Is the 986 Still Good Value? - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

What can you get for 6-8K? Honda S2000 big miles, screaming engine. 944 big miles, old chassis needs to be turbo. Impreza! VW GTi .... maybe. Westfield, very basic. So, it has to be Boxster. There is a big health warning. You know what's coming. Find one that has had IMS bearing done. My IMS and RMS replaced 986 has solid build quality, confident road holding, perfectly acceptable acceleration, fits like a glove, a hardtop for the winter and Porsche presence. Still hard to think of anything of better value.

MX-5? Well somebody had to say it, this is Pistonheads after all! Seriously though, I sold my MX-5 a couple of months ago, and will shortly be looking for a 986. I think they represent fantastic value for money, even if you can't find one that's already had its IMS and RMS done, and your ownership has this expense to start with.

Push the budget a little higher and £9-10k gets you a 987. I've just bought the other half a 987 Boxster 2.7, 58k, FSH (OPC), 18" alloys, sound pack and climate. Great car to drive, and a great little engine.

S2000s have increased in value quite considerably. Time was you could buy one for £4k and have a choice of really nice ones for £8k. I agree the 986 is a great sub £10k buy. There are other things to look out for though. Hoods, condensers, brake pipes and suspension can all cost a lot to fix (or rather to have fixed) - but granted, don't have the catastrophic failure mode of the ims... In the end I passed up a few 986s for a 996, but I don't suppose it's the last time I'll take a look.

£4250 got me a 66k 986 2.7 ('99) - you can get them for a grand less but with starship mileages. Can't really go wrong in my opinion, my car needs discs, pads, and tyres, but feels solid in every other way. I love it.

bgunn said: £4250 got me a 66k 986 2.7 ('99) - you can get them for a grand less but with starship mileages. Can't really go wrong in my opinion, my car needs discs, pads, and tyres, but feels solid in every other way. I love it. Mileage per se isn't the issue. It's the associated wear that comes with mileage and age. A lot are right in that age/mileage window where brakes (not that expensive), clutch, hard brake line corrosion, waterpump potential failure, split header tank potential failure, wishbone and track arms heavily worn, start to take hold. In nearly all respects my 116k 2004 feels much better than my 75k 2000 but ultimately both have had nearly all the same items replaced.

That illustrates my point nicely. You can buy a clean early model for 5K, spend a further 4K on remedial work/upgrades and end up spending 9-10K. Or you can buy a later car for 8-11K, albeit a facelift model, still spend the money on remedial work/upgrades and end up topping out at 14K. For that money there are other options. In my opinion, if you want a good Boxster without breaking the bank find an early model that has had the work done, pay a premium maybe but save alot!

It doesn't matter what you buy if it's older and higher mileage whether S2000, Z4 or MX5 you will have your fair sure if wear and tear to tend to. Of course you don't see this in the early years of a car but you pay for the privilege.

I am thinking about getting a Boxster as a winter/ second car. I like the look of them, been in a couple never drove one though

keo said: I am thinking about getting a Boxster as a winter/ second car. I like the look of them, been in a couple never drove one though Do it. Best thing I've done is buy one - they drive sweetly, sound great, and feel great..

used 986 is the best value sports car of all time

Daft question maybe, but do all Boxters come with a hardtop..?

P5BNij said: Daft question maybe, but do all Boxters come with a hardtop..? 99% of Boxsters don't have a hardtop.

P5BNij said: Daft question maybe, but do all Boxters come with a hardtop..? They all come as standard with an "S" in "Boxster" but a hardtop is an option :-) Personally, I think the hardtops are waste of time. The softtop is so good you don't need one, even in winter a suuny crisp frosty morning drive with the wind deflector in place and the excellent heat belting away is a joyous experience, and you have to store the hardtop for the time you don't use it. I agree, the 986 is an outrageous bargain. OK so I've never owned serious exotica, but I've had brand new BMW M Sport 3s and 7s and nothing, but nothing puts a smile on my face like my 986. Nearly 2 years in now, and the smiles, the second gear red line silliness, the car cleaning routine, the very long way home for a pint of milk, the look back as you walk away is still 100% there. It just grows on me, and mine gets better and better as I slowly, and comparatively cheaply, sort out some of the little niggles it had when I bought it. Just had a new wheel bearing and front coffin arm (other one was done before), discs and pads are a £200 DIY job, and tuning forks also dead easy and well under that. I don't buy all this "you need to spend £4000 to sort one properly" stuff...look at many and buy wise, and they are a bargain. Ironically, after having looked at many (and there's lots of oh so shiny lemons out there) I actually bought the one covered in green moss with a flat battery and mould on the seats. It just happened to be the right (rare) spec, with a huge wodge of history and with the exception of full de-ambering (bonus) it was totally original. And cleaned up bloody well. Smidge over £5k for this much fun? Don't mind if I do... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awr6yDrP59E (PH Sunday Service track day video)

986 is great value, that is clear. But I have a soft spot for the S2000, it has a truly stupendous engine, almost 'race car'. It has nil torque! Which is excellent. And it drifts with a gentle touch.

Appreciate my hardtop. Makes the car look a bit different and feels good with winter comingr.

Hard-Drive said: They all come as standard with an "S" in "Boxster" but a hardtop is an option :-) Personally, I think the hardtops are waste of time. The softtop is so good you don't need one, even in winter a suuny crisp frosty morning drive with the wind deflector in place and the excellent heat belting away is a joyous experience, and you have to store the hardtop for the time you don't use it. 100% agree. I used to have an MGF many moons ago, and the hair would get blown about a fair bit on that, but with the windows up, wind deflector on, the Box is a sheer delight with the top down when you wouldn't normally expect. And then you get to enjoy that Flat six even more...

I've just clicked over a year in my now 110k 2003 986. First service in my ownership was a biggie but I know where I am with it now. No hard top and I've had the top down every month. Driving with the top down in the cold and damp is a special pleasure. Re-proofed the soft top again last month and the rain beads off nicely.

You don't necessarily need 4k to sort out a 986. It obviously depends on your starting point. But unless you are paying a big premium at the top of the market then it is highly likely you are going to need a small fighting fund to fix some unattended wear and tear or things that previous owners just put up with. If you are buying one with the intention of running for 18 months + but have little left apart from 1k for tyres and a couple of services then there will be nothing left to sort out any niggles or the cycle starts again as some of the issues get passed on again.

edc said: You don't necessarily need 4k to sort out a 986. It obviously depends on your starting point. But unless you are paying a big premium at the top of the market then it is highly likely you are going to need a small fighting fund to fix some unattended wear and tear or things that previous owners just put up with. If you are buying one with the intention of running for 18 months + but have little left apart from 1k for tyres and a couple of services then there will be nothing left to sort out any niggles or the cycle starts again as some of the issues get passed on again. Totally agree. I have owned 3x 986 Boxsters now and they are incredibly talented machines that have a remarkable degree of practicality too. I have driven 987s, but just prefer the analogue nature of the 986. The sheer number produced makes them good value and means there is a vast breadth of quality out there. The value in these cars mean that some have fallen into the hands of people who can't afford to maintain them properly. Avoiding such machines is the trick. Anything that looks 'up standard' is a good laymans barometer of quality. For me service history & type of owner are much more important than colour & spec. When looking for a 986 I would subtract the cost of an IMS/RMS replacement & clutch from that figure. That is your real budget. When getting this work done at a Specialist also get the (usually free) 111 point check done and you can then prioritise work over as you go. That mid-engined configuration gives the driver that Supercar feel at hatchback money. The layout combined with Porsche packaging means fantastic practicality and storage space. The 2 luggage areas meaning I can go camping in mine easily.! To me this car will always be streets ahead of S2000s & Z4s etc Good 986s will be a good longer term bet value wise in my opinion. As the used and abused examples end up in breakers yards, contrast this depletion of the analogue 986 with the increasingly digitised/sanitised nature of later Boxsters & cars in general Edited by billzeebub on Wednesday 11th November 13:33

sometimes I hate PH... reading this thread reminded me how much fun I had in my 986S ! the Boxa.net meets, trackdays, first time at the Nurburgring (totally out of my depth but hey !) Bugger it. I'm on the hunt for a winter project now :-) anyway the GT3 has just told me it needs new company in the garage, as it's not talking to the WRX STi anymore...

Thanks for the replies to my hardtop question folks - reason I asked is that if I were contemplating having a Boxter as a daily, I'd be inclined to use the hardtop as the car would have to live on the drive all year round (garage is full!). I live in a fairly good area crimewise but it only takes one scrote with a knife to spoil things and it has happened a couple of times on my patch. Probably sounds a bit lame, I've always liked roadsters with 'factory' hardtops for some reason, each to their own I suppose but I do like the look of Boxtsers (and 911 cabs) with tin lids

P5BNij said: Thanks for the replies to my hardtop question folks - reason I asked is that if I were contemplating having a Boxter as a daily, I'd be inclined to use the hardtop as the car would have to live on the drive all year round (garage is full!). I live in a fairly good area crimewise but it only takes one scrote with a knife to spoil things and it has happened a couple of times on my patch. Probably sounds a bit lame, I've always liked roadsters with 'factory' hardtops for some reason, each to their own I suppose but I do like the look of Boxtsers (and 911 cabs) with tin lids The best option in this case then is to buy the best car you can regardless of hardtop. Buy the hardtop separately and pay the small amount to have it resprayed. This will be cheaper than buying a crap car with a hardtop.

Makes perfect sense edc

nownotsip said: That illustrates my point nicely. You can buy a clean early model for 5K, spend a further 4K on remedial work/upgrades and end up spending 9-10K. Or you can buy a later car for 8-11K, albeit a facelift model, still spend the money on remedial work/upgrades and end up topping out at 14K. For that money there are other options. In my opinion, if you want a good Boxster without breaking the bank find an early model that has had the work done, pay a premium maybe but save alot! As others have said, not necessary to have to spend so much. I bought a very clean and well looked after 2000 986 S a year ago for £5200 and have so far spent a grand total of nothing on "remedial work" or any other work of that type. In the coming months I will do an oil change myself and do not have anything else planned. Only money I have spent is on a couple of non essential upgrades.

Fair point. I guess it is all about risk. If the IMS bearing goes you could be left with five grand's worth of scrap. Probably not going to happen but for some that elephant in the room might spoil a great car experience. Find one that's had the IMS bearing sorted or dig deep and have it done then drive and enjoy. I do appreciate though, that at the price of an early Boxster the risk is perfectly acceptable. Either way, a Boxster's a bargain!

I also deliberately went with an early as possible (whilst still good mileage) example with a double row bearing. Seen quite a few with 100k+ with no evidence of a clutch, RMS or IMS ever been done.. Not saying they're risk free, but the chances of failure if oil changes are regular, the car is well looked after etc are slimmer.

My '03 is on 88k now, 36k of which we've put on in our 4.5 years of ownership. In the last 18 months I've spent 3k on clutch, flywheel etc, IMS, suspension refresh & proper geo setup & it's honestly driving like a car a third of its age. Was going to chip it in this year for. 987.2 but seeing as I've spent a bit on consumables for it, I might as well get the benefit for a couple more years. Just brilliant, fun little cars, with more than enough poke for our congested, speed camera riddled roads.

I'm off to look at an 04 986 Boxster S this weekend, apart from the IMS / RMS / Clutch is there anything else I should be looking for? Being a later 986 it is at the very top end of my budget - in all honesty I have no preference on Engine size/age, would happily have a 2.5 (again) if the car was right - although the facelift with glass rear screen appeals to avoid having to give the plastic screen a helping hand to fold. Anyway, any further advice on what to look for is much appreciated.

tjdixon911 said: I'm off to look at an 04 986 Boxster S this weekend, apart from the IMS / RMS / Clutch is there anything else I should be looking for? Being a later 986 it is at the very top end of my budget - in all honesty I have no preference on Engine size/age, would happily have a 2.5 (again) if the car was right - although the facelift with glass rear screen appeals to avoid having to give the plastic screen a helping hand to fold. Anyway, any further advice on what to look for is much appreciated. Take a torch and look through the front grills at the radiators. On several cars I saw the air con rad was in pieces. On one there were plants growing in there! Check for matching tyres, check everything works (Inc hood), brake lines behind the sills (if you can).

Front disc corrosion, especially inside. Squeaking suspension...new coffin arms needed Knocking suspension...top mounts Rattling suspensions...ARB drop links or tuning forks Droning...wheel bearings Check CV gaiters Check for four decent tyres...ignore the N rated crap, but at a minimum you want decent branded tyres in axle sets or ideally matching, otherwise the car hasn't been cherished IMHO Mayo under the oil filler cap Don't get too paranoid about the engine, it is a noisy, whiny, very mechanical sounding beasty just inches from your ear which can be disconcerting if you are not used to a Porsche. History and condition over mileage Good luck and enjoy!

Hard-Drive said: Squeaking suspension...new coffin arms needed Rattling suspensions...ARB drop links or tuning forks Coffin arms are the lower wishbones, so called because of their shape. Tuning forks are the longitudinal control arms that keep them in their correct fore and aft position, again named for the shape. Rear suspension rattles are likely to become more evident once the engine has got good and hot. Go slowly over broken surfaces at the end of the test drive, if you can.

I think the 986 is great value for money. I paid just over £6K for my S and I think that's quite a lot of car for the money. Full history and only 56K miles. Mine's an unusual colour too which I think helps, I've only seen one other in 'Zanzibar red' It replaced a TVR Chimaera so as far as quality and reliability go it's chalk and cheese, although no where near a quick. Servicing is easy as there are quite a few indies in Bristol too. I did once visit the main dealer to buy a roof drive cable which was a bizarre experience as there was no parts counter! Instead a guy in a suit takes your order and disappears out the back to fetch the parts.

Thanks for the advice - whilst the car I looked at on Saturday was nice, drove well with no rattles etc and all checked out ok I'm passing on it as being at the top end of my budget I didn't want to stretch myself with other projects on the go. Will continue my search 😀