Am I about to make a mistake? - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

I'm a gnats b k away from paying around £5k for a Boxster with 90k on the clock. I test drove one today that drove well and had 115k on the clock, it had a few minor war wounds and the key fob wouldn't operate the central locking which I believe is common - other than that I quite liked it but have seen another one with less miles and looks like it has been cared for better judging by the photographs. If the one I'm looking at tomorrow drives ok and is as good as it looks then I will be having it. Am I likely to end up remortgaging my house to pay for future repairs?

hueandcry71 said: I'm a gnats b k away from paying around £5k for a Boxster with 90k on the clock. I test drove one today that drove well and had 115k on the clock, it had a few minor war wounds and the key fob wouldn't operate the central locking which I believe is common - other than that I quite liked it but have seen another one with less miles and looks like it has been cared for better judging by the photographs. If the one I'm looking at tomorrow drives ok and is as good as it looks then I will be having it. Am I likely to end up remortgaging my house to pay for future repairs? yes

BertBert said: yes But maybe not You gotta ask yourself, d'ya feel lucky, punk?

I always feel lucky.

Ultimately its a 5k car your friends will think is 20k lol You get an OK one I would put 700-1000 a year aside for service/running, get a bad one the engine goes and the repair is more than the car and you sell it for 2 grand for parts. The days it is running great you can't find a better car! Check the service history see what has already been done if possible and then take your choice!

Thanks James. I have taken the plunge and bought it. I have looked at a few around the same price and this was in different class in terms of condition and comes with good service history and only two previous owners - not quite sure how one of them has lost a key though, it only comes with one key which I have phoned Porsche for a replacement and been quoted £280 - does that sound right or is there so he were else I can go that will be cheaper? The dealer is putting 12 months MOT and will attend to any advisories and it also comes with a 6 month warranty (not sure if it's worth the paper it's written on) so adds a little confidence. I fully appreciate I have bought an old car with high mileage for a low amount of relative money - it will be a gamble and I look forward to it.

hueandcry71 said: it only comes with one key which I have phoned Porsche for a replacement and been quoted £280 - does that sound right or is there so he were else I can go that will be cheaper? Sounds about right. My 2006 Cayman S only had one key when I bought it. It was advertised as having two so the garage I bought it from got a new one from Porsche DE. They said it would have been about £300 if I'd had to buy it myself.

anonymous said: [redacted] At the risk of looking really REALLY stupid, 2.5s? I'm pretty sure mine is a 2.7 (you have me doubting myself here haha). I forgot to mention that despite it only having one key which is a bit of a bummer - I did discover a multi changer which wasn't advertised.

anonymous said: [redacted] If it hasn't already been changed, wouldn't it have gone by now if it was going to go or do they all go eventually?

If you havent already I would suggest reading the Poverty Pork thread

gemini said: If you havent already I would suggest reading the Poverty Pork thread Haha, thanks for the link - I probably wouldn't have bought the car if I had read that first - love the phrase Poverty pork!! I'm looking forward to getting it, it will probably turn into a Cayman quite quickly as that was how I started off with my first cheapish Lotus and ended up buying bloody loads of them in a relatively short space of time. Hopefully I will get 12 months out of it without too much expense but if it costs me a few quid then so be it - that's the gamble that realistically you can take with buying any used car.

anonymous said: [redacted] Im planning a trip to Christopher Neil in Cheshire in a couple of weeks for them to give it a proper look over and provide me with a few quotes for things I want to do. I will add that to my list - thanks for the heads up.

Pics please! If it helps, I quite literally didn't sleep the day I bought mine. Not through excitement, more through "what the bloody hell have I done" stress and the discovery of a few minor niggles. That soon went, especially after a few days of roof down fun. Four months down the line It's just back from my Indy today after having a minor service and one or two niggles fixed and I'm loving the car more than ever. Slight tweak on the gear linkage and a brake fluid change and it's feeling like a different car...better than ever. Enjoy your car...you'll love it.

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Hard-Drive said: Pics please! If it helps, I quite literally didn't sleep the day I bought mine. Not through excitement, more through "what the bloody hell have I done" stress and the discovery of a few minor niggles. That soon went, especially after a few days of roof down fun. Four months down the line It's just back from my Indy today after having a minor service and one or two niggles fixed and I'm loving the car more than ever. Slight tweak on the gear linkage and a brake fluid change and it's feeling like a different car...better than ever. Enjoy your car...you'll love it. Before people tell me the wheels look crap (16") I already know that, I also don't like the mirrors being the same colour as the wheels. I plan to have the bonnet resprayed as there are a few stone chips - nothing major and barely noticeable but I will get the mirrors done at the same time. I also want a decent exhaust (recomendations please) on it as it sounds far too quiet especially compared to the number of Lotus I have had. If anyone with psychic powers or an extremely good eye for disasters can see something horribly wrong that's going to cost me a fortune please let me know - I don't mind losing the deposit if I am making a massive mistake. Edited by hueandcry71 on Tuesday 1st July 22:03 Edited by hueandcry71 on Tuesday 1st July 22:07

Love it. Lots of car for little cash!

I've tried a couple of different exhaust configurations. Click my profile and you can read more on the boxa.net links

Thanks for the link to the exhaust, I will look at that later. The car had it's MOT today and the only advisory was something to do with the undercarriage cover covering components or something - this was on the MOT from last year as well. I'm guessing (hoping) this isn't anything to worry about? The dealer had changed the wishbones yesterday prior to today's MOT following their own inspection. I actually drove another today taking my total test drives of Boxsters to 5, in all honesty everyone of them has driven the same - none have been any better or worse than the others. I'm amazed at how quiet they are and that will have to change!!

If the wishbones were done that's good news. Just check they have done a proper geo.

hueandcry71 said: The car had it's MOT today and the only advisory was something to do with the undercarriage cover covering components or something - this was on the MOT from last year as well. I'm guessing (hoping) this isn't anything to worry about? I got the same advisory on the MOT for my Cayman S (and it was on all of the MOTs from before I bought it). I was told it was because access to the engine bay is limited by the layout of the engine covers. It sounded more like a disclaimer for the MOT-issuing garage than an advisory.

Don't worry much about IMS. They are very rare and usually go on cars of low mileage. Problem is people gather on forums to discuss and makes it seem like it's a pandemic. Most of the threads are just people worrying. If you count the threads of people who actually have had a failure it's tiny. I used to post on a Boxster website and there were only a handful of people who had it happen.

Looks a great car for £5k. Just look after it, drive it and enjoy it. It has to be a more rewarding by than an asthmatic MX5 for similar money.