1 mile from my house to the office. I had a '96 Mustang then. I took the "long" way to the office to give the engine time to warm up some and to give the battery time to be topped up to replace the charge it lost from sitting overnight and starting the engine. It also gave me time to switch from home mode to work mode. I need that. And after work I took the long way home and gave myself time to switch from work mode to home mode and time for the alternator to top up the battery. Then on weekends I drove the car more. IIRC the oil change interval was 3K miles -- and Ford specified a mineral oil for the engine too -- and I stuck to the 3K mile oil/filter service schedule. I think I did this short commute a year or more and the car was fine.
You should try to drive the Boxster for more time/distance by taking the "long" way to work and then driving the car on the weekends. A short drive to/from work won't replenish the battery and the car could develop battery issues from the lack of engine run time. I would also recommend you change the oil in the fall before winter and again in the spring just before summer. Going into winter the engine has fresh oil and again in the spring going into the summer driving season the engine has fresh oil.
Have to mention my experience with my Boxster is the longer drive can't be all highway as the engine will not get very hot. it takes driving in town, in stop and go driving, for some time to get the coolant hot enough to trigger the radiator fans. This was what I used to know the engine was "hot". (Or I'd monitor the engine coolant temperature with an OBD2 scan tool/data viewer connected to the car's OBD2 port.) The radiator fans should come on low speed when the coolant temperature reaches 212F. At this temperature the oil's hot and hot enough to boil out the water it collects. If you drive with the A/C on the fans run all the time and this works to keep the engine cooler especially in milder ambient temperature.
(I have an oil temperature display with my Hellcat and it takes some several miles of stop/go driving -- and just otherwise driving normally (and sanely) -- for the oil to get to 212F or above. And once on the freeway the oil temperature drops. The other day with air temperature in the low 50's after a few miles the oil temperature was down to 178F after starting out at 212F after some town driving. Coolant temperature was around 199F to 200F.)
Be sure you keep the Boxster water drains clear. And check for dampness along the door bottoms after washing the car or after a rain. The door membranes of these cars will fail over time and when they do water gets from the wet side to the dry side of the door and that ain't good.
You should try to drive the Boxster for more time/distance by taking the "long" way to work and then driving the car on the weekends. A short drive to/from work won't replenish the battery and the car could develop battery issues from the lack of engine run time. I would also recommend you change the oil in the fall before winter and again in the spring just before summer. Going into winter the engine has fresh oil and again in the spring going into the summer driving season the engine has fresh oil.
Have to mention my experience with my Boxster is the longer drive can't be all highway as the engine will not get very hot. it takes driving in town, in stop and go driving, for some time to get the coolant hot enough to trigger the radiator fans. This was what I used to know the engine was "hot". (Or I'd monitor the engine coolant temperature with an OBD2 scan tool/data viewer connected to the car's OBD2 port.) The radiator fans should come on low speed when the coolant temperature reaches 212F. At this temperature the oil's hot and hot enough to boil out the water it collects. If you drive with the A/C on the fans run all the time and this works to keep the engine cooler especially in milder ambient temperature.
(I have an oil temperature display with my Hellcat and it takes some several miles of stop/go driving -- and just otherwise driving normally (and sanely) -- for the oil to get to 212F or above. And once on the freeway the oil temperature drops. The other day with air temperature in the low 50's after a few miles the oil temperature was down to 178F after starting out at 212F after some town driving. Coolant temperature was around 199F to 200F.)
Be sure you keep the Boxster water drains clear. And check for dampness along the door bottoms after washing the car or after a rain. The door membranes of these cars will fail over time and when they do water gets from the wet side to the dry side of the door and that ain't good.
12-07-2018, 10:09 PM
#20
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
12-08-2018, 10:13 AM
#21
Thanks for all the very insightful comments. Yes I am probably the ideal candidate for a civic or Prius but god damn it I’m not going to do it. Going to see a 97 base boxster tomorrow. Let’s see how that turns out. Hopefully it’s mechanically solid and he’s got some room to negotiate.
I will make sure it gets its legs stretched out. Who knows maybe even take it to the track for a DE or two
I will make sure it gets its legs stretched out. Who knows maybe even take it to the track for a DE or two
12-08-2018, 10:33 AM
#22
Banned
I don’t usually commute, but when I do (did) I prefer a car that’s almost the complete opposite of what I prefer for my backroad runs. Automatic, quiet, good stereo, comfortable, heated seats, heated steering wheel, etc. Associating a sports car with commuting, traffic jams, or short uneventful drives in congested areas would subtract from the specialness and the pleasure I feel when I carve backroads with it. Now if open backroads were the commute, that would be a different (if rare) story.