Help me spec my “new” 987 Boxster
Discussion
I’m looking to buy a 987 after Christmas. I don’t want a 3.4 due to the bore score worries so am looking at 2006 3.2 S’s with the manual box and the later IMS. other than that I’m unsure what to look for, specification wise. I’ve previously owned a 986 3.2 but the 987 has all sorts of bells and whistles which were not fitted / available for the earlier car.
The car will be a weekend toy and we live in North Eales, so no big wheels. Anything I shouldn’t live without ?
The car will be a weekend toy and we live in North Eales, so no big wheels. Anything I shouldn’t live without ?
So the 986 return to old flame didn’t work out so well then 
I don’t think I would get to hung up on spec, find a good car that you like. We ended up with a brown 3.4 tip - go figure. But bloody love it.
As Moosy says the PCM Nav is a complete turd and useless. God knows why anyone ever considered it a must have back when these were new.
Bose is nice, but really it’s more about finding a good one first.
I don’t think I would get to hung up on spec, find a good car that you like. We ended up with a brown 3.4 tip - go figure. But bloody love it.
As Moosy says the PCM Nav is a complete turd and useless. God knows why anyone ever considered it a must have back when these were new.
Bose is nice, but really it’s more about finding a good one first.
Spec is going to be very subjective. I, for example, wouldn't consider a gen 1 987 without the PCM as I think the CD unit in the gen 1 is hideous and totally ruins the whole interior. Thankfully Porsche sorted it for the gen 2.
I prefer PASM cars, although would never use it in hard mode on UK roads.
The audio options are all fairly poor. The BOSE system was installed by someone with no concept of what sensible levels of bass are, but you can turn this down thankfully.
Lots of cars out there though. Make a list of deal breakers (I'd have the tiptronic box number one on that list) and then look at the cars which don't have any deal breakers and asses each on condition and how desirable the spec is to you.
I prefer PASM cars, although would never use it in hard mode on UK roads.
The audio options are all fairly poor. The BOSE system was installed by someone with no concept of what sensible levels of bass are, but you can turn this down thankfully.
Lots of cars out there though. Make a list of deal breakers (I'd have the tiptronic box number one on that list) and then look at the cars which don't have any deal breakers and asses each on condition and how desirable the spec is to you.
Super sport is dead right (he usually is actually), go for condition first, without being too hung up on spec.
Things that are good to have:
Parking sensors - vision is not good reversing with the hood up.
Good headlights. The standard halogen lights are crap. If it doesn’t have xenon then you will have to do something if you are going to drive it beyond streelighting.
Heated seats are good in a convertible in the winter - and are very difficult to retrofit.
Sports exhaust -. Of course!
Things I don’t care about at all
Navigation. It’s terrible. TomTom on an iPhone is still better than any current built in sat nav that I have seen, let alone the turd in the 987. And it’s in your line of sight on a windscreen mount.
Radio CD etc. I’ve have hardly ever turned mine on. It’s not that sort of car.
Full leather. Yes it’s nice, But I don’t spend my time looking around the inside of my car.
Perhaps.
PASM. I prefer the feel of a passive, predictable suspension even though the low speed ride is worse, and I have 19s. It’s more analogue too But maybe I say that because I haven’t got it.
Things that are good to have:
Parking sensors - vision is not good reversing with the hood up.
Good headlights. The standard halogen lights are crap. If it doesn’t have xenon then you will have to do something if you are going to drive it beyond streelighting.
Heated seats are good in a convertible in the winter - and are very difficult to retrofit.
Sports exhaust -. Of course!
Things I don’t care about at all
Navigation. It’s terrible. TomTom on an iPhone is still better than any current built in sat nav that I have seen, let alone the turd in the 987. And it’s in your line of sight on a windscreen mount.
Radio CD etc. I’ve have hardly ever turned mine on. It’s not that sort of car.
Full leather. Yes it’s nice, But I don’t spend my time looking around the inside of my car.
Perhaps.
PASM. I prefer the feel of a passive, predictable suspension even though the low speed ride is worse, and I have 19s. It’s more analogue too But maybe I say that because I haven’t got it.
So many cars to choose from I wouldn’t get too hung up on spec as they vary so much. Condition, colour, history and wheels do it for me.
Heated seats are a must for any convertible. I have the gen 2 and the pcm 3 nav is ok for what I need - it gets me there and I hate having loads of crap and additional devices and cabling all over the cabin.
Look for usb/aux in ports, not every car has them so if you like your music, that could be frustrating.
I also have sports plus with the chrono pack and extended leather, I didn’t go out looking for it but it’s nice to have. The extended leather makes the cabin just that little bit nicer. Have rarely used sports +, but do use sports mode with the pdk regularly and I love it.
If you are looking at 2006 cars are you trying to avoid the increased road tax for post March 06 cars? Not a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things, but still hate giving the tax man over £500 a year just to drive the car.
Good luck with the search
Heated seats are a must for any convertible. I have the gen 2 and the pcm 3 nav is ok for what I need - it gets me there and I hate having loads of crap and additional devices and cabling all over the cabin.
Look for usb/aux in ports, not every car has them so if you like your music, that could be frustrating.
I also have sports plus with the chrono pack and extended leather, I didn’t go out looking for it but it’s nice to have. The extended leather makes the cabin just that little bit nicer. Have rarely used sports +, but do use sports mode with the pdk regularly and I love it.
If you are looking at 2006 cars are you trying to avoid the increased road tax for post March 06 cars? Not a huge amount of money in the grand scheme of things, but still hate giving the tax man over £500 a year just to drive the car.
Good luck with the search
Agree with much of what has been said already, I was looking for 2-3 months in Spring before finally buying an 05 2.7 in June.
After driving it for the past 6 months, this would be my list now....
Must haves:
Full leather interior - agree with CMoose, it really lifts the interior. Rare though
Sport steering wheel (round airbag) - something about the triangular 987 wheel just put me off instantly.
Heated seats - must have in a UK convertible
Sports exhaust (went for Carnewal instead of OEM)
Sports seats
Would likes (most of these i felt live without and if not then they could be retrofitted without too much investment):
Rear park distance control
Xenons
Bose
Don't cares:
Colour
Wheel size
Good luck! great time to buy and right now its the perfect bargain sports car IMO!
After driving it for the past 6 months, this would be my list now....
Must haves:
Full leather interior - agree with CMoose, it really lifts the interior. Rare though
Sport steering wheel (round airbag) - something about the triangular 987 wheel just put me off instantly.
Heated seats - must have in a UK convertible
Sports exhaust (went for Carnewal instead of OEM)
Sports seats
Would likes (most of these i felt live without and if not then they could be retrofitted without too much investment):
Rear park distance control
Xenons
Bose
Don't cares:
Colour
Wheel size
Good luck! great time to buy and right now its the perfect bargain sports car IMO!
mattman said:
Heated seats in the 987 are hardly rare, a quick search on AT suggests 163 cars from 2006-2011 with heated seats. That’s not rare in my book ??
Not a rare feature and I wouldn't buy a car without one, makes the 6am starts in winter that bit more palatable and soothing on longer journeysI just sold a nice early GT Silver 987S very similar to the one above. Was a 2004 987S with the lower tax (pre March 2006). Shouldn't make a difference but was running it alongside a Maseratti & a Range as a third car and didn't see the point in throwing an extra £200 at HMRC a year for nothing
Sports exhaust is nice to have but that is a rare feature - see if you can find one with the Carnewal mod but if not it's about £600. However it doesn't even approach the PSE on the 3.8 997 for volume or sound so be realistic in your expectations - the Boxster is more about intake noise for me with the engine a few inches from your back
Full leather is a must have for me in a Boxster the normal interior looks cheap for such a nice car
I didn't find any ride or handling issues with either of my 987's on 19" wheels. One car had PASM and one didn't, didn't notice any issues and the 19's fill the arches much better. I wouldn't see PASM as must have even with 19's. My driving is mainly A roads & Mways though.
I had Sports Seats Plus on my 997 which have electrically adjustable thigh and shoulder pieces. They are significantly better than the basic seats, you can save a memory preset with the shoulder & leg pieces dramatically moved in and then when you're hooking it, recall that preset, hit the sport button and it hugs you like buckets. I have only seen it on a couple of Boxsters. Normal Sports seats I think are more about the look, if that is your thing, but I'd say desirable not 'must have'
Xenons are good but HIDs were ridiculously easy to retrofit so not a deal breaker for me
The Bose and PCM systems are really pretty poor so wouldn't make a difference to me I ripped them out, sold them for £400 and spent about £1k putting a really good system in that blows it away, quite an enjoyable couple of weekends work that was
So I'd say full leather, heated seats, 19's are my must haves, and then sports seats, PASM are nice to have
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Well in my opinion they weren’t ‘very high spec’ without heated seats my old fruit! It was a cheap option and in my experience of also owning 2 of these cars, it is very common. And given your excellent understanding of maths, I’d hardly call 15 a representative sample size I’m afraid with nearly 1500 cars for sale just on Autotrader.
702 Boxsters for sale on Autotrader, adding ‘heated seats’ brings back 401 results
368 caymans which is quite a similar car, this time 219 come back with a search for heated seats
Then the 718 box is listed separately, 188 cars listed with Heated seats returning 168
Then the 718 cayman listed separately, 105 cars with 82 coming back with heated seats
For all the fuss about heated seats, nice as they are, anyone else find they don't get really toasty? I have heated seats in my Boxster & Panamera & while nice enough do not get anywhere near as warm as the ones in my RRS. Those are wonderful on a cold day. IF RRS seats are heated, the Porsche ones are more warmed.
Hi - was in a similar situation to you and came up with a long list of things I really wanted.
I looked for a post 2006 2.7, as think it is one of the more reliable engines (but can push the car into the higher tax bracket).
Other must haves for me were:
Full leather interior (looks great, without it the interior feels much cheaper).
PASM
Bose
Sports seats
Manual (managed to find one with the 6 speed manual).
Sports exhaust is nice to find on the car, but there are plenty of after-market options.
I looked for a post 2006 2.7, as think it is one of the more reliable engines (but can push the car into the higher tax bracket).
Other must haves for me were:
Full leather interior (looks great, without it the interior feels much cheaper).
PASM
Bose
Sports seats
Manual (managed to find one with the 6 speed manual).
Sports exhaust is nice to find on the car, but there are plenty of after-market options.
I think you’re foolish to discount the 3.4 it’s a much better drive than the 2.7 and these days you can get a 987.2 for decent money that eliminates the scoring issue. Yes the issue is significant in the earlier cars but it’s impact is massively overblown on sites like this. If you’re looking at pre 2009 cars then ANY car regardless of what it is can have serious problems when that kind of age. I wouldn’t be caring a s
t about heated seats and all that. I would be looking for a 987.2 3.4 that I could afford and in the colour I want and job done.
I bought a brand new Cayman in 2009 and added 20k of options “because I could” but how many of them did you actually need? None
t about heated seats and all that. I would be looking for a 987.2 3.4 that I could afford and in the colour I want and job done.I bought a brand new Cayman in 2009 and added 20k of options “because I could” but how many of them did you actually need? None
I’ve been looking for a few weeks and found a lovely well looked after Boxster this week after looking at an absolute pup.
Spec didn’t matter too much but solid service history and I have bought on condition rather than what options were available. The first I looked at had everything, this not so much but I’m very happy with my decision and having spent a little time with it this morning couldn’t be happier.
Needs a few bits but will be lovely for the summer.
http://www.911box.co.uk/used-cars/9437493-porsche-...
Spec didn’t matter too much but solid service history and I have bought on condition rather than what options were available. The first I looked at had everything, this not so much but I’m very happy with my decision and having spent a little time with it this morning couldn’t be happier.
Needs a few bits but will be lovely for the summer.
http://www.911box.co.uk/used-cars/9437493-porsche-...
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Firstly, thanks for all the replies. Cmoose is pretty much spot on here, although I must admit that my budget (up to £12k) for this car, which I intend to keep for a good while, is not so far short of a Gen 2 that I would rule out one f these. I might have to go and view both models before a decision is made. Man maths may end up playing their part.....sc0tt said:
I’ve been looking for a few weeks and found a lovely well looked after Boxster this week after looking at an absolute pup.
Spec didn’t matter too much but solid service history and I have bought on condition rather than what options were available. The first I looked at had everything, this not so much but I’m very happy with my decision and having spent a little time with it this morning couldn’t be happier.
Needs a few bits but will be lovely for the summer.
http://www.911box.co.uk/used-cars/9437493-porsche-...
That's a good spec car, sports seats, full leather, xenons, 19's, silver lower center console lifts the interior nicely and the very common but essential heated seatsSpec didn’t matter too much but solid service history and I have bought on condition rather than what options were available. The first I looked at had everything, this not so much but I’m very happy with my decision and having spent a little time with it this morning couldn’t be happier.
Needs a few bits but will be lovely for the summer.
http://www.911box.co.uk/used-cars/9437493-porsche-...
I see it has Cont Sport Contact 3's on, I don't rate these at all and whilst I wouldn't take them off prematurely, once they get to 3mm I'd bite the bullet and buy some Michelin Pilot Sport 4S (4S not 4 which are different). Massive difference.
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