The Bartender

I've been lurking on this forum for a while - some really good info. Really good knowledge being passed around.

I'm still a newb compared to most of you so here is my question:

Would I be getting myself into trouble buying a 2001 Porsche Boxster with 112,000 miles on it? Is that too much?

For some background, I work at home and have put about 10,000 on my car over the last four years. I'm just wondering if it's wishful thinking to think that maintenance wouldn't be so crazy on the Boxster since I don't drive it that much. I do drive regularly, so the car wouldn't be sitting in a garage for months ever, but I just don't drive that far. Everything I need is close by.

What kind of maintenance would I be looking at around that time? Are Boxsters a money pit when they get in that range? What should have my mechanic inspect when I get him to look at the car?

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks.

Macster

Probably not but no one can say for sure.

That the car has covered 112K miles and meets with your approval and that of a trusted PPI says the car while it has been driven has been taken care of.

Chances are good that if you keep treating it like it was treated it will keep running like it has been running.

You can't though do anything about the simple fact that things will start to wear out.

Now probably not the engine or even the transmssion, but other things.

My Boxster experience now closing in on 260K miles is that while the engine, transmission (5-speed) and even the original clutch all work as good as always, things do wear out.

AOS (80K miles and a 3rd at around (rough estimate) at 150K miles); water pump (170K miles); fuel pump (200K miles); coolant tank (220K miles); and passenger side VarioCam solenoid/actuator (240K miles). Toss in one MAF (I forget when, some O2 sensors (ditto), and some door/window hardware/switches and that's about it.

Every time something comes up and I rethink spending money on the car I come to the decision it is cheaper to fix the Boxster than to replace it or even get rid of it. I like having two cars. (My other car is a 996 Turbo.)

So, I fix the Boxster. It still looks reasonably good and runs just fine, and everything else works so a water pump ($700?) even a VarioCam solenoid/actuator ($3K) is a cheaper than buying a new car and even a used car about which I can only know a fraction about compared to my Boxster.

If you buy the car try to drive it longer distances once in a while. Take it out every weekend for a nice drive. No need to make it a high speed dash -- unless you can legally (my Boxster rocks at high speed!) -- but at sustained speed (65mph or higher) for some time, 50 miles or thereabouts.

My Boxster and 996 react favorably when I treat them to a longish drive, even though I use them for work commute of 30 miles (one way) which often at least at night has me covering 25 miles of this drive at 65mph or higher speeds.

Oh, what to check? Everything. The Boxster is just a high miles used car so assume nothing works, everything leaks, until you and your PPI confirm otherwise.

I don't have the time to cover this in detail but you need to subject the car to a cold engine start listen session and after the engine has warmed up some at idle then have the seller take you on a test ride of 15 miles or so and demo the car's operation and as much of its performance (accel/braking/steering) as possible. No need to verify the zero to 60 times is real just drive the car use the car like it will be driven, used. At the starting point then you take the car out on the same route drive the car the same way and confirm the car behaves (in all ways) ok.

After the test ride/drive have the car inspected. This will give the PPI the best chance to spot any fluid leaks if there are any.

Check the oil filter housing oil and filter element for any scary bits and pull the DME overrev counters and engine run time numbers for analysis.

Sincerely,

Macster.

The Bartender

Thanks Macster. Very helpful insight.

I'm guessing a big thing to double-check with this car is the IMS and RMS - see if either have been serviced already. Is it true that the longer the life of the car, the more chance that the IMS/RMS crop up as serious issues if they haven't been dealt with already?