Pre-Purchase question

[grimesb]

The search continues for a perfect boxter! The S I had my eyes on is most likely going to be sold tomorrow.

Whats the general consensus on low mileage 2002-2003 boxters? We're talking around 3.5k per year to 7k. Can they still be viable options if a PPI checks out? The car would be my daily driver and average 10k a year or more.

Thank you,

Bennett

[BerneseMtnDog]

For me I think the ideal mileage for a used boxster would be around 60k. Enough mileage so that many of the catastrophic failure things if they were going to happen likely would have but low enough that your suspension, clutch, etc.. would likely still have some life left in them. Any more and you're probably looking at some expensive initial maintenance costs. I'm leery of cars that are ten years old and have very low mielage.

Steve

[Alphaboy1]

I have a 2002 Boxster S in mint condition with 48,000 miles on it. I put on maybe 1000 miles a year since I have other vehicles. My oil is checked yearly for metal and other potential issues. I also have no oil leaks from RMS at all. Car sits on in a painted garage floor and not a drop from RMS leaks. Want to buy mine? ;-)

[mikefocke]

No matter the mileage, the car and its parts are 10 years old if you are talking 2002 and some things like plastic age. But the cars also depreciate. The guy who got my perfect '01S with 58k got a great car (at half the price I paid for it 5 years before) as of the minute of sale but things can and do happen to any car from any maker. OTOH, he can replace a lot of plastic for the money he saved and the car was in better condition than when I bought it.

So it all depends.

[techweenie]

Looking at what was for sale for over a month, I concluded that many Boxsters are routinely going over 150K miles with no serious issues. I ended up buying a "high mileage" Boxster because it was my opinion the market was discounting mileage too aggressively.
In general, a 'high mileage' car that's been used a lot on the freeway is going to be a better car than a low mileage car used for trips averaging 5 miles or less.

[randy_k]

I agree with everyone's responses here. But I will add. Getting all the maintenance records you can, IMHO, are darn near as important as the PPI. The PPI will give you a pretty good idea as to what is wrong now. But the service records will tell you how well it has been cared for and may indicate when the next things that could go wrong need to be cared for.
Anyway. When I bought mine. I found this site helpful. See link below. And will give you an idea of what should have been taken care of and when. And other helpful info. Enjoy the search.
Randy

2.0 Boxster Basics - Porsche Boxster (986) FAQ

[newlife]

Originally Posted by grimesb

The search continues for a perfect boxter! The S I had my eyes on is most likely going to be sold tomorrow.

Whats the general consensus on low mileage 2002-2003 boxters? We're talking around 3.5k per year to 7k. Can they still be viable options if a PPI checks out? The car would be my daily driver and average 10k a year or more.

Thank you,

Bennett

And, maybe purchase Durametric and really check out the car before you buy.

Rod