Would you buy a 987 Boxster with 106k on the clock?

[battered]

StrokesUK said:

Subaru have been building water cooled flat sixes of similar capacity since the late eighties.

Starting to sound like they should have sold a few to Porsche.

[ooid]

StrokesUK said:

Subaru have been building water cooled flat sixes of similar capacity since the late eighties.

Yup, it does have some similarities in terms of minor issues. (Oil Leak & overheating a very common one both on Subaru (Legacy?) and Porsche).

[gadgit]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I don't think Subaru have firms all over the country constantly rebuilding their engines on mass...... Do they?

Gadgit

[edc]

gadgit said:

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I don't think Subaru have firms all over the country constantly rebuilding their engines on mass...... Do they?

Gadgit

How many Subaru cars are sold in the UK compared to Porsche? What is the value of a Subaru with a dud engine compared to a Porsche? Are they going to scrap it instead of rebuild it? Is there even a viable market to have several Subaru engine rebuilders? Why do you think there are lots of dedicated firms doing Porsche engine rebuilds?

[Heaveho]

gadgit said:

Correct me if i'm wrong, but I don't think Subaru have firms all over the country constantly rebuilding their engines on mass...... Do they?

Gadgit

Erm, you might want to check that. Lots of Indies doing lots of engine work from memory of my days on the forum when I owned one. I have a friend in the trade who sees a fair few of them, '08 plate one in now undergoing a complete stripdown and rebuild. He's not long been finished doing the same on a P1. The flat fours have their own inherent issues.

Edited by Heaveho on Thursday 23 February 14:22

[gadgit]

Good points, and yes all cars can have problems, but after I went all round the country trying to find firstly a 997 1..... And found no end of the cars for sale with only 25-30k miles having had the engine already replaced it then became a risk to buy one. They then put an identical engine back in!
Even one with an engine replaced at 25k had bad bore scoring at 48k when I requested an examination from the dealer.

I assume Subaru engines lasted a bit longer than that in general before rebuilds.
This is all about risk, and another young mans money possibly spending 10k on another engine in a short space of time.
If this car is such a good buy, why is it still there.

Gadgit

[Heaveho]

gadgit said:

Good points, and yes all cars can have problems, but after I went all round the country trying to find firstly a 997 1..... And found no end of the cars for sale with only 25-30k miles having had the engine already replaced it then became a risk to buy one. They then put an identical engine back in!
Even one with an engine replaced at 25k had bad bore scoring at 48k when I requested an examination from the dealer.

I assume Subaru engines lasted a bit longer than that in general before rebuilds.
This is all about risk, and another young mans money possibly spending 10k on another engine in a short space of time.
If this car is such a good buy, why is it still there.

Gadgit

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess they were 3.4s you've had theses experiences with?

My Subaru was ok engine wise, but I drove around the causes of potential issues........they don't like extended periods of idling and then given full throttle, the placement of the intercooler means that all the heat from an idling engine rises into it. You blast away from traffic lights, all that pre-heated air goes through the engine, and it goes bang in fairly short order. I knew that, so it didn't happen to mine, but it still needed 5th gear replacing twice in 60k miles, wheel bearing collapsed at 130mph on the M3 ( exciting few moments ), aircon pulley bearings were a constant issue. It was a nice car, but the game moves on.

That particular Boxster is probably still there because most people still regard this time of year as winter and Boxsters are pretty seasonable. Also, unless you know at least a little bit about Porsches specifically ( and I really only know a little! ), you'd assume that generally, the lower the mileage the better. Just not true with this model, they don't respond well to not being driven. The one I have currently is a quicker, nicer thing to drive with 20k more miles on than the the one I sold early last year, they prefer being used.

[gadgit]

Most of the friends of mine that had subaru's didn't appear to have any problems with them, but perhaps they never told me if they did, for fear of me taking the Mickey?
Going back to Porsche.....
I also checked out quite a few Boxters and Cayman, and 80% of the 2005 to 2007 models had oil drips from the rear engine seals.
Now I'm not a fussy man but I'm not buying a car that leaks oil in my garage from day one of ownership!
Every time I said to the salesman I want to have a look at the engine rear seal, you could tell it was already dripping (they all do that sir)
Its only a small drip which is not a problem....
Its just another little problem that can, in a short period morph into a engine out job, and while we are replacing this £3.50 seal I advise you have the clutch changed at the same time, and a minor service on the engine.... Total was about £1500.... If I remember....that was some time ago.

Now, my 981 has none of these problems at all. Same for gen2s
Just goes to show that if Porsche make an effort they can build good solid reliable engines.
It does appear that most of the upper super versions seem to aviod many of these problems..... Like the 911 turbo's for example.... ??
Unless you know different of course....
Gadgit

[Heaveho]

I'll admit that mine has had a minor oil leak since not long after I got it, and I just assumed that it was the RMS. However it was in at a local Indy a couple of weeks ago getting it's 5k oil and filter change, they gave it back to me saying they had tightened up one of the tensioner pulleys, as the crush washer behind it was the cause of the leak and that if it continued, to bring it back and they could replace the washer for £40. Nice surprise. To be fair, it's gearbox out for the RMS, not engine, but still, no small undertaking, and I agree that should it get to that stage, you would not only do the seal, but discuss the clutch, flywheel and perhaps most importantly, the IMS bearing.

I'm not an apologist for German cars of any flavour, the few I've had always caused me more trouble than any of the several Japanese cars I've owned. So far so good with my current Gen 1, but I'm aware of the possibilities. As you say, seemingly the Gen 2 models appear to be significantly improved, and I'm idly thinking about changing to that model at some point.

Edited by Heaveho on Saturday 25th February 20:41