sasman

Drove one today, very nice, anyone own, owned one.

Seamus300

Yes I had a 2001 2.7

Stephen Read

I'm beginning to get interested in them as they get such a good write-up but I've always been of the opinion that 'the right thing to do' was to buy an older 911. However, a newer (or even new!) Boxster is very tempting and it's always nice to have a convertible in this country (Switzerland) as so much of the scenery is above the windscreen header rail!

I read that there are further engine size hikes planned for the 2003 model year and it will also get wider wings and other mods to further distinguish it from the 996 look. Therefore, I'm not sure how wise it would be good to put money into a new 2002 model at this point. A nice dilema to be in though!


ps. shouldn't this be in Other Marques?

pps. Anyone know of any good Porsche/Boxter boards? So far all I have found has been pretty rubbish, mainly the Porsche Club of Amercia sites and the pelicanparts one. Is the PCGB worth joining? Their website doesn't appear to have a bbs.

pps. I would be interested to hear any comments from anyone who has had both a 993 and a 986 (ie. a Boxster to you lot!)

[Edited by Stephen Read - 2/13/2002 10:09:09 AM]

DavidBrown

Yes, I had a 2001 2.7

Make sure it had 17" alloys, decent leather, aircon, wind deflector, otherwise it'll be a bitch to sell.

Artic Silver is the colour, avoid Red / Yellow / White (yes, I've seen on in white)

Avoid the 2.5, underpowered, doesn't fetch the money.

I paid £32K last year for a 20,000 miler with the above spec and boxster red leather interior, was gorgeous as a summer car. Highly recommended as a cruiser, not as involved as an Elise, but solid and tours well.

Sold it when the rain came in September and got the Skyline.

However, I can feel the urge for another one soon !

Stephen Read

sasman, was it a 2.7 you drove?

To the huys who owned 2.7's....

Did you have the sports suspension and/or P(orsche)S(tability)M(anagement)? I'd like to know if these are 'must haves' or not.

What are the standard headlinghts likt? I know you can have Litronic (HID's) as an option and that sounds almost a must have these days!

Seamus300

Yes I had the Porsche Stability Control and the Sports Suspension set up, and as has been said before 17" wheels at least are a must. Standard headlights are fine, better than on my Scoob, not sure it's worth paying the extra for the high intensity jobbies (if I remember right they were £800?). Mine was Blue with a Tan leather interior, colour is very important with these cars.

It was a fun car, not as involving as my UK300 though and attracted the wrong kind of attention (ie being spat on which was nice).

By the way I had the car 8 months, sold it back to the dealer for 1K less than I paid for it.

[Edited by Seamus300 - 2/13/2002 1:27:13 PM]

DavidBrown

I didn't have Sports suspension (I wasn't going to give it much stick, and wanted to waft along) but did have traction control, which isn't really needed unless you have a 3.2S

Seamus makes a good point, they hold their value amazingly well, especially as the "new" boxster has been put back another few years.

[Edited by DavidBrown - 2/13/2002 2:36:50 PM]

Stephen Read

Losing only £1k in 8 months is amazing and must have involved some shrewd (or possibly fortunate) timing on your part. Did you take delivery in late summer and sell in the spring? Well done anyway!

I would have thought that the days of (retail) used-Boxsters making premiums were over??? now that (I believe) UK waiting lists have gone down to around 6 months or so and the availablity of euro-imports, if you believe the ads in the back of magazines.

When I ordered my MY00 Turbo in Spring'99 I glanced at Boxster waiting lists which were 18 months to 2 years on import at the time!

Over here in Switzerland, the list prices are approx 10% less than in the UK and it appears that the difference is just in the VAT (it is only 7.5% over here).

I have not yet made serious inquiries but have been pressing nose against plate glass windows at my local dealer (after hours ) and they have a lovely 2.7 in Lipis blue (DBM! ) with some nice 17's in stock....

The Swiss importer is in-bed-with Europcar and you could hire one from them last summer, so I don't believe that delivery dates could be that long. I don't want to pay top-CHF for an ex-rental car either so I'll have to do my homework if I go that route!

I also read that the 'new Boxster' won't be out until MY2005 but the 2003 model sounds like it will be a more radical change than we saw with the evolution from the 2.5 to the 2.7 and 3.2.

DavidBrown

While major savings can be made over some import cars (like Jaguars and Range Rovers) I've yet to see a company that offers a good saving on Porsches (by good I mean more than £2K).. and those that offer a better saving, often have lead times like 9 months

If anyone knows a good UK importer for Porkers, let me know.

The BBS I used to use was : http://www.986board.com/board/986board.htm

[Edited by DavidBrown - 2/13/2002 5:06:43 PM]

Seamus300

No there isn't a huge saving on importing Boxsters, The decent money savings are at the 996 C4-C4S end of the market. I think the residuals on the imports suffer so the overall gain is nominal, if any.

I took delivery in Oct and got rid July time. I approached the dealer and by the time I took the car back, he had already sold it subject to customer seeing it! The waiting list was 2 years when I ordered it...

Mine was Lapis blue by the way (Savanna interior), lovely colour.


[Edited by Seamus300 - 2/14/2002 9:36:51 AM]

sasman

No it was a 3.2s