[husker boxster]

Oil change history is THE most important item related to long term health, regardless of which variation of Boxster you buy.

During the 2000s, Porsche's / Mobil 1's recommended oil change interval was 15K miles! WAY too long and probably not a coincidence that it coincided with a lot of IMS failures. The duration ratcheted down as the 2000s ended, from 10K mi to 8. You want to find a documented history of 5-8K mi oil changes.

The elephant in the room...
Just because an original IMS bearing has made it to 100K mi doesn't mean it will make it to 200. Anyone who tells you that is blowing smoke where the sun don't shine. They can fail at any time. But the worst case scenario is you have a 10% chc of failure. Do you feel lucky punk? If you run across a Box that's still on the orig IMS, you don't necessarily have to run from it, just be sure the price is discounted $3K to cover an IMS / clutch job. And early IMS replacements were limited in the miles they were good for, so some of them may need replacing too if they were done 10 yrs ago. The bearing in the 987 has less than a 1% chc of failure, so it's really not an issue. Just be sure to get a documented oil chg interval for a 987.

The cheapest Boxsters will be the 986s. They were not necessarily Porsche's best quality cars, as they had a lot of little things that failed on them. Hopefully the owner / seller has addressed them and your friend would reap the benefits. The 987 was a leap in quality but they still have their foibles (what car doesn't?). Once again, documented history is important.

The ideal car would be one in the 60-80K mi range with a stack of maint receipts. Ultra low mileage cars should be avoided as much as high mileage ones - you'll spend a fortune replacing suspension bushings, fluids, and hoses that the prev owner never did in order for you to make it a driver again.

Remind your friend that he's probably going to be buying a 20 yr old car and it could have 20 yr old problems. Being it's a Porsche, those problems could be expensive if he's not mechanically inclined and has to have the dealer do the work.

And in today's COVID / inflation pumped mkt, what's cheap? $8K cars are now $12, $15K cars are $20, etc. At some pt the bubble will burst, but until then it's hard to find a "cheap" car that's well maintained. Not impossible to find, but takes some effort. A lot of people are jumping in / cashing in on the mkt and selling their neglected cars. Be sure to weed thru all the needy cars to find the right one.

The journey can be as much fun as the destination.