986 boxster

[joncon]

a month in to ownership
loving my first foray into Porsche ownership.
I have been lucky enough to drive quite a few Porsche over the last 20 years, including boxsters, carreras and even 944s/928s back in the day.
the last couple of years I have concentrated on my motorcycling...
then this little red thing came along..

[IMI A]

Lovely car. Congrats. First impressions?

[joncon]

The car is pretty sorted
very easy to drive, comfortable, relaxing drive over long distance.
Engine sounds nice as.the revs rise
Exhaust noise also gers better with revs
We went xmas shopping in her sunday and itt swallowed all the bags with ease
Only gripes are steering wheel is a bit on the large size, and the gearbox is not as sharp as i expected
Think i was expecting tje gear change to be similar to tvr or mazda mx5 box
Might get the gearox oil changed
Overall though loving the car, cant wait to take her abroad

[FredBasset]

We have a 2003 986S with 24k on the clock. Its a great car and although it shares garage space with a 991 GT3 and a 500bhp Evo VI I stick love driving the Boxster.

Great cars, much maligned in my view.

Enjoy her :-)

[joncon]

this ones only done 29k now,
she is just so useable , I am torn between keeping the miles down
or just racking them up
looking forward to roof down winter motoring

[alcatraz236]

there's no reason to keep the miles down, just floor it.

[edc]

If low mileage gave you back several thousand pounds on resale I could see the argument for keeping the mileage low but given the price I'm sure you paid for it the delta in low vs high mileage is hardly worth the effort.

[ooid]

Looks uber-clean, is it 2004?

My oldie 2000, 2.7 came as a weekend thingy 5 years ago, but slowly became a semi-daily now. (especially when the hard-top on)

[Mogul]

Looks good. Fitting the 997 spec shifted mechanism is a cheap and easy mod that does help the shift action.

You have a low miles car but if you sense some slop in the transmission, it could be a sign that the front engine mount could be on its way out. If it is worn and you replace it, you can feel the benefits in the shift action as well but you are most likely going to be OK at just 30k miles.

I'm going to do a 750km round trip in mine tomorrow.

Edited by Mogul on Thursday 24th November 20:53

[joncon]

Mogul said:

Looks good. Fitting the 997 spec shifted mechanism is a cheap and easy mod that does help the shift action.

You have a low miles car but if you sense some slop in the transmission, it could be a sign that the front engine mount could be on its way out. If it is worn and you replace it, you can feel the benefits in the shift action as well but you are most likely going to be OK at just 30k miles.

I'm going to do a 750km round trip in mine tomorrow.

Edited by Mogul on Thursday 24th November 20:53

997 shift mechanism sounds like a plan

so jealous of you doing a big roadtrip tomorrow
I cant wait to do one in mine

[m444ttb]

Lovely looking car. I'd still love a 986 to go with my 996 if I had the room.

[snotrag]

6 months into ownership, the gear box (too long ratios) and the shift itself is my only bugbear, having had a number of Japanese cars with far superior changes.

This weekend new engine mounts, transmission mounts, shifter cable ends, and an ebay short shifter mechanism are going in - I'm hoping for a dramatic change. I'm also contemplating an aftermarket steering wheel - I miss my lovely dainty Italian thin rimmed wheel out of my Mazda!

[tjdixon911]

I'm coming up to a year of ownership in mine, a Seal Grey 04 S - its been brilliant so far, did Lemans in it in June and a 1200mile trip to/around Cornwall for a week in September, its amazing how much luggage you can get in them - I found the gear shift a little sloppy so fitted a short shift kit which has improved it, it sometimes struggles to smoothly go into 3rd so that needs looking at - mines done 53k miles, I've not used it enough this year (approx 4k)

Came home this evening with the top down

[Rockster]

joncon said:

The car is pretty sorted
very easy to drive, comfortable, relaxing drive over long distance.
Engine sounds nice as.the revs rise
Exhaust noise also gers better with revs
We went xmas shopping in her sunday and itt swallowed all the bags with ease
Only gripes are steering wheel is a bit on the large size, and the gearbox is not as sharp as i expected
Think i was expecting tje gear change to be similar to tvr or mazda mx5 box
Might get the gearox oil changed
Overall though loving the car, cant wait to take her abroad

Regarding the gearbox feel...

My experience with my 2002 Boxster (base) is the brake/clutch fluid needs to be flushed and bled every 2 years, without fail. While the brakes don't appear to be affected by old fluid the clutch and shift action is.

You can of course change the fluid. I don't know what miles your car has but while the factory calls for a 90K miles fluid change (IIRC) many (including myself) have it changed more often.

The Boxster transmission fluid service is one of the least expensive services. Labor is 0.3 hour and then there is the fluid. A bit pricy some complain but I've used it forever and my Boxster's 5-speed shifts like a dream even with over 306K miles on it.

Added: I missed the mention of 29K miles. A bit low miles and the transmission fluid doesn't get all yucky like engine oil does from combustion contamination so a tranny fluid service is a bit premature. Still you can have it done to know you've done what you can to prolong the life of the transmission/diff.

But don't think you can let the brake/clutch fluid go without that 2 year flush/bleed.

Edited by Rockster on Sunday 27th November 22:40

[joncon]

Some great information in these posts,
I think oil and brake fluid were changed earlier in the year,
I will check the service receipts on the weekend
Plenty of time to fettle car over the winter ready for next spring summer
Although i am planning on running the car through the winter