Boxster or not to Boxster?That is the question!

[Toffeetom]

Hi all & thank you for allowing me into your fine forum.

Now.Here is the dilemma.I was thinking of buying a early(969798) Boxster but,I have been hearing a lot of horror stories about gearbox bearings/seals etc.
The think is,I have a theory.If something is going to happen,it's going to happen to me....& believe me.....it really does.This in mind,is buying a 2.5l Boxster really a good idea?My Clk Merc has just been written off(long story) & the last thing I need is another drama.I just want(& always have) a cheap Porsche for a while.Your experienced words of advice would be very welcome indeed.

 

[MrDemon]

I just want a cheap Porsche for a while

not the right car, no such thing as a cheap Porsche imo. tyres, services costs, parts all very expensive, all because you buy a 10k car does not mean it costs less to run, in fact it will cost more to run. It will always end in tears or posts asking what £50 tyres can I buy.

 

[lindsay39]

Hi,I have a boxster S year 2000 (known as a 986 as would those of the age you are looking at) I bought my boxster S last May. It did have an oil leak which turned out to be the Rear Main Oil Seal. This is know weakness of the 986 engine. Also the intermediate shaft oil seal and bearings are another weak area. To fix these problems requires the gearbox to be removed. This can be expensive as I know to my cost. If I was to buy another 986 Boxster I would want to see a full service history and that the oil seal issues have been sorted. hope this helps.

 

[Toffeetom]

Thanks lindsay39. I was wondering,have Porsche recalled the 986 for the bearing replacement as a result of the known issues?I understand that the seal leak can be lived with.

 

[Toffeetom]

I purchased my Clk for £14k & never had a single issue!However I am only spending around £4k on a used 986 but wondered if the bearing was a major flaw in these cars & whether or not Porsche had had the common courtesy to replace the bearing/seal in question. If not,I will stick with what I know.Tyres would be from a friends garage,servicing from a local specialist etc so,costs would not be new/dealer rip off parts anyway.

ORIGINAL: MrDemon

I just want a cheap Porsche for a while

not the right car, no such thing as a cheap Porsche imo. tyres, services costs, parts all very expensive, all because you buy a 10k car does not mean it costs less to run, in fact it will cost more to run. It will always end in tears or posts asking what £50 tyres can I buy.

 

[Dylan1]

ORIGINAL: Toffeetom I purchased my Clk for £14k & never had a single issue!However I am only spending around £4k on a used 986 but wondered if the bearing was a major flaw in these cars & whether or not Porsche had had the common courtesy to replace the bearing/seal in question. If not,I will stick with what I know.Tyres would be from a friends garage,servicing from a local specialist etc so,costs would not be new/dealer rip off parts anyway.

ORIGINAL: MrDemon

I just want a cheap Porsche for a while

not the right car, no such thing as a cheap Porsche imo. tyres, services costs, parts all very expensive, all because you buy a 10k car does not mean it costs less to run, in fact it will cost more to run. It will always end in tears or posts asking what £50 tyres can I buy.

Sounds like you need to stick with what you know - the other option may well be too risky !! All, the best

 

[Toffeetom]

Thanks Dylan.So should I take it that the 986 is an expensive white Elephant & that Porsche themselves couldn't care less?

 

[MrDemon]

2.5 is bottom of the pile and getting quite old, like all cars old is expensive.

 

[Toffeetom]

Getting a bit off topic. We all know that as cars etc get older,they need more TLC.That's not what I'm asking.The main fault seems to be the gearbox seals n bearings.Were they mean at to be replaced by Porsche?Is it a massive risk to buy a 986 (96 onwards) that has not had the parts replaced?

 

[Mark Elder]

No they were not replaced by Porsche, they looked the other way and walked. . . The RMS issue can be lived with/is not expensive to fix The IMS issue will cost more than your car to fix (if you are spending £4k on a Boxster) But the chance of IMS happening is very low and a Boxster is a great car for £4k so personally I'm buy the Boxster and enjoy it and if the worse happens accept that I've lost my £4k and move on.

 

[Chrishazle]

Option 2 : forget the Boxster and look instead for a decent 944S2 or 968 - although for £4k you'd struggle to get a good one - so look instead at other front engined Porsches. Personal opinion - avoid the 944S 16 valve, however there are lots of other choices, and they're nowhere near as common as Boxsters!

 

[spyderman]

Surprised and disappointed by the negative attitudes above. However, a 2.5 can be considered as disposable - if the engine or gearbox goes its going to be uneconomical to repair. If you find one that's been looked after and had stuff like clutch and suspension bushes replaced already, you could get a few years good motoring from it without spending a fortune. If you're capable of doing most of the maintenance work yourself, they wouldn't be that expensive to look after.

 

[Toffeetom]

Thanks Guys.A bit of good news.....AA Warranty have said they will allow me to put a Boxter onto the policy in replacement of my destroyed Clk,as long as it is under 100,000m!They said it was because "I am a long term customer"...lol😂😂😂 So,it looks like that's the bearing problem covered(I asked for a specific parts coverage breakdown).

 

[Dylan1]

ORIGINAL: spyderman Surprised and disappointed by the negative attitudes above. However, a 2.5 can be considered as disposable - if the engine or gearbox goes its going to be uneconomical to repair. If you find one that's been looked after and had stuff like clutch and suspension bushes replaced already, you could get a few years good motoring from it without spending a fortune. If you're capable of doing most of the maintenance work yourself, they wouldn't be that expensive to look after.

not negative attitude at all ,just answering the OP who from the original post was after a bulletproof car for £4k. I just thought that an early boxster was too risky for that and still do . may well be lots out there with nothing wrong and could be fun etc but you have to be able to take a risk and it didn't appear from the OP that he wanted to ,given his past experience []

 

[fbr]

Dear TT Any particular reason why a Boxster? From your post heading you appear to be in two minds. I know it's an obvious choice but Have you thought about [link=http://www.autotrader.co.uk/used-cars/honda/s2000/used-honda-s2000-2-0i-2dr-lincoln-fpa-201402041542661?logcode=p]one of these[/link]. In some ways it's nicer than an early Boxster, reliable, lots of specialists and enthusiastic owners. FBR

 

[Toffeetom]

I think some of the Neg's (Spyderman was right) need to read my post over again.I don't want a 'Bulletproof Car for £4k' (a bit patronising I felt),although there are a lot of Cars/Motorcycles that are,even at that price.I simply wanted to know the risk of Bearings/Seals being a problem(is it a major one or similar to the risk of a timing belt/chain going snap. Also,if I wanted a Honda,it would be a Bike,certainly not a Car & I would certainly not be on a Porsche forum if that were the case.

ORIGINAL: Toffeetom Hi all & thank you for allowing me into your fine forum. Now.Here is the dilemma.I was thinking of buying a early(969798) Boxster but,I have been hearing a lot of horror stories about gearbox bearings/seals etc. The think is,I have a theory.If something is going to happen,it's going to happen to me....& believe me.....it really does.This in mind,is buying a 2.5l Boxster really a good idea?My Clk Merc has just been written off(long story) & the last thing I need is another drama.I just want(& always have) a cheap Porsche for a while.Your experienced words of advice would be very welcome indeed.

 

[Toffeetom]

Thanks FBR.They just don't have the appeal nor attraction.

 

[spyderman]

Some say that with the age of these cars now, anything really serious (like the IMS bearing failure or D-chunking of the cylinders) would have already happened. Not sure of the status of the gearboxes but I know they can get terminally notchy from 2nd to 3rd and I'm not entirely certain all variants are actually fixable. These cars are quite capable of 150k+ miles.

 

[Toffeetom]

Thanks v m Spyderman

 

[MrDemon]

just about any major repair is going to right off a 4k boxster though. the 2.5 was not Porsches best, and is slow as they come with only 200bhp and 7 seconds to a 60 will get mullared by any hot hatch back these days. I would have to agree with a few and say S2000 or up the spend a little. owning a 20 year old 4k 2.5 boxster could put you off Porsche for life I very much doubt the bushes and shocks will have been changed so if its over 60k miles its not going to drive its best either. then clutchs, disks, brakes, rads, roof, could be all not at their best. I guess if you buy one with 12 months mot you can run it for a year and bin it as spares if it fails a year later. each to their own and all that but you could be buying a car which needs 10k of work. As there are so many Boxsters for sale I would have to up the spend to 7k and buy something 8 years newer and with the 2.7. http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/porsche/boxster-986-96-04/porsche-boxster-2-7/2020144?isexperiment=true