Buying Advice

[dunks]

Hi..

 

Sorry if this is in wrong section, but looking at constructive feedback on buying a boxster.

 

I've been an old peugeot convertible owner for near on 15 years, so decided to put up for sale and plan on buying a boxster,  I've read the buying guides, which are all good and informative but wanted peoples take on my conundrum.

 

I took a 97 2.5 for a test drive at the weekend, and loved the drive, although i think it will sell for not a lot, it seems the owner had lost all interest in it and just wanted rid, there was a few stratches on the bodywork , everything worked as it should, but a little whine from 2nd gear , the owner told me to budget for 3k a year to keep a porsche on the road.   Looking at the history with the car, there was lots , I suppose a concern is that a lot of the invoices where from a specialist porsche garage and quite a few said " supplied used part ", Its had the usual coil packs, plugs, exhaust etc but also a timing chain, the current owner has had the car 6 years and confirmed he hasn't had to have the clutch done yet.  A couple of questions on this, is that another forum says the timing chain isn't down as a serviceable item as it outlasts the engine , any one shed any light on this and at what point they should be changed, also how long do clutches tend to last on a boxster ?

I have a budget of £6500 to spend including tax and insurance , bearing in mind tax is either £270 or £325 ish and insurance ive been quoted £300, the rest is for the car and getting it how I want it., of course I dont need to spend the whole budget

Now apologies to the purists , but I want to modify the car to how I want it, and that needs to be included in my budget , What I plan to do is ,,

Clear front lights £500

rear lights £200

Double din sterio £350

Glass rear screen £700

Wheel refurb £300 ( painted black or grey )

Windstop £200

 

Ive been hunting hi and low for the correct car, and narrowed it down to 2 and of course they are both in different directions around a 4 hours round trip so cant see them both but options are 

1 .  a 2.7 ( 2004 ) with 105000 on the clock and the only option i would need doing is the sterio and  its  in a colour combination I love ( dark grey, black wheels )@ £4750 has service history up until the current owner change 3 years ago ( current owner has a mate who works in a porsche dealer so he does the work in the evening )and it comes under budget selling at £4750

2  A 3.2 , (2001)  with 98000 on the clock,, it would need to do the sterio and the rear window but its in silver( which I dont hate but feel that was the common colour chosen ) got full history and I feel the owner is proud of his car and comes in at £4000.

Options wise the only thing i can see different is the sound system, the 2.7 has speakers in the door and a double din old sterio the 3.2 doesnt have either  , Am i right in saying if its got door speakers its also got an amp ? Would a new aftermarket radio just be plug and play in the 2.7  , or would i need to bypass the amp ? the 2.7 also has heated seats,  liptronic headlights.

I will only use the car at the weekends and not planning on buying hoping it will be a future classic, any guidance on which engine is better and more desirable would help please , is my colour choice more important than engine choice ? pros and cons please

 

[Lennym1984]

Hi,

Personally I wouldn't bother with the glass rear screen. It makes accessing the engine even more of a faff.

In terms of the engine choice, nobody is really going to be able to give you any good advice. They all have their merits and much of it will come down to how you intend to use the car. That said, I'm happy to give you my *personal* opinion.

3.2: Obviously it is the most powerful engine but from my limited experience, it is the added torque that is more noticeable. For daily driving (overtaking 40mph dawdlers, zipping in and out of traffic etc) this will make it much easier to live with (I think that if I had a Boxster as a daily, I would want the 3.2). The downside to this is that - at public road speeds - (and this is all my personal opinion of course) it doesn't really encourage enthusiastic driving to the same degree as the smaller engines. Like any modern car, it is very easy to just floor it between corners and not really pay any attention to how much speed you are carrying into/through the corner itself.

2.5/2.7: Less powerful but arguably less stressed. I have a 2.5 and I think it gives a very good "classic" Porsche experience without the hassle of a classic Porsche. Like Porsche's of old, the engine has limited torque below 4k RPM and so you need to work it hard to get the best out of it. On a daily basis, I think this would become a bit tedious on the commute to work but for evenings and weekends, I have grown to absolutely love it. It feels like a proper old fashioned sports car and when you "learn" to drive it, it is incredibly rewarding. Once you have become familiar with it, the lack of torque at low RPM becomes at worst an irrelevance - you don't need low end torque if you never slow down enough to need it .

In terms of options, extended leather is a nice one to look out for. It makes the cabin feel a bit more premium. I'm not so bothered about things like Litronics or heated seats (I have neither) but I am sure somebody will be along shortly to advise.

Finally, whatever car you buy, it is going to be at least 15 years old. Regardless of how well maintained it has been in the past, it will need things doing. Provided you go in with your eyes open and don't get too upset about the odd bill, I think you'll really enjoy it. I do most of the work on mine myself and as of yet, have had no major issues and hold no ill will towards the car... unlike my daily driver where a basic service costs £500 and Jaguar have me bent over a table until it is out of warranty

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

 

 

 

 

 

[Nobbie]

What Lenny said🙂 As a daily driver you'll appreciate the extra torque of the 3.2, as a weekend toy the smaller engine can be more fun as you have to use the gears to make progress. Door speakers are a real bonus as I initially wondered why people complained about the stereo until I realised that the door speakers I've got were an option. Replacing the dash speaker will give an immediate improvement as they will be mush by now as I found when I replaced mine.

Hard to say on the clutch, could have been replaced before he got it, or could still be on the original depending on how it's been driven. From what I've read on here they tend to get a bit heavy towards the end of their life, but hard to judge until you've driven a few.

I'd go for the 2.7 as it's a younger 'facelift' version, but then mine is a weekend toy😎

[Menoporsche]

This one already has clear lights all round and is bonkers cheap.

 

[RedBarediver]

I would GRAB the 3.2! For £4k that seems an absolute steal.

 

That being said a 2.5 litre for £2,500 is also a steal. I am sooooo tempted to sell the Alfa and get a Boxster as a daily driver....

[dunks]

2 hours ago, RedBarediver said:

I would GRAB the 3.2! For £4k that seems an absolute steal.

 

That being said a 2.5 litre for £2,500 is also a steal. I am sooooo tempted to sell the Alfa and get a Boxster as a daily driver....

Yes it is the steal, but i dont love the silver colour , id drive it, but it wouldnt be my 1st choice colour

 

3 hours ago, Menoporsche said:

This one already has clear lights all round and is bonkers cheap.

 

as i want a double din sterio, the councel delete made me ignore this when I noticed it for sale

[Darkstar]

13 minutes ago, dunks said:

Yes it is the steal, but i dont love the silver colour , id drive it, but it wouldnt be my 1st choice colour

 

as i want a double din sterio, the councel delete made me ignore this when I noticed it for sale

The console delete can be reversed. 

[dunks]

13 minutes ago, Darkstar said:

The console delete can be reversed. 

do you still have the parts to reverse ?  what overall condition is it in ? what history with it

[½cwt]

I bought a 3.2 last September on a W plate for a little under 5K.  It had clear lights but I've done quite a bit too with new hifi unit, new dash speakers, cruise retro fit, 4 CV boots, making good some under body plastics, a/c condensers & drier, window regulator, battery, 2 tyres which excluding a service at an independent, tax (only £265 as it is older) and insurance (around £250 for 8k miles and NO commuting.) comes to another £2k or so but it is not yet quite as I want it ber certainly liveable and better than when I got it.  A lot of these are first off costs so your budget looks to be about OK.  I went for the 3.2, which is a nice motor and gives you the 6 speed 'box, because it was in budget and the best of the cars I considered (and also the only one I went to see as I wasn't confident with answers from the sellers of my other options, another 3.2 and a 2.7).  Mine had a new clutch and rear main seal in the previous 6k miles albeit 7 years ago and pretty fresh brakes too.  Unfortunately you won't know the fixing/running budget for the first year until you've committed to the car and sorted the faults but after that other than  failures that could happen to any 15-20 year old car (like my window regulator and battery) from any brand, you'll be able to budget from there on hopefully.

[Darkstar]

12 hours ago, dunks said:

do you still have the parts to reverse ?  what overall condition is it in ? what history with it

Unfortunately not but there are loads available on the bay.

Cosmetically she needs a little TLC but none is urgent. Mechanically she is very good with the alarm/central locking and air conditioning being the only main issues and I lived with them for nearly two years.

Unfortunately she dose not have any history as the garage I bought from never supplied anything but the service book, manual and two keys.

The key is she is a £2.5K car. Several on here have had to scrap because of engine issues and still got £2K. So what have you got to lose.

She dose have a full years MOT but will need rear tyre soon.

[Sanky]

@dunks, your 1st choice seem the like the car you would prefer, as it should have most of wish list items as standard.

A factory fitted glass roof is no faff to open, for access to the engine.

As for budgeting 3K a year is rubbish, yes you might get some expensive bills but it shouldn't be every year.

Some flaws would have to be expected on nearly 15 year old car, unless you trying to make it all perfect within the first week of ownership.  But you will be use to flaws after owning a Peugeot 🤣

[Mattman42]

3.2 - go for the big engine otherwise you’ll always wonder if you should have....

As for the clear lights, ambers are back..... 😎

[RickLS7]

I would disagree, go for the best condition car regardless of engine.  I've had mine over 8 years, it's been brilliant and never regretted getting the 2.7.  I looked at loads before settling on this, most were in lousy condition and they were only around 8 years old then.  Very little has gone wrong with it (plastic connector on the bottom of the gearstick and the tensioner pulley bearing failed). 

I don't mind a smaller engine, in fact am looking at a 2.5L at Silverstone OPC Saturday.

[dunks]

So after taking 4 Boxster's for spins, finally settled on one and fetched it yesterday 

 

2001 3.2 , Bodywork in A1 condition, Interior in good condition, wheels could do with a refurb, quite a bit of history, including dual mass and clutch being done, came with a matching hardtop all for 4k.  ( Could have had a blue 3.2 for even cheaper if i wanted ), Got a few little things planned for it so will post a new thread as and when 

[S2sam]

Hi dunks nice looking car ,hope you enjoy being in the boxster fold , great place here for advice . 

Sam 👍 ps you've got the right one  the 3.2 😀

[jonogt6]

That looks great....looks like a good buy. Will you be putting the wheels back to silver when you get them refurbished? 

[Menoporsche]

Dunks, start a new thread in Running Reports   (otherwise we keep seeing "Buying advice")

[GmanB]

Make sure the caps are aligned with the valves before the wheels go back on! I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that. You could get a decent wedge back if you sell the hardtop, honestly I don't see the point in them, as they restrict you on winter days. Enjoy!