986 conundrum; 2.5 v 3.2
Discussion
Nice purchase. I recently drove one of these on a “classic car experience” drive my mate invited me along to. It was an early 2.5 T reg with nearly 130k on the clock so I wasn’t expecting too much. I was blown away by how good it was to drive… honestly so friendly and easy to drive quick! For reference I have an e46 m3 as a weekend car and felt the boxster was far more fun to punt around. Cue my mate now being on the lookout for one and me considering selling the m3…
Alex10391 said:
Nice purchase. I recently drove one of these on a “classic car experience” drive my mate invited me along to. It was an early 2.5 T reg with nearly 130k on the clock so I wasn’t expecting too much. I was blown away by how good it was to drive… honestly so friendly and easy to drive quick! For reference I have an e46 m3 as a weekend car and felt the boxster was far more fun to punt around. Cue my mate now being on the lookout for one and me considering selling the m3…
Cheers, I'm even more excited after reading that 
I think more so than any other car, possibly because I still haven't driven one / it yet. I found a pic the other day of when I was a nipper, with a picture of a black 911 (930) convertible on my bedroom wall behind me. Perhaps it was fate, not the same car, but close to being a dream car. It's quite a nice feeling for an average joe like myself to be able to get a taste. Hopefully be here on Wednesday. Can't wait! 
TameRacingDriver said:
I'm looking into buying a 986, will be my first Porsche.
Any feedback welcome.
Why the 986 Boxster is the best first Porsche | The Next Big Thing with Magnus WalkerAny feedback welcome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdxswpsn4Oc
julian987R said:
TameRacingDriver said:
I'm looking into buying a 986, will be my first Porsche.
Wondering about the various model choices, and from what I can tell:-
2.5 - Purest Boxster, just enough power so you can really enjoy the engine, shorter gearing than the others, slightly cheaper to run, apparently more robust. Likely to be a classic being the original Boxster.
2.7 / 3.2 - Both a bit quicker, especially the S, but more expensive to run and more likely to face big bills. Personally I see no reason not to go for a 3.2 over a 2.7.Taller gear ratios is a downside too, I like working the gearbox.
So for me, it looks like a choice between the 2.5 and 3.2. The former being the purist choice, and the cheapest and most reliable, the latter having more luxury and speed.
The car is just a toy for the weekends and the occasional road trip or just driving around the doors. No commuting.
Any feedback welcome.
Genuine question, just curious, is the 986 deemed the sweet spot over the 987 Boxster, as I never see much mention on these forums for the 987 Boxster vs the 986. I ask this looks particularly nice and well optioned 987 Boxster.Wondering about the various model choices, and from what I can tell:-
2.5 - Purest Boxster, just enough power so you can really enjoy the engine, shorter gearing than the others, slightly cheaper to run, apparently more robust. Likely to be a classic being the original Boxster.
2.7 / 3.2 - Both a bit quicker, especially the S, but more expensive to run and more likely to face big bills. Personally I see no reason not to go for a 3.2 over a 2.7.Taller gear ratios is a downside too, I like working the gearbox.
So for me, it looks like a choice between the 2.5 and 3.2. The former being the purist choice, and the cheapest and most reliable, the latter having more luxury and speed.
The car is just a toy for the weekends and the occasional road trip or just driving around the doors. No commuting.
Any feedback welcome.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/12079429
Had a good little run yesterday in my Boxster. I was chasing this blue 2.5 tip which must be the slowest Boxster you can buy. So obviously my car is a little bit quicker. Even so I did have trouble keeping up in some sections. I'm not ashamed to admit that clearly he was a quicker driver than me. If he had a quicker car I might have lost him or he might have had to wait more often, that's up to him I guess. Although there were lots of ramblers and cyclists around which slowed us down. We
even had to deal with a few sheep too.
It was really great fun. We did hope a few more cars would join us but in the end it was just us two and I think that's better. Driving in a convoy gets a bit tedious. My counter part insisted on roofs in the down position which meant I did get a bit wet in places.
The point is simple. You don't really need a quicker car to have fun. I'm a sucker for always buying the S version or always wanting to buy the quicker model or reading about mods which make a car quicker. It's all irrelevant if you can have fun without.
even had to deal with a few sheep too.
It was really great fun. We did hope a few more cars would join us but in the end it was just us two and I think that's better. Driving in a convoy gets a bit tedious. My counter part insisted on roofs in the down position which meant I did get a bit wet in places.
The point is simple. You don't really need a quicker car to have fun. I'm a sucker for always buying the S version or always wanting to buy the quicker model or reading about mods which make a car quicker. It's all irrelevant if you can have fun without.
^^^^ looks amazing on yellow I'd love that for summer b road blasts. They're good track cars as fairly light out the box don't need to do the whole strip everything like a 944 to get the best out of them surprisingly capable out of the box. Easily as quick as E46 M3 on technical tracks when I had one and was giving up circa 100bhp.
My first ever time driving a Porsche was a 986S at Thruxton where we got to drive a few cars. By far and away the 986 was the best car there out on track. It just felt so right. I even said to the instructor guy on the 2nd or 3rd bend, wow this is a great car. He said yeah and we just run them round the track all day long and they are fine. Good solid cars. That's the day I stopped believing all the hype about hair dressers and decided I wanted one.
Do the 3.2 engines hold up on track though? I've seen too many videos like this with Porsches:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YFMYcj4t6Q&ab...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YFMYcj4t6Q&ab...
Jonstar said:
Do the 3.2 engines hold up on track though? I've seen too many videos like this with Porsches:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YFMYcj4t6Q&ab...
They're not going to automatically blow up on every track day. Lots of 986 Boxsters have completed countless track days without incident. Some race series use largely unmodified cars and they don't just blow up left, right and centre.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YFMYcj4t6Q&ab...
But there are obviously a few failure modes and it can happen. IMS can go (actually not that common), the oiling system isn't that great in a track context, chains can go, rods... Etc.
You'd be fairly unlucky to have one go doing the odd track day. On the other hand, possibly not the best choice for a dedicated track day car if the engine letting go is going to really, really upset you. Might happen, they're not totally bullet proof.
If it's going to be a dedicated track car then just like any other car you'd probably do some basic and minor mods to increase your reliability. It's not that costly to add a deeper sump or baffle kit for example on a par say with uprating your brakes or say a set of trackday wheels with new rubber which many people won't bat an eyelid at.
ATM said:
TameRacingDriver said:
Luckily mine will rarely if ever see a track, not my bag really. Anyway I've picked it up. Super happy. Will post properly later.
Tease
Jonstar said:
Lovely car well done! I'll be interested to hear your thoughts given you seem to have a similar taste in cars to me!
Edit: apologies to those viewing on mobile for the formatting, I did this on a computer and it looked perfect, but it seems all truncated on mobile 
So, I spent a good 4 or 5 hours driving my new 3.2, and am well happy with it, I was expecting it to be a nice drive, but I wasn't expecting just how nice it actually does drive. I'll try not to waffle on, but my impressions:
- Looks really great in the flesh, better than in the photos. I thought I probably wanted silver, but this looks fantastic. Lots of compliments.
- Wasn't sure of the wheels in the sale photos but I think they look great in the flesh now I've seen them, 17s too so better for ride/handling/cheaper tyres
- Nice driver focused cabin, looks and feels premium, very few rattles, squeaks or creaks, if any. Amazing for the age.
- Good driving position, wheel feels perfectly sized for my tastes. Pedal spacing and position seems perfect, I can actually H&T in this.
- Engine sounds superb. I think its completely stock. I would say a perfect sound with the roof up, what a noise, sounds great at any revs, but more especially as the car passes 4,500rpm. I've heard someone say it has a 'yowl' to it, and I can hear that. Its very sonorous
- Roof down, that lovely noise is somewhat drowned out by wind and tyre noise, a bit of a shame. Open to feedback on this one. Done with modding tbh, but I would consider it on this occasion if it increases enjoyment of the car and doesn't spoil it.
- Not quite as torquey as I was expecting. Then again, I've been driving a supercharged Mini which is very 'mid-rangey'. It clearly prefers being worked for the speed, which isn't exactly a hardship. In fairness, either I started getting used to it, or it actually started to feel like it was improving the more I drove it.
- When you do rev it out, the noise is addictive, and it certainly gets a move on to say the least. Probably not 'fast' by modern standards, but easily more than enough to enjoy on the road.
- The gearshift has been modded with an official Porsche short shift. Basically feels a bit like an MX5, probably not quite as good, but not too far off.
- The gearing, as expected, is a bit tall for my tastes, but I knew that before I got it. Not a massive problem in the grand scheme of things.
- The steering is really, really nice. Best I've experienced out of any of the cars I've owned. Only one that comes close is the Mk2 MR2 Turbo, but its better than that. Super detailed, perfect weighting and just a nice speed to the rack. Sublime.
- The handling is just like its on rails. I pushed the car as much as I felt comfortable doing so, and I have no doubt that the car itself was well within it's limits. It feels supremely confident and planted, very agile...
- The chassis feels so amazingly well balanced too, I could really feel the car rotating around me as I navigated the bends. Delightful.
- Despite this amazing handling, the ride was perhaps the thing that made my jaw drop the most. Its bloody awesome. It rides like a luxury car, so amazingly well controlled and damped, yet show it a corner and its a weapon.
- Brakes - didn't test them in anger. Noticed that the servo assistance is less than a modern car so needs a bigger shove of the foot, but I have no doubt that they will be more than sufficient for plenty of fade free spirited driving. I'm already warming to the extra feel and control this provides.
I've also owned a couple of this cars rivals, the Z4 Coupe 3.0Si and the 350Z Roadster, and would have to say that this car is a better drivers car than either of those in terms of handling, ride, steering, brakes and just outright sporting focus. I am really very impressed with this car so far.
Only downsides I've noticed so far...
- The fuel / temp gauge glass appears to be marked - they had what looked like spittle marks on, but so far they're not wiping off. Hopefully the glass can be replaced, but tbh if it meant replacing the gauges I won't bother as it's not horrific or anything - unless it's cheap enough to do. I will try and polish them up a bit at the weekend and see if I can improve it.
- Plastic trim from one of the struts on the soft top detached itself and doesn't appear to want to fit back on securely.
- Exhaust / engine arguably too quiet with roof down - will see how I feel about this over the coming weeks.
Edited by TameRacingDriver on Friday 20th August 08:28
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