CD Article: Porsche Boxster, 1997-2004

[CD_Editor]

Used Vehicle Review:


"On the whole..the Boxster appears to be a pretty solid car, mechanically," says Contributing Editor Chris Chase.  "Look for one that has a solid service history so you can see what has and hasn't been dealt with already," he suggests.
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[Honda Owner]

Can you say, "money pit?" Alas, things such as Porsche cars are beyond me, which is probably a good thing.

[rrocket]

I've heard these are hit or miss.  Either you get one that's reliable...or one that's a money pit.

[safristi]

why the HUGE variance??

[johngenx]

Used Porsches have large price ranges, even for cars of the same year/mileage.  It has to do with options, colour combinations, service records and who is selling it.  A Boxster on a used lot with few or no records is worth much less than a one-owner car with great records.

[Jameel]

Well I learned this the hard way, you never want to buy a German car without warranty.  Of course a lot of it had to do with the way I drove my Boxster. I really wasn't easy on it.

I have to admit had I not owned a Boxster before, it would be a tempting prepossession.
If you can try to get the S or the later model base Boxsters, because although the handling was amazing, the power was really lacking.

As the Ferrari guys say, “If you can’t afford a good Ferrari, you sure as hell can’t afford a bad Ferrari”. I think the same thing applies to Porsche but on a much smaller scale of course.  But with Boxsters dropping into the $18K to $22K range a lot of people, of average means, might think they can afford them, but that’s not the case.

[The Mighty Duck]

  I'd love a Boxster, and at $20k I could certainly buy one.  Keeping it on the road, OTOH...  :/

There was an old Porsche 928 for sale in Victoria in the summer.  The owner was a 17 year old guy who bought it for cheap.  His reason for selling?  Maintenance costs were too high.

[Honda Owner]

Well I learned this the hard way, you never want to buy a German car without warranty.

That is very wise advice. Most people can afford to wrench on a Golf or a Jetta (and after 100k km, you'll be doing plenty) but an S-Class Merc or a 7 Series BMW require the income of an Arab Sheik to keep on the road.

The vast majority of German high dollar cars are leased and said lease includes all service. This is really the only realistic way of owning a Porsche in my opinion. Pay the $1000 a month and then only have to worry about mortgaging the farm for brakes and tires.

Incidentally, with the real estate crash that is now in progress in Vancouver, you should see the number of high buck Deutsch-mobiles being offered as lease take overs. I saw one guy willing to pay an extra $12k for someone to take over his Cayanne.

[johngenx]

Incidentally, with the real estate crash that is now in progress in Vancouver...

Really?  Interesting.  We've seen values plummet here, but they seem to be leveling off in the last month or so.  Is Vancouver falling?  We're trying to move to the interior of BC, and if prices in Vancouver fall, it ripples out to most other spots (save perhaps the Kelowna area, but you never know) and hopefully the gap between prices will increase.  (My house is worth considerably more than a comparable property in our location of choice)

[Jameel]

Well I learned this the hard way, you never want to buy a German car without warranty.

That is very wise advice. Most people can afford to wrench on a Golf or a Jetta (and after 100k km, you'll be doing plenty) but an S-Class Merc or a 7 Series BMW require the income of an Arab Sheik to keep on the road.

The vast majority of German high dollar cars are leased and said lease includes all service. This is really the only realistic way of owning a Porsche in my opinion. Pay the $1000 a month and then only have to worry about mortgaging the farm for brakes and tires.

Incidentally, with the real estate crash that is now in progress in Vancouver, you should see the number of high buck Deutsch-mobiles being offered as lease take overs. I saw one guy willing to pay an extra $12k for someone to take over his Cayanne.

I guess that explains why those cars (S-class, 5 and 7 series) depreciate so much. Do you guys remember the post about somebody wanting to buy an Audi A8 for a cheap price. Somebody mentioned the instrument cluster on one of those cars is $10,000. 

Actually owning the Boxster really worried me about buying used (sports) car.  That’s why I decided to purchase a bumper-to-bumper GM warranty on my current (sports) car.

[TopGun]

Well I learned this the hard way, you never want to buy a German car without warranty.

Reminds me of this thread where Snowy hits on the "merits" of superior German engineering.

http://www.canadiandriver.com/forum/index.php/topic,59044.msg524180.html#msg524180

It certainly makes me wonder what you're paying for!  I'm kinda glad I decided to shy away from those '87-'89 911s and went with a new RX-8 for the same ~ $30K

[Jameel]

Well I learned this the hard way, you never want to buy a German car without warranty.

Reminds me of this thread where Snowy hits on the "merits" of superior German engineering.

http://www.canadiandriver.com/forum/index.php/topic,59044.msg524180.html#msg524180

It certainly makes me wonder what you're paying for!  I'm kinda glad I decided to shy away from those '87-'89 911s and went with a new RX-8 for the same ~ $30K

I agree with him about that comment. I too, don't see why German engineering is touted as being superior or sought after. Maybe back in the old days German cars were built a lot stronger. But my experience proves otherwise, maybe I got a lemon or maybe I was too hard on the car. 

A friend of mine when he had a 3 series BMW was complaining how expensive and how much problems he had with it.

[johngenx]

There was a time when the German cars were far superior, especially when it came to mechanical components.  If you changed the oil on a regular basis, it was impossible to wear out the bottom end of a Mercedes engine.  A minor top-end job at 350-500K and you were good for another half-mill.  I drove quite a few MB's to over 400K and they were virtually unburstable.

AC systems were tepid.  Electrical stuff made by VDO was junk and sure to fail, including cruise control amplifiers, some instruments (though easy to repair) and other stuff.  Hirschmann antenna masts broke constantly.

When working on an older Mercedes, the first thing you thought was "who made the part?"  If it was made by MB, odds are it was nearly indestructible, and if it did break, was probably rebuildable for a low cost.  If it was made by a vendor, it was most likely junk.

My Porsche's were much the same, but the difference was in parts cost.  Now, the newest Porsche I owned was an 87, so that is back in the day of "over-kill-engineering."  Even with that though, if something did need repairs, it was probably going to be $$$$.

Then came Lexus.  They brought the LS400 to market, and it all changed.  The Germans had no quality advantage anymore, and their prices were much higher.  To compete, they outsourced more stuff, raised production levels and added gizmos like no tomorrow.  New models felt rushed to market and quality for the first few years of any model was awful.

Why?  Consumers demanded it.  Lexus offered a true luxury car, and then sports sedans, for less money and offered reliable electronics.  The Germans just can't seem to get it right.

As a former Porsche owner, I would love another one, but doubt I'll ever buy one.  There are great choices for Sunday-morning (or track) cars that offer the same or better performance and durability.

[Turbo Bob]

I agree with all that above. I'd love to own an old s-class.

[Honda Owner]

Along came Lexus indeed. My best friend has a 1990 MB 560SEL. It is a wonderful car. It is built like a tank. I will probably never die. It was built as a cost is no object exercise. I believe said car retailed in the ballpark of $150,000 in Canada in 1990, which is still a pile of dosh and was doubly so then. In the same year along came the LS400, which cost $50,000 and was even more reliable.

I come from the garage business. I have 10-W-30 in my veins. The German cars up to 1990 or so were very well engineered. I saw Jetta and Rabbit Diesels with 500,000 km on them (on our salt free roads). They were easy to work on, nothing stripped and parts were cheap and interchangeable.

Problem was that the Japanese cars of the era got better and better and the Germans cars didn't. In my opinion it had a lot to do with the import quotas that the EU set on Japanese cars for so long. That is allowed Carlos Gohson to cheap out VW cars because they didn't have to compete. Regardless of what other posters may say, the Mexican built VW products were never as good as the German cars, which is kind of spelled out because the Rabbit is built in Germany now.

Never forget that the rasion de etre of the car biz is to make money. Nobody lifts a finger in the car biz for free. Porsches make money. Do you think that Prosche gave a rat's ass when the "purists" panned the Cayenne? They sold more of them than all other Porsche cars in history put together. Same for the 924, which was an abomination. Besides, 99% of Porsche customers don't buy their cars to go fast, they buy them to look cool. And for a young guy making $60,000 a year, it is a possibility if he wants to eat Kraft Dinner a lot.

Ahh, the car biz. People involved in it see cars as appliances that take you places. Go to your local dealer and see what the employees drive; tons of Tercels!

And with this off my chest, I feel better.....

[Snowman]

German automakers are feeling the same pressure as North America with rising labour costs from strong unions and having to cut corners in component quality.

[articsteve]

German cars all excel in suspensions and driving dynamics.  That's their main attraction.  Their manual transmissions are great as well.  Aftermarket parts for Bimmers and Porsche are really quite plentiful and on line technical support from BBS are excellent.

IMO, overall, the Japanese make the best motors due to superior reliability and their electronics are of course, the best.   

[speed12sil]

Well I learned this the hard way, you never want to buy a German car without warranty.

Reminds me of this thread where Snowy hits on the "merits" of superior German engineering.

http://www.canadiandriver.com/forum/index.php/topic,59044.msg524180.html#msg524180

It certainly makes me wonder what you're paying for!  I'm kinda glad I decided to shy away from those '87-'89 911s and went with a new RX-8 for the same ~ $30K

Yet another boxster thread where people get to bash Porsche...
But back to what you said. Those 87 -89 911s can be kept in good running condition with modest amount of money if the owner knows WTH he's doing.
Then again lots of people buy used Porsche, including 986 thinking it would be easy/cheap to fix. When it's not, if not partly because they didn't try to seek help from fellow owners online and parts turn out to be expensive from the dealership(disregarding the fact that there are places in the States to get reasonably priced OEM parts) they start hating their purchase.

And FWIW the engine failure issue(due to IMS shearing off) that someone brought up as a ticking time bomb in every boxster/cayman has been fixed for at least the 2007 models and onward.

[Honda Owner]

German automakers are feeling the same pressure as North America with rising labour costs from strong unions and having to cut corners in component quality.

Not exactly. Have a look at what a Japanese auto worker makes and you will be very surprised. Then compare what Japanese executives make vs those in Germany and the USA.

[johngenx]

Production line workers in Japan are very well paid, as are the employees of Toyota and Honda in North America.  Wages and benefits match the unions, or exceed them in order to keep the CAW/UAW out.

It is a giant myth that poor Big Three and German quality is the result of high line wages.  It is poor design, squeezing the suppliers until they have to compromise quality and rushing product to market.