986 Boxster - is £8k too much?
Discussion
Prices on these (like most things) have rocketed over the last coupe of years. Reasonably low miles in its favour, but get it inspected if you don't know much about them. It seems to have had all the "big" items done, but they do have some common issues. You'd need to see the history file to see exactly what has been done when.
There is a guy who does Pre Purchase Inspections on these via some facebook groups that is pretty well reviewed
There is a guy who does Pre Purchase Inspections on these via some facebook groups that is pretty well reviewed
The one in the advert looks almost the same as mine with same work done and very similar mileage, I bought mine in mid January so really not Porsche buying season and paid 7k for it and now the good weather is coming prices will rise further.
I've seen 986's needing new engines and in breakers yards advertised at 3.5k recently so the days of a 4k 986 in good condition are long gone sadly as I found out quickly when I was looking.
I think the one in the advert is a very fair price assuming it all checks out ok on viewing.
I've seen 986's needing new engines and in breakers yards advertised at 3.5k recently so the days of a 4k 986 in good condition are long gone sadly as I found out quickly when I was looking.
I think the one in the advert is a very fair price assuming it all checks out ok on viewing.
plenty said:
If other suspension components (coffin arms etc.) are still original they will need doing and can be a pain to DIY due to rusted bolts. Budget £2k or so for a specialist.
The PPI specialist mentioned above is Nick Giles.
That's the guy. He knows these inside out. The PPI specialist mentioned above is Nick Giles.
And a £2k warchest for bits and pieces is sound advice. They can eat up money very quickly on things that aren't necessarily major.
Jamescrs said:
I've seen 986's needing new engines and in breakers yards advertised at 3.5k recently so the days of a 4k 986 in good condition are long gone sadly as I found out quickly when I was looking.
This, before lockdown I was looking at an early 2.7 Boxster owned by the same guy for 14 years and he sold it for £3.7K. Annoyingly I had arranged to look at it at 10am and got a call just before I was due to leave that it had sold.I really wish I had bought one and just kept it forever, too expensive for me to buy one on a whim as a toy now.
That doesn't seem crazy - but does seem high.
However, I was looking for (and bought) one in the summer of 2019 ... not really paid attention to prices since.
I found the Boxster market a really odd one. Low mileage and documented proof of the 'dreaded' IMS and RMS issues seem to be almost fetishised when it came to their values. Consequently, anything outside of that bubble tended to be worth noticeably less.
I did my research on IMS failure rates, and while a lot of numbers get bandied around, most of the informed guesses as to failure rates were in the ballpark of 5%-10% (I don't know if prevailing wisdom has changed since then). Therefore 90% of Boxsters to leave the factory will never spontaneously lunch their engine. Thanks to the horror stories of an IMS bearing failure turning a previously perfect car into a glorified driveway ornament, many, many cars will have had preventative maintenance done on them. Over time, some cars have become separated from their paperwork - not everyone values keeping a ream of receipts. Some of those cars will be in the 10% that would fail ... lowering that figure even further. Then there was the prevailing wisdom that if a car had made it through to X miles (X varied ... but 60k+ seemed to be a common figure) then if it was going to have IMS failure, it would have had it by then. So again, that 10% figure would be even lower if looking at cars with a decent mileage on them.
I then did some man logic (closely related to man maths) and reached a decision that the 'best' Boxster I could buy was a high mileage example with no paperwork to support any remedial work being done ... as that would be the sweet spot in value and reliability.
Therefore I spent £5,100 of my hard earned cash on a 100k mile, 'full service historied' (no receipts, just stamps in the book) 3.2L 986 S with the options I considered essential for year round running (Litronic headlights and heated seats). It's been my only car since summer 2019, and the only thing that's failed in that time was the sensor in the passenger side door lock (the lock itself is based on a VW Golf one, so not around £30 to replace).
I'm not quite sure where values sit today ... but that buy feels like good value to me.
I would consider how much of a risk taker you are, and whether the additional premium associated with low mileage and IMS/RMS remediation work is worth it to you. If not, you might find that if you buy on condition rather than those factors, you get a much nicer car for your money. It might be the difference between a fully optioned one and a billy basic one, or the difference between a 2.5/2.7 and the 3.2L S ... not to say that any of them are bad cars - just that you might feel like you're getting more for your money.
The other point I'd make is that Porsche have fully mastered the art of having an options list that makes War & Peace seem like light reading. If someone bought a 986 Boxster without ticking a single option, they'd have precious little in their car beyond 4 wheels and an engine.
Things that you'd expect as standard in your Ford Fiesta are extra cost options in a 986, and a decent smattering of options can completely change the 'feel' of the environment you sit in (not so much the driving experience ... but definitely the perceived quality of the car). Therefore have a study of the options list, work out which ones are essential to you, which ones are nice to have, and which ones are essentially superficial fluff. Then try and find a car that has all/most of your essentials, and as many of your 'nice to haves' as you can. The sticker on the underside of the front boot lid details all the options the car came fitted with, and there are multiple websites out there which can decode what they mean. So if you can't quite see from the pictures whether a car has option X fitted or not, then ask the seller for a clear photo of that build sticker and spend 15 minutes going through the options yourself.
Good luck with your search.
However, I was looking for (and bought) one in the summer of 2019 ... not really paid attention to prices since.
I found the Boxster market a really odd one. Low mileage and documented proof of the 'dreaded' IMS and RMS issues seem to be almost fetishised when it came to their values. Consequently, anything outside of that bubble tended to be worth noticeably less.
I did my research on IMS failure rates, and while a lot of numbers get bandied around, most of the informed guesses as to failure rates were in the ballpark of 5%-10% (I don't know if prevailing wisdom has changed since then). Therefore 90% of Boxsters to leave the factory will never spontaneously lunch their engine. Thanks to the horror stories of an IMS bearing failure turning a previously perfect car into a glorified driveway ornament, many, many cars will have had preventative maintenance done on them. Over time, some cars have become separated from their paperwork - not everyone values keeping a ream of receipts. Some of those cars will be in the 10% that would fail ... lowering that figure even further. Then there was the prevailing wisdom that if a car had made it through to X miles (X varied ... but 60k+ seemed to be a common figure) then if it was going to have IMS failure, it would have had it by then. So again, that 10% figure would be even lower if looking at cars with a decent mileage on them.
I then did some man logic (closely related to man maths) and reached a decision that the 'best' Boxster I could buy was a high mileage example with no paperwork to support any remedial work being done ... as that would be the sweet spot in value and reliability.
Therefore I spent £5,100 of my hard earned cash on a 100k mile, 'full service historied' (no receipts, just stamps in the book) 3.2L 986 S with the options I considered essential for year round running (Litronic headlights and heated seats). It's been my only car since summer 2019, and the only thing that's failed in that time was the sensor in the passenger side door lock (the lock itself is based on a VW Golf one, so not around £30 to replace).
I'm not quite sure where values sit today ... but that buy feels like good value to me.
I would consider how much of a risk taker you are, and whether the additional premium associated with low mileage and IMS/RMS remediation work is worth it to you. If not, you might find that if you buy on condition rather than those factors, you get a much nicer car for your money. It might be the difference between a fully optioned one and a billy basic one, or the difference between a 2.5/2.7 and the 3.2L S ... not to say that any of them are bad cars - just that you might feel like you're getting more for your money.
The other point I'd make is that Porsche have fully mastered the art of having an options list that makes War & Peace seem like light reading. If someone bought a 986 Boxster without ticking a single option, they'd have precious little in their car beyond 4 wheels and an engine.
Things that you'd expect as standard in your Ford Fiesta are extra cost options in a 986, and a decent smattering of options can completely change the 'feel' of the environment you sit in (not so much the driving experience ... but definitely the perceived quality of the car). Therefore have a study of the options list, work out which ones are essential to you, which ones are nice to have, and which ones are essentially superficial fluff. Then try and find a car that has all/most of your essentials, and as many of your 'nice to haves' as you can. The sticker on the underside of the front boot lid details all the options the car came fitted with, and there are multiple websites out there which can decode what they mean. So if you can't quite see from the pictures whether a car has option X fitted or not, then ask the seller for a clear photo of that build sticker and spend 15 minutes going through the options yourself.Good luck with your search.
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