85percent

I am dumping porsche and moving on, what made you think otherwise??

and I dont need fried rice for reliability, I'll just go with a company that doesnt engineer cars with catastrophic engine failure.. If I knew my engine was gonna have heart failure at 28k miles I would have left the keys in it the night before with the engine running, hoping for someone to steal it (though if the car thief new better he would have left it alone).

Racer48

Some of you may find this hard to beleive, but not all Boxster engines blow up after a few years/miles. I have owned two Boxsters, a 99 that I purchased brand new, and a 2001 that I purchased from a dealer as a CPO car. Both cars were mostly trouble free (including the 99) and a joy to drive. I also received good service from both Porsche dealers that I have dealt with. In my opinion, and based on my personal experience, it is simply incorrect to characterize all Boxsters as "disposable" cars. It sounds as though at least one of the cars being discussed in this thread was INCREDIBLY neglected and abused, and I doubt that a Miata or any other car would fare much better given the same treatment.

986Jim

Tell me what car your planning on buying and I'll tell you what massive failures it is having. Please any car... I could make a list so long about failures of all the major sports cars it would take a whole page for my post, don't even get me started.

99firehawk

Theres really not that many failures most ofthe faulty engines came aprt under warrenty and were replaced. the numbers of failures really arent that high they are just blown out of propotion on the web.
I work in a very large porsche dealer and really we dont see more then 2 a year of the early cars with blown engines

DGLA

As I see my post looking for insight and assistance with my 99 Boxster's failed engine has turned up quite a debate on several levels, I wanted to clarify the original situation: I purchased my 99 Boxster from a non-Porsche exclusive dealer. It was previously a one-owner/leased car with 26K miles. It was still under original factory warranty that ran out about 2 years ago. It has had all regular and scheduled maintenance done at Porsche dealerships. I have not driven it hard or anywhere near unreasonable measures. I had been EXTREMELY happy with the car and typically with Porsche Service, though I do prefer one particular dealership's service department over a couple of others. Although I may not have bought the car directly from Porsche, they have made money off of me and from friends who have purchased Porsches based on my referral and recommendations. More importantly, they would have made much more money off of me had I been treated like a valued customer, which I agree does not always mean covering ALL costs but does ALWAYS mean being treated with respect. I would have readily purchased another Porsche and was looking to move up to a 911, but this experience has definitely left me extremely disappointed with Porsche. If the engine failure issue has been a known problem by Porsche and they have already set precedent by replacing engines in cars of similar age, warranty status and of multiple ownerships, then they should not only continue to do so according to those precedents, but they should treat Porsche owners and customers appropriately and not as though they could not care less.

First986NJ

If you think Porsches are bad...go buy a used Ferrari , or Maserati.

fast1

I've owned five 911s over the years. I bought my first 911 in 1970 and my last one in 1996, and my cars were nearly perfect. From reading Excellence magazine, it appears that all 911s had their speciic issues, but I was fortunate enough to sell my cars before I experienced them.

As far as your fried rice comment, keep in mind that it's not necessarily an either or proposition. In 1996 I purchased a 993 coupe and a Miata, and I got just as much pleasure driving my Miata as I did my 993, notwithstanding all of the flak I got from coworkers when I drove my Miata. Many people look at the Miata as a chick car, but fortunately I don't buy cars based on what others think.

Unfortunately I sold my 993 in 2001 because some one had to have my car, and offered me 10% less than what I paid for it five years earlier. Man, I wish I still had that car. The Miata is still in the family. My youngest son is now driving it. The car has well over 200K miles and is still going strong. I paid around $15K for the car and maybe another $2K in maintenace over ten years.

The Miata taught me that you can have a ball in a car on public roads without driving at insane speeds.

unklekraker

*NEWBIE IN THE FORUM*
99' PORSCHE BOXSTER, BURGUNDY W/ WRAP AROUND TAN LEATHER INTERIOR, 17" TURBO TWIST RIMS AND 44K mi....
I took mine to the dealer yesterday for a 45k service and I mentioned to them about the owner of Boxster that has a SLIPPED SLEEVE issue that i read in rennlist and also I told them that my car has 4yr/48k warranty (I just bought my Boxster about a month ago)
and you know what...the dealer found 3 things in my car (suggestion: before buying, get a PPI in your area). They found oil leaks near the spark plug, coolant leak- meaning coolant bottle reservoir need to be replaced but those 2 are covered by the warranty so they replace it. The 3rd one that really shocked me was about the engine. The sales Manager told me if the previous owner or the dealer has mentioned to me that "THE ENGINE OF MY CAR HAS BEEN REPLACED ALREADY BY PORSCHE CO. BECAUSE OF THAT SLIPPED SLEEVE RECALL, I WAS LIKE...WOHOOOO! THANK GOD!

I just though of sharing it....

986Jim

lol @ unklekraker... glad that worked out ok for you...

unklekraker

Thanks Jim!

djomlas

i think that the problem with forums is this: everytim someody has a problem, they post it and people that have had the same problem reply and it seems then that everyone has this problem.

now everytime u had good time driving your porsche, which sould be everytime u drive it, you dont come to the board and say that it was a pleasurable experience, and when you say that anyone else that had the same experience would chime in and then it would seem that we all enjoy our cars.

but no one posts that, so we only hear about the bad things. same thing with different models/makes

thats just my .02

Jersey Dave

I'm sorry to hear that you are having these problems. One solution might be to call around to some of the tuner shops that regularly do upgrades on Boxsters to see if you can find a used Boxster S engine to install (If all else fails, of course.)

While upgrading my 986 S to a 997 S 3.8, I sold my engine to someone looking to do such an upgrade. They got the engine for somewhere around $4.5k with 28k miles on it.

Best of luck.

Dave

SKM

It might be worth determining the cause of the failure. A friend bought a 1999 Boxster with 60K miles and a "failed" engine for $10K expecting to replace the engine. Turned out that it needed cylinder head work only.