Ol' Shatterhand

Went out for an evening blast round my favourite B-roads, roof down, sunglasses on. Finally, I got to appreciate the grip of the PS5s on a warm dry day while giving it the full beans. It's better than ever. I'm happy.

Some time next month I will finally be addressing my battle-scarred daily road warrior's many cosmetic deficiencies. As part of this long-overdue undertaking, both front and rear bumpers will be resprayed.

I think this a good opportunity to retrofit rear parking sensors. My rear bumper has a bum rash from the last time I misjudged the distance to the wall behind my allocated parking bay and I'd rather minimise the chances of a repeat occurrence after the current damage is repaired. 

Has anyone here retrofitted aftermarket or OEM parking sensors (without the warts, whose looks I cannot live with)? I don't want any non-OEM addenda visible in the cabin, and I don't know what the OEM system audible cues sound like, but in the spirit of a "sympathetic" upgrade, something that sounds like the OEM system would be preferable.

Is integration straightforward? Is there a (hopefully cost-effective) kit you would recommend? Is there one you would avoid? Halfords doesn't seem to stock parking sensor kits anymore... 

You're in good hands at Cavendish, they're my go-to indy and they know what they're doing.

I'd be very interested in finding out the root cause of your engine failure.

In the meantime, here is something to add to the man-maths balance, depending on what you're quoted (I am sorely tempted to bid for this myself and exchange my car):

https://wbandsons.com/listing/porsche-boxster-hartech/

OK, so the car in the video is not a Boxster but I thought BMWs of this era were the last well made ones before whereas later cars (including the E46 3 series) had a rust problem. Gets you thinking though. I know chassis rust is so far unheard of on Boxsters and the probably the first place to look is the inside of the rear wheel arches where mud gets trapped, but even with a galvanized chassis, eventually our cars will rust, unless they're never driven on wet roads. But there whole point of Porsches is that they are usable in the real world. Mine is a daily car, driven all year round, rain or shine, and it's parked outdoors, under my neighbour's cat (if the beast ever scratches my car I'll park over it). So, should I be mandating a waxoyl regime when I take my car to my Indy for its annual service? Has anybody else here had rust issues so far? Rust on exhaust clamps are control arm bolts is par for the course, I'm not concerned about those, even though they give mechanics a headache.

Received my repaired primary key fob in the post, having sent it off on Saturday, I have tested it and it works fine. Excellent and very cost effective repair by keyfobrepair.co.uk at a fraction of the price I paid for a new keyfob only a couple of years ago. Highly recommended. The key itself and the immobiliser transponder was fine, it's just the remove control microswitches that seem to perish quickly. Keyfobrepair have also supplied me with a new key shell with hard plastic buttons, these should prove more durable than the soft plastic ones that degraded and fouled the microswitches underneath. My good spare key can go back in the drawer where I keep the car paperwork.

And now for something completely different! 

Have you ever seen the Boxster on the big screen or on TV shows (I don't mean car shows like Top Gear and Wheeler Dealers, though it is arguable that these too fall under the fiction category). Was it used to reinforce familiar owner stereotypes?

I just happened to catch Legally Blonde on TV tonight. If you'd asked me 20 years ago I would have just shaken my head and muttered something obscene, but this time round I just found it to be a harmless bit of fluff, and not without charm either. I must be getting old... Anyway, the 986 in the film looks very good indeed. I think it's Ocean blue, which shows up very well in California sunlight. Not exactly a girly colour. And for a 2.7 it doesn't look half sleek... 

A red example makes a brief appearance as a stripper's car in Blues Brothers 2000. Not all owners were hairdressers it seems. 

And it is one of the 50 'ladies' on the blackboard list in Gone In 60 Seconds. People forget it was a hot car when new, highly sought after and popular. They did make 165,000 of them, after all. 

Any other examples you can think of? Inevitably most of its appearances will date back to the late 90s and early 2000s when the car was still current, but there is a more recent appearance in 21 Jump Street: it's a pre-facelift model and they make a joke about it not having a glove box in which the undercover cops who requisition it during a chase could hope to find a gun.

Over to you.

It was a picture of the Boxster concept car in a 1993 car mag that did it for pre-teen me. On those split rims it looked like it would eat a TVR Griffith (another dream car from the period) for breakfast and I thought that when it came out in production form it would be even more unattainable than a 911, which I respected but never lusted after (I hadn't yet appreciated the beauty of chrome trimmed pre-'74 911s).

Despite the fact it was lauded for its handling, I was disappointed when the 2.5l 986 arrived with a 0-62mph time of more than 6.5 seconds, which at the time was my mental threshold between quick and slow cars. It did look good though... And when the pebble-shaped 996.1 came out the following year I really liked its swoopy looks and was in awe of its quoted 0-62mph time of 5.2 seconds and the promise of rear engined dynamics that wouldn't kill you, according to the press. Gone were the rain gutters and upright windscreen. The raked 959-style headlights of the 993 had been a step in the right direction, but here was the beautiful nose of the Boxster on a car that looked like a two-seat version of the very Bauhaus 989 concept I had seen a few years earlier. (I was still a couple of years away from legally being allowed to get behind the wheel of an actual car, let alone making my own money to be able to buy and run one).

My dreams turned mid-engined and classic in the very late 90s and early 00s, mostly because I fell in love with the mid-engined architecture as an engineering concept and exotic 70s wedges looked tantalisingly attainable in the classifieds (just as soon as I made my first money...), starting from £5k for an Esprit S1, and all the way up to £40k for Countach LP400!

By the time I was in gainful employment and building up NCB years on my insurance, the prices had gone crazy and it was too late to dream anymore. In hindsight, when my first sharesave plan matured I should have put the money into a desireable but undervalued car. Who knew that what looked like folly at the time could have turned out to be a shrewd financial investment?

Anyway, away from the clouds in the real world, after about a decade of faithful service, my trusty Y-reg VW Polo S finally gave up the ghost in mid-2016. A pay uplift from a couple of business trips to the US earlier in that year meant I had cash in the bank and it was finally time to buy something interesting, while I was still young and single.

A 996 (in the only spec I actually like: pre-facelift, manual rear wheel drive, fixed roof coupé) was very briefly within reach, but I felt the rear-engined handling would be too big of a leap for me as a driver with no previous experience of a performance car. I dismissed the VX220 / Elise S1 on the grounds of practicality, chassis repairability and a reputation for lift-off oversteer. Mk1 MX-5? Too slow. And a turquoise example in the car park at work had so much rust around the scuttle it put me off. S2000? Reports of no torque, no steering feel, and wayward handling (at least for the AP.1 cars). Bangle Z4? Yuck. And they don't ride well, apparently (well, maybe they do on modern non-run-flat tyres). Corvette C4? Would have loved one of those, but LHD meant I couldn't daily it. How do you get through ticket barriers?

No, the only real choice was an old Boxster. I never really liked the looks of the 987, especially the inverted triangle headlights, which make it look cross-eyed, and the side intakes, which make it look fat. They ruined the looks of the 986 when they facelifted it to 986.2, so that limited my search range to pre-2003 cars. A non-S would have been just fine, I test drove a 2.5 and it didn't feel slow, if anything it felt lower and rawer than the subsequent cars I drove. A 2.7 felt OK. But I feared that eventually I would end up wondering if I'm missing out on the extra go of the S (the inner child was particularly impressed by one number: 5.9 seconds), and the idea of 996 brakes and an extra cog also appealed. PSM was a must, further limiting my search criteria.

I was lucky to find a car with an upgraded glass rear window and the 74mm throttle body and IPD plenum, and full service history, for a very reasonable price. Wasn't too keen on the aftermarket wheels, but it was the best of several cars I had seen, so I bought it and finally discovered the beauty of the Peak District that had been on my doorstep all along. Hopefully I'll never have to sell it. Will it even be worth anything anytime soon? Who cares?

Replaced the front discs and pads and changed the gearbox oil (at 141k. It was last changed at 95k, 5 years ago). Now treating the car to a hand car wash. Looks like a good opportunity to drop the hood for the drive back home this afternoon.

PS4S was never available in 18" Boxster wheel sizes in Europe, at least not the rear wheel sizes. PS4 (non S) was a very good road tire and the PS5 is a direct sucessor to that. I have had PS5 on my car for a few weeks now and I think they're fantastic. But I have never (yet) been on a track, so I don't know if an UUHP tire (PS4S alternative) really offers you that much more than a very good UHP tire like the PS5, which is all I need in a road context. Don't know much about the Goodyears, but the PS5 are quiet and comfortable and sure-footed in the rain. It is claimed they are more hard-wearing and retain their performance as they wear. And let me tell you, they look good!

3 hours ago, ½cwt said:

Taken it to Dove House Motors in Rushden for its annual service (about 5.5k miles this year).  Major service this time round with all filters, oil and levels checks for all other fluids and a detailed inspection.  £378.  Good service and courtesy car as ever. 

They picked up on some significant cracking on two coil packs and hairline cracks in two others (Beru ZS178 are £20.90 each on Autodoc currently) but have reported the plugs are good for another 2 years at least, they've been in there for 4 years/20k miles, but brake line corrosion is widespread (major brake system refresh planned already for this winter) as is exhaust corrosion (whilst not leaking it is not being touched!)  and a minor oil leak from the timing chain tensioner seal.  Not too bad for a 22½ year-old 110k mile car that is far from pampered.

I had corroded brake lines until the car failed its MOT by bursting a pipe under hard braking on the rolling road. Got all of them replaced with Goodridge braided hoses. They do made the pedal feel a little firmer.

35 minutes ago, ½cwt said:

What, 'a pain in the diodes down the left hand side'?  If not, if it is moaning and creaking, time to look at a suspension refresh.

I did a full refresh a couple of years ago. All the tuning forks, drop links and coffin arms were replaced, as were the ARB bushes and the engine and trasmission mounts. Center Gravity also replaced the front strut top mounts and installed Koni SAs and Eibach ARBs and set up the geometry just right. So I haven't heard any clonking sounds or 'snooker ball' knocks in quite a while now... But driving a manual car on 18" wheels through town is never fun, even with a new clutch helper spring and on new tyres, especially round my girlfriend's in Burton: the potholes there are impressive, and I've been to the Grand Canyon this year.

1 hour ago, ½cwt said:

41.6 mpg for a 3.2 S!!!  I've never see over 36 even if I drive a bit like I'm Driving Miss Daisy on long motorway runs.

BTW my long term average over about 15000 miles is at 26mpg, but I do play somewhat when no on long runs.😁

My fuel consumption is usually an indicated 20 - 22 mpg on a good clean run through my favourite twisties, where I get my >5k rpm fix and the car feels like the world's happiest puppy. It is similar or even worse in town, where the car feels like Marvin the Paranoid Android.

49 minutes ago, Menoporsche said:

Ah, what a fool believes…

I never claimed I believe the trip computer readings to be accurate in the absolute sense. Years ago, when the car had about 100k on it and was on PS2s, I calculated that the ~34 mpg / 70 mph indicated for a non-stop trip between a Shell petrol station outside Derby on the A52 a couple of miles before it joins the M1, where I filled the tank with V-power, and another Shell petrol station at Stansted Airport, where I filled up again, corresponded to a true ~29 mpg. But for an apples for apples comparison, in recent times I have usually averaged an indicated 36 - 37 mpg on yesterday's route. Before they enforced a 60 mph limit on a long stretch of the M1, I would typically see an indicated 33 - 34 mpg.

Took it through 140,000 miles today down the M1 to visit my godson in Milton Keynes. Having filled up the tank there with Esso 99+ (an oil level check at petrol station indicated I haven't lost a drop since the car was serviced, back in June), on the way home in the 70 miles from j14 to j25 up a rather quiet M1 I averaged 41.6 mpg / 67 mph according to trip computer, with 402 miles of range remaining. Was it the fuel? The 12°C ambient temperature? My new PS5 tyres on freshly aligned wheels? Did I have a tailwind and/or downhill gradient helping out? Maybe, but I like to think the car responded well to the Doobie brothers CD I put on... 

Don't forget to have a look at the spark plug tubes and their o-rings. These can perish, resulting in oil leaks. I would take the opportunity to replace them if I was changing spark plugs. Oh, and check the ignition coils for cracks. 

I have 18x8J ET50 fronts and 18x10J ET47 rears. It's a pretty tight fit on the rear axle as there isn't a lot of clearance between the inside of the wheels and the OEM struts, and the on the outside the wheels are pretty much in line with the wheelarch top quadrants. I'd say the margin before the wheels are legally as far out as they can go on either side is 2mm at most. If you fit 10J ET65 wheels it sounds to me like you are going to need 20 mm spacers to ensure strut clearance. 

You will have a more compliant ride and less grip (= more fun?) on 17"s, but there is a lot to be said about the make and condition of your suspension and tyres when it comes to comfort, even on 18"s which will of course give you more grip and sharpen up the steering. For example, there is a huge difference between how my car rides now, on fully rebuilt suspension with Koni SA dampers and correctly inflated brand new Michelin PS5s and what it was like on delaminated top mounts, perished bushes, leaky old Bilstein B4s, a broken spring and over-inflated worn PS2s.

The weight of alloy/wheel combinations is also important. Some 18" wheel/tyre combos are actually lighter than some 17" combos. OK, my 997.2 Turbo replicas are heavy, but the 986.2 18" alloys are pretty light, as are the Sport Technos seen on most Boxster Classic Cup racers, and the crazy-expensive hollow-spoke 993 turbo twists and OZ racing wheels.

Took it for a drive, roof down, on my favourite roads around Ashbourne, Cromford and Wirksworth, to savour it at its best. Those PS5 tyres are amazing and after yesterday's four wheel alignment it tracks straight and true. Having replaced the front engine mount and transmission mounts in the summer, and sorted out the clutch pedal spring and gear shifter cable, it is just a joy to drive. It will be needing new front discs and pads soon, but other than that it is mechanically better than new. What a car!

Got new tyres fitted at Mid-Fit in Atherstone. Brand new Michelin Pilot Sport 5s on all four corners. They feel soft and sticky to the touch and they look great. I enjoyed cruising on balanced wheels and a plusher and quieter ride back up the A38. The car felt glued to the road on the long constant radius right hand turn off the A38 and onto the A516, coming into Derby. I will be getting a four wheel alignment at Cavendish next week, to my Center Gravity specs. Will get them to advise on the remaining life of my brakes while I'm there, as I ran my finger over the insides of the discs while the wheels were off and I could feel a conical lip. If they tell me I'm good for a while yet, I'll start planning for cosmetic repairs in the springtime, probably with Shorade in Cannock.

On 8/19/2022 at 10:51 PM, RalphyBMW said:

Well spotted, cheers!

Yes to the Bally bar

Gearbox mounts will get swapped to new hydraulic items, need to shakedown the exhaust first though.

I initially went for the cheaper option of URO 964/993 RS solid rubber mounts, but I have a vibration at 2,800rpm that we (me and very kindly Revolution) think is most likely engine mounts, so I’m going back to fluid filled.

in addition to the brace at the rear, I’ve also just added one at the front

I want to see if this stiffens up the front and reduced trim vibration/rattle on poorly paved uneven roads.

The brace is really snug behind the battery and sits against the scuttle trims. Planning to test drive over the weekend now the exhaust is sorted.

What's the verdict on the braces? I have heard differing opinions on the effectiveness of the front brace, with some people arguing the srut towers are constrained by the bulkhead anyway, and others saying the brace works well in tension in tight turns, but with no effect on scuttle shake. I am resigned to the fact the chassis rigidity will never match that of a Cayman, but the car was designed as a convertible in the first place and whatever flex there is is part of the handling recipe. Personally I'm considering foam shims to stop the vibrations of the perspex panel between the roll hoops and other than that, I'll rely on any flex I can feel as another sensory cue when driving fast. 

Even with new brake fluid, new engine and gearbox mounts, and new gearshift cables (my linkages were broken, which is why I was still having trouble getting into gear even after my shifter upgrade and alignment), I was still having clutch pedal problems. The pedal had also started clicking and popping up in the last couple of inches at the top of travel. The fix turned out to be the replacement of the helper spring. It now feels reasonably light and I can feel the bite point, which is reassuringly nowhere near the top of travel. 

Took it for a drive on my favourite country lanes after it had its clutch pedal helper spring, handbrake shoes, an O2 sensor and a leaking intake pipe replaced earlier in the day. I might be tempting fate by saying this, but I think the car is finally sorted and mechanically perfect. Not that I'm done with big bills for this year: It will need new rubber soon. I will be going for those new Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tires. If there are no more surprises, next year will be all about cosmetics and new driving experiences. 

Drove it for the first time since April, having been away on business in the US all this time. The power steering felt very heavy at low speed initially but seems to be getting better now. The brakes are also gradually coming back to life as the rusted layer on the discs gets scraped off. The biggest problem was my neighbour's cat's hair on the sof top. I came back to find a car wearing a furry toupé. I have jet washed and brushed it off now. Gave the tires some air, topped up the tank with V-power, took it for a drive with the top down, all's good with the world.

Turns out the front mount also had to be replaced, at last. It's going to be a couple of weeks before I get behind the wheel again, but I am looking forward to a transformed driving experience and hoping to report the weird brake/clutch pedal issue is gone and the gears engage smoothly and accurately every time. Can't wait... 

I haven't had the chance to drive the car in the last 3 months as I am out of the country on business, but it went in for scheduled maintenance today and apart from replacing the brake fluid, they found that my transmission mounts have perished and my shifter cables are worn and loose on the gearbox connection. Don't know which of these three things on its own would solve this particular problem, but I hope that once all the repairs are done I won't be noticing anything odd through the pedals.

Funny, I've been waiting for the engine mount to perish since I bought the car 6 years ago at 93k miles, it's now at 136k and have had to replace everything, but everything, except the front mount.

I have a manual 3.2 S. I drive it enthusiastically on winding roads in the Peak District on weekends and use it as a daily commuter across town on weekdays. Even though I enjoy a good heel-and-toe downshift (something I only really learned how to do in this car and one of the reasons I bought it in the first place), and I have upgraded the shifter to eliminate most of the slop (still, it will never match an MX-5 or S2000 in this respect), I am coming round to the idea that tiptronic cars are pretty good fun in their own right, if you fit the flappy paddles.

I don't have a DSG frame of reference, but I think a manually commanded tip gearchange can still be satisfying and mostly slicker than rowing through the gears on a stick. And the 0.7 sec deficit in the 0-60 sprint time has no significance in the real world (I suspect it also makes very little difference in lap times on a track), unless you race between traffic lights, in which case a Boxster is not for you.

I am thankfully young and healthy enough not to have to worry about knee problems yet, but the clutch pedal is heavy on most cars including mine, though that might be solvable by replacing the helper spring. The big killer is clutch/flywheel wear if you drive a manual in uphill stop-start traffic on the daily commute, like I do, and the associated maintenance costs.

If I was buying a car now I would not discount tiptronic cars from my search. If you can, test drive a manual and a tip, and ignore the forum jockeys and automotive journalists who claim the tip is not a real driver's car. Usually they're the same ones who claim the Boxster is not a real Porsche, so what do they know?