Advice for Aussie Boxster Purchaser

[Pinarelloman]

Hi, I have been lurking on this forum & reading all I can about Boxsters. I like all Porsche's but the Boxster is beautiful & modern & affordable.

I am very close to purchasing a 2001 S manual model here in Australia.

I drove two vehicles today. Both were 2001 S models, one with 60,000KM & the other with 70,000km.

I am leaning towards purchasing the 60,00km one and have a few questions.

Where is the Vehicle Identification plate with the year of manufacture, etc located?

Where & what should I be looking for/at to gauge the mechanical condition of the car.

I have poked & prodded & looked underneath the vehicle to see any major oil leaks etc, but where should I look?

How prone is the radiator to damage from rocks etc?

The roof opens and closes quite smoothly & the vehicle has a complete service history. The vehicle has been maintained & serviced by the same dealership for its whole life. On monday I will pay the dealer a visit & see if they will tell me any work carried out previously.

It has just had the 60,000Km service & no major work required.

I will be making a decision on Monday.

I think it is a good price, though expensive by USA standards. The vehicle is $49,000 AUD or $39,000 USD.

Not the cheapest, but I would hate to buy trouble.

Thanks.

Dave in Aussie.

Soon to have a Boxster. :D

[Beelzy]

Read this chap's info.

http://mike.focke.googlepages.com/mikespor...boxsterwebpages

[mikefocke]

How much time and $ do you want to spend?

What you have said about the car sounds fine so far.

Option 1: just go through the owner's manual (available online) and exercise every function. Drive the car. Trust the dealer service records. Zero cost

Option 2: Do the above and have someone who already owns a Boxster of the same vintage drive the car. Zero cost

Option 3: Have a PPI done by a service facility known to be trusted by local Porsche owners which is not the servicing dealer. Cost: maybe $250US.

For ideas on what a PPI can entail and some insight into how much of it you can do yourself, see the PPI form used by Pedro (link on my site in the message above). Discuss that with the PPI person before you arrange to have the PPI done as they may have different ideas about what they will do for PPI dollars.

I've bought 2 Boxsters, both proved out to be excellent cars. #1 I drove as the first Boxster I'd ever driven for 15 minutes and bought immediately without any real checkout (I had known prices before hand and negotiated a $5kUS discount based on my research and showing the seller selected excerpts). It was flawless. #2 looked a little shaky to me. I had the PPI done by a trusted mechanic and I knew everything about it..it needed about $1k in catch up routine maintenance and I knew that in setting the price I'd pay. It has been excellent over 4 years, I still have it and it needs nothing but an oil change before winter comes. Most economical car to maintain of 4 (3 others legendary for reliability) I've owned over the last 4 years. Most fun too.

Edited September 20, 2009 by mikefocke

[Pinarelloman]

Thanks guys, for the advice.

I negotiated with the guy & took it for a 160km test drive yesterday.

Whilst I may not know alot about Porsche'"s, I know enough to say the vehicle is tight & free from any rattles shakes & unexplained noises.

I have dealer service records here & I have spoken to the service department & the only thing they found at the last service was a rear engine mount with a slight crack and slight clutch judder?

While driving I never noticed any clutch judder & how big a job is the rear engine mount?

Thanks again for your advice.

Dave.

[mikefocke]

The front engine mount and the clutch judder may be one and the same. It is actually a job you can do yourself and there are aftermarket options that use new materials.

http://www.pedrosgarage.com/Site_3/Install...gine_Mount.html

[soopster]

Replacing the engine mount (there is only one aka front engine mount) is about a $500 CAD job in Canada including parts at a Porsche dealer. That should give you a ball park on the cost in Australia.

[Pinarelloman]

Well, thankyou very much for all of the information I have received.

I have had Porsche 60,000km sevice completed on the car, at my expense before purchase.

I am inclined to do most maintenance on my cars. I have completed wheel bearing & suspension overhauls etc on Toyota Landcruisers & changed timing belts etc.

So please advise me if these below repairs are possibly beyond my capabilities.

A couple of things they found wrong were.

Spark plug tubes leaking.

Front & rear trailing arms noisy. I have read the write up on this site for the rear & feel it is quite straightforward.

Oil tube leaking. This is the tube in the rear compartment.

Cracked front engine mount. I have read on the other site how to repair this & it looks possible also for me.

The most concerning one is....

They also say the clutch is heavy & will need replacing within 10,000km. They said this at the last service 15,000km ago. Any comments from you guys out there.

Thanks again for all the info etc.

Dave.

[systech]

Well, thankyou very much for all of the information I have received.

I have had Porsche 60,000km sevice completed on the car, at my expense before purchase.

I am inclined to do most maintenance on my cars. I have completed wheel bearing & suspension overhauls etc on Toyota Landcruisers & changed timing belts etc.

So please advise me if these below repairs are possibly beyond my capabilities.

A couple of things they found wrong were.

Spark plug tubes leaking.

Front & rear trailing arms noisy. I have read the write up on this site for the rear & feel it is quite straightforward.

Oil tube leaking. This is the tube in the rear compartment.

Cracked front engine mount. I have read on the other site how to repair this & it looks possible also for me.

The most concerning one is....

They also say the clutch is heavy & will need replacing within 10,000km. They said this at the last service 15,000km ago. Any comments from you guys out there.

Thanks again for all the info etc.

Dave.

Just had the clutch replaced for my MY 2000 Boxster S in Adelaide by local independent and cost around $ 2000 including genuine clutch kit. However, you can buy and equivalent Sachs (OEM) kit and save a few hundred dollars. Replace the Rear Main Seal (RMS) and if necessary the Intermediate Shaft seal at the same time as these often leak although it's not a real issue unless it becomes a major leak. The RMS is only a $30 part so worth doing. New clutch certainly makes a huge difference to the lightness of the clutch action.