Boxster Newbies Buyers guide / Advice

Boxster Newbies Buyers guide / Advice

Author
Discussion

cre8toruk

Original Poster:

250 posts

137 months

Tuesday 13th May 2014
quotequote all
Hi All,

I will be shortly (Thursday) "coming over to the dark side" (words of Jamie at Bell & Colville) and swapping my Lotus Elise 111s (2004) for a 2010 2.9 Boxster.

I'm buying the red one from Maundrell and Co that was listed in classifieds on this site.
http://www.maundrelland.co.uk/porsche-boxster-24v-...

As a complete newbie when it comes to Porsche generally and Boxsters specifically... is there anything I should look out for / keep an eye on?

The one I'm buying has done 60k miles (bit hight but then I only do about 5k per year myself so no biggie), Maundrell (who I am very impressed with I have to say) have MOT'd it (no advises) and will service and PDI it so I'm pretty reassured.

I thought the clutch was very heavy but then given the Elise's is like a feather to most cars I'm not surprised and the brakes I thought juddered a little perhaps through lack of use and a gain the non servo'd Elise brakes might be getting in the way...
I've asked about the age of the tyres too... not sure the MOT checks tyre age but I figure they can only be 4 years old maximum (not the 10 years old the Elise ones were when I first bought it!)

Anything else I need to ask about?

Thanks in advance for all your advise.

Paul.

BIRMA

3,808 posts

194 months

Tuesday 13th May 2014
quotequote all
Welcome, I came over to Porsche ownership after 30+ years of Lotus ownership. Have you actually bought that car? the reason I ask is there are a lot of cars in your price range for sale at the moment.

cre8toruk

Original Poster:

250 posts

137 months

Tuesday 13th May 2014
quotequote all
Hi,

yeah, well I've put the deposit down... and will be picking up on Thursday (and paying the balance). To be honest it had to be red. I'd have gone for Black but Red was my preference and on a 10 plate too I think it's a very nice car.

Obviously I don't know the car as well as I know the Elise for example so it's really just a question of getting to know it and getting Boxster owners to give me the benefit of their wisdom :-).

The car has (I hope) has blutooth phone prep (there's a couple of buttons with telephones on them on the stereo, guessing that's what that means) but no sat nav. The Elise doesn't have that either but I wondered if there was a cheap(ish) way of adding sat nav to the head unit in place or is it a question of going down the after market route?

Paul.

BIRMA

3,808 posts

194 months

Tuesday 13th May 2014
quotequote all
cre8toruk said:
Hi,

yeah, well I've put the deposit down... and will be picking up on Thursday (and paying the balance). To be honest it had to be red. I'd have gone for Black but Red was my preference and on a 10 plate too I think it's a very nice car.

Obviously I don't know the car as well as I know the Elise for example so it's really just a question of getting to know it and getting Boxster owners to give me the benefit of their wisdom :-).

The car has (I hope) has blutooth phone prep (there's a couple of buttons with telephones on them on the stereo, guessing that's what that means) but no sat nav. The Elise doesn't have that either but I wondered if there was a cheap(ish) way of adding sat nav to the head unit in place or is it a question of going down the after market route?

Paul.
There is a very helpful owners forum Boxa.net that can answer all of your questions.

PaulPqwerty

33 posts

128 months

Tuesday 13th May 2014
quotequote all
Hello Boxster Owners,
I bought my first Porsche a few weeks ago, a 981 Boxster and I’m impressed. Initially it felt rather heavy and slow, probably because my previous car was an Ariel Atom, but that’s all relative. I’ve adapted my driving style and now love it.
My car is 18 months old and at the time of purchase had done just over 9,000 miles, and ridiculously has over £16,000 of extras on it, but as we all know, that’s Porsche. In fact I found all the extra’s so complicated I had to create a spread sheet showing all the cars in my price range and all their relative extras and what they cost, just to try and understand which cars were good value.
However, and this probably shows a prejudice on my part, I expected as I was buying from an OPC I’d be dealing with a dealership a rank above the norm.
I knew from what I’d read on this site that getting a reduction in the asking price is practically impossible, but when the salesman tells you ‘It’s price to sell’ and you point out its been for sale for 6 months and he looks at you blankly, seeming not understanding the hypocrisy of what he’s saying, you do wonder.
However, later when the deal had been done and he showed me over the car before I drove away I discovered he had little knowledge of the product, certainly less than I’d gained after a couple of hours looking at the Porsche App, “Good to Know” (which he’d never even heard of) so I thought it best to just drive away and sort out the controls myself.
I must admit to also being disappointed that after spending over £40,000 on a car Porsche don’t update the satellite navigation on the PCM with the latest maps. I was told an update was about £150, which to Porsche must be much less; rather parsimonious of Porsche I thought considering what I’d just spent. Anyone manage to negotiate a free update on their navigation?
Paul

cre8toruk

Original Poster:

250 posts

137 months

Tuesday 13th May 2014
quotequote all
can anyone explain what all the numbers are / mean ? what is a 987 or whatever?

BIRMA

3,808 posts

194 months

Tuesday 13th May 2014
quotequote all
cre8toruk said:
can anyone explain what all the numbers are / mean ? what is a 987 or whatever?
It relates to the series 986 I think was the first then 987 and the latest 981

BIRMA

3,808 posts

194 months

Tuesday 13th May 2014
quotequote all
PaulPqwerty said:
Hello Boxster Owners,
I bought my first Porsche a few weeks ago, a 981 Boxster and I’m impressed. Initially it felt rather heavy and slow, probably because my previous car was an Ariel Atom, but that’s all relative. I’ve adapted my driving style and now love it.
My car is 18 months old and at the time of purchase had done just over 9,000 miles, and ridiculously has over £16,000 of extras on it, but as we all know, that’s Porsche. In fact I found all the extra’s so complicated I had to create a spread sheet showing all the cars in my price range and all their relative extras and what they cost, just to try and understand which cars were good value.
However, and this probably shows a prejudice on my part, I expected as I was buying from an OPC I’d be dealing with a dealership a rank above the norm.
I knew from what I’d read on this site that getting a reduction in the asking price is practically impossible, but when the salesman tells you ‘It’s price to sell’ and you point out its been for sale for 6 months and he looks at you blankly, seeming not understanding the hypocrisy of what he’s saying, you do wonder.
However, later when the deal had been done and he showed me over the car before I drove away I discovered he had little knowledge of the product, certainly less than I’d gained after a couple of hours looking at the Porsche App, “Good to Know” (which he’d never even heard of) so I thought it best to just drive away and sort out the controls myself.
I must admit to also being disappointed that after spending over £40,000 on a car Porsche don’t update the satellite navigation on the PCM with the latest maps. I was told an update was about £150, which to Porsche must be much less; rather parsimonious of Porsche I thought considering what I’d just spent. Anyone manage to negotiate a free update on their navigation?
Paul
If you can list what the extras are I am sure people on here can tell you what they are.

PaulPqwerty

33 posts

128 months

Tuesday 13th May 2014
quotequote all
Hello Boxster Owners,
I bought my first Porsche a few weeks ago, a 981 Boxster and I’m impressed. Initially it felt rather heavy and slow, probably because my previous car was an Ariel Atom, but that’s all relative. I’ve adapted my driving style and now love it.
My car is 18 months old and at the time of purchase had done just over 9,000 miles, and ridiculously has over £16,000 of extras on it, but as we all know, that’s Porsche. In fact I found all the extra’s so complicated I had to create a spread sheet showing all the cars in my price range and all their relative extras and what they cost, just to try and understand which cars were good value.
However, and this probably shows a prejudice on my part, I expected as I was buying from an OPC I’d be dealing with a dealership a rank above the norm.
I knew from what I’d read on this site that getting a reduction in the asking price is practically impossible, but when the salesman tells you ‘It’s price to sell’ and you point out its been for sale for 6 months and he looks at you blankly, seeming not understanding the hypocrisy of what he’s saying, you do wonder.
However, later when the deal had been done and he showed me over the car before I drove away I discovered he had little knowledge of the product, certainly less than I’d gained after a couple of hours looking at the Porsche App, “Good to Know” (which he’d never even heard of) so I thought it best to just drive away and sort out the controls myself.
I must admit to also being disappointed that after spending over £40,000 on a car Porsche don’t update the satellite navigation on the PCM with the latest maps. I was told an update was about £150, which to Porsche must be much less; rather parsimonious of Porsche I thought considering what I’d just spent. Anyone manage to negotiate a free update on their navigation?
Paul

cre8toruk

Original Poster:

250 posts

137 months

Tuesday 13th May 2014
quotequote all
what should a 60k mile service consist of please?