Discussion
I'm looking to buy my first Porsche - a Boxster 3.2 from 2003. The dealer wants ~£4,999 for it, with 93K miles and dosen't look like any work has been done on the IMS bearing or RMS. Apparently there's a full service history which I've not yet seen. What questions should I be asking to work out if there are any issues? Thanks for your help!
JonnyWhitters said:
Depending on where it is, I’d be contacting Nick Giles and booking him for a PPI.
They’re awesome cars and not ruinously expensive to run, so if it looks half good for that money I’d be tempted at taking a punt. Using Nick will help go in with eyes open
Is he the same person that did a marvellous job of inspecting another PHer’s prospective 986 a while ago?-said it was all good,car was sold for scrap shortly after purchase…….They’re awesome cars and not ruinously expensive to run, so if it looks half good for that money I’d be tempted at taking a punt. Using Nick will help go in with eyes open
Edited by and31 on Friday 21st March 17:45
hiphopjunkie75 said:
I'm looking to buy my first Porsche - a Boxster 3.2 from 2003. The dealer wants ~£4,999 for it, with 93K miles and doesn't look like any work has been done on the IMS bearing or RMS. Apparently there's a full service history which I've not yet seen. What questions should I be asking to work out if there are any issues? Thanks for your help!
At that sort of price I wouldn't really ask them anything. Unless they know the car well they will only be able to tell you what you can already ascertain yourself, and even if they do know it, at the end of the day, they are selling a car. I trust no one and into every sale with my eyes absolutely wide open which is sad but I expect no favours. Or you pay above the odds and buy from a known marque-specialist who wouldn't want the reputational aggro of selling a dud. I'd be looking at it hard, myself and making my own conclusions. Check the service history to see if it's at least consistent and that there are no gaping holes in it. If it's got climate, check it works. Check there's no evidence of damp under the seats or along the rear bulkhead carpeting ie, mould, funny stains etc. Do the remotes work on both keys? Does even come with both keys? Are the headlights going hazy? Does it have Cruise and does it work? Does the roof open and close OK? Are the side elastics on the roof still good. Any evidence of accident damage on the body or rot on the trailing edges of the front arches or leading edges of the sills? Look underneath at the general state of the floors and sills. Is there any sign of careless jacking (crimped/collapsed sill flanges, cracked underfloor trays, ,mangled A/C pipes etc). Get a torch and look into the front bumpers either side and see if the rads and condensers are showing any signs of weeping or leaf/road crap build up. Does the car "look" straight when you look at it (panel gaps / paint mismatches). Get into a position where the light reflects off it and look along the body sides to see if there are any inconsistencies to indicate damage but bear in mind its 22 years old. Is the exhaust showing any signs of blowing or outright bodgery? It won't look pretty (unless its a quality stainless set up which is unlikely at that price) but if its solid-ish then that's as good as you can expect. Are the struts showing any signs of leakage, are the springs OK or showing significant corrosion? Are the tyres "in date"? Even if they have good tread left, if they're showing cracking in the tread or inner sidewall, or are over 5 years old, factor in replacements as it'll probably handle a bit oddly if the tyre has age-hardened. Do the electrics work? Is the interior OK. Start it from cold, do all the lights go out on the dash, does it blow any smoke (a little bit on start up wouldn't be unusual but it should clear more or less immediately). Any metallic ticking noises that don't go away after a short time? Is there any evidence of oil in the coolant tank? Does it drive OK, is the clutch good? Any knocks from the suspension? All standard used car stuff. Don't fixate on the RMS/IMS. It's 22 years old (I think I said that already) so if it's survived this long and its been driven a reasonable amount every year and had oil changes more or less consistent with the mileage, I wouldn't sweat about it. The ones I worry about are the garage queens that haven't done more than a 1000 miles a year ie 250 miles a month then laid up for 8 months. You can go to the trouble of getting it bore-scoped and professionally PPI'd but at £5k it's probably more pragmatic to expect a few issues and put some money to one side to fix them and get it to a good base line, then just keep on top of the normal maintenance, drive it often and enjoy it. And if it breaks, it's life. Put it into context, £5k (or £4500-£4750) is not a lot of money these days. I've just been to look locally at a 2011 Fiat Panda 1.2 with 55k on it , as I need a basic dog car, and it was an absolutely shed in the flesh. And they were asking £2,500. For £5k I'd probably prefer the 986.
At that age and miles, the likelihood of RMS/IMS issues diminishes, but never goes away
Conventional wisdom suggest budgeting £2-3k to bring any 986 up to acceptable condition, and £1-2k a year after that.
It's 2 decades old. You're going to have niggles and issues, and the common faults are well-documented (other than RMS/IMS). A cheap Porsche is never really a cheap Porsche.
Conventional wisdom suggest budgeting £2-3k to bring any 986 up to acceptable condition, and £1-2k a year after that.
It's 2 decades old. You're going to have niggles and issues, and the common faults are well-documented (other than RMS/IMS). A cheap Porsche is never really a cheap Porsche.
Patrick Bateman said:
I just read a bit of that thread and didn't realise the PPI didn't even involve having the car on a ramp. Sod paying for that.
They can, and often do, look a million dollars when on the road-side.It is not until the vehicle is raised that you can really get into it and the true condition of the vehicle can be seen.
hiphopjunkie75 said:
Apparently the car has leaking power steering but the garage are insisting they'll fix before pickup.
Could this be sign of more serious damage? Should I consider this a red flag?
No, it's really common the hard lines on the rack corrode over time and spring a leak. Easy to fix and plenty of line kits available to repair with but it's rack out to do it, which is a bit of a job. Could this be sign of more serious damage? Should I consider this a red flag?
Smollet said:
If you do get one subscribe Torque Boxsters on Facebook. Paul Lewis who runs it is more than happy to answer any questions and I’d strongly recommend you get him to look after the car. He’s based in Sunbury and he’s probably one of if not the best 986 specialists there is.
Seconded.Also OP get yourself on boxanet forum-very friendly forum with lots of great advice
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