Yes or No - 2005 Boxster S with 205,000 miles

1 owner. Looks to be driven 10-20k per year. Garage kept California car. LN IMS bearing , LN 160 thermostat and LN oil filter adapter are the mods listed. Recent clutch, flywheel, tires , and CV joints. Claims to not burn or use oil. Seller has oil lab testing. None of the higher valued options. Just the normal heated seats, Bose radio, xenon lights. . I am a pretty good shade tree mechanic. Enjoy working on cars, when I have time. It would be our third fun car ( YJ, Barracuda) But we would drive it more than those two. Keeping the miles off my truck and her M4. Price is 10,800

If it has the IMS bearing replaced then it is an older engine as '05 was a transition year. I would say that is a good thing. With over 200k miles, it will probably be due a rebuild soon. Figure anywhere between $10k - $15k for the rebuild assuming no new hard parts required. Also figure on a suspension rebuild at some point if it has not been done. If you can budget those two items into your ownership then it looks to be a decent price. Get a PPI!

Sounds as if this was well cared for from outset, based on mods and original owner. Body and interior are likely to be quite good, being garaged, CA climate, etc. The whole body/chassis structure is likely to be quite a solid platform that you can bolt in whatever is needed as you go. Engine is likely to be nearing rebuild as noted above, and likely reached these miles only due to really good maintenance, but that can't prevent eventual rebuild. I would like to see lots of receipts for what must be numerous routine high mileage replacements. That is the only way you can forecast what is coming versus what has been done. Things like the whole cooling system (hoses, lines, radiators are supposed to be very complex and expensive for instance). There are a lot of expensive parts in there so DIY labor still leaves a good amount of $$ to be spent . The big variable is just when the spending is likely to be needed and that depends on when parts were last replaced. My guess is that if there are not a lot of receipts, the current owner has gotten very good life from the original bits due to good care, but that will bite the next owner as every moving part has a life.

It sounds like it’s been well cared for, and if you like working on cars, and don’t plan to put a lot of miles on it, I say why not? You would pay around $28k for that car in newer condition so it’s a bargain as long as it lasts a few years. Just hope for the best and don’t be surprised if it needs something fairly expensive down the road like suspension parts or even a replacement motor.

I've asked for invoices and such. I think the engine (minus IMS ) should be as durable as any other modern performance engine. If it lasted 50k that would be well over 5 years of ownership. By then a nice LS conversion kit should be on the market.

My favorite thing about this post is my recently acquired 987.1 Boxster is in excellent condition and less than 50,000 miles. If I knew it would be running as good as it does at just HALF the mileage of the one you are discussing! Amazing cars, by the way. Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

What this car represents to me is freedom, at this point in the cars life you can't hurt it, build it how you want it and drive it or just maintain the car and see how far it will go till it needs something major. Either way there are no worries. What is the worst that can happen, you end up with a 3000lb paperweight, you can always part it out or sale it as a roller to build a race car.

Personally I wouldn’t pay more than 5k… maybe look for a donor motor? Those motors are getting really hard to find now. That’s a hard one but regardless as stated a rebuild is 15k…. That’s what makes that car not worth much…. Sadly

Seller has someone looking at the car this weekend. A non-car person would think they are getting a deal. Most likely it will sell. I would be ok with paying 8k. Keep it clean and list it for sale or trade for 14k. Gamble that the motor, transmission, and other part hold up until it sells. Best case event- I get to own/drive the car for 6-12 months and sell it for a profit. Worse case: major failure that puts me 15k bill. If it lasted me 20k miles or about 3 years of ownership - I would be thrilled. I am only 90 minutes from flat6 innovations should/when it would need a motor.

Better buy a Porsche who's been drived, I've tried some cayman with no miles like 10 k and they're was not running great... Is it me or not?

Better budget minimum $20k for him plus a year wait.

Talk to your Porsche dealer and ask what this car would be worth in trade. If more than $10K, negotiate as low as you can go then trade it for something newer with less miles. It's called arbitrage!

Not in 1 million years

I sort of see a car like this as a 944. It will get passed around between young folks in their teens and 20s. For as long as it actually lives. Someone will use it to learn Porsche wrenching on. It will end up in a parts yard. Hopefully someone would have had fun with it. It's glory days are over, though. I'd get a cared-for Miata .

My first drive in a Porsche was arguably worth $10k. I'm just saying. Or put another way, it only took that one drive to get me to forever want one. So in a way that drive co$t me at least 10k regardless Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

$10K seems like a lot for such a high-mileage car IMO, even in today's market. One way to see how close you are to a rebuild is a leak-down test, see how much compression the engine has lost. Back when I owned my 2002 Boxster S , we didn't rebuild those motors; we just traded the core for a factory rebuilt one. Can't really do that anymore... and certainly not for $10k, which is what I paid for my rebuilt motor (I tracked it regularly, and the motor didn't make it past 60K miles). But perhaps the better choice is to wait until next year when the auto market cools off... you'll probably be able to get the same car with half the miles for the same price.