Thinking of buying a Boxster S - Need some input
12-21-2010, 06:01 PM
#31
Race Director
PPI is done and here are the highlights/lowlights from the p-car mechanic:
Very clean exterior. Nice paints with only a few minor scratches. No signs of body-work or re-spray.
Clean interior with minor issues.
Bad news:
Clutch is gone as expected
RMS is leaking
Both window regulators needs to be replaced.
Motor mounts needs to be replaced
Coolant reservoir is leaking
Leaking cam covers
Radio volume **** works randomly
Tires worn and have plugs.
Add it all up and it's $6-7K of stuff that needs to be done. It's an old car so I don't assume it all should be in perfect order but just the basics add up to about $5K in repairs.
The seller was there for the review of the PPI and I think he is ready to really negotiate on the price. All that remains to be seen is if he will let it go for a price that still makes sense for me when adding in the repairs to the total cost.
Very clean exterior. Nice paints with only a few minor scratches. No signs of body-work or re-spray.
Clean interior with minor issues.
Bad news:
Clutch is gone as expected
RMS is leaking
Both window regulators needs to be replaced.
Motor mounts needs to be replaced
Coolant reservoir is leaking
Leaking cam covers
Radio volume **** works randomly
Tires worn and have plugs.
Add it all up and it's $6-7K of stuff that needs to be done. It's an old car so I don't assume it all should be in perfect order but just the basics add up to about $5K in repairs.
The seller was there for the review of the PPI and I think he is ready to really negotiate on the price. All that remains to be seen is if he will let it go for a price that still makes sense for me when adding in the repairs to the total cost.
The general rule for buying a used car is to set aside 10% of the car's purchase price just to have on hand in case.
If one does a good job of seeking out a good car, and has some good luck, this money or most of remains untouched.
But given that this car needs so much up front to bring it into an acceptable condition for purchase, I'd be surprised any of that 10% is left after the 1st 6 months.
The car may still be worth buying but at what price to mitigate the risk to you?
Regarding RMS. It is SOP during an RMS R&R job that the crankshaft's position relative to the engine's crankcase RMS seal bore checked. In some engines it was found the crank had moved/shifted out of position and a new seal would not remain oil tight for long and in fact the engine would not last long.
When an out of position crankshaft was found Porsche replaced the engine. The car is out of warranty so any engine replacement is going to be borne by who owns the car if at RMS time the crankshaft is checked and found to be out of position.
Now, with the miles on the car/engine this crank position problem is unlikely but it might be something to think about having the RMS replaced and the crank position checked and found to be ok as a pre-condition to you buying the car.
Sincerely,
Macster.
01-03-2011, 09:18 PM
#32
Instructor
Thread Starter
For those of you interested in closure on my little Boxster S dilemma... :-)
I decided to pass since the seller didn't want to go any lower than $11K. Not a bad price but given the abundance of nicer Boxster S's out there for the $16-18K price range I decided this wasn't the car for me.
As my trusted Porsche mechanic told me "This is probably not the right car for you and you are probably not the right buyer for this car" . He knows I can't leave broken, non-functioning stuff alone and the car would end up costing more than what a nice example would be.
I decided to pass since the seller didn't want to go any lower than $11K. Not a bad price but given the abundance of nicer Boxster S's out there for the $16-18K price range I decided this wasn't the car for me.
As my trusted Porsche mechanic told me "This is probably not the right car for you and you are probably not the right buyer for this car" . He knows I can't leave broken, non-functioning stuff alone and the car would end up costing more than what a nice example would be.
01-04-2011, 02:36 AM
#33
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Can you forward me the owners contact info?
"cv joint failures"
It is not the CV joints that fail, it is the inboard CV boots that get cooked due to close proximity of the exhaust. It is pretty easy to see why Porsche moved the exhaust WAY outside on the 987's
"cv joint failures"
It is not the CV joints that fail, it is the inboard CV boots that get cooked due to close proximity of the exhaust. It is pretty easy to see why Porsche moved the exhaust WAY outside on the 987's
