Discussion
Thinking about one of these for the wife/another general fun option in the garage and having seen how low prices have become. How many miles do we think they are capable of before things start going regularly wrong/getting expensive.
Many thanks in advance for any help/advice or experiences.
Many thanks in advance for any help/advice or experiences.
things can go wrong at any mileage, but I would say as long as it has a good service history and you get it checked out, any age should be okay as long as the ware and tear has been fixed as the car grows older. A good service history would be essential.
I have a couple of cars that have done over 130'000 miles ans they are running fine.
I have a couple of cars that have done over 130'000 miles ans they are running fine.
Rufus said:
Thinking about one of these for the wife/another general fun option in the garage and having seen how low prices have become. How many miles do we think they are capable of before things start going regularly wrong/getting expensive.
Many thanks in advance for any help/advice or experiences.
Oh, so far nothing super expensive for over 258K miles.Many thanks in advance for any help/advice or experiences.
The biggest hit was a passenger side VarioCam solenoid/actuator that went bad. $3K. This around the 220K mile mark.
Water pump at 172K miles.
Fuel pump at 200K miles.
Coolant tank just a few months later.
Radiators are original as are A/C condensers. Check that. One side was damaged when I hit some road debris -- years ago -- and the radiator (at least) on that side was replaced. I do keep the trash cleaned from the radiator ducts.
Original engine.
Original clutch.
Original coils.
New MAF. Sort of... Years ago I misdiagnosed the original MAF as bad and replaced it only to find out the problem was a leaking oil filler tube cap. I replaced that and then drove the car. Skip ahead maybe 80K miles and the new MAF was diagnosed as bad. (I got it right this time!). I installed the original MAF and it worked just fine and is still working just fine.
Both window regulators.
Passenger side door lock assembly.
Driver side door latch.
New plastic rear window.
New windshield. Cracked big time from rock chip. The replacement has some small chips and is pitted pretty bad but I'm going to nurse along.
Six years out the factory battery (Moll?). Less than that out of its (Moll) replacement. On 3rd battery. Aftermarket battery.
Oh, 2 AOSs. First one around 80K miles, the second one I forget when. But over 100K miles later.
CV boots. While the shafts were out of course the CV bearings were cleaned thoroughly, repacked and are as good as new.
Wheel bearing at 100K miles.
Plugs and O2 sensors a couple of times.
Vital fluid changes: engine oil every 5K Miles; tranny/diff fluid every whenever... from 90K miles to this last time around 60K miles; brake fluid flush/bleed every 2 years; ditto clutch fluid.
Last item I bought -- just last week -- was a replacement piece of plastic trim that fits along the base of the windshield. The original one cracked at the fastener on the passenger (USA car) side. When I have time I'll install this new trim piece.
Whenever I think about not putting some money into it all I have to do is try to find a replacement that is as good and the cost to keep the Boxster on the road looks cheap.
(In a weak moment I looked into buying two -- I like having 2 cars -- Mini Cooper S's in laser blue (a nearby dealer had around 60 of them in stock at one time and was practically giving them away) but even so a few thousand dollars into my Boxster is a heck of a lot cheaper than $24K (each) into 2 new Minis.)
My 02 Boxster has been the best car ever.
Sincerely,
Rockster.
Rockster, Would love to see some pictures of your car some time. I have in my mind an expertly maintained car but appearance wise, it must be showing its age?? (although there's nothing wrong with that as it can always be restored at some point).
My own 2.7 (owned for 10 years from new) is at 150k kms and it has been in daily use for most of its life although it's mainly for commutting these days. Although there are arguably 'better' cars for commuting, I can't get away from the fact that I actually enjoy driving it like this. If I had more garage space, I would be tempted to restore it to as new condition and keep it for high days and holidays but since that isn't happening for me right now, I'm just going to drive it and not worry too much about the odd scratch or two and the cracking leather (left it out top down overnight and it rained once this summer!)
My repairs over the years have included;
RMS at 20,000kms, dry since
front engine mount at 6 years (a noticable reduction in the thump when changing gear around town)
6 coil packs
3 batteries
self cancelling indicator failure
drivers door latch assembly
It's never broken down and only ever failed to start twice - both times due to the CDR-22 not shutting down properly and draining the battery. Pulling the fuse for the sound package was the solution to re-set the head unit in both cases.
Would be interested to know what's involved in changing that trim piece that you mentioned at the base of the windscreen. These do fade in the sun quite badly after a number of years and it's the sort of thing that my eyes are drawn to once I have spent time giving it its semi-annual polish! I recently changed my front bumper grilles for similar reasons after having cleaned out the rads and that is an easy way to rejuvenate the front for not much cash - even if the actual PU itself is rather scratched/stonechipped the visual impact is noticeable.
My own 2.7 (owned for 10 years from new) is at 150k kms and it has been in daily use for most of its life although it's mainly for commutting these days. Although there are arguably 'better' cars for commuting, I can't get away from the fact that I actually enjoy driving it like this. If I had more garage space, I would be tempted to restore it to as new condition and keep it for high days and holidays but since that isn't happening for me right now, I'm just going to drive it and not worry too much about the odd scratch or two and the cracking leather (left it out top down overnight and it rained once this summer!)
My repairs over the years have included;
RMS at 20,000kms, dry since
front engine mount at 6 years (a noticable reduction in the thump when changing gear around town)
6 coil packs
3 batteries
self cancelling indicator failure
drivers door latch assembly
It's never broken down and only ever failed to start twice - both times due to the CDR-22 not shutting down properly and draining the battery. Pulling the fuse for the sound package was the solution to re-set the head unit in both cases.
Would be interested to know what's involved in changing that trim piece that you mentioned at the base of the windscreen. These do fade in the sun quite badly after a number of years and it's the sort of thing that my eyes are drawn to once I have spent time giving it its semi-annual polish! I recently changed my front bumper grilles for similar reasons after having cleaned out the rads and that is an easy way to rejuvenate the front for not much cash - even if the actual PU itself is rather scratched/stonechipped the visual impact is noticeable.
My assumption is that with such a high mileage, it must simply be that long (daily) journeys have been the order of the day and the clutch probably hasn't had a terribly hard life...
What surprises me more about Rockster's car is that it appears to be running well on the original suspension and (perhaps less surprising, but still impressive) the original exhaust!
What surprises me more about Rockster's car is that it appears to be running well on the original suspension and (perhaps less surprising, but still impressive) the original exhaust!
MogulBoy said:
What surprises me more about Rockster's car is that it appears to be running well on the original suspension and (perhaps less surprising, but still impressive) the original exhaust!
They have better surfaced roads and depending where he lives, don't use road salt in the USA. gibbon said:
Surely not!? Wow, thats amazing.
Yep. When I take it in I ask techs about the clutch and they report it feels ok and it doesn't exhibit any signs of needing replacement.Until it does I'll keep it in service.
It helps I admit that the engine is so tractable -- what a wonderful 2.7l engine! -- that I can move the car off with just 1K rpms and some smooth clutch work. Nothing fancy.
Sincerely,
Rockster.
MogulBoy said:
My assumption is that with such a high mileage, it must simply be that long (daily) journeys have been the order of the day and the clutch probably hasn't had a terribly hard life...
What surprises me more about Rockster's car is that it appears to be running well on the original suspension and (perhaps less surprising, but still impressive) the original exhaust!
Original suspension is just fine. Techs say as long as the struts aren't leaking and there are no other signs of obvious suspension issues to leave it alone.What surprises me more about Rockster's car is that it appears to be running well on the original suspension and (perhaps less surprising, but still impressive) the original exhaust!
I admit the front struts are getting a bit spongy but nothing scary and the techs who have test driven the car can't recommend replacing them at this time.
The car holds its alignment well and tire life is still quite good, as good as ever.
While the exhaust is original there is a bad (weak) converter that triggers a CEL (error code P0430) every once in a while.
I suspect the thing has suffered some partial mechanical failure for the converter on the other side is just fine. Cost of a new converter is over $1K and I can't bring myself to spend that money as long as the engine is running ok and there is *no* side effects from this converter occasionally triggering a CEL. Mainly it happens in colder weather, too, which is not the norm in my area for many months of the year.
Sincerely,
Rockster.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Never ride the clutch!Aggressive starts? Very very seldom. I can move the car off the line and in a car length or so the clutch is fully released, then I can give the engine the whip but I do not slip the clutch to expedite my take off from a stop.
While the car has been used for long road trips -- on some days covering 750 miles or more (nearly 1K miles a few times) -- I use it for running around town too. In fact I use it for this to save my Turbo from this though the Turbo gets the grocery run call once in a while. I love both of my cars and enjoy driving them even for the mundane things.
The car is very easy to move off from a stop and shifting is effortless. I rev match of course but I am aware that the brakes are for slowing the car so I keep downshifting to a minimum when coming to a stop. I let the engine compression in the current gear slow the car's speed to the point I can downshift to the next lower gear at very low (near idle) rpms to minimize not only clutch wear/tear but transmission wear/tear.
At a stop the shifter is in neutral and my foot is off the clutch.
Understand I'm not a super shifter, never learned to heel/toe, etc. I just try to have some empathy for the car and its mechanicals and be smooth and easy with the clutch and avoid forcing the shifter into the next gear.
The car does get the whip once in awhile -- it is a Porsche for crying out loud -- and I still enjoy hearing the engine sound as it approaches redline.
Sincerely,
Rockster.
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