Recommendations on Buying Boxster
04-25-2006, 07:43 PM
#1
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Recommendations on Buying Boxster
I have a good friend looking to buy a Boxster. I do not have any wisdom to pass on to him about his quest to buy a Boxster. What should he look for in his quest to buy, any particular years, options, etc. that he should look for? He is located in Albany, NY, anyone have any recommendations on dealers in the area or source he should seek out to buy his new toy? Thanks
04-25-2006, 08:11 PM
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I'd recommend the newest he can afford...2000 base Boxsters had the 2.7 motor.
2002..all Boxsters had lined convertible tops.
2003 and up boxsters had glass rear windows.
If he is a track or ax enthusiast look for "sport chassis" M030 option.
If you need to go below 2000. beware of low mileage '99s built between 9/98 and 4/99. Some of these cars had sleeved motor cases and can be problematic..read engine can lock due to slipped sleeve. I f the '99 has normal mileage, 50k or over you might be OK. Low mileage cars in this year might be subject to slipped sleeves.
'97s and 98s had some porosity problems with the cases, but with normal mileage this should have shown that fault by now.
'03s and 04s were facelift cars and of course '05 and up were 987s with the higher output motors.
I'd look for the cleanest and newest, non garage queen I could afford base or S.
2002..all Boxsters had lined convertible tops.
2003 and up boxsters had glass rear windows.
If he is a track or ax enthusiast look for "sport chassis" M030 option.
If you need to go below 2000. beware of low mileage '99s built between 9/98 and 4/99. Some of these cars had sleeved motor cases and can be problematic..read engine can lock due to slipped sleeve. I f the '99 has normal mileage, 50k or over you might be OK. Low mileage cars in this year might be subject to slipped sleeves.
'97s and 98s had some porosity problems with the cases, but with normal mileage this should have shown that fault by now.
'03s and 04s were facelift cars and of course '05 and up were 987s with the higher output motors.
I'd look for the cleanest and newest, non garage queen I could afford base or S.
04-25-2006, 11:00 PM
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I would really check what options are IMPORTANT to him. http://www.986faq.com/10-0/default.asp was hepful to me when I was looking. it is an older site with a lot of info pertaining to 1999 models, but the options and such really didn't seem to change that much as far as I can tell. there are a lot of random options that some find important, and others find dumb, like leather door panels, hi-fi sound, sport interior design, wierd color combinations, wood trim, tiptronic, etc.
the S model to me wasn't a big deal at all. Sure it goes faster and is quicker and has a 6th gear, but I don't break 120 very often anyway, the car doesn't really even need 5th gear until you are on the interstate, and I don't have a habit of drag racing every mustang and hooptie that revs their engine at me. I just didn't care about it. Sure if it was the same price I'd get the S, but that isn't the case.
the option I WOULD NOT buy (again me personally) is tiptronic. I wanted to shift. to me that's what makes it a sportscar, shifting. Sure it sucks in stop and go traffic, but it's fun. to me. and a lot of my friends can't drive a stick, whick eliminates them from "borrowing " my car or "taking it for a spin"... joyriding. atually that is probably the best benefit of the stick.
the option I cared the most about when I got mine was the sport appearance trim package (not sure on thechnical name) that has the nicer sportier seats with the bigger side bolstering and hard seat backs... didn't care about stereo since they all suck in my opinion, and didn't care about leather door panels (actually, the sport interior has a what I think is cool diamond imprint texture pattern to it, whick I like a lot)
the other big one for me was rims, I personally am not a fan of the stock 16 inch rims, they look fat to me.
TO be honest, I found I could be really picky on what I wanted. I live in the midwest, and was willing to take a 5-6 hour road trip to get the perfect car, and was amazed on how many there are out there for sale. Also amazed on the HUGE variety of asking prices. Like a $10k swing for similar cars from place to place. Some dealers think that since it's a Porsche, people are stupid and will pay whatever the dealer is asking, thinking it's like a rare find... duh. they made umpteen thousand of them each year. It's not a friggin Enzo Ferrari we're talking about here. sorry, went on a little of a tangent there, but I couldn't figure out what was in some of the dealer's heads.
Also, beware of mis-matched tires. Not sure what is up with that, but several I looked at had mis-matched front and rear tires... I am guessing it was since they are different sizes, a lot of people only replace the rears and leave the fronts alone, but this to me is a good sign of how the car's maintenance life was treated also. cut corners? maybe?
I have way to much free time to write all that out. sorry for rambling.
the S model to me wasn't a big deal at all. Sure it goes faster and is quicker and has a 6th gear, but I don't break 120 very often anyway, the car doesn't really even need 5th gear until you are on the interstate, and I don't have a habit of drag racing every mustang and hooptie that revs their engine at me. I just didn't care about it. Sure if it was the same price I'd get the S, but that isn't the case.
the option I WOULD NOT buy (again me personally) is tiptronic. I wanted to shift. to me that's what makes it a sportscar, shifting. Sure it sucks in stop and go traffic, but it's fun. to me. and a lot of my friends can't drive a stick, whick eliminates them from "borrowing " my car or "taking it for a spin"... joyriding. atually that is probably the best benefit of the stick.
the option I cared the most about when I got mine was the sport appearance trim package (not sure on thechnical name) that has the nicer sportier seats with the bigger side bolstering and hard seat backs... didn't care about stereo since they all suck in my opinion, and didn't care about leather door panels (actually, the sport interior has a what I think is cool diamond imprint texture pattern to it, whick I like a lot)
the other big one for me was rims, I personally am not a fan of the stock 16 inch rims, they look fat to me.
TO be honest, I found I could be really picky on what I wanted. I live in the midwest, and was willing to take a 5-6 hour road trip to get the perfect car, and was amazed on how many there are out there for sale. Also amazed on the HUGE variety of asking prices. Like a $10k swing for similar cars from place to place. Some dealers think that since it's a Porsche, people are stupid and will pay whatever the dealer is asking, thinking it's like a rare find... duh. they made umpteen thousand of them each year. It's not a friggin Enzo Ferrari we're talking about here. sorry, went on a little of a tangent there, but I couldn't figure out what was in some of the dealer's heads.
Also, beware of mis-matched tires. Not sure what is up with that, but several I looked at had mis-matched front and rear tires... I am guessing it was since they are different sizes, a lot of people only replace the rears and leave the fronts alone, but this to me is a good sign of how the car's maintenance life was treated also. cut corners? maybe?
I have way to much free time to write all that out. sorry for rambling.