With the car now gone, i thought it time to reflect on the ownership experience. I bought my car(a 1999 2,5 tip) used, in June 05 with 36k on the clock and sold with 76.5k on the clock. So i covered 40k in 4.5 years. The car spent all it's time outside so no garage queen and was used as my daily drive (i work shifts, so not strictly daily !) which is mostly motorway drives with a bit of country lanes thrown in. I had one "major trip" early in the cars ownership that took in Germany , Austria and Italy. 2k mile trip that went to Gmund for the obligatory photo in front of Werk1 and Venice and onto lake guarda. The car performing faultlessly throughout and perfect fun with the top down.
So what about Tiptronic then ? Well I bought after a brief test drive to confirm if i liked it and i've not looked back. It suits road driving on todays roads excellently and I would definitely have another.
What went wrong? In four and half years of ownership the following went wrong. The air-con packed up but climate control (heating) worked fine . The rear screen cracked, in the last year of ownership, time served plastic to be fair. A small area of paintwork had micro blisters from a rear wing repair before my ownership, so not typical of the breed. The front control arms developed a "squeak" which appears to be a common 996 and 986 ailment. The exhaust "heat shields" fell apart which again is fairly common. These are basically the only "additional " faults to mainly wear and tear. In fact you could argur they are all wear and tear !
Servicing wise I carried out a 48k service at about 46k which turned out to be a very straight forward procedure, Though changing the fuel filter laying on the ground underneath the car isn't fun[
]. I changed the serpentine belt whilst i was at it and it was still like new when i came to do the 72k service late last year. An interim service covered the gap between the two, which is mainly an oil and filter element change. I still can't get over the 9+ liters of oil required for a water cooled engine! Incidentally the car never used any oil in-between services. I changed the brakes all round, discs and pads, the fronts had looked new when i bought the car but lasted no more than about 2.5 years which i guess equates to about 18k miles. They died due to rust rather than wear. I got 17k miles roughly out of a set of rear tyres and about double for the fronts. The exhaust joints tended to rust away and got replaced but the engine always remained dry and I had no issues with RMS. Thankfully.
I am sure there are other little niggles that I have forgotten about but my experience has been a totally positive one . The Boxster really is a fantastic car to own and drive and even in lowly 2.5 form goes about as quick as you want a road car to go if your using it properly.
To sum up a great car and i would definitely have another.
So what about Tiptronic then ? Well I bought after a brief test drive to confirm if i liked it and i've not looked back. It suits road driving on todays roads excellently and I would definitely have another.
What went wrong? In four and half years of ownership the following went wrong. The air-con packed up but climate control (heating) worked fine . The rear screen cracked, in the last year of ownership, time served plastic to be fair. A small area of paintwork had micro blisters from a rear wing repair before my ownership, so not typical of the breed. The front control arms developed a "squeak" which appears to be a common 996 and 986 ailment. The exhaust "heat shields" fell apart which again is fairly common. These are basically the only "additional " faults to mainly wear and tear. In fact you could argur they are all wear and tear !
Servicing wise I carried out a 48k service at about 46k which turned out to be a very straight forward procedure, Though changing the fuel filter laying on the ground underneath the car isn't fun[
]. I changed the serpentine belt whilst i was at it and it was still like new when i came to do the 72k service late last year. An interim service covered the gap between the two, which is mainly an oil and filter element change. I still can't get over the 9+ liters of oil required for a water cooled engine! Incidentally the car never used any oil in-between services. I changed the brakes all round, discs and pads, the fronts had looked new when i bought the car but lasted no more than about 2.5 years which i guess equates to about 18k miles. They died due to rust rather than wear. I got 17k miles roughly out of a set of rear tyres and about double for the fronts. The exhaust joints tended to rust away and got replaced but the engine always remained dry and I had no issues with RMS. Thankfully.I am sure there are other little niggles that I have forgotten about but my experience has been a totally positive one . The Boxster really is a fantastic car to own and drive and even in lowly 2.5 form goes about as quick as you want a road car to go if your using it properly.
To sum up a great car and i would definitely have another.
