I want to buy a used Porsche Boxter . I can afford to buy the car but my question is will I be able to maintain the car. I’m not a rich guy and I’m not a moron I’d just like to know if brakes, oil changes, hoses, belts things like that are going to break me every few months. I want to drive the car a lot and put lots of miles on it, but if a head lamp costs 600.00 bucks or if a hose blows its 550.00 and a 6mos wait from Germany, that kind of thing. Any help from you Porsche owners out there would be great.
Thank you,
Guy that wants a Porsche
Bob
Bob
I know that it will cost more than a Ford escort and like I said I can afford the car and insurance I’m not living in a box behind a grocery store. I was looking more for input about reliability and maybe major breakdown concerns or problems and related costs that you just don’t know about unless you’ve been there done that. I appreciate the better answers from some of you, I was more looking for hidden Porsche costs that would be hard to research.
Stay protected and outfitted while racing at the track. Racing shoes, suits, helmets, harness kits, gloves, and more.
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Real Porshe owners don’t give a damn about stuff like this.
UM, you are forgetting the MAJOR portion of your expenses, INSURANCE which you will NOT be able to afford based on your question.
well brake and oil change stuff wouldnt cost any more than any other car would and you could do at home but if you need to replace something sure the price wil be more and in a few cases would you have to wait for a part most parts store carry parts for every thing buy hey if you can buy it who cares i wish i had the money
Why don’t you take a few minutes and do a little looking around for the costs related to some basic maintained items.
Any car of that caliber will have higher costs from oil changes to brake pads.
Parts and labor will cost more. The cars are reliable though. I would not buy one with no warranty left. I would want at least 2 months under full cover.
Its worth the expierence, believe me, their performance is fantastic.
It depends where you are located geographically. When I lived in Florida, foreign car parts were extremely rare. However where I live in Rhode Island, I can get Porsche parts within two days. I would definitely say geography should factor into your decision of whether or not to purchase this vehicle. Newer Porsches are fuel injected which saves you quite a bit of headaches (Ala the 914s and 911s) . Honestly it all depends on how you drive the car….Just because the car has a Porsche emblem on it doesn’t mean it’s just simply going to break down on your or on the opposite end of the spectrum – run forever.
If you drive the car like a moron and beat on it, yeah you’re going to be spending a lot of money fixing the car up. However it is like any other car- if you take care of it, it will take care of you. I drive a 1985 Jaguar XJ6 and she hasn’t needed anything major, just the usual. (Belts, brakes, tyres, oil changes.)
If you are concerned about money at all, you should not be buying Porsche in first place. Go with BMW or Benz at most.
Porsche’s are way more affordable in the US than in Europe for being the largest market. Yet, it will be somehow expensive since even a less powerful member of the Porsche family is still a performance car, not designed to be driven every day in my view, maybe Chayenne excluded.
The dealers are quite okay and will not bilk you but many Porsche service centers are high quality mechanical shops and do not expect bargains there.
As mentioned before insurance will be expensive and I say do not expect a performance car to be fuel efficient, especially when you drive fast.
Disregard the comments regarding “Real porsche owners don’t care about what it costs” – that’s more of an “I have more money than common sense” attitude.
On a more realistic aspect:
- Porsches are quite reliable, parts are expensive, and the maintenance intervals are quite frequent.
The thing to keep in mind and the reasoning behind this is mostly a proactive approach that the German engineering has taken on. If all car manufacturers went after this approach our cars would last a long time. Do you know when the last time the brake fluid was flushed and changed on your escort? Porsche makes it quite obvious as a maintenance interval every 2 years to do it. Ask a boxster owner “When did you change your brake fluid last?” most of them will say “Last time it was in the dealer… last year?” Just overall being proactive and keeping the car well maintained. More of a “Let’s make sure this continues to work.” rather than “Let’s change it when it breaks” attitude.
Porsche is very good about being proactive. The best thing is simply to learn to do the basics yourself. Changing the brake fluid ever 2 years, oil changes, the brakes, etc. All that stuff makes it a lot easier, not just because of the cost, but more of the whole aspect of learning how your car works and functions and having that “I did it myself” feeling.
The boxster isn’t too bad for maintenance, but a lot of things are electrical and a big pain if they break. If you take care of it as it is recommended you should be fine.
Porsche doesn’t really hide your intervals for you, they’re pretty open and honest about what WILL need fixed, potential things that may cost more, and the things that are normal. I’ll link you to an official maintenance guide from Porsche below for your maintenance intervals.
Can you stretch the intervals? Oh you bet ya. And the car will go on for a while that way. But should you? Yeah not so much, not if you want to keep the car in excellent condition. That’s really the approach Porsche takes with their cars. Keeping the car excellent, to the quality and intervals that are expected, rather than what /could/ be done.
A few other things to keep in mind:
- The boxster is pretty easy to get parts for. So shipping straight from germany is really only necessary if there is no parts in a warehouse, or if it’s insanely rare to get a part for.
- Belts vary from model to model, some Porsches are every 3 years, some are more, but because most Porsche motors are interference motors, the proactive approach is not only taken, but recommended. A belt is far cheaper than new valves…
- Brakes are high quality, they’ll last a long time. Boxster brakepads will run you around $150 a set (front and back is around $300-400) oil changes aren’t bad if you do it yourself and most boxster intervals on oil are near around 15,000 miles (no joke). So it’s not like you have to change it constantly like most cars.
- Hoses are like most cooling systems, so don’t expect them to last short intervals, they’ll last like any other coolant system. However on many models of Porsches the water pump is changed with the timing belt proactively so you don’t end up having bearings seize, freeze up the belt and cost you a motor.
Other than that, for the most part a Boxster is a pretty good car to own. Lots of aftermarket (plenty of room for more performance) and a good entry level Porsche if it suits your fancy.
If you do buy a used one, make sure the previous owner has very clear maintenance records and it isn’t a bad idea to have the car inspected just to save yourself the headache of any potential hidden things the previous owner doesn’t disclose. Nothing worse than buying a Porsche with hidden problems and hashing out half the value of the car after you bought it.
Overall great cars, reliable. Take care of them, they’ll take care of you right back.
Porsche is the most reliable German brand.
You should never have any problems except the regular maintenance every 100,000 miles like changing belts, timing chain/belt, water pump, and possibly A/C compressor.
And if you close the convertible top the wrong way, you may break it.
But mechanically, it is a very reliable car and very fun to drive.
Just don’t crash it because it will be expensive to fix. And it requires Premium fuel.
Between me and my husband we’ve owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I’ve settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.
I’ll gear this review to 2 types of people: current Zune owners who are considering an upgrade, and people trying to decide between a Zune and an iPod. (There are other players worth considering out there, like the Sony Walkman X, but I hope this gives you enough info to make an informed decision of the Zune vs players other than the iPod line as well.)
The Zune concentrates on being a Portable Media Player. Not a web browser. Not a game machine. Maybe in the future it’ll do even better in those areas, but for now it’s a fantastic way to organize and listen to your music and videos, and is without peer in that regard. The iPod’s strengths are its web browsing and apps. If those sound more compelling, perhaps it is your best choice.
I’ll gear this review to 2 types of people: current Zune owners who are considering an upgrade, and people trying to decide between a Zune and an iPod. (There are other players worth considering out there, like the Sony Walkman X, but I hope this gives you enough info to make an informed decision of the Zune vs players other than the iPod line as well.)
Sorry for the huge review, but I’m really loving the new Zune, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.