Topic: Thinking about a boxster 987 or 981

[Ottawa]

Hi
       At some point in your life , you realize that having fun could be very therapeutic. I have decided to look for and acquire a decent boxster. Any thoughts of what to look for, price to pay, pitfalls. Budget 35k. Condition is key. Very few options in Ottawa. Willing to travel to see it. Any reputable shops you would recommend. 

[rrocket]

Hi
       At some point in your life , you realize that having fun could be very therapeutic. I have decided to look for and acquire a decent boxster. Any thoughts of what to look for, price to pay, pitfalls. Budget 35k. Condition is key. Very few options in Ottawa. Willing to travel to see it. Any reputable shops you would recommend.

IMS, IMS, IMS, IMS on the 987.

[Ottawa]

Not on 2006 and newer or rarely as I read

[Ottawa]

How about this one https://www.autotrader.ca/a/porsche/boxster/oakville/ontario/19_11646082_?showcpo=ShowCpo&ncse=no&ursrc=ts&prx=100

Seems above average price. 2010 are averaging 32.9k according to autotrader but looks great except for minor accident

[ArticSteve]

Cylinder scoring.  Bore scope inspection is a must.

These units really demand a REAL PPI.  More than an hour.

[rrocket]

Not on 2006 and newer or rarely as I read

I've looked at enough Boxsters to know it still happens.

And ANY 987 I bought the first thing I would do is get the transmission dropped and have the IMS bearing seal removed.

[Gurgie]

Cylinder scoring.  Bore scope inspection is a must.

These units really demand a REAL PPI.  More than an hour.

Funny thing is that this seems to happen more on the low mileage ones according to my buddy who worked at Porsche Oakville.

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[Gurgie]

Not on 2006 and newer or rarely as I read

I've looked at enough Boxsters to know it still happens.

And ANY 987 I bought the first thing I would do is get the transmission dropped and have the IMS bearing seal removed.

Yup, most of the time the RMS is leaking a bit, so do that & the clutch at the same time as well.

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[ArticSteve]

The thing about used Porsches; it maybe have already been the previous owner, you as the newest owner, or the next future owner, but without exception, one of ya is in for a sh*t kicking! 

[Gurgie]

The thing about used Porsches; it maybe have already been the previous owner, you as the newest owner, or the next future owner, but without exception, one of ya is in for a sh*t kicking! 

Not necessarily true of all used Porsches... some are great just under regular maintenance... and even better if you can do the work yourself. My buddy does all the work on his 944 Turbo himself and has done the timing belt & water pump himself twice which usually runs around $2k at an indy shop... then he's done the clutch once himself as well which usually runs over $3k to get done. Big thing for used Porsches is a good Indy that you can trust and who knows the cars well inside & out... and with cheap hourly rates 

[ArticSteve]

What you mentioned there is regular maintenance.  The 944 series, with the exception of the idiotic clutch/torque tube design, are pretty basic setups.  But they're so old now that all sorts of mind boggling things start to occur.  The wiring starts to decay from within.  Stuff like that.

In contrast, those Boxsters, although newer, are so difficult to work on and require a slew of special tools.  It's comes down to a roll of the dice.  Do you feel lucky? 

[rrocket]

At some point, you'll likely be doing the AOS on a 987 too

[Ottawa]

Well search continues. I actually expanded search to include Cayman S as well. so current criteria are:
Boxster S or Cayman S
2009 or later (987.2 or better)

Made conditional offer on a what seemed like a great car in Toronto over the weekend until I ran a Carfax to find out that there were 3 serious inconsistencies with the odometer. Car shows 53k (2009) but first year alone showed 30k kms. Then mileage increases for a few year and somehow is rolled back to a lower value a few years later. Happened in 3 different years...Seemed way too fishy for me. Walked away

[rrocket]

Well search continues. I actually expanded search to include Cayman S as well. so current criteria are:
Boxster S or Cayman S
2009 or later (987.2 or better)

Made conditional offer on a what seemed like a great car in Toronto over the weekend until I ran a Carfax to find out that there were 3 serious inconsistencies with the odometer. Car shows 53k (2009) but first year alone showed 30k kms. Then mileage increases for a few year and somehow is rolled back to a lower value a few years later. Happened in 3 different years...Seemed way too fishy for me. Walked away

Have seen this before....US car.

Mileage gets entered in Kms, then miles or vice versa....

[blur911]

Well search continues. I actually expanded search to include Cayman S as well. so current criteria are:
Boxster S or Cayman S
2009 or later (987.2 or better)

Made conditional offer on a what seemed like a great car in Toronto over the weekend until I ran a Carfax to find out that there were 3 serious inconsistencies with the odometer. Car shows 53k (2009) but first year alone showed 30k kms. Then mileage increases for a few year and somehow is rolled back to a lower value a few years later. Happened in 3 different years...Seemed way too fishy for me. Walked away

Have seen this before....US car.

Mileage gets entered in Kms, then miles or vice versa....

Yeah, they mess things up at the border, mine is registered as a 1982 even though it's a 1983 model year,  they went by build date.

Of course, people still mess around with odometers... YMMV.

[rrocket]

Well search continues. I actually expanded search to include Cayman S as well. so current criteria are:
Boxster S or Cayman S
2009 or later (987.2 or better)

Made conditional offer on a what seemed like a great car in Toronto over the weekend until I ran a Carfax to find out that there were 3 serious inconsistencies with the odometer. Car shows 53k (2009) but first year alone showed 30k kms. Then mileage increases for a few year and somehow is rolled back to a lower value a few years later. Happened in 3 different years...Seemed way too fishy for me. Walked away

Have seen this before....US car.

Mileage gets entered in Kms, then miles or vice versa....

Yeah, they mess things up at the border, mine is registered as a 1982 even though it's a 1983 model year,  they went by build date.

Of course, people still mess around with odometers... YMMV.

Well you'll see entries for service..and the guy just jumps in the car, pulls off the number from the odo..not realizing it's miles.

[No H2O]

Any reputable shops you would recommend.

For the sale or the Pre-Purchase-Inspection (PPI). Sorry to say, I do not have much faith in either, but more on that later. And if you cannot do the maintenance and repairs yourself, you better have deep pockets. But then seeing what my neighbour's dish out on everyday daily drivers, that applies to any vehicle.

I don't know your technical ability, but if you know how to wrench (and I don't mean changing spark plugs), check the car out yourself. I would run a diagnostic test for fault codes and to check engine over-revs. Then run a paint gauge on the car to check for repaints. Take your time and don't trust a CarFax or similar report.

As for a PPI, this shop can do one, but they also butchered up a friend's car. Would you really want them to do a PPI then?
https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-Vxh3JV/

[rrocket]

Any reputable shops you would recommend.

For the sale or the Pre-Purchase-Inspection (PPI). Sorry to say, I do not have much faith in either, but more on that later. And if you cannot do the maintenance and repairs yourself, you better have deep pockets. But then seeing what my neighbour's dish out on everyday daily drivers, that applies to any vehicle.

I don't know your technical ability, but if you know how to wrench (and I don't mean changing spark plugs), check the car out yourself. I would run a diagnostic test for fault codes and to check engine over-revs. Then run a paint gauge on the car to check for repaints. Take your time and don't trust a CarFax or similar report.

As for a PPI, this shop can do one, but they also butchered up a friend's car. Would you really want them to do a PPI then?
https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-Vxh3JV/

But looking for the common, expensive problems of a Boxster, particularly cylinder scoring, can't be done on your own for example.

[ArticSteve]

Basically it's a roll of the dice so let the dice roll .... 

[rrocket]

Basically it's a roll of the dice so let the dice roll .... 

Yep....I've shopped cars that had IMS failure at 30k.

Others with much higher KMs..nothing.