986 or 987 Boxster S

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I've been interested in a Boxster S for quite a while now and have been saving a chunk of my payslip each month so that I won't have to finance any of the cost when I eventually come to buy.

The only thing that I'm unsure of now is 986 or 987.

£10,000-£12,000 or so seems to be able to get me a great 986 S - usually from 2003/2004, with low mileage and a FSH. £14,000-£16,000 seems to net me a 987 S with double the mileage, FSH and only a year or 2 newer.

Is the 987 really worth the premium price? It looks a lot nicer IMO, the interior definietly holds up better, it has a little bit more power but thats it really. Is it really worth that extra £4,000+?

I'm stuck really - I want the 987, but it means I'd need to save for another 12 months, whereas I could potentially pick up a 986 early next year..

What are the other differences between the 2 - and what would you do?

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Cheers for the insight.

The IMS issues don't scare me - my dad had 2 996's and never had an issue and noone I know who owned one had the problem either!
I don't mind the fried egg lights - but the 987 does look undeniably fresher and obviously that interior is much newer.
As for the running costs - it will actually save me money to own (I run two rotaries and would be selling them for the Boxster).


Sunday morning hoons are all I think about when I look at them - early on a sunny Sunday morning as the sun rises and the air is crisp, top down on a lovely drive...
I did test drive one and enjoyed it...

Yours is lovely. Just need to decide - early next year or early 2016! If only I earnt more!

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edc said:

£10-12k is way too much to pay for a 986S. I would aim for as good a car as you can get for under £9k and spend a little on renewing some of the 10 year old mechanicals. If you want this as your every day car then maybe a 987 may be better. Bit more comfort, bit more space, bit more refinement.

It would be a daily.

I'm one of those idiots who is obsessed with mileage - which tends to be pretty high on 986's under the £10k mark.

What sort of things would need reneweing on this (admittedly I've done next to know research on the Boxster itself - I test drove one and that's all)?

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Cheers for all the comments thus far...

So before I started this thread I wanted a 987 but thought I'd settle for the 986 but the more I think about it, regardless on how good a 986 might be, I know that if I was to buy one I'd always have it in the back of my mind that its the 987 I wanted.

So - on the hunt again for 987's - though it means I will have to save for a little longer which is disappointing.


I've seen a quite a few with the same wheels as the 997 Turbo. Would these having been fitted by the owners or were they an optional extra?
Also, are there any other options on these cars that I should be looking at? Aside from Sat Nav...

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markoc said:

Oh, and don't be put off by the 2.7 - the handling on these is fantastic, it's not all about grunt.

I appreciate this, however, my current daily is an RX-8 R3 and for the last 18 months I've traded off grunt for handling - if I go down the Boxster route, I want more than just handling, hence why I'm only looking at the 3.2 S (or 3.4 S now that I've decided 987).

I've test driven both the 987 2.7 and 3.2 (admittedly I did waste the dealers time, I didn't plan on buying either car at the time but wanted to see what they were like before committing to save!) and I felt that the 3.2 had just the right amount of power. Fast enough to have fun, make progress and put a smile on your face but not so fast that you can't really use it properly without taking it on the track.

The 2.7, on the other hand, whilst still enjoyable didn't feel any faster than the RX-8 so I don't really want to spend all my money just so that I can lose the roof.

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Looking in the Classifieds now, decent 987 S' seem to be around the 14-15k mark (where are these £12k ones people keep mentioning!?) within a 100 mile radius of where I live (Essex, CM13) - obviously I'd be ok with searching nationally once I've got the last few grand ready to buy the car.

I am a little tempted to finance the last couple K - just so I could by it before the warmer months... I know finance gets a bit of a bad rep on PH but the monthly payments would be less than what I'm saving each month anyways...

Its getting exciting now its actually become real... For the last 12 months of been struggling to decide between a Chimaera and Boxster and made a dozen posts for both... The Boxster is definitely the one for me though. I'm drawn to them now! I definitely regret calling them a poor mans Porsche when I was in my teens!