Going to look at a 2.5 Boxster this weekend! - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

Going to look at a 2.5 Boxster (99) T plate this weekend. 90k miles nice spec, clutch replaced at 50k. I have owned a few Porsche's in my years - 944T SE, 968 Sport, 911 Carrera 3.2, 944T (again) and in recent years have been priced out of the market. I have saved up a small amount to buy and look after a 2.5 boxster. Reading around, the advice goes from 1) Laughable, under powered utter rubbish to 2) great car, will appreciate, chassis is superb. What is the definative and what should i look out for when viewing this car. I am more than happy to try and perform a few maintainace tasks myself as I now have a double garage and it will be our third car. Thanks

Well you've owned enough Porsches so I think you'll be a great judge yourself. So if it drives well and feels right...who cares what anyone else thinks. FWIW I think you'll find that it feels very 'Porsche' when you drive it and you'll love it. I still miss my old 2.7!

Slooooow

Condition and history.

Drive one and see if you and it fits. The rest is immaterial if the two of you don't click. There are about 10 articles I wrote about buying a Boxster here. http://sites.google.com/site/mikefocke2/mikesporsc... Where will you use more than 201HP and 150MPH? I liked my 2.5 because I could put my foot down harder/longer. It was more about me as a driver. My 3.2 was nice but I've often said I actually preferred the 2.5. There are those who want bragging rights, a list of mods, big displacement and huge torque, I wanted a great handling car. They aren't wrong, it just wasn't me.

If you're getting one of the early cars I would either try to find one that has had the hood replaced with one that has a glass screen, or budget the £700 or so for it, it makes a big difference to the overall experience, much better visibility, you can open it in winter without it breaking if it's a sunny day, you get a heater for use in winter, and with the plastic one you have to get out and 'chop' it when you're opening the roof to make sure it doesn't crease which is extremely annoying. I had a 2.5 on M030 suspension, it was a nice drive, however on a car that is 16+ years old there are lots of little things that might need doing like radiators etc so be aware that it might cost you more than a new car to keep it going, I'd budget £1500+ish a year for tires, servicing, maintenance etc Don't worry about the power thing that people will go on about, it's not about that, the chassis is still great and it's light and has a proper throttle. They're slow by modern standards but when you have Golfs that can keep up with 911's it's a bit irrelevant anyway They're quite easy to stall pulling away due to a known issue with a solenoid in the engine can't remember the exact reason why but it needs a few more revs that you'd think

anonymous said: [redacted] I disagree. Not slow for an average car but for a performance car yes slooow.

rb5er said: I disagree. Not slow for an average car but for a performance car yes slooow. Slow on straights, yes, but a good driver in one of these on the right roads will keep up with much more expensive machinery. A 330d is faster in a straight line but that's not what these are about.

jakesmith said: rb5er said: I disagree. Not slow for an average car but for a performance car yes slooow. Slow on straights, yes, but a good driver in one of these on the right roads will keep up with much more expensive machinery. A 330d is faster in a straight line but that's not what these are about. Power isn't everything. I'm lucky enough to have a mega power AMG Merc too but it would not know which way my 986 Boxster went if there were a variety of corners and braking needed thrown into the mix.

O.P - So did you take a look at the car? How was it?

I went to see the car. It needed new tyres as they were perished and cracked. The hood was on its last legs too and the headlights really cloudy. On the test drive there was a smell of unburnt fuel. The car - in my mind was worth £3250, but the seller wanted £3999 and IMO wouldnt budge from that asking price. I left it, but the seller took this badly. I will keep looking.

Keep looking, there are plenty out there. The market moves quick, but certainly don't jump in without taking stock. I just let mine go through the trade. I'd learned a lot from it, but I'd lost my garage and my tools by virtue of moving to the other end of the country and I still needed to tackle the hood, the rear coffin arms, the front ARB bushes and suspension top mounts. Oh, and a new set of tyres all round, and trace a leak pooling water into the driver's footwell, and sort a blowing exhaust. That said, when it was on song, on a nice day, on an empty road, that engine loved to be worked hard all the way through the rev range. An absolute peach and the chassis was sublime. The whole car felt light on its feet with a nice organic, honest edge to it that my new 987.2 Cayman doesn't have. I miss it and would have another 2.5 in a heartbeat because it doesn't bore score and IMS isn't an issue, but is still a Porsche flat six.

Lovely cars and I think they may be a future classic. The 2.5 engine is lovely plenty quick enough with the correct flat 6 burble and doesn't suffer with any mechanical warbles like the later models.

anonymous said: [redacted] Moose, do it. The only difficulty is in finding a good one. Having had one before, you'll be able to judge the cars you see with a bit more clarity. I'm thinking of doing a write up on my 18 months with a 2.5, taking account of all the costs.

OP have you got a link to advert for the 2.5 you went to see?

Try here: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

anonymous said: [redacted] I would sacrifice the suspension requirement and just refresh the car you buy. Build some of that into your purchase price. As you know I have done the suspension to differing degrees on 2 cars now and whilst many people may not notice the difference, if you are buying the 986 for the chassis/feel/dynamics over a 987 then I'd recommend you do that.

anonymous said: [redacted] At a glance the service history looks good. Things like yellowing on headlights are easy enough to bring back to life. OP - how was it in the metal? Are you going to buy it?

I doubt i will make this purchase. The specification is nice, but the car will need tyres almost straight away - they are cracked and perished (especially the rears). The hood is really bad, visibility via the plastic window - well what visibility? The hood itself is very worn and needs replacement soon. The car drives well - but there was a smell of unburnt fuel - just like i used to get with my 944 turbo after a hard blast. Last two services look like a back street have done them - be wary..... I will keep looking.....

Ray Singh said: I doubt i will make this purchase. The specification is nice, but the car will need tyres almost straight away - they are cracked and perished (especially the rears). The hood is really bad, visibility via the plastic window - well what visibility? The hood itself is very worn and needs replacement soon. The car drives well - but there was a smell of unburnt fuel - just like i used to get with my 944 turbo after a hard blast. Last two services look like a back street have done them - be wary..... I will keep looking..... You're at the bottom end of the market at £3.5k. You can't really expect that much more, especially on the service side if it's been bought on the cheap in the past and px'd too. Spend £1k on a roof and some tyres and you are still owed a bottom of market price car.

edc said: You're at the bottom end of the market at £3.5k. You can't really expect that much more, especially on the service side if it's been bought on the cheap in the past and px'd too. Spend £1k on a roof and some tyres and you are still owed a bottom of market price car. This is worth noting and would be my advice. 986 owners, as a group, tend to avoid the vulgar "investment" chatter of the GT3 clan, but even with a sensible financial hat on, yes, you'll need to pour some capital into a £3,250 Boxster. Perhaps even a significant amount. You can "cut corners" financially. That hood replacement could just be a replacement of the plastic window sewn into the current fabric, perhaps re-dyed and re-proofed (looked after properly, it can last years). Various components can be bought OE or OEM, shaving the "Porsche tax". Work can be done yourself. But I wouldn't scrimp on tyres, oil, fuel or servicing. There's a number of ways to look at that: a) fantastic, I've got a well-sorted, reliable flat six Porsche for around £5k; b) my budget should really be around £5k.

I have learnt that i need to revise my budget after seeing the £3995 Boxster. I had hoped that it would be a third car and require minimal of further investment. However, its lack of practicality (2 seater) and the likelihood of spending up to £5k on a rarely used car makes it something I need to ponder. Its not quite the Mx5 Mk1 in terms of costs, no matter how you look at it. I am a cheapskate, but perhaps an old Porsche with a mid mounted engine is not in line with cost effectiveness - especially with porsche tax on parts and labour.