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griffter
2,569 posts
124 months
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I drove a boxster S, an Elise 111R and an s2000 back to back a few years ago. Imho the s2000 had the best steering action and feel. The 111r had the best handling. The boxster was ok as an all rounder but didn't have the edge. The boxster was the only one I went out in alone. I still haven't worked out my assessment of the s2000. It contradicted exerting I had been led to expect about its relative merits. Suffice to say a 3k boxster sounds great value but imho the s2000 is a surprisingly worthy competitor. I bought the Elise by the way!
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Riknos
3,574 posts
73 months
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Almost bought a 2.7 996 Boxster a few months back. Lovely bright yellow with black interior. After doing huge amounts of research, the IMS/RMS didn't put me off, it was the running costs of consumables! I was tossing and turning between the S2K and the Boxster, but in the end settled on the mk3 MX5 2.0 Sport as it is vastly cheaper to run. I was looking for a new job at the time with a large commute. This is now not an option, so I'm thinking of swapping out the MX5. Early Boxster roofs seem to be a complete joke to me. What's the point in it being electric if you've gotta get out the car to lower it? My manual roof can be lowered in literally 3 seconds 
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sunsurfer
211 posts
50 months
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Riknos said: ...Early Boxster roofs seem to be a complete joke to me. What's the point in it being electric if you've gotta get out the car to lower it? My manual roof can be lowered in literally 3 seconds Agreed. I much like the simplicity of undoing two latches and bunging the roof back. Electric roof is unnecessary additional weight, cost and complexity.
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Riknos
3,574 posts
73 months
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sunsurfer said: Riknos said: ...Early Boxster roofs seem to be a complete joke to me. What's the point in it being electric if you've gotta get out the car to lower it? My manual roof can be lowered in literally 3 seconds Agreed. I much like the simplicity of undoing two latches and bunging the roof back. Electric roof is unnecessary additional weight, cost and complexity. Electric systems are easy and 'cool' when they work, but Youtube 'Boxster chop' - utterly silly design on the early ones with the plastic windows 
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RWD cossie wil
1,862 posts
42 months
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Have to say I'm not a huge fan of the boxster, dog slow and being 6'3 I find the driving position very cramped? I quite fancied one for a summer smoker, but really couldn't get excited about them after driving a few.
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Paul O
613 posts
52 months
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sunsurfer said: Been looking at these for a while now - amazing value for money. My concern is the likely running costs - a poster has suggested £1800-2000 per year. Do those of you who have/had Boxsters agree with that? Yep, I'd agree. My running report below if your intrested.. This was written 4 years ago when I sold it (can't believe its been that long!). So the depreciation won't be as much, but I'd expect running costs will be more as the cars are older now, so about £2k fund should keep it on the road.  My running report: http://motorcloud.net/porsche/boxster-retroview/Summary of costs over 3 years... MAF sensor £351 a clamp for something £1.48 electrical fault – £558.13 hard top kit £120.33 reseal cam box bolts £32.32 New steering rack £187.55 relay £12.94 (oil seals, ignition coil pack, rear anti roll bar bushes, brake fluid change) £344.65 wheel bolts £113.36 Radiators x 2 and Air condensers x2 £930.61 Rear screen – £250 Front screen – £60 (excess) 1 minor service (approx 400?) 1 major service (£550) 1 lot of front tyres (approx £200) 2 (or 3) lots of rear tyres (approx £300 per set) full set of brakes (£300) Hard-top – £700 Speedster humps – £400ish Smart Top – £120ish Clear Lights – £500ish Depreciation over 3 years – £9,000 An approximately total of around £12,000-£13,000 over 3 years of ownership, using independent Porsche specialists for most of the repair work.
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tomoleeds
343 posts
55 months
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RIGGERS< was the car for sale on PH i have tried to find it to see where it was for sale
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boxsey
1,645 posts
79 months
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sunsurfer said: Been looking at these for a while now - amazing value for money. My concern is the likely running costs - a poster has suggested £1800-2000 per year. Do those of you who have/had Boxsters agree with that? Yes, my previous one cost that every for the 6 years I had it as a daily driver (approx 15,000 miles a year). It was worth every penny though!
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sunsurfer
211 posts
50 months
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Paul O said: Yep, I'd agree. My running report below if your intrested.. This was written 4 years ago when I sold it (can't believe its been that long!). So the depreciation won't be as much, but I'd expect running costs will be more as the cars are older now, so about £2k fund should keep it on the road. My running report: http://motorcloud.net/porsche/boxster-retroview/Summary of costs over 3 years... MAF sensor £351 a clamp for something £1.48 electrical fault – £558.13 hard top kit £120.33 reseal cam box bolts £32.32 New steering rack £187.55 relay £12.94 (oil seals, ignition coil pack, rear anti roll bar bushes, brake fluid change) £344.65 wheel bolts £113.36 Radiators x 2 and Air condensers x2 £930.61 Rear screen – £250 Front screen – £60 (excess) 1 minor service (approx 400?) 1 major service (£550) 1 lot of front tyres (approx £200) 2 (or 3) lots of rear tyres (approx £300 per set) full set of brakes (£300) Hard-top – £700 Speedster humps – £400ish Smart Top – £120ish Clear Lights – £500ish Depreciation over 3 years – £9,000 An approximately total of around £12,000-£13,000 over 3 years of ownership, using independent Porsche specialists for most of the repair work. Great write up and thanks for the info on running costs - as someone moving on from a Mk1 MR2 this is a bit step!
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Shurv
204 posts
29 months
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I've owned a 3.0 Z4 roadster for 4 years, and in 30k miles have only spent the following:
Tyres:
2 x sets of rears ( last set only just put on) 1 x set of fronts ( still with 4mm and 25k miles on them to date.)
Servicing:
1 service every 2 years = 1 x Oil service ( £ 140) and an Inspection 2 ( £ 300) Next service due is next March @ £ 140
Other work:
2x rear springs @ £ 150
Disa valve £ 150
Glovebox lock £ 40
Bonnet sensor £ 10
Brakes: Front & Rear discs & pads £ 400
That makes £ 300 per year for maintenance at 7 -8k miles pa.
I've got 231 bhp, 0-60 in under 6 sec, 155mph top speed and it costs the same as a budget hatchback to run.I've always fancied a Porsche, but when comparing the running costs with my Z4, there's no way I could justify it.
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J4CKO
7,384 posts
69 months
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Doing stuff yourself can save a fortune, a Porsche is still only a car, brakes, suspension, servicing and diagnosing stuff via asking questions on forums, not sure about doing the cam belt on my S2 though, might bite the bullet on that.
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405dogvan
3,342 posts
134 months
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Shurv said: I've got 231 bhp, 0-60 in under 6 sec, 155mph top speed and it costs the same as a budget hatchback to run.I've always fancied a Porsche, but when comparing the running costs with my Z4, there's no way I could justify it. TBH the running costs aren't that different so long as you avoid OEM parts and dealer labour rates (for either car, frankly). I don't know where people get this idea that Porsches are hugely costly to run - this Boxster was a <£30K car new and it's costs will reflect that. The big issues will the seals aside, there's nothing massively wallet breaking about it - I know several people who've run Boxsters of varying ages with no trauma whatsoever (some even as daily drivers). One of the more interesting issues would be depreciation tho - your BMW Z4 is a much harder resell than any Boxster because there's more around, they're more spec. sensitive and so on...
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Rosewood Red
10 posts
22 months
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Slightly academic, but forgetting that the Boxster is soft-top, where would your money go? Mint condition 944 S2 or 986 2.5 / 2.7 l?
Ash
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98elise
3,167 posts
30 months
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sunsurfer said: Been looking at these for a while now - amazing value for money. My concern is the likely running costs - a poster has suggested £1800-2000 per year. Do those of you who have/had Boxsters agree with that? My boss has had one from new and hers comes in at around 1k per year running costs.
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cmoose
18,588 posts
98 months
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405dogvan said: TBH the running costs aren't that different so long as you avoid OEM parts and dealer labour rates (for either car, frankly).
I don't know where people get this idea that Porsches are hugely costly to run - this Boxster was a <£30K car new and it's costs will reflect that. The big issues will the seals aside, there's nothing massively wallet breaking about it - I know several people who've run Boxsters of varying ages with no trauma whatsoever (some even as daily drivers).
One of the more interesting issues would be depreciation tho - your BMW Z4 is a much harder resell than any Boxster because there's more around, they're more spec. sensitive and so on... The Boxster was never sub £30k new. It was £34k basic in late 1996. Also, nearly all parts you'll be changing apart from the brakes are shared with the £60k 996. A Boxster is indeed much more expensive to run than a BMW that cost £30-odd k back then.
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Mystic Slippers
405 posts
72 months
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My local indie has a fixed price servicing 12k minor service is £149 12k major is £199 and 24K major is £349.
Replacing the rear main seal £259.
My car had 2 new radiators and some new mudflaps fitted cost £412 all in.
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NJH
1,460 posts
78 months
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On the acceleration thing the 2.5 had much shorter gearing than the 2.7 and S. This means that despite having much less torque the actual torque difference at the rear wheels at a particular rpm in say 2nd gear would be much less than the headline figures. ISTR the final drive in the 2.5 was about 8% or 9% lower than the later cars.
No idea why Porsche went to such long gearing yet put 6 speeds in the S, back a generation cars like the 944 S2 and 968 had shorter gearing much like the 2.5 which is why they are always much quicker than ppl expect in mid range acceleration and hence on track.
Personally I quite fancy spending a bit more on the 2.7 as its supposedly the most robust engine out of that whole 986/996 water cooled generation, has a useful power increment over the 2.5 and if one is handy with spanners you could always put the 2.5 final drive in there or look at just a complete gearbox swap over (I believe the only difference was the final drive ratio).
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Gallen
1,776 posts
124 months
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Riknos said: Almost bought a 2.7 996 Boxster a few months back................but in the end settled on the mk3 MX5 2.0 Sport as it is vastly cheaper to run. Enjoy the fact your roof's quicker! As for the rest  ;-) (ps Never had to get out to put my roof down???)
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james280779
1,434 posts
98 months
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watercooled = boring Great value for money and would definately p*ss off the Jones's next door. I would never buy one as not a fan but they are great cars and especially for 3k, not sure why everyone is complaining as very little around to compete at that price with that prestige badge (and Honda make the CRV/prelude so they don't count as prestige)
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GC8
9,528 posts
59 months
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k-ink said: All water cooled porsche values are in free fall (4.0 RS aside). I had to raise an eyebrow when I noticed a 996 GT3 parked on a council estate a couple of months ago. It has been there every single day as I pass by, so it is not a visitor either. Does it bother you that he has more money / is more successful?
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