An opportunity came by for me to pick up a 97 Boxster for relatively cheap. I'm pretty unfamiliar with this car, but what are the differences between a 97 and 98/99? What are the issues if there are any for me to consider when looking at this year vehicle? Thanks, I really appreciate any feedback.

 

Search for Mike Focke's web pages and find a buyers guide for Boxsters there.

Another source of info is Excellence magazine -- www.excellence-mag.com -- runs a Boxster buying guide every year and in it the MY diffs are covered. Not in great detail but in some.

Various UK published indy Porsche mags run similar articles and some of these cover the car in more detail. Check out 911 & Porsche World (www.911porscheworld.com), GT Porsche (www.gtpurelyporsche.com).

From my memory the changes from MY 97 to 99 were not much. Mainly just the upgrading and improving that go on as a factory continues to produce cars with the knowledge it has gained from the production of the previous years' runs.

Bigger changes came in 2000 with the appearance of the 2.7l engine and the 3.2l engine.

Issues too many to list here. That is I don't have the time. Learn all you can. The cars out there wil still be there and buying a good one will really make the experience of owning one a real pleasure.

Before you buy plan on having the car subjected to a PPI (pre-purchase inspection) at a shop that has lots of experience and knowledge about these cars.

But learn all you can so you can inspect the cars yourself and eliminate the not so good ones. Only one car should be PPI'd and it is the one you end up buying.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

A few differences that come to mind between the ’97 and ’98-99 models.

The ‘97’s don’t have side air bags.

In ’98 the rear suspension mounting areas were strengthened to accommodate 18” wheels, therefore the factory doesn’t recommend wheels larger than 17” on the ’97 model.

The engine blocks of some of the ’98 models were re-sleeved by the manufacture and some of these motors had issues with sleeves slipping. Search “slipped sleeve” to find more info on this topic, including production dates and typical millage that are/were affected.

The early cars, pre-2000, have convertible top drive cables that either need to be modified, or updated to the later reinforced type or they can potentially fail and damage the convertible top.

An interesting bit of trivia is that the ‘97s were made in Germany while majority of production moved to Finland for the ’98 and newer models.

As Marc mentioned the updates from ’97-’99 were fairly minor. The first big changes came in 2000 when the engine size increased from 2.5 to 2.7 liters and the “S” w/ a 3.2l was introduced. In 2000 there were also several improvements in the interior finishes.

 

'97 is the first year of Boxster production..

All Boxsters are relatively cheap. Maybe share some details and we'll help confirm how "cheap" it is