Is a 3.5k Boxster a good idea?
Discussion
Well, without being that person, it's a £3.5k risk.
If you can get any car looked at by someone who knows 986s pre purchase you should be able to mitigate much of the risk. It's not a totally crazy idea. I ran a 986 on a shoestring once, was my only car and main transport. Bought the thing cat D, had no idea what I was doing, was my first Porsche, didn't inspect it properly, went about it all wrong. The roof mechanism broke about a month in, but apart from that, over 70k miles it never broke down and the only fairly big expense was a clutch. Can see from online MOT checker that the car is still going 10 years later, albeit the mileage it going up rather more gradually now.
It could have blown up, but they mostly don't. They can be a bit finickety re things like the cooling system, but you'd be pretty unlucky to have the engine let go. Have bought several other Porsches for far more money, done all the right due diligence and had much more costly issues down the road. So it goes. 986s for the most part are pretty reliable, despite the horror stories. Good luck.
If you can get any car looked at by someone who knows 986s pre purchase you should be able to mitigate much of the risk. It's not a totally crazy idea. I ran a 986 on a shoestring once, was my only car and main transport. Bought the thing cat D, had no idea what I was doing, was my first Porsche, didn't inspect it properly, went about it all wrong. The roof mechanism broke about a month in, but apart from that, over 70k miles it never broke down and the only fairly big expense was a clutch. Can see from online MOT checker that the car is still going 10 years later, albeit the mileage it going up rather more gradually now.
It could have blown up, but they mostly don't. They can be a bit finickety re things like the cooling system, but you'd be pretty unlucky to have the engine let go. Have bought several other Porsches for far more money, done all the right due diligence and had much more costly issues down the road. So it goes. 986s for the most part are pretty reliable, despite the horror stories. Good luck.
Repeat after me: "There is no such thing as a cheap Porsche".
If it's for sale cheap, there's a reason. You can easily end up spending more than the purchase price putting right everything that's wrong with it. If you can do the work yourself, that will bring the price down a little.
If it's for sale cheap, there's a reason. You can easily end up spending more than the purchase price putting right everything that's wrong with it. If you can do the work yourself, that will bring the price down a little.
These cars gobble money to put right if they have not been kept tip top in the past. Here's a recent thread of someone who thought they had bought well (and newer/better condition than £3.5k will buy) and within a year it wanting £5k of work.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
There's other ways to go about it in terms of doing work yourself etc just an example of how it can go
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
There's other ways to go about it in terms of doing work yourself etc just an example of how it can go
If you have strong OCD like tendencies and don't like DIY then do not buy a 20 year old Porsche. It will be financial suicide. If you are handy with a spanner and are willing to flex a little on wanting Your car to be right then yes fun can be had for reasonable money.
Edited by ATM on Wednesday 6th July 12:10
You probably could run it fairly cheaply unless it blows up, then just scrap it. If you are anal about maintenance or take it into a 'specialist' to give you depressing lists of things, it will cost you , but if you don't mind, the odd suspension knock, ac not working, other odd things not working, then you might be able to have some fun in one. Also DVB are great for used spares, eg alternator or starter motor only £23., front wing £80, Even new radiators are £65 each on ebay.
When I had a 996 I replaced so much on it, but only to keep it fully up to date, spares weren't expensive, front discs £150 a pair,
If you can afford to lose it all, then why not.
When I had a 996 I replaced so much on it, but only to keep it fully up to date, spares weren't expensive, front discs £150 a pair,
If you can afford to lose it all, then why not.
If the roof breaks, you can disconnect the transmission arms and it works pretty well manually while saving up to repair the mechanism. Due to the geometry of the clamshell, it can't really pop open at speed, so it's all pretty safe.
They can make a loud popping noise like a golf ball hitting the metal during operation when the mechanism is out of alignment. That's one precursor to failure.
They can make a loud popping noise like a golf ball hitting the metal during operation when the mechanism is out of alignment. That's one precursor to failure.
ATM said:
There is no such thing as a cheap Porsche
This x 1000. I learned through lots of research before buying my first Porsche to budget for at least £2k in the first year of ownership of any oldish car to get it into a decent condition. Sometimes I’ve been lucky and had to spend slightly less, other times I’ve had to spend much more. You’re buying a car that was a luxury item when new. The spares and service costs will be the same now, except you’ll be visiting the garage a lot more frequently than the first few owners.
If you go ahead just check the standard items - condensers, disk and brakes, clutch, signs of excessive oil use, shocks, springs. Some of these things could be financially much more than you pay for the car.
Pistom said:
Reading that other thread, nothing sounded too difficult which a reasonably capable home mechanic couldn't fix themselves.
£3.5K will probably not buy you much of any car but if you're lucky and can fix stuff yourself, these are OK cars.
I ran mine with no major issues.
That was my thread, and I think you're right. The work that needed doing on my car was way beyond my capabilities. I did try fixing the roof mechanism, because the ball joint popping out seemed like quite a popular problem with an easy fix. I bought the part and followed the advice, but each time I put the roof down it would pop out right as it was almost fully open. I just couldn't work out why. I did other bits and pieces, but things like driveshafts, corroded coolant pipes, brake disks etc. are not for me. The reality is that my car needed a lot of work doing, but I'd have probably got away with doing it gradually to spread the cost. Or not do it at all, and just wait for things to absolutely need doing without question. I think it depends on your nature whether you'd be happy doing that, or whether like me, you can't enjoy the car knowing stuff is failing.£3.5K will probably not buy you much of any car but if you're lucky and can fix stuff yourself, these are OK cars.
I ran mine with no major issues.
ajap1979 said:
I think it depends on your nature whether you'd be happy doing that, or whether like me, you can't enjoy the car knowing stuff is failing.
I am posting this again as it seems relevant....ATM said:
If you have strong OCD like tendencies and don't like DIY then do not buy a 20 year old Porsche. It will be financial suicide. If you are handy with a spanner and are willing to flex a little on wanting Your car to be right then yes fun can be had for reasonable money.
I bought a 928s 10 years ago for £3.5k when there were cheaper ones available and i spent twice that getting it in very good condition but a friend of mine also bought one for £2k and drove it for a year before having to do some work,he still has it but has now spent a fortune over many years.
Luck played a part and being an engineer i love tinkering.....even expensive tinkering.
Nowadays £3.5k doesnt buy you that much,a Boxster for that price seems a world of headache or you could get lucky..I am cautious now but in my 30s i would of given it a go...
Whats the worse that can happen..
Luck played a part and being an engineer i love tinkering.....even expensive tinkering.
Nowadays £3.5k doesnt buy you that much,a Boxster for that price seems a world of headache or you could get lucky..I am cautious now but in my 30s i would of given it a go...
Whats the worse that can happen..
You might get lucky and have a year’s driving out of it but go into it being prepared to lose the purchase price. If the car needs new radiators, brakes and a suspension refresh you’ll easily be looking at forking out the purchase price again.
As ATM quite rightly points out, there’s no such thing as a cheap Porsche. It’s not just Porsche though. If you bought a cheap Ferrari or Lamborghini you’d be looking at stratospheric bills to keep the car on the road. Porsche come under a lot of flack often on these pages for costing a fortune to run. It drives me mad. They’re no more expensive than any other premium sports car. In fact they’re probably a lot cheaper than an Italian car with the same performance. The usual problem seems to be that old water cooled Porsches tend to be picked up at relatively low prices these days and the buyers don’t do their research, thinking that cheap cars are cheap to run. Big mistake. They then rant on here about how expensive and unreliable they are. The cars I’ve bought over the years have never let me down but I have had to pay a small fortune to keep them that way.
As ATM quite rightly points out, there’s no such thing as a cheap Porsche. It’s not just Porsche though. If you bought a cheap Ferrari or Lamborghini you’d be looking at stratospheric bills to keep the car on the road. Porsche come under a lot of flack often on these pages for costing a fortune to run. It drives me mad. They’re no more expensive than any other premium sports car. In fact they’re probably a lot cheaper than an Italian car with the same performance. The usual problem seems to be that old water cooled Porsches tend to be picked up at relatively low prices these days and the buyers don’t do their research, thinking that cheap cars are cheap to run. Big mistake. They then rant on here about how expensive and unreliable they are. The cars I’ve bought over the years have never let me down but I have had to pay a small fortune to keep them that way.
I bought one in Jan with a decent service history and IMS and RMS replaced by a main dealer in the last 10'000 miles, new roof and a lot of other expensive jobs already done, since then i've spent £1000 on work on it and I anticipate spending another 2-3k this winter to really get it up to scratch, full suspension refresh amongst other smaller jobs. I'll be 10k into it by next summer I imagine.
I've seen cars for breaking getting sold at 3k plus recently.
I've seen cars for breaking getting sold at 3k plus recently.
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