Looking to buy a Boxster

[rsmithinfo]

Hi All,

Have just been looking around the forum and there seem to be some great and knowledgeable people on here so I was wondering if I could ask for some advice.

I'm looking at buying a Boxster and have around £10k to spend and so having a look on Pistonheads/Autotrader there seems to be a fair number around at from 1999 - 2002 with varying mileages, engines etc.

I do a fair number of miles and it would be my primary car so I was thinking a 2.5 or 2.7 would be fine. Does anyone have any buying advice? I have looked at the useful links and there's some good stuff there but some out of date for right now, so my main questions were along the lines of:

- Are the Boxsters still great cars even if they are 6+ years old?
- What should I be looking out for in terms of known issues/things to avoid?
- Should I go to a Porsche garage for the sale?
- What kind of running costs are there (service, tyres, brakes etc)

Any help much appreciated

 

[London987]

- Are the Boxsters still great cars even if they are 6+ years old? - feeling is to go for a good, frequently used car than garage queen (he said with an 05 on 11k!)
- What should I be looking out for in terms of known issues/things to avoid? -check if the RMS (rear main seal) has bee replaced - guessing on your budget it should be ok. Advice would be to check service history
- Should I go to a Porsche garage for the sale? - up to you, more expensive but peace of mind.....for a year if you get a warranty otherwise see above and get a specialist to look it over
- What kind of running costs are there (service, tyres, brakes etc) - depends if you go the dealer or specialist route...same as any car. tyres and things won't be cheap, i reckon budget for at least a grand a year and you should be ok in the long run - maybe this year you spend nothing, next year 2k kind of approach

hope this helps - go take a test drive and see what you think. you can afford to be a bit picky at the moment but go for quality and service history and def go see a few cars before you commit to buy - best of luck!

 

[rsmithinfo]

many thanks for your reply I appreciate it. Is it worth going after an 03 for the glass rear screen?

 

[London987]

i have an 05 and no experience of the plastic screens - you can have a glass screen (not sure if its the whole roof or not) fitted aftermarket, seems to be relatively popular if you do get a split rear screen. have a look on the net, couple of people supply the new roof.

personally it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, more of a would be nice - i guess if you find the perfect car and that's the only thing bothering you at least you can get it done. i think on a soft top a glass screen makes no diff to security etc, although it is nice having a rear demister and not having to karate chop the window when lowering the roof (lotus elans!)

 

[Mark_Bennett]

I have a BAS International glass windowed roof on my 2001 model. It's perfect.
You can get one fitted for about £700 ish.

As stated, I wouldn't consider the plastic window a deal breaker. There are always year on year improvements of course, you get a glovebox as well as a glass window on 2003 MY-on cars for instance(!)

 

[thboxster]

You also get cup holders too.

I had an '02 car for 3 years and as i had heated mirrors I very quickly didn't bother with not being able to see out of the plastic rear screen. the other thing is that as the cockpit is so small (no rear) the car heats up quite quickly and the screen clears quicker than others anyway. Obviously not as quick as a heated screen but it's ok.

 

[rsmithinfo]

thanks for your replies

 

[channella]

Reckon £10k will see you in an '03 facelift 2.7 (03 or 53 plate) - maybe with highish mileage, but with a proper (main + independent) service history it should be okay. You won't pick cars like this at an OPC though, you'll have to be in the indi/trader network - but then you won't want the incremental cost of the OPC at that price level anyway. I think RMS is overplayed - but then in 80k miles and 5.4 years I never had mine replaced (or the clutch).

 

[paulwat]

If you can hang on for a couple of months much newer cars may well end up in your price range if the trade in value I was given today by my local OPC is anything to go by. £15K for a 2006 2.7 with pretty much all options on it, alright that was a starting figure but it was against a 911.

I appear to have lost more in depreciation in 9months than I paid for my car for work.

Still the boxster is far more fun to drive even at about 5 quid a mile (sunday toy)

[]
Cheers

Paul