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You asked about my deal 02, stickered for $56.5K, paid $42, SP, PSM, cruise. My salesman concurs with yours about break-in. Personally, my intuition agrees with the manual and I am deferring to it.
Speeds2much I am also vigilant and carefully choose moments, like anyone who values his license. BTW, my dealer has an 03 S with your name on it red/gray asking 44.9. You could probably get it for 43.
Jwilson1 "What some fail to realize is that oil leaks are, in a P-car, a no-cost option!" I guess this explains why the manual recommends checking oil with every gas fill. I suppose it’s as forthcoming as a company can be. Funny, the Boxster dipstick reminds me of a catheter with stent. What is it, some 40in. long?
Wantaboxster2 regarding maintenance costs, you are wise to look into it not like me I'll learn as I go along and just pay the piper when necessary. It seems the general consensus is that Boxsters are overpriced. Also, you must pay for routine maintenance, unlike a BMW with which you get 4-yr/50K mi free maintenance. There are other sports cars that offer more "value", but IMO none have the Porsche pedigree in all manner of style and performance. I've been dreaming about one for 30 years now so this is something I really can't put a price tag on. In addition you are very right, this is Porsche bargain time. Last year my salesman told me "Porsche doesn't discount" with that haughty attitude we are all familiar with. Recently he said "I really thought I'd never see this happen." Didn't anyone ever tell him that all things must pass?
Jhammell I'm not up on 04 pricing because it didn't interest me. However, I know you can get an 03 at a really good price $9K or $10K off sticker but not with all of the options you listed leftovers are always a compromise. But if you gotta have it your way, go for it.
Chile96 how are those pizza runs going? Get lost yet? My wife is starting to get it, especially when I reminded her that my mother, sister, her sister and a good friend of her's all drive stick and are ogling this baby. If she doesn't come around, that's OK too... I can live with the guy thing!
______
Well I made it to the mileage millenium. Every day when I climb in and fire it up, it's like a teen-age crush... I don't want to work, don't want to go home just want to drive my butt off. Too bad there's such a thing called reality. Can't wait for that first 60-degree-winter-day anomaly so I can play hooky and lose the top.
Hey, a little anecdote last night on a certain highway entrance I got up to speed quickly and inadvertently overtook a late-model M3 that was loping along. I guess he thought I was spreading testosterone so he got on my tail in a flash. I just pulled over into the right lane, gave him the thumbs-up and "let" him pass. Told myself, boy, you are green-on-the-vine and that's an M3. As Harry Callahan said a man's gotta know his limitations. I suppose this will be happening quite often. No matter, sprints aren't my bag anyway I like curves and as Wolfman Jack used to say—baby, if you got the COYVES, I got da ANGLES!
Only 70 days 'til Spring man, this car rocks and I'm lovin' it!
;-)
Checking the oil is a stitch, ain't it? And when the oil's clean, it seems especially hard. Another Porsche tradition -- on some of the older model boards there are folk who've come up with various tricks to change the clarity of the reading on the dipstick! lol JW
I have driven a 911 at Road Atlanta and know that there is a difference between the 911 and the Boxster. The 911 is an awesome automobile. We want to have a convertible (since we will sell our '94 Saab 900S convertible to make room for the Boxster) but a new 911 convertible is much more money than we want to spend on a new car.
I will keep you posted as to how this turns out.
JH
Good luck. JW
Will there be a coupe?
Will Boxster offer a Hard-Top convertible like Mercedes and Lexus do?
2. So they say. Reality or a guess? Who knows. A coupe has long been requested but Porsche has shown hesitation in developing the Boxster. They have to do something pretty soon because the present model is just sitting on the lots ... some have supposed the coupe may be added to the 986 version but that's wishful thinking.
3. Not even much discussion of this. That format carries lots of extra weight and most Porsche buyers would be reluctant to trade in their performance for that sort of high style. JW
JW - I still have 911 on the brain. I just told my wife the other day that I want to move to NJ, further from NYC so we can get a bigger house. My next vision is a 4-car garage replete with carpentry workshop. That fourth spot would be for say a 89 cab or targa. Make that a five car garage and throw in an E39 M5 or 88 M6. Throw in the divorce papers too. Actually, she's getting a kick out of this "guy thing", so we'll see how far I can push it.
Sorry for the rant, it's either that or newbie drivel.
;-)
20% depreciation on a new car is pretty normal, especially when you're in a new model year. JW
Wait till you see what your beemer depreciates in a year. Hope you test drove it, BEFORE you bought it...this time.
I was curious so I priced out a couple of BMWs -- 330i -- here at Edmund's, an '04 at TMV and an 03 with 7000 miles at the TMV dealer trade in. YMMV of course, since I live in NE and have no idea what you bought.
04 MSRP, well-equipped, $46900; TMV about $44500.
03 w/same equip and 7000 miles, trade in for $28900 approx.
This shows a depreciation of about 1/3. I don't think I made a mistake; if I did, apologies. My point is, depreciation is big time: the less time, the bigger the hit. Unless you buy a very special, high demand limited supply car, you get killed ... when the Boxster first came out, e.g., you could sell it for more than MSRP for months; same with S2000 and with 350Z; the new Bimmer 3 next year will have good resale for a year, but yours (on an 04) will drop like a rock. It's just supply/demand, nothing to do with the quality of a car. Unless of course it's a used Yugo. LOL. JW
Regarding the Bose stereo, you might consider yourself lucky. It's not the greatest of stereos, really, and I hear a lot of complaints about it from Porsche owners. Have you ever visited a Tweeters in the Philly area? You might want to install an Alpine at some point.
I can't believe anyone has ever added PSM aftermarket. Just not feasible. Get winter snow tires if it's a daily driver.
For a couple of hundred dollars you can get rear speakers that fit in the storage unit and work well. Not Bose, but a lot less expensive, and I to, have heard lots of complaints about the Bose. Who would want to drown out the sweet purr on the engine, anyway?
Does anyone have an objection to dropping the "S" from this Boxster topic? Seems like we're excluding the 60% of non "S" Boxster owners. If OK, can Mr. Shiftright accomodate this request?
As mentioned, my car has the Bose stereo and it has its strengths and weaknesses. When standing still, or driving slowly, the bass is super boomy. It can actually be almost painfully boomy. It's not terribly good with general FM radio, either - too boomy, not enough detail, poor reception. But after tinkering with it awhile - playing with the bass, treble, fader, balance - I found several settings that work very well. The stereo saves different configurations for both FM and CD, which is nice. And it's actually quite good with CDs. I've found a few CDs that, after finding the sweet spot in the settings, sound absolutely awesome. All in all, I'm happy I got the Bose because I hear the base stereo is complete crap and I'm a bit of an audiophile. Is it worth $1800 (which does include the wind deflector)? Depends on how much music matters to you. With that said, unless I'm on the highway cruising, I don't typically have the radio on anyway - the sound of the engine is just too sweet to drown out.
Good luck!
One thing I did hear often was that I don't need PSM (even in a regular Boxster), the sport chassis is too rigid for the street and only suitable for the track and that the sport seats are not comfortable. I heard this especially when their '03 units in stock lacked these items. Perhaps the most interesting was the salesperson trying to tell me that I could only really see the difference with the xenon's when the high beams were being used rather than the low beams.
Does anyone have any experience with PSM, sport chassis and sport seats ?
Thx,
JH
GOOD IDEA in my opinion.
BTW congrats to all new owners.
Boxster ROCKS!
;-)
1) I wouldn't own a car without xenon. Upgrading my 964 with aftermarket litronic kit.
2) PSM is brilliant. In ordinary driving it is invisible. It will even let you mess around a bit, unlike the very conservative, liability-driven units from most mfgrs. But if you truly start to lose it, it will catch the car and haul you back. For a street car, and beginners on track, it's terrific.
3) Is sport chassis rigid. Well, it's a sports car. Do you enjoy a firm ride or prefer a softer cruise? Subjective judgment, unless you plan to track or autoX .... then it, or an aftermarket setup is pretty useful. (This is one of my aggravations ... Porsche never asked traditionally. You got the race car chassis with the base model. But they figured out a way to add yet another option. Reminds me of years ago when GM tried to charge extra for a spare tire.)
4) Sport seat comfort. Depends on how you're built. A wide beam will squeeze, perhaps way too much. But if you're narrow-hipped you'll find great comfort. I'm 6'2", 200# and the seats are fine -- I have trouble with leg room in the Boxster, but the seats are all good.
Are you going to cruise about town or do you plan to drive more athletically? And I agree with you that salesmen will tell you whatever they need to to get you to settle for what they've got. You were thinking about an order originally; that may be best, or perhaps a search for a good used one? JW
I will keep everyone posted.
JH
Okay, corrected!
I'm excited that there is more activity on this board. I bought my 2000 from my father just over a year ago. He rarely drove it, had 12,000 miles when I bought it, about 16,500 now (I have a short commute). It has a lot of options, MSRP was $60 k new (which he paid, since it was before the discounts) - not even an "S" as they were tough to get then. Paying pretty close to retail to the old man, I got it for 57% of that. I figure I've lost about $7 - $8 k since I bought it, based on Ebay. Speed Yellow, black interior, full leather, looks very nice. I absolutely love it and have not had any problems (nor did my father). Cheaper than a girlfriend (I'm married), shrink (I have a pretty stressful job) or divorce lawyer (I take a drive if we start to argue and return happy). I enjoy every ride to work and every ride home, don't underestimate the value of spoiling yourselves, really! Someday I hope to get a 4S (my true dream car) but am very content until then. Best to all! Adam
I'm interested in hearing about your radar. I've been putting it off but I really have to get to it. Did you install it yourself? I know nothing about it but the service manager at my dealer recommended the K40 or Valentine. He said they cost about a grand. I read a little about them in the radar thread but I have to start educating myself in this area. Needed it for every car I ever owned even the ones that did 0-60 in 14 seconds, but somehow now with the Boxster I'm hearing a voice every day that says... stop your lollygagging... get that friggin' radar!
Regarding PSM. Last night I took a curve aggressively and fishtailed a bit. The car seemed to correct itself rather effortlessly. You could really feel the balance of the mid-engine design, but I'm wondering was this the PSM at work here? If so, I am never going to turn it off. Something happened that really felt good AND SAFE!
I'm not going to get into the radar detector debate -- it's not something that people will change their minds about -- sort of like which car polish to use. Suffice it to say that the stealth unit costs an extra $39 and there is a DIY on P-car.com which will help install the readout in the tach of a Boxster if you like that idea. JW
Sorry, I can't answer re: the warranty on a Boxster, but if it's due to a mfg. defect Porsche sometimes covers for people even after the warranty ends. JW
So this is tricky and needs to be well researched, well-communicated and well planned through each step.
Thx,
JH