MLKNR

First time buying a porsche, but there is a great lookign boxster in my area for $9,500.00 149,000 KM Black on black. Need to know what things I need to checkout when viewing the car and test driving it. Should I look at taking it to a dealer for inspection as well?

mikefocke

What is your level of experience? Are you qualified to inspect a car that is a bit out of the ordinary in design and execution and know what is going to need to be done to it? Are you willing to roll the dice or are you willing to spend about $200 to get the opinion of someone who works on the cars every day (and that doesn't necessarily mean a dealer as there are experts who don't work at dealers)?

I bought two ('99 and '01), only the second (first totaled) was the subject of a pre-purchase inspection (PPI). As the result of the PPI, I was in a better negotiating position and I knew exactly what I would be spending to get it up to my standards. The PPI process also helped establish my relationship with a great mechanic whose work after I bought the car enabled several years of amazingly trouble free miles.

I guess what I'm saying was I had owned 4 sports cars and one was a Boxster for the proceeding 6 months and I still valued the PPI.

Different opinions for different folks.

I wrote up my thoughts on buying a Boxster here. Wonderful cars.

MLKNR

Thanks for the insight, yah after some thought, I think I will take it to a dealer for an inspection. Don't know of any non-dealership mechanics for porsche's, but I'll look around some more for one. $200 is a small price to pay to make sure your investment is sound.

500

You might want to post over in the Canada sub-forum here and ask if anyone has good shop recommendations in your area... Are you closer to Calgary or Edmonton... I think there are some good shops out there (however, I am in Toronto, so I don't have the true local knowledge of who does a truly good PPI...) It is always best to have a professional who is experienced in the same type of car do the PPI, a more "generic" mechanic will likely not know the little, but important, nuances to watch for.

Mike Focke: You made a very gracious comment in that "all that" thread, which I really appreciated. I must say though, I had no idea about your site until I followed the link above.

Wow, what an excellent and well-written resource. I have not read the whole thing yet, as you have amassed a ton of information, but I will. Thanks for putting together such an excellent rescource.

MLKNR

So here's the car I'm looking at.

Macster

The car is just a used car so a thorough used car check out is critical.

There are 'problem' areas of the Boxster, areas that get alot of forum posts, but really say you focus on RMS or IMS you might overlook a seriously bent car or one that has been submerged in water for a while.

A good used car check out at least for Porsches I suggest starts out with a test ride followed by a test drive.

This starts out with you visiting the car cold and with the A/C off turning on the key and verifying all warning lights come on then go off when the engine is started.

Pay attention to all warning lights, particularly the CEL.

Let the engine idle. I won't mention this point every place it applies, but all the time the engine is running you have to pay attention to how it sounds, how it runs. This means you have to be somewhat familiar with what a healthy Boxster engine sounds like at cold start and during its warm up idle and after it is up to temp and being worked, sometimes easy, sometimes hard.

Also, of course, it helps to be familiar with what a sick Boxster engine sounds like under similar circumstances.

Anyhow, let the engine idle and walk around the car listening to the engine. At the same time closely inspect the body panel gaps, fits, alignments, paint surface finish, etc. for any signs of poor body/paint work.

After the engine is nearly up to temp have the seller take you on a test ride.

Yes, a test ride.

You want to be a passenger so you can focus on how the car sounds, runs, feels, behaves, while someone else focuses on driving the car.

The route should be around 15 miles long and give the driver an opportunity to demo the car in a variety of ways. Stop/go driving, low/med/high speed cruising, turning, braking, hard acceleration, and so on.

Back at the starting point you take the car out as a driver covering the same route driving the car the same way.

You want the car to be driven enough and you want to drive the car enough in a reasonable variety of scenarios to give the car, the engine, the transmission, the brakes, the steering, etc. a chance to manifest any issues/problems.

While all are important probably most important of all is that the DME have plenty of time to run its checks of its critical sensors and systems and then verify the engine's critical systems are working ok.

If after your test ride/drive you still like the car give it a thorough used car check out. Check everything. Get a copy of the Porsche CPO used car check list and follow that.

Then if after all of the above if you still like the car, believe you can buy it for an acceptable price, then have the car PPI'd. Among other things this looks at the overrev counters. But of course there is a lot more involved. One of the reasons behind the test drive/ride is this gives any leaks time to show themselves and then with a PPI the car is in the air and the PPI has a better chance of spotting a leak.

Where to look for a leak? The PPI knows, had better know. For your benefit, everywhere there is a fluid reservoir or any thing with fluid in it this includes lines, lines, hoses, fittings, radiators, etc.

Now some will shout RMS and of course this is important to make sure the area is dry (and not too clean) but pat yourself on the back for noting the RMS is dry while you fail to spot the radiators are seeping coolant and you won't feel so self-congratulatory when you have to pay to have these replaced after you have bought the car.

Again, the car is just a used car, an 'old' car with some miles on it. Assume everything leaks, nothing works, everything is wrong, the car has been bent, on fire, stolen/recovered, flooded, until you have confirmed to your satisfaction there is nothing wrong enough to warrant rejecting the car.

Then get a second opinion.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Patriot

Excellent advice Macster. Should be made a stickie.