New member needs help - feedback on buying a Boxster
Discussion
Hello All
I am new to the forum.
I am 26 and currently drive a 04 Civic Type R. I want to sell this and join the Porsche club! Can you guys guide me through the darkness? I am not sure exactly what I want and a few mechanics from an independent Porsche service centre I know have warned me off Boxsters?
My position is as follows..
I want to spend under £23K, and I am looking for a low mileage manual in probably silver/black/grey/possibly dark blue.
A 3.2 sounds good (but I don't know if that's my greed taking over)?
I want the extras such as a 'BOSE' upgrade, 18" wheels, clear lights iPod connection, climate control, CD changer, and tasteful leather! etc....
I have seen a few streams talking about gearbox's jumping out of 2nd gear and leaking oil seals.
I'm mechanically minded, and have the fortune of having a Dad with his own Garage, so hope that I wouldn't buy a pig!
Being vain again I am pretty confident that I want the face lift version!
I could really do with some feedback on what I should look for...I briefly drove a early version a couple of years ago...my next step is going to test some examples at the local dealer...can you fuel me with the points to pick out???
Cheers
Will
I am new to the forum.
I am 26 and currently drive a 04 Civic Type R. I want to sell this and join the Porsche club! Can you guys guide me through the darkness? I am not sure exactly what I want and a few mechanics from an independent Porsche service centre I know have warned me off Boxsters?
My position is as follows..
I want to spend under £23K, and I am looking for a low mileage manual in probably silver/black/grey/possibly dark blue.
A 3.2 sounds good (but I don't know if that's my greed taking over)?
I want the extras such as a 'BOSE' upgrade, 18" wheels, clear lights iPod connection, climate control, CD changer, and tasteful leather! etc....
I have seen a few streams talking about gearbox's jumping out of 2nd gear and leaking oil seals.
I'm mechanically minded, and have the fortune of having a Dad with his own Garage, so hope that I wouldn't buy a pig!
Being vain again I am pretty confident that I want the face lift version!
I could really do with some feedback on what I should look for...I briefly drove a early version a couple of years ago...my next step is going to test some examples at the local dealer...can you fuel me with the points to pick out???
Cheers
Will
I recently bought a 986 boxster on a 04 plate with about 24,000 on the clock. Have a look on the classifieds on here and also the auto trader website where I picked my car up. I got my car hpi'd and a Porsche check for peace of mind and my dad also a mechanic checked the car over as much as possible and fingers crossed its been brilliant.
Obviously there will be good and bad examples but remember not to be in a rush to buy one, I searched all over to find my car because it had exactly the spec I wanted and it looked an honest car, in other words it had used tyres and pads etc showing basically how the car had been driven. I avoided the Boxsters that looked tarted up with new tyres all round etc because it didn’t really give an indication as to how the car had been driven. As for rms and gearbox problems you will find people that have had this problem and MANY that have not, dont let this turn you off rms were a problem with the 911 as well. Some say brought on by hammering the car when cold and in other cases different stories. Your budget will obviously keep you well away from 2.5's which had problems apparently. I would also imagine at this time of the year there will probably be more movement in the price.
Another pointer avoid these car supermarkets with bargain priced 2.7s the two I went to look at were unbelievable, salesman trying to tell me the car was "a minter mate its only got 15,000 on the clock" turned out to have a resprayed front bumper, electric window switch missing, p***ing oil out, the drivers seat was worn as if Dawn French had drove around the world in it, scratched to bits in other words be careful because in all car sales "BUYER BEWARE BECUASE THE SELLER DONT CARE"!!!! My Boxster is my pride and joy and although yes I could of bought a 911 for the same money but I would of ended up with an antique and IMHO the boxster is a better looking car over the 911 996 convertible which has an extremely fat a**e with the roof down and doesn’t look right with the roof up either. The other big pointer is I do quite a bit of travelling with the Boxster and its dead practical having two boots means you can carry a lot more than you would expect!! Anyway wish you all the luck in the world and I hope you find a Boxster that will make you as happy as I am currently…
Obviously there will be good and bad examples but remember not to be in a rush to buy one, I searched all over to find my car because it had exactly the spec I wanted and it looked an honest car, in other words it had used tyres and pads etc showing basically how the car had been driven. I avoided the Boxsters that looked tarted up with new tyres all round etc because it didn’t really give an indication as to how the car had been driven. As for rms and gearbox problems you will find people that have had this problem and MANY that have not, dont let this turn you off rms were a problem with the 911 as well. Some say brought on by hammering the car when cold and in other cases different stories. Your budget will obviously keep you well away from 2.5's which had problems apparently. I would also imagine at this time of the year there will probably be more movement in the price.
Another pointer avoid these car supermarkets with bargain priced 2.7s the two I went to look at were unbelievable, salesman trying to tell me the car was "a minter mate its only got 15,000 on the clock" turned out to have a resprayed front bumper, electric window switch missing, p***ing oil out, the drivers seat was worn as if Dawn French had drove around the world in it, scratched to bits in other words be careful because in all car sales "BUYER BEWARE BECUASE THE SELLER DONT CARE"!!!! My Boxster is my pride and joy and although yes I could of bought a 911 for the same money but I would of ended up with an antique and IMHO the boxster is a better looking car over the 911 996 convertible which has an extremely fat a**e with the roof down and doesn’t look right with the roof up either. The other big pointer is I do quite a bit of travelling with the Boxster and its dead practical having two boots means you can carry a lot more than you would expect!! Anyway wish you all the luck in the world and I hope you find a Boxster that will make you as happy as I am currently…
Hello
What ever you buy just dont rush into it,get the car properley inspected by someone who is dealing with porsches to lug into the cars ecus and check everything is ok with all systems...full inspection and HPI !!
Total costs around £150 should not run much more than this.
Just be carefull thinking it wont cost you less with the gearbox job amongst others as a alot of specialist tooling is required and also not much in the way of spare parts is available for the gearboxes.
mike
sportsandclassic.com
What ever you buy just dont rush into it,get the car properley inspected by someone who is dealing with porsches to lug into the cars ecus and check everything is ok with all systems...full inspection and HPI !!
Total costs around £150 should not run much more than this.
Just be carefull thinking it wont cost you less with the gearbox job amongst others as a alot of specialist tooling is required and also not much in the way of spare parts is available for the gearboxes.
mike
sportsandclassic.com
For that budget a 3.2 is easily within range although might be on the cusp of nice pre-facelift, high mileage facelift. FWIW I sold my mint, good spec 02 car with 14k miles (picture in profile) for £25k last July so probably worth you budget now.
The only worthwhile difference of the facelift IMO is the glass rear screen (although to be honest I found the plastic one to be fine as long as you don't do something stupid like lower it in a freeze).
I want the extras such as a 'BOSE' upgrade, 18" wheels, clear lights iPod connection, climate control, CD changer, and tasteful leather! etc....
I have seen a few streams talking about gearbox's jumping out of 2nd gear and leaking oil seals.
18" are a common option on S cars, climate and CD player std. Full leather option (leather on dash/doors also well worth having and one of the first boxes to be ticked. Do ipod connection yourself and (pref-facelift) the clear lens conversion costs £200 provided you get a car with litronics which are clear (its replacing the fronts that is expensive).
If you Dad is familiar with Porsches RMS will not be a worry (part is a few quid), if not get a 111 check and a warranty.
The only worthwhile difference of the facelift IMO is the glass rear screen (although to be honest I found the plastic one to be fine as long as you don't do something stupid like lower it in a freeze).
aw7ad said:
I want the extras such as a 'BOSE' upgrade, 18" wheels, clear lights iPod connection, climate control, CD changer, and tasteful leather! etc....
I have seen a few streams talking about gearbox's jumping out of 2nd gear and leaking oil seals.
18" are a common option on S cars, climate and CD player std. Full leather option (leather on dash/doors also well worth having and one of the first boxes to be ticked. Do ipod connection yourself and (pref-facelift) the clear lens conversion costs £200 provided you get a car with litronics which are clear (its replacing the fronts that is expensive).
If you Dad is familiar with Porsches RMS will not be a worry (part is a few quid), if not get a 111 check and a warranty.
andy ha said:
Think you may be being a little optimistic price wise.
Well worth paying a little more for an MY03 onwards car that has the glass rear window. Also worth paying a fair deal more for the 3.2S.
If you want to get a good value car the options you do *not* need are:
Full Leather. (Was 1.5K new)
Sat Nav (PCM). (Was 2K new)
18" groovy wheels (Was 2K new)
Hardtop (Was 2K new)
Options you *must* get (for resale) are:
Climate (standard on S)
Wind Deflector (looks odd else)
Nice options - if you can get 'em
Heated seats.
Be careful you don`t get too spec-specific. We reject a surprising number of Boxsters (given their relatively young age). Nothing wrong with the car as such, more the people that own and drive them. Sometimes we reject the cars on easily spottable faults, other times it`s a little more subtle. We have never yet rejected a car based on it`s spec.
I find a lot of Boxster buyers get a specific car in mind then when it comes along they buy it. What that means is they end up with and under condition / over priced (or both!) car. We buy lots of Boxsters where the owner has to hand over the car and a cheque to cover the shortfall in the finance just to walk away from the car.
Certainly something like an ipod connection is far too specific and you have little or no chance of finding it (not available from the factory as far as I`m aware). As has been said air con, win deflector and probably leather seats would be a sensible spec. 18 inch alloys nice but if it was the right car I wouldn`t walk away if they weren`t fitted.
Don`t get too hung up on the number on the speedo providing the price is adjusted accordingly, you should find the car depreciates less as you are destroying less of a premium during your ownership.
Finally remember that when you bought your Honda it will have been new (or very nearly new) where all the cars are the same (and there were only 3 options for you to choose !), the Porsche you are looking for is much older and as such needs buying with a completely different set of parameters.
Hope that helps.
Henry
I find a lot of Boxster buyers get a specific car in mind then when it comes along they buy it. What that means is they end up with and under condition / over priced (or both!) car. We buy lots of Boxsters where the owner has to hand over the car and a cheque to cover the shortfall in the finance just to walk away from the car.
Certainly something like an ipod connection is far too specific and you have little or no chance of finding it (not available from the factory as far as I`m aware). As has been said air con, win deflector and probably leather seats would be a sensible spec. 18 inch alloys nice but if it was the right car I wouldn`t walk away if they weren`t fitted.
Don`t get too hung up on the number on the speedo providing the price is adjusted accordingly, you should find the car depreciates less as you are destroying less of a premium during your ownership.
Finally remember that when you bought your Honda it will have been new (or very nearly new) where all the cars are the same (and there were only 3 options for you to choose !), the Porsche you are looking for is much older and as such needs buying with a completely different set of parameters.
Hope that helps.
Henry
Never had any issues during seven years of Boxster ownership.
Coose a 3.2 over the facelift as the bigger engine is much more fun. Facelift only offers glass rear screen and IMHO a dubious change of looks.
Check that the car has been well looked after. Mileage is not an issue, it's a Porsche after all...
Coose a 3.2 over the facelift as the bigger engine is much more fun. Facelift only offers glass rear screen and IMHO a dubious change of looks.
Check that the car has been well looked after. Mileage is not an issue, it's a Porsche after all...
I was in your situation a couple of months ago and would reiterate most of the comments already made.
I really wanted the facelift 3.2S and I'd suggest that if you can't stretch your budget to £25k you'll end up with one of the higher mileage / less well looked after examples - you'll definitely get a 2.7 you like for your cash.
Once I'd made my decision on the 3.2 I quickly decided not to discard the pre-facelift.
I ended up with a stack of options (no ipod link though - just get an i-trip!) including a hard top for about £21k -ish (hard to tell as i was lucky and p-ex'd my car privately!)- i think it was the last of the pre-facelifts but tbh, all i don't have is the glass window (although i could sell my hard top to fund that if i wanted to) and the glove box (who cares?) - whack a private plate on and it's difficult to tell the pre to post facelift.
At the end of the day, take your time and remember that you get what you pay for.
Good luck and enjoy the ride!
I really wanted the facelift 3.2S and I'd suggest that if you can't stretch your budget to £25k you'll end up with one of the higher mileage / less well looked after examples - you'll definitely get a 2.7 you like for your cash.
Once I'd made my decision on the 3.2 I quickly decided not to discard the pre-facelift.
I ended up with a stack of options (no ipod link though - just get an i-trip!) including a hard top for about £21k -ish (hard to tell as i was lucky and p-ex'd my car privately!)- i think it was the last of the pre-facelifts but tbh, all i don't have is the glass window (although i could sell my hard top to fund that if i wanted to) and the glove box (who cares?) - whack a private plate on and it's difficult to tell the pre to post facelift.
At the end of the day, take your time and remember that you get what you pay for.
Good luck and enjoy the ride!
henry-f said:
We reject a surprising number of Boxsters (given their relatively young age). Nothing wrong with the car as such, more the people that own and drive them.
Henry
Henry
Henry, that's a fascinating insight. I am assuming you are talking about buying a car rather than assessing a trade-in? Are you saying that you reject cars specifically because you judge the owner to be untrustworthy/a tosser/too lazy to service it etc etc. In other words, when you say "buy on condition" is that actually "buy on condition of car + prior owner?
Edited by softinthehead on Friday 17th November 14:00
softinthehead said:
henry-f said:
We reject a surprising number of Boxsters (given their relatively young age). Nothing wrong with the car as such, more the people that own and drive them.
Henry
Henry
Henry, that's a fascinating insight. I am assuming you are talking about buying a car rather than assessing a trade-in? Are you saying that you reject cars specifically because you judge the owner to be untrustworthy/a tosser/too lazy to service it etc etc. In other words, when you say "buy on condition" is that actually "buy on condition of car + prior owner?
Edited by softinthehead on Friday 17th November 14:00
No I don`t care if the person bringing a car is green with 3 eyes and they breath through their ears, my comment was that the reason we reject a lot of Boxsters isn`t because they are crap but because not everyone looks after their cars properly. With say a 993 model 911 the owners tend to be more "enthusiastic" when it come to looking after their car. A lot of Boxster owners just see their car as a means to get from A to B, their last car was an Audi, their next will be a BMW. The cars often have a trail of faults that haven`t been addressed because the car hasn`t actually stopped running yet.
When you`re buying a car look at the car not it`s surroundings. We have been to see cars owned by rich and in some cases famous people that were horrible, we`ve bought cars off very ordinary folk that were exceptional.
The biggest mistake private buyers make is trying to devise ways of judging a car using everything under the sun other than the car it`s self, ultimately that`s because assessing a car requires a very broad range of technical skills that are not easily aquired.
Henry
yes, i thought that would be what you meant, and a sentiment i'd agree with. the phrase "nothing wrong with the car as such, more the people that own and drive them" would suggest otherwise, but I imagine you are referring to cars that are, for example,in perfectly good running order and condition but are missing several stamps in the service schedule, or have overly large service intervals
henry-f said:
No I don`t care if the person bringing a car is green with 3 eyes and they breath through their ears, my comment was that the reason we reject a lot of Boxsters isn`t because they are crap but because not everyone looks after their cars properly. With say a 993 model 911 the owners tend to be more "enthusiastic" when it come to looking after their car. A lot of Boxster owners just see their car as a means to get from A to B, their last car was an Audi, their next will be a BMW. The cars often have a trail of faults that haven`t been addressed because the car hasn`t actually stopped running yet.
Henry
I think you make some good points there Henry but I hope you won't tar us all with the same brush. I am sure you will find that there are an increasing number of people that are getting into Porsche ownership by buying boxsters that are 5 years and older. Many of these new owners are also in the 'enthusiast' category because they (we) realize that time and money will have to be spent on older cars, to keep them in tip top condition so that we can maximize our enjoyment of them. This is helped by the increasing number of good independent Porsche specialists that are around these days, who make it possible to maintain our cars to a high standard without paying through the nose. And there are a fair few things that can be done by one's self.
When I get to the point of moving on my boxster it will be in fantastic condition for its age and it will be replaced with either a 996, 993 or 964 (not a BMW). Owning the boxster has truly opened up the world of Porsches to me
. We are your future customers 
. Edited by boxsey on Saturday 18th November 12:11
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