987 Boxster to 997 - Things to know?

[bitchstewie]

OK a little misleading but bear with me..

I had a 987 Boxster new in 2006 which I kept until 2011 and then changed to a Freelander 2 - obviously chalk and cheese and I'm back to fancying a change and having no idea what I want.

I see 2005/2006 997's are around the £20-25K mark at specialists.

I'm slowly trying to get myself back to grips with Porsche stuff but any thoughts would be great.

I know it sounds slightly stupid looking at a 997 and saying I'm not interested in performance but being blunt any 997 will be better than the lump driving it i.e. me

Things to know, look out for, be aware of, anything useful basically, would all be welcome.

Couple of random examples here in the Midlands:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...

[wolfracesonic]

Type 'IMS problems' into Google. You'll get more results than if you'd typed 'porn'.


stands well back

[bitchstewie]

wolfracesonic said:

Type 'IMS problems' into Google. You'll get more results than if you'd typed 'porn'.


stands well back

Was that on the 997 too? I know it used to keep some 987 owners awake at night but I genuinely couldn't recall if it was 997 as well.

I must admit that once the "They're how cheap?" factor has worn off a bit, the potential for ruinous bills is always there - it's still a £70K car to fix if it breaks.

[Trev450]

They modified the IMS bearing in circa 2006 and later models have proved to be much more reliable. Your biggest concern if you avoid the IMS issues is bore scoring. Plenty available on this if you search.

[Magic919]

Avoid tiptronic cars.

[huytonman]

They (Gen1) are getting a bit long in the tooth now so things will be wearing out, same as any car and yes there have been issues with IMS but the same possibility existed on your boxster and PROBABLY you wouldnt see any problems but then you may and then it will get expensive. Personally I would (and did) go to a reputable independant dealer, you will pay a bit more but at least have some peace of mind that if anything nasty does happen you have some come back within the law whereas buying privately you dont. Find a specialist, not somebody that sells all types of marque and you should be fine. I bought from RSJ in Slough but also Sterlings and Paragon, Hartech have a decent name to protect too.
Great cars BTW and a big step up in performance terms compared to the Boxster.
Good luck
Keith