Does anyone know this car?

[fillpoke2]

I've been looking for a Boxster S for a while now and was thinking of a Gen 2 987 because of the lack of IMS issues. However a much older 986 has just been advertised near me. Although not exactly what I was looking for I went to view the car and found it to be in really good condition for its year and price. There's wear on the drivers side seat bolster and a bit of surface rust on the rear of the sills but overall it looks great. It drives great too. On the downside the Porsche stamped up service history ends in 2013 at 77,000 miles. From then on there's just a few bills from local garages. The big ones are for RMS and clutch and also for brakes all round. Others are for warning lights coming on which seem to have been cured with coil packs and O2 sensors. So I'm having a bit difficultly deciding what to do. Do I spend lots more money for a gen 2 987 or do I spend much less and buy this one? If I go for the latter option will the car turn into a money pit and end up costing as much as the more expensive one? Here is the link to the car: https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
If anyone knows anything about it or its history it would be great to know.
Thanks for any help you can give me to help me make up my mind,
Dave

[edc]

I would spend some time on Boxa.net. As good as that car looks the advert detail is thin at best and unless the owner has some serious OCD it will likely need a little spending on it.

[mikefocke]

In truth, there is little way of knowing. You are comparing the reality of this car to an imaginary later year car which may itself have some deficiencies once you find it.

I see the strength of this one as being its cost and service history. Hasn't been neglected, has some of the typical things you might have to pay for already done. Plus even if it needs a few things, you have money you didn't spend buying to help pay for them. Helps it has the 2003 updates/improvements. Negatives are green is not a popular color to some people so resale may have a limited audience and the rust.

Either car could fail big tomorrow, as could any mechanical machine. Things fail randomly.

You don't mention tires (brand and age and wear (even, amount)), AOS age, suspension work, motor mounts, alignment, accident history, etc. Lots of factors.