Buying Advice

[zlac017]

Hi there,

I’ve seen this 987.2 Boxster S for sale and like the look and spec of it. I’ve been saving for years to complete a goal of owning a Porsche, so want to make sure the car is right and well maintained (although I appreciate that is true for any car purchase). 

http://www.4starclassics.com/for-sale/porsche-987-boxster-s-for-sale/
 

From sorting by “date added” on Piston Heads, the car is the last but one and so has clearly been listed for a while, which is concerning. I was wondering if anyone can spot an obvious reason for this that I’m missing? 
 

I wonder if It might be the red interior which i know could best be described as “marmite” (I personally quite like it). 
 

Any help and advice appreciated :)

[Menoporsche]

Welcome. It might be that one that has been mentioned a few times here recently. Outstanding finance and an unimpressive service history were said, I think. There’s a reason it hasn’t sold at that price. 

[zlac017]

Ah. Interesting. I will see if I can find the post. Has 5 OPC services that looked to be at the right intervals to me. 

[½cwt]

57 minutes ago, zlac017 said:

Ah. Interesting. I will see if I can find the post. Has 5 OPC services that looked to be at the right intervals to me. 

Hi and welcome,

Look in the Classified Finds section of Boxster Chat.  Quite a few people on here trawl the ads from various places and post the interesting ones, whether for good or bad reasons.

As an aside, I see your ride is a BMW C1, that's a rarity.

[B1RMA]

I've been to see this car and offered £21K, apart from the fact it has a useless number plate there are a few scratches on the front wings, it looks like an ape may have changed the battery because that looks to be how the scratches occurred.

I tried to find the over-rev printout amongst the service documents and could not find it and Silverstone Porsche have so far refused to supply the info for over a week (not sure if this should be a red flag) Also the exhaust should be valved and is not so as nice as it is it will annoy any close neighbours you may have.

As others have said outstanding finance, I thought it was worth £21K as a project car purely for the ventilated seats.

[zlac017]

1 hour ago, ½cwt said:

Hi and welcome,

Look in the Classified Finds section of Boxster Chat.  Quite a few people on here trawl the ads from various places and post the interesting ones, whether for good or bad reasons.

As an aside, I see your ride is a BMW C1, that's a rarity.

Ha. Auto-correct fail. Have adjusted to a much less exciting reality. 
 

And thank you for mentioning the classifieds. 

[zlac017]

59 minutes ago, B1RMA said:

I've been to see this car and offered £21K, apart from the fact it has a useless number plate there are a few scratches on the front wings, it looks like an ape may have changed the battery because that looks to be how the scratches occurred.

I tried to find the over-rev printout amongst the service documents and could not find it and Silverstone Porsche have so far refused to supply the info for over a week (not sure if this should be a red flag) Also the exhaust should be valved and is not so as nice as it is it will annoy any close neighbours you may have.

As others have said outstanding finance, I thought it was worth £21K as a project car purely for the ventilated seats.

Thanks. I suspected it was too good to be true. Shame really as the spec is nice, and has some rare options like the ventilated seats (has anyone actually tried these? Do they work?)

I wonder if it might be worth chancing a PPI to get a true sense of any problems and whether it has been over revved or not 

[B1RMA]

19 minutes ago, zlac017 said:

Thanks. I suspected it was too good to be true. Shame really as the spec is nice, and has some rare options like the ventilated seats (has anyone actually tried these? Do they work?)

I wonder if it might be worth chancing a PPI to get a true sense of any problems and whether it has been over revved or not 

Not sure about the Boxster seats but the various AMG's I've had and my current Lexus RCF has ventilated seats and I love them.

I'm guessing someone has done a check to see the outstanding finance, my RS60 had outstanding finance when I bought it, I just transferred part of the money to VW finance and the rest to the seller, it's not that much of a frig really.

The possibility of over-revs may be more of a concern and the fact it wasn't available and still isn't available was my main concern. As far as I know only an OPC can provide that, but I could be wrong.

It's very red inside including the dials so if you are a fan of heavy metal blasting that out at full volume along with the red inside may cause blood pressure to rise.

Edited June 2, 2022 by B1RMA

[zlac017]

4 minutes ago, B1RMA said:

Not sure about the Boxster seats but the various AMG's and my current Lexus RCF has ventilated seats and I love them.

I'm guessing someone has done a check to see the outstanding finance, my RS60 had outstanding finance when I bought it, I just transferred part of the money to VW finance and the rest to the seller, it's not that much of a frig really.

The possibility of over-revs may be more of a concern and the fact it wasn't available and still isn't available was my main concern. As far as I know only an OPC can provide that, but I could be wrong.

It's very red inside including the dials so if you are a fan of heavy metal blasting that out at full volume along with the red inside may cause blood pressure to rise.

Thanks. Agree it looks very red. Would like to see it in the flesh, it’s perhaps not my first choice colour but it is certainly unique. 

non-OPC companies can definitely look at the ECU as part of a PPI. But as has been said here, the fact information isn’t forthcoming perhaps says enough 

[Davey P]

1 hour ago, B1RMA said:

there are a few scratches on the front wings, it looks like an ape may have changed the battery because that looks to be how the scratches occurred.

That alone would be enough to make me walk away from it.  There are plenty of decent Boxsters on the market mate, so if you have any doubts at all I'd keep looking.  But then again, I drive a Cayman, so what do I know... 

[Menoporsche]

I live in a hot country, I'd absolutely love vented seats. But not sure I could easily retrofit, I think they were 7.2 only and mine is 7.1

[Paul P]

Overrev info can be pulled from the car with a durametric or a Porsche PIWIS.  i would expect a ppi to generate that for you and if the supplying dealer has any Porsche “specialism” they should be able to do it as well  

I am not surprised that silverstone Porsche won’t share service info with someone who doesn’t own the car.  
 

there’s a few other cars around for a bit more cash. More. 2.9 than S but have a look at mortimers and cridfords for a few examples. 

[zlac017]

12 minutes ago, Paul P said:

Overrev info can be pulled from the car with a durametric or a Porsche PIWIS.  i would expect a ppi to generate that for you and if the supplying dealer has any Porsche “specialism” they should be able to do it as well  

I am not surprised that silverstone Porsche won’t share service info with someone who doesn’t own the car.  
 

there’s a few other cars around for a bit more cash. More. 2.9 than S but have a look at mortimers and cridfords for a few examples. 

Thank you. I’d mostly ruled out the 2.9 in favour of the 3.4 for a bit more noise and speed, but I wonder if I should revisit that decision. 
 

I suspect the 2.9 is plenty fast enough for my needs. And maybe if anything might make a nicer noise as it will need to be revved harder. 
 

im sure the 2.9 vs 3.4 discussion has probably been done to death so I’ll search the forum, but would love to hear any opinions here? (Apologies for going OT)

[Menoporsche]

Hardly OT, it's still buying advice!

In short - more torque makes for lazier driving, good if you are used to a diesel or you have a manual in commuter traffic.  if you like lots of revs and stirring the box on Sunday morning, 2.9 is fine. We have people who rinse out 2.5s regularly (the 25 year old version, not the modern turbos) and still grin.

[zlac017]

Sound advice from everyone. Thank you. 

[½cwt]

Regarding over revs, firstly are there ground to beleive there is or could be a significant over rev history secondly, if you are serious about buying it then challenge the salesman.  For a start you should get a decent warranty with it.  If you become the owner and they have or find an over rev history they have not been willing to disclose (by not disclosing they are effectively saying that there isn't such an issue) then it is not as described, so return it as mis represented goods.  That should encourage them to find out if there is a problem or risk tarnishing the car further.

That said, that interior is VERY red!

[Menoporsche]

If necessary, red interior can be reduced by black steering wheel, black lever and gaiter, black instrument cowl. Probably available from a breaker for a few hundred. 

[Paul P]

8 hours ago, zlac017 said:

Thank you. I’d mostly ruled out the 2.9 in favour of the 3.4 for a bit more noise and speed, but I wonder if I should revisit that decision. 
 

I suspect the 2.9 is plenty fast enough for my needs. And maybe if anything might make a nicer noise as it will need to be revved harder. 
 

im sure the 2.9 vs 3.4 discussion has probably been done to death so I’ll search the forum, but would love to hear any opinions here? (Apologies for going OT)

I have had both the 2.9 and the 3.4.  Both PDK.  
 

2.9 plenty fast enough.  3.4 less frantic but really subjective.  Both can be driven however the mood takes you. And both have more than enough in hand. 
 

if I had to choose then I would say I prefer the 3.4 but if I was shopping for a car now and the right one came up and it was 2.9 I wouldn’t think twice about it.  
 

My advice is don’t dismiss anything.  Just drive loads and find one that ticks all your “have to” and a lot of you “would be nice” boxes.  

[B1RMA]

Have you checked out some of the cars for sale in the for sale section? I'd be tempted to at least have a good look as members cars on forums are generally a better deal and their history known by members of the forum.

[zlac017]

1 hour ago, B1RMA said:

Have you checked out some of the cars for sale in the for sale section? I'd be tempted to at least have a good look as members cars on forums are generally a better deal and their history known by members of the forum.

Yes, good idea. Will keep an eye out. I can see there is a For Sale section here on BoXa.net. Are there any other UK based member sites you’d recommend?

[944GS]

2 minutes ago, zlac017 said:

Yes, good idea. Will keep an eye out. I can see there is a For Sale section here on BoXa.net. Are there any other UK based member sites you’d recommend?

https://www.porscheclubgb.com/car-sales/buy-a-porsche/listing

[Menoporsche]

24 minutes ago, zlac017 said:

Yes, good idea. Will keep an eye out. I can see there is a For Sale section here on BoXa.net.

To warn you already - you can't yet post there. A well-intentioned block for newcomers immediately offering things for sale also blocks newcomers from replying to offers for sale. You need at least 40 posts, right now you have 8. Easiest thing is for you to post the seller's name in this thread; type @ and the first couple of letters of their name, a drop-down box will appear with usernames, select theirs, and once you post they will immediately receive a notification, like for this @zlac017 . So you can at least chat in this thread (if private messages are also blocked for you).

Good luck anyway. As you'll see, we like spending other people's money...

[bally4563]

Don’t be put off by the Red interior, in a photo it can look Orange , but in the flesh totally different, the Rs60 I once owned was testament to that, very smart.

[Jon61]

23 minutes ago, bally4563 said:

Don’t be put off by the Red interior, in a photo it can look Orange , but in the flesh totally different, the Rs60 I once owned was testament to that, very smart.

I'd second that - as someone who has (voluntarily! ) chosen to have red interiors in 2 of three 3 Boxsters I've owned. I think it often looks quite garish in the photos, but doesn't look anywhere near as in-your-face if you see it in real life, so I'd definitely suggest seeing it for real before deciding just on the basis of that. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I love it. I don't even have a problem with the dash reflecting in the windscreen, which some people suggest can be a problem - I can't say I even noticed that until I used a GoPro to take video from inside the windscreen - in bright sunshine that showed a lot of reflection of the dash that I've not noticed myself.

[Mattman42]

I had a very similar colour combo 3.4s and can attest that the red interior doesn’t photograph well compared to seeing it in the flesh.

it was more of an ox-blood red than it looks in the photos and made for a great contrast to the black body work. The silver wheels helped as well imho.

it’s not unique but it’s quite unusual on the market - some will love it, others will hate it, but it didn’t prevent me selling it pretty quickly when I needed to. I’d say go for it! 

 

 

As others have said, you can tone it down a bit with selected black parts like the steering wheel, gearknob etc - I had black mats which were more practical and a bit less red, but I loved it and got lots of positive comments about it