Bubi352

Good afternoon all! I am in the process of buying my first Porsche. Let me say first I am by no means an expert or mechanic. I am just looking for some sound advice. I have seen two Boxsters.

The first one is from 2006. It's one owner car. No accident or damage reported. It has 100,000 miles though. My understanding is that it is mostly highway mileage based on where the car was located. The outside and inside of the car is in really good condition. It was maintained at a Porsche dealership. The listed price is $18,000.

The second is is also from 2006. It has had 2 owners. No accident or damage reported as well. It has 52,000 miles but mostly city mileage. The outside and inside of the car is also in very good condition. The listed price is $23,500.

Which car would you buy? Is there anything you would caution me? Anything you would look for a car this old or this much mileage? Thank you all in advance.

terbiumactivated

There are a myriad of differing opinions on Boxsters that have sat and have low miles being more problematic. IMO, it's always best to go with the lowest mileage, newest car you can afford? Why? Because the suspension, water pump, alternator, starter, all have 100K on them too and it's not inconceivable with a Porsche to spend as much or more making the 100K car trustworthy and freshened, especially if you don't like holding wrenches. Did you drive them both? Are they manual? When did that 100k car have a clutch? My caution to you would be trying to save money on purchase price and either saving longer or stretching financially on the front end to get a newer car, after all the car is eight in January, add even a three year loan and it's eleven by the time you own it. Depending on where you live you might want to want till February, you would be amazed how happy a car dealer is to have any interest in a drop top during that month, good luck.

Bubi352

Thank you! I appreciate. I will see and test drive the second car with the lowest mileage tomorrow. I think you are absolutely right. If anything goes wrong I will have to spend a lot of $$$ to fix it. Is there anything in particular I should be looking at or do when I test drive this car?

recycled sixties

Check the thread in 986 forum "before buying the Porsche Boxster". Knowledge of the Boxster equates to $$$$ in the bank. Turn on ignition before starting engine and make sure that all lights light up particularly the CEL lite.

Note that there is an ims bearing still in the 2006 Boxster. I am considering a Cayman from 2006 to 2009 but I know that off factory warranty cars should be purchased aggressively low if they have an ims still . Listen to the engine running. If you drive enough Boxsters you will start to know what is normal noise and what is not. Of course get a PPI. You could take a look at the oil filter and check there is no metal in it. I believe the failure rate of the ims is lower in the 2006 than my 2001 Box base but I had the IMS Guardian installed. I tested a 2008 Boxster base the other day and it was significantly quieter and smoother than my 2001.

Anyway good luck on your search. If in doubt ask. Ask for receipts for work done.
Ask the reason for the sale. You can find out a lot about a car by talking to the owner and assessing his character!
Cheers, G.

Macster

Yes and no.

The car is just a used car. You should give it a thorough used car check out.

What follows is not a full used car check out treatment but hits the high spots.

For various reasons a good used car check out starts with you visiting the car dead cold and making sure the A/C is off then starting the engine. Before you crank it be sure all warning lights -- including the CEL! -- come on and go off as the engine cranks/fires and runs.

Let the engine idle normally but *listen* to it. Get out and walk around the car looking at body panel finish and fits, etc. But listen to the engine.

Up to you if you want to have the engine exposed from the top.

Let the engine idle a while until it is warm, call it around 10 minutes. Let the temp gage be your guide.

Then have the seller take you on a test ride. As a passenger you focus on how the car sounds, feels, rides, shifts, brakes, turns, etc. Leave your cell phone off. Keep the chit chat to a minimum. If the seller feels the need to fill the silence you can let him talk if you think there's a chance he might let slip something negative about the car.

The route should cover 15 miles and give the driver a chance to demo the car as you intend to use it (within reason, of course).

Once up to temp the car wants to be hard accelerated from near idle in say 1st or 2nd gear to near redline then upshifted and this hard acceleration continued as long as it can be.

The engine should pull strong and smooth through its entire RPM range. A hard brake wants the car slowing with no drama, darting, one tire locking up, etc.

Once the hard run is over the engine should settle down into a smooth idle with no signs of issues from the hard use.

Back at the starting point you take the car out and follow the same route, drive the car the same way.

If after your 15 mile test drive you like the car then give it a thorough used car check out. Test everything from A/C to TPMS. From brake lights to wipers.

Check everything. For instance if you find the radiator ducts full of trash you can expect to have to pay maybe an hour's labor to have the bumper cover removed and this trash thoroughly cleaned out. Now once cleaned a periodic cleaning with a leaf blower or shop air can keep the trash from building up.

But what you may find when you have the bumper cover off is the radiator (or condensers) are corroded and if not leaking have much shortened service lives. So you have to take this into account in your offer.

You remove the battery cover and the panels on either side of the car (and expose the ones under the top/clam shell) and if you find a build up of trash in the water drains you might have to worry about has the water ever backed up into the cabin. So be on your lookout for any electrical gremlins. Any at all could mean a security module replacement.

At the other end of the car, so to speak, if you find a brake rotor with a bigger lip than its mate on the other side, a piston may be dragging and there could be brake work in the car's future.

If after all of the above you still like the car, and believe you can buy it for an price both you and the seller can accept, arrange to have the car PPI'd. Among other things this should include reading the DME and its engine run time/over rev counters to use in sanity checking the car's mileage and verifying there are no scary over rev numbers.

The PPI should also check for any signs of fluid leakage *anywhere*. Now you may have read about RMS and this is nothing to be sneered at, but you can't or shouldn't focus solely on this area and ignore other areas. Torn CV boots can be just as expensive to put right as an RMS. A leak at the power steering rack can cost some serious money to address. A leaking water pump, radiators, in short a leak anywhere can be a not so nice hit on your wallet.

'course, the PPI also checks for signs of body/paint work, signs of accident damage, lousy repair (or servicing) from under the car, etc.

Now if you like the car after all of the above, do not delay. You wait a week and in the meantime some other buyer has visited the car and overreved the heck out of the engine during his "test drive".

Good luck.

Last but not least remember there is always another car.

Bubi352

Macster, thank you for your posting! I did finally purchase the car with the lowest mileage. It's a fantastic car. I have all the maintenance records and everything was done on schedule at a Porsche dealership. Last heavy maintenance was done at 47,000 miles. The car has now 51,000 miles. I couldn't be happier.

Cuda911

Congrats! Now... pix are a requisite!! IMO you chose the right one, between those two cars.

rad33

congratulations! also waiting for pics!

Bubi352

Ahah excellent. I will take some tomorrow. God, I had a lot of fun today driving it. Never had a car before that gave me so much pleasure.

Bubi352

Here is one