Buying a Boxster S - Any Advice?
Discussion
Hi people, long time lurker here! My Alfa Spider's crap, despite the V6, looking to replace it with a Boxster S in a few weeks - one a year or so old, budget of up to £35K. Couple of questions to you seasoned Porkers:
1: Should I buy from a main Porsche dealer, or get a newer car, still under Porsche warranty, with more toys, privately?
2: What toys does it need, and what are nice extras? (IE 18 inch wheels, good or bad, sports suspension... computer... PSM?)
Thanks for your help, and I look forward to joining you all in Porsche ownership in a month or less!
1: Should I buy from a main Porsche dealer, or get a newer car, still under Porsche warranty, with more toys, privately?
2: What toys does it need, and what are nice extras? (IE 18 inch wheels, good or bad, sports suspension... computer... PSM?)
Thanks for your help, and I look forward to joining you all in Porsche ownership in a month or less!
Hi people, long time lurker here! My Alfa Spider's crap, despite the V6, looking to replace it with a Boxster S in a few weeks - one a year or so old, budget of up to £35K. Couple of questions to you seasoned Porkers:
1: Should I buy from a main Porsche dealer, or get a newer car, still under Porsche warranty, with more toys, privately?
This is really up to you. Clearly buying privately you will get a better deal - as will the seller of the car. Dealers typically want 5K margin - after all they need to prepare the car, store it for a period, service it if necessary, touch up any paintwork, offer a warranty and make a profit in a business with lots of overheads!
If you want peace of mind buy from an OPC. There is no reason not to buy privately if you get the car inspected, check its status thoroughly and don't care about the "service" aspect of buying it off a dealer.
2: What toys does it need, and what are nice extras? (IE 18 inch wheels, good or bad, sports suspension... computer... PSM?)
Thanks for your help, and I look forward to joining you all in Porsche ownership in a month or less!
Oh boy. We go over this one regularly. You can check out loads of old threads which have opinion and information. This, though, is my summary.
18" wheels look fantastic - but you MUST test drive 17" and 18" shod cars to understand the difference in ride quality - which does suffer a little. For me - it was no problem. It is not usually done to combine a "Sports Suspension" with 18" wheels. But this is up to YOU. Test drive and make your decision.
OBC - of course you need this!
PSM - absoutely. It MUST have this (others disagree). This is not some cheap electronic throttle control. This is proper stability management. It has NEVER interfered with my evil plans. And, one day, could either save the car or your life when its steps in to stop a the car from fishtailing and going in to a spin when you overcook it. It can't overcome the laws of Physics but in a nasty pinch I'd rather have it than not. And its a CHEAP option too - only £900 quid or so. Full leather costs 2K! And the car smelling nice won't save your life!!!
Having said that I recommend Full Leather. The car does smell lovely and it really does give the interior that "expensive luxury car" feel. Another nice option is the gear lever in Aluminion and Leather.
Painted roll-hoops can look good too.
Oh. It absolutely but positively MUST have a Wind Deflector. Its not necessary for wind protection but I've never seen a Boxster without except one and that one looked WEIRD!
Hope this helps. I'm on my second Boxster S. Love 'em.
For me the list of essentials was:
-18" wheels: for looks)
-PSM: just in case it might ever save my life, and 'cos my girlfriend drives it!
-full leather: I couldn't have done without this, given that my last few cars have been TVRs, the Boxster interior just seemed too bland without leather
- computer: I like to know if I've got enough fuel to get where I'm going
-BOSE sound system
-wind deflector
The only option that I now wish I'd gone for is the rain sensor windscreen wiper thingy. Maybe it's just because of the recent weather conditions combined with all that salty gunk that sprays up at this time of year.
-18" wheels: for looks)
-PSM: just in case it might ever save my life, and 'cos my girlfriend drives it!
-full leather: I couldn't have done without this, given that my last few cars have been TVRs, the Boxster interior just seemed too bland without leather
- computer: I like to know if I've got enough fuel to get where I'm going
-BOSE sound system
-wind deflector
The only option that I now wish I'd gone for is the rain sensor windscreen wiper thingy. Maybe it's just because of the recent weather conditions combined with all that salty gunk that sprays up at this time of year.
I bought mine secondhand a year ago. Private sale. Great spec, --- in fact it's up on PistonHeads for sale because my new C4S arrives in March.
My experience. The main dealers are great for a rull checkover and know what to look for. Discs corrode if not used regularly, rear suspension bearings can make a cracking noise and rear wheel bearings are suspect. Rear screens can crack --- hence the karate chop to start it folding properly when opening the hood.
Mine had the wheel bearings done in warranty, the brake discs I had to pay for and found Srasse in Leeds to be tremedously helpful. If the car hadn't still been in warranty, I would have been very happy to pay them to check it prior to purchase.
The experience. Wonderful. I also owned a P1 which I sold because you truly can drive a Boxster all the year round.
Anyway, I must go -- the sun's shining and I want to get the roof down ! Happy hunting, and don't pay too much, there's some good stuff around and you don't need to pay the £7k ! dealer margin ....
>> Edited by ChrisW. on Saturday 8th February 16:54
My experience. The main dealers are great for a rull checkover and know what to look for. Discs corrode if not used regularly, rear suspension bearings can make a cracking noise and rear wheel bearings are suspect. Rear screens can crack --- hence the karate chop to start it folding properly when opening the hood.
Mine had the wheel bearings done in warranty, the brake discs I had to pay for and found Srasse in Leeds to be tremedously helpful. If the car hadn't still been in warranty, I would have been very happy to pay them to check it prior to purchase.
The experience. Wonderful. I also owned a P1 which I sold because you truly can drive a Boxster all the year round.
Anyway, I must go -- the sun's shining and I want to get the roof down ! Happy hunting, and don't pay too much, there's some good stuff around and you don't need to pay the £7k ! dealer margin ....
>> Edited by ChrisW. on Saturday 8th February 16:54
Guys,
Thanks for the advice, especially on the PSM, which I'd discounted - my first RWD car on the road, so I reckon you're right that it's a good idea.
Two more questions I'm afraid - there's one for sale near me which seems reasonable value bearing in mind the toys (full leather, crests, sound upgrade, cruise, computer etc), but it's Tiptronic. Is that a bad thing? I will be commuting in it, but I definitely definitely definitely want to be able to have fun when the road is clear...
Also, what does DSP stand for?
Thanks again guys!
Thanks for the advice, especially on the PSM, which I'd discounted - my first RWD car on the road, so I reckon you're right that it's a good idea.
Two more questions I'm afraid - there's one for sale near me which seems reasonable value bearing in mind the toys (full leather, crests, sound upgrade, cruise, computer etc), but it's Tiptronic. Is that a bad thing? I will be commuting in it, but I definitely definitely definitely want to be able to have fun when the road is clear...
Also, what does DSP stand for?
Thanks again guys!
Tiptronic or not is down to personal choice. I'd suggest test driving cars with and without. I thought about tiptronic but in the end discounted it without even driving one. The Boxster S was always bound to feel a bit tame compared to my Cerbera and I didn't want to exacerbate this by getting a Tiptronic. Personally, I think the manual S strikes the right balance between comfort/ease of use and the fun factor when you want it. I'd miss the satisfaction from achieving a perfect downshift when approaching a bend at speed! I also love the 6 speed gearbox on the S.
As for DSP, no idea.
ps cheers for the response re rain sensor - I'll look into this.
As for DSP, no idea.
ps cheers for the response re rain sensor - I'll look into this.
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