Love my 09
Boxster base
, but do all Boxsters ride like go carts? Dash lights useless in daytime. Base radio sucks. Is this just my car?
Is riding like a go cart bad? Some people pay extra to get that. My radio was the benchmark for bad sound and cheap feel. And mine was the "upgrade" version.
R Springs and Konis on my 09 base...so it is firm but I could daily it it. Haw many miles? Maybe the shocks and wear parts are gone and stuff is moving too much. Mine at around 108000 definitely had some play in it. But it wasn't evident since I had never driven a "good" one. Car seemed to need to take a set in a corner and rebound a bit much over bumps. Not now! Radio sucks...mine even has rockfordfosgate amps and speaker all the way around and is just OK. No issues with dash lights though.
12000 miles. Don't understand weak dash lights.
Did you turn the adjustment knob?
Certainly not JUST your car - based on the number of threads for improving suspension and audio... dash lights I'm not sure of - is that top down or top up? Top-down they might be a bit brighter when the sun is behind me.. but then they'd be too bright at night. For the overall dash lighting - you do know it's adjustable right? The left-hand knob on the dash, the one you use to reset the trip counter - it turns and adjusts the overall dash light level. It can be set high enough that I find it a distraction at night. Or it can be turned off. And a full range between too bright and no bright.
BTW - moving this thread over to the 987 discussion area.. it will fit in there better..
I felt that way about my 09
Cayman
base when I got her eight years ago. The CDR 30 sound plus package was pathetic. The ride on the highway wasn’t too bad, but over rough urban streets on the 18” wheels with summer tires was jarringly uncomfortable. The first order of business to replace the head unit with an Android based system. Then I ditched the summer tires for Yokohama Advan Sport all season tires and the ride improvement and the decrease in cabin noise made the car so much more enjoyable. Now this car puts a smile on my face with every drive and I can’t imagine ever selling this car.
Another tire with the same effect is the
Conti
All-Season DWS-2 - a remarkable tire that will last so long you'll end up replacing it due to age-hardening (which all tires do) rather than wear.
Thank you for the advice.
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+1 on the all season tires. I replaced the tires that came with my car with
Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4
. My car will never do a track day but it will drive in three seasons of New England weather. The ride was better than the the old performance oriented Yokohamas.
Thank you. I'm not handy and I can't imagine what my dealer would charge. Btw re other posts, the range of my dash lights dimmer control is very limited.
I'm not sure what's going with the dash lights. Mine work just fine. Perhaps there is a bulb out?
Yes, the base stereo system is hilariously bad. Luckily that is an easy fix with a new head unit, amp, and 4 new speakers. You can do it yourself or find an audio shop. There are ton of Youtube videos showing this work on 987 and 997 cars.
As for the ride, I did find that the base suspension is not very compliant around town. My
987.2 Cayman
base on
Koni
Yellow adjustable struts and
Cayman R springs
rides like a dream. It rides massively better and more compliant than the stock setup and my stock setup with 85K miles shockingly still had life as the struts were even blown yet.
My
Cayman
came with the
Carrera
II 19" rims and terrible
Pirelli
PZeros which are just too big for this car and the PZeros are the worst riding, sounding, and highest wearing summer tires I've ever experienced. I swap on the set of BBS 18" and
Michelin
Pilot All Season 4s and the ride improved dramatically and handling really didn't suffer.
Thank you for the good thoughts. Does not appear bulb is out. Lights dim but even. . I did put suggested Michelins on car. Not discernible difference but I have standard shocks, etc.
