Phi1720

While I agree that engine failure fear has reduced prices, I think there are other contributing factors.

1. Water cooled engines - I personally have no problem with the new generation water cooled engines, but the fact that you can't get an "original design" air cooled porsche anymore has kept prices high for the "true" porsches.
2. Modern manufacturing & tech - Even though the Boxster has been in production since 97 and the 996 since 99, improved manufacturing processes in larger volumes has flooded the market with more cars. Not to mention Porsche's return to high profitability with the 996 racing program, Boxster introduction to the middle price market, and SUV sales to previously non-porsche customer base. Additionally, electronic tech in cars has grown exponentially. Those looking for the analoge Porsche experience will go for the older cars without bluetooth, sat nav, iPod connectivity etc. and prices fall as novelty tech becomes obsolete like MP3 CDs or minidisc. How long will car companies continue to release updates to navigation DVDs when newer cars and garmins can self update? Watch what happens when apple changes the pin configuration on their firewire iPod connection.

But also, fear of IMS failures is still a large contributor.

Phi1720

Also, check prices of other $40-70k (or higher) sports cars from the early 2000's and you'll see this trend is not only true for Porsche. Regardless of M96 failures.

C5 corvette (base & Z06), e46 m3, m5, any number of amg mercs. All these cars can be found in varying quaility between $15-25k similar to the boxster (I'll deonte S here rather than base) and the 996.

mikefocke

The Boxster was a roaring sales success and there are 200k+ of them out there, at any time there are 1-2k used ones for sale in the US. Plus the 97-99s are 13 or so years old and how many who can afford a P-car want a car that old with the age related problems that accompany them.

Supply and demand sets prices.

MikeBat

For some piece of mind, I have a 2002S which I drive regularly in the non-snow months. I also drive at the track as often as possible.

I upgraded the IMS with the LN Engineering kit. When we inspected the original IMS, it was in perfect condition.

Pre purchase inspection by a good independant, do the IMS, and change your oil every 4000km's. What do you have, a great car that is a hoot to drive.

End of story.

Abby Normal

I picked up one a few weeks ago for way less than half of 11k. I've been driving it every day and it's a blast. 118k and runs like a top. It's soon to be going to the BSR route!

And one of the previous posts chided Porsche for not helping customers who have a engine failure. That's not completely true and in fact have a car hear now that Porsche is reducing the cost of the new engine and paying half of the labor...and he's not even the original owner.

Keithr726

I'm currently looking at a 03 S with 90k for $13.5 and I'm terrified from what I've heard about the IMS on here. I'm getting a PPI hoping the clutch is bad so I can factor that into the price. Pelicans IMS kit is due out in march but yes, I'm still worried about that 1 month with orginal IMS. When I bought my 2.7t I saw rumors about torque converters failing and within a year at 65k miles mine failed.

eric523

It's certainly a concern when owning or purchasing one and you should budget the replacement of the ims bearing at the minimum. But I don't think it's a reason to shun an entire series of motors. I guess that just means they're more affordable for the rest of us tho.
I got my 5 percent failure number from my customer list at the shop. We've serviced a couple hundred m96 motors and have only a handful of failures.
The cars are reasonably reliable if you change the IMS bearing and don't overheat it imo.

thstone

The bottom line is that the Boxster is very reliable. I say this based on Consumer Reports. CR even went so far to say that the Boxster was THE most reliable car that they had tested in 2009 and selected the Boxster as one of the Top 10 cars most likely to make it to 200,000 miles. This was based on their reliability survey data for the previous 10 years.

Yes, some engines have failures. This seems to be about 1%. This is based on info from LN Eng who says that they have only sold about 1,500 IMS replacement bearings. Ever.

There are literally many tens of thousands of early Boxsters that now have 100,000 miles or more and they all got to that mileage just fine.

Find one that's been well taken care of. Get a PPI at a Porsche dealer. And drive a $50,000 sports car for 1/5 of the price.

VGM911

In what model year did Porsche start using the 9A1 engine?

kcpaz

2009

kx9862002

1500 bearings

GTA_G20

I did just this I bought a first year 1997 with a cracked cylinder head. Withe the price i paid for it by the time I refresh everything I'll be at the price people are paying for a fair conditioned boxster

ppbskis

I definitely am not one of the guru's when it comes to wrenching any car, but I have had my share of Porsche ownership since my first Porsche a 1987 944S that I purchased with 87000 miles in 1999.
I was able to buy this car for almost the same reasons one is able to get a used Boxster for practically 15 cents on the dollar. The 944s had a sixteen valve motor that one very knowledgeable Rennlist answerman stated it was more complicated to keep running than a helicopter.
The original owner did not keep up with the timing belt and the engine crashed, all 16 trombones, what a mess that must have been. So someone who was able to repair it, took it off his hands for probably a song, rebuilt it and sold it to me. I drove the car for two years and sold it to my brother who then promptly changed the timing belt and drove it trouble free for a couple years as well.
My point is just about any car is going to have issues, I traded in the 944S for a new 01 Boxster S and guess what, the motor crashed in about 300 miles, this is the forefront of the whole ims blah blah blah scenario we are all so well versed in today. The dealer " repaired the car, I drove it for another 2 or 300 miles and kaplooey again. At that point I just about had it with Porsche/ Boxsters/ Dealer etc. The dealer then gave me the option of driving a Porsche loaner while they put a new motor in it and if I wanted to keep the car or forget it and walk away. Needless to say I took the car with the new motor, it was a 39 month lease so what the heck.
I work in construction and am provided with a company vehicle, when asked what I wanted I asked for a Cayenne and got it, at the time my need for a Porsche was sated so at 39 months I turned in the lease, big mistake. A year later, new job, turn in the company Porsche, I am now P Car less. The need for Porsche was strong in me so I went to the dealer and Purchased a CPO 01 Base Boxster, the car had 27k miles and fulfilled my needs.
I now have almost 100k on the car, it is my daily driver, I have a set of winter wheels with Blizzaks and a hardtop and drive it in any weather conditions I encounter. My biggest repair other than a clutch that my son burned through ( another story) is a new coolant tank. The water pump is original, as is the AOS, exhaust, everything. I follow the position that if they are going to blow up they do so early rather than later. Would I buy another Boxster, absolutely, just maintain them better than specified, that is more frequent than 15k miles, fix/ maintain things in a timely fashion and enjoy it.

Good Luck
Joe M.

reiszce

I searched for eons on the Boxster problems and then covered one eye and with the other eye bought a 2005 with Tiptronic. If I end up paying for a rebuild or replacement I cannot say I went in blind. I did get the impression that most problems including Intermediate Bearing were solved by this time frame(2005). Anyone have comments on this?

kcpaz

Someone such as Jake Raby could and should correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that in 2005, Porsche changed the IMS bearing to one that CAN NOT be replaced without a complete engine dis-assembly.