DennisAN

This car has been sitting on the local dealer's lot now for several months...Carfax says in inventory since 8/5/2013.

http://www.lylepearson.com/Boise-ID/...-Car/21012798/

Regular year 2000 Boxster, silver paint, gray leather, 18" wheels, 51K miles. Dealer (MB/P) has come down from $17K to $15K asking this month.

Carfax shows three owners....

Owner #1 bought 2000 sold 2008 selling mileage 12K (!)

Owner #2 bought 2008 sold 2012 selling mileage 49K

Owner #3 bought 2012 sold 2013 selling mileage 51K

What's up with that?

I've read here that low-miles garage queens tend to have the most trouble. What about a car that was driven 12K miles in 8 years?

Byprodriver

Main concern is oil changes which should be done annualy at a minimum.

Garage queen should benefit cosmetics, but may have negative impact on mechanicals. Mechanicals can be restored, but original paint etc cannot.

DennisAN

I'm thinking this might have been a repo from Owner #3.

Sold 7/14/2012 @ 48,744 miles.
Registered in Mt. Home ID, lien recorded 8/28/2012

Mt. Home is a very poor town 50 miles SE of Boise, home to large Air Force Base.

At Boise dealer 9/5/2012 @ 49,483 miles
At Boise dealer 8/5/2013 @ 49,485 miles - offered for sale!

I asked some questions from the service mgr. about car's history, e.g. had the clutch been replaced. He said no but they had quoted one for the PO. Sounds like some AF guy got in over his head financially and couldn't even afford the maintenance costs.

KBB/Edmunds/NADA says this is an $11K car.

DennisAN

Bypro...

Owner #1 shows dealer oil change once in 2002 @ 2,269 miles.

Owner #2 shows Volvo dealer oil change in 2009. Moved from San Luis Obispo to Idaho in 2012.

Dealer reported oil change 2013 after taking car.

Of course CarFax may not show all details of oil changes.

Stephen Tinker

Would the cars service book show if the car had been serviced between 2002 and 2009?
If not, could you imagine the quality / state of the oil after 7 years, let alone the brake fluid, spark plugs, tyres and coolant ......

Macster

12K miles in 8 years is on par with my 03 Turbo that was driven 1667 miles per year for 6 years. I bought it with 10K miles in 2009.

At around 40K miles the 6-speed developed a leak at a selector shaft seal. Transmission replaced under CPO warranty. I sort of believe the leak had nothing to do with the low miles.

At around 100K to 110K miles the spoiler hydraulics leaked and required a new spoiler hydraulic system. The RMS developed a leak and was replaced. At the same time the front diff axle flange seals were found leaking and replaced. The water pump showed signs of a leak and was replaced.

These leaks I would attribute to the car's low miles/lack of use in its first 6 years of life.

By comparison my 02 Boxster had its RMS and IMS flange replaced at 25K miles. No leaks at these points since. The only other leak is a mild, very mild camshaft cover leak that the tech says is not bad enough at this time to fix. The 02 Boxster has covered 275K miles.

The above does not necessarily mean I'd avoid the car, if the price was right. It would have to be right to help mitigate say an RMS leak or a camshaft cover leak or something other leak that I believe will arise as the car accumulate miles.

If the clutch needs doing that would be the time to replace the RMS and the IMS flange with an updated one as a leak preventative measure. Might at the same time replace the CV boots.

Whether one wants to fit some aftermarket IMSB upgrade at the same time that's up to him. The engine probably has the dual row bearing -- check if the VIN is excluded from the IMSB settlement -- which is much less likely to fail. My inclination would be to leave the IMSB alone.

That the car has sat unsold on an Idaho used car lot for some months in the middle of winter doesn't sound too sinister to me.

I would suspect too the Boxster and all the bad press about possible IMSB failures have put some off the car.

DennisAN

Well, that and the dealer wants about $3K - $4K above market price. I'll have a local shop perform a PPI and then see if I want to make an offer.

A nit is that it has 18" wheels.....I'd rather go back to the stock 16" wheels for just driving around the Rockies on roads of uncertain surface quality. But I presume it's an easily arranged swap down with someone who actually wants the 18" wheels.

Macster

Price is only an opinion, not fact. Make like if you can't make a deal on the Boxster you've other cars to fall back on and sell it good so the dealer will believe if he sees you walk off the lot empty handed he's lost a sale to some other dealer or private part.

Not sure 16" wheels will fit the S. 17's I think are the smallest but don't quote me.

DennisAN

It's a base Boxster, not an S. Pretty odd putting such wheels on a base 217 HP Boxster.

Local independent P mechanic quotes $185 for a basic PPI. Can't pull the filter and cut it open since the dealer just changed the oil...... I budget for a few PPIs that don't pan out. To some extent this is my "practice run", as I'd rather have another color and set of wheels. Only good thing is year, mileage, and gray leather interior.

Macster

Sorry, somehow I got it into my head it was an S. Then 16" wheels would fit just fine. Some like the 18" wheels look. My base 02 came with 17" which are plenty big enough. I would have accepted the car with 16" wheels but from 2000 on those are rare.

You can pull the filter and cut it open if you want. But first have a test ride -- 15 miles -- followed by a test drive -- 15 miles over same route -- then if you still like the car have it PPI'd.

By driving the car around 30 miles you give yourself a chance to spot any engine (or car) issues, the DME time to run through all its readiness tests and complete them (as long as the CEL remains dark and when you first start the engine you make sure it comes on then goes off when the engine fires and runs) and if the IMSB is at death's door give the filter time to accumulate the signs. It also gives any leaks a chance to show themselves so they are more readily apparent during the PPI.

DennisAN

Good advice, but....with max temps here of about 27 degrees F you can't do much spirited driving on "summer performance" tires. In fact the existing tires will likely need scrapping after being outdoors all winter here in Boise, where it's gotten down to MINUS 7 degrees F. Cars with summer tires need to be garaged.

Macster

While one can't drive the car as spirited in winter as he might in summer there's no need to really thrash the car in any season during a test drive. Just putting 30 miles or so on the car can tell you a lot about the car and the engine.

The tires will be fine come summer as long as they have not been driven underinflated. I bought my Boxster in Jan of 2002 and lived two years in the mid-west (KC MO area) and drove the car year 'round and left the car outside sometimes even in the bitterest cold of winter and the tires were just fine come warmer weather.

An argument could be made that it is the warmer weather that is harder on the tires as the car gets driven more in warmer weather and the tires get heat cycled more often and over a wider range of temperatures and this really ages the tires.

DennisAN

It finally warmed up to the 40's on Thursday so I took the car for a test drive. So far so good. Was able to get out on some rural roads (posted 50) so I could work WOT after fully warmed up. No oddball sounds. Got to drive over my favorite section of join-lap road at 50 to test out the suspension. Dash rattles galore. Cracks in the wood trim on the steering wheel. Interesting enough for me to schedule a PPI Monday morning.

Clutch operation funky....about half way down the pedal throw there's a "sticky" spot. My guess is slave cylinder or pressure plate springs issue.

First owner registered the car in Carbondale, CO. I had to look it up. Rich town just down the mountain from Aspen. Now that's where the 12K miles in 8 years comes from - the car was likely left at a vacation home. Probably exercised well going up and down mountain roads when he was in town, which should be better for the car than just driving around a city at urban speeds.

Third owner not a repo. AF guy deployed overseas. Car reported clutch issues and wife got $1200 minimum quote from dealer to change clutch, so she sold the car back to the dealer. (Car had been financed.)

Not my favorite color, but...if no other issues turn up at PPI could be acceptable. Otherwise I'll just wait for late spring, when I could drive a car back from Seattle or Portland. Lots of Boxsters for sale in metro Portland and it's a cheap flight from Boise. The drive back would be on I 84 which is very scenic along the Columbia gorge before going over the (presently snow covered) mountain passes down into Boise.

Macster

Dealer techs tell me they do not like the wood (or carbon fiber) trim as it delimitates too frequently for their liking.

Your diagnosis of the source of the clutch behavior could very well be right. Or the clutch (and brake) fluid could need a flush/bleed. Several times over the years when the clutch gets a bit funky a clutch fluid flush/bleed resurrects the thing. 'course, it is not that funky but I do notice its feel/behavior has changed.

Doesn't read like it is a bad car, just located in an out of the way place and has been a bit neglected.

DennisAN

Carfax reports the dealer just performed a service including a brake fluid flush within the last couple hundred miles. Would they flush the brake fluid and not the clutch fluid - same reservoir, right?

I do like the fact that all 3 owners weren't home mechanics - less likely to find botched repair jobs. The second owner shows up on Carfax as having it serviced at dealers all over the western US - even bought a pair of TIRES from a dealer 4K miles ago. Who the heck buys tires from a dealer?