quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
but I'll settle for a 959 Sport.

LOL.

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
... but I'll settle for a 959 Sport.

You know that they are now old enough to be imported without getting the Federal Import Exemptions

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:
If you want to do oil changes and tire rotations, get a Honda S2000.

Staggered fitment and unidirectional tires aren't easy to rotate. My wife was getting 7,000 miles out of the rear tires. If you want to rotate tire, I'll suggest a Ford Focus ST. I got 9,600 miles out of the fronts while the rears look like new. I'm thinking 5,000 miles might be to long to wait to rotate. I'm gonna do it every 3,000 and see how it goes.

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmepiphany:

quote:

Originally posted by DonDraper:
... but I'll settle for a 959 Sport.

You know that they are now old enough to be imported without getting the Federal Import Exemptions

Yep I had high hopes for this wrecked Komfort model recently - but it still went for $467,500:
https://www.roadandtrack.com/c...ak-trailer-accident/

Oh how I pity the the poor souls who bought a German car thinking it was just like the Toyota Corolla they had, only to be crushed under the weight of $100 oil changes and $1k brake jobs.

quote:

Porsche boxters and caymans

Which?
IMO caymans are cool.
But, yeah... expensive to maintain.
But... unless it's a daily driver, why not?

Craigslist is not the place to be shopping for cars. You may get lucky, but most are other people's headaches that they are looking to unload.

They are foreign cars. They are expensive. They are fun. There are good mechanics and shops out there. Do your homework. If you aren't sure, have a mechanic check it over before you purchase.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
I’ll just drop this here...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b4NX5CWWCAs

Not a bad option, but lets not act like getting an STI to push 8xx HP/42 lb of boost won't cost money or generally be a pain in the dick to maintain.

I’ll admit it’s at the upper end of possibilities, but a 400 horse STI is easily attained with nowhere the investment and maintenance headaches of a Porsche. And 400 ponies in such a small vehicle is pretty impressive.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
Oh how I pity the the poor souls who bought a German car thinking it was just like the Toyota Corolla they had, only to be crushed under the weight of $100 oil changes and $1k brake jobs.

Lol Id love my oil changes to only cost 100$...and I drive a Camaro...not frequently tho ...

In 1988 or '89 I bought a 1977 Mercedes 300CD, the coupe diesel, for $3,000. Miraculously, I sold this tank 7,000 miles and one year later for the dame $3,000/ What a beautifully-engineered car!

Next I looked at Porsches. A local aristocrat had a late '70s or '80s something-model Porsche for $3,000 for sale. It was the one with a rubber spoiler across the back, I think, above a strip of visible glass from the hatch. We took it for a spin. Every so often it made a noise like we were running over a twig.The guy knew that I knew there was something amiss but he acted like we has merely run over a small branch in the roadway.

So I could have been wowed by its immaculate interior, smooth engine, and pedigree, spent the money, and had a nice ride for a month or thirty, and sold/given the vehicle away. I ended up getting a motorcycle ...

A friend has an old yellow 912; I went in a ride with him once, and even then we were plagued by electrical issues. Fiddling with wires en route to complete our drive is not my idea of a fun car.

If you want a Porsche, get a Porsche. But maybe join a club first, attend a few dozen Porsche meets, put up a chart of their designs, home in on a model you prefer, and start researching known issues.

A rich man once told me that the hardest thing in life is knowing what you want to do. You figure that out, then figure out a way to do it with the money you have.

My wife owns a 2003 Porsche Boxster ......

60,000 mile check up and oil change cost $800.

Get out the owners manual and check out how to get to the top of the engine.... once you see this you'll realize why it needs a Porsche mechanic to work on it... the good news is they usually don't need a lot of work until they are shot.

On my wife's the funniest part is they actually wrote in the owner's manual that you should not exceed 152mph....

I had a variety of Porsches for the past 15 years or so from a very affordable 944 to a 911 Cup car.

As has been said above Porsche's are generally very dependable but like ALL manufacturers they have their quirks. The key to buying a good used Porsche is knowing the particular model's quirks and having a documented maintenance history on the car. Also get a PPI (pre-purchase inspection) done by a good independent Porsche shop.

Depending on your budget let me suggest a couple of lower priced Porsche's that will put a smile on your face and should not break the bank (this assumes this is not a daily driver).

Late model years 944's, particularly the S2's with the normally aspirated 3L engine. Stay away from the turbo's as most of them have been driven hard and put up wet..

986 Boxsters (preferably 2003 onward). The issue here is the over emphasized IMS failure. While there have been some cars that have this issue and if it happens you loose your engine, there are fixes for it. Try to find the "S" version which has more performance goodies than the standard Boxsters or Cayman. I will say that the mid engine Boxsters/Caymans are the best handling Street Porsche made... the handling is phenomenal!

On the other end of the spectrum is a Cup car (not street legal) ...running cost is about $1-2000 per hour...

You can find enthusiasts and good deals on Craigslist. Just because it’s a Porsche and craigslist doesn’t mean it’s all junk. I found an excellent two stroke motorcycle mechanic and vintage bike dealer because of craigslist. My friend has found countless BMW parts dealers and mechanics via craigslist.

Much like the OP I discovered preowned Porsche Boxsters have become QUITE affordable. A used Boxster or S2000 SP1 is on my radar.

Had a coworker purchase some ratted out Porsche.
I warned him to treat it like he didn't want to have it repaired, but he thought he was some fast and furious star in a stupid movie.

The POS spun the intermediate shaft bearing and roached the engine within a week.

He wanted to know it I could "fix" it cheap. LOL

Do your research, find the right car, find a good trustworthy shop, find the good sources for OEM and equivalent parts, find good affinity groups or forums with extensive knowledge base, be willing to learn how cars work, and be prepared to buy some tools and do some things yourself, then have fun.

The right German car doesn't have to be crazy expensive to maintain. I just had the front brake pads and rotors replaced with quality parts I supplied by my local shop for $332 all in on my wife's 3 series convertible. Not a Porsche, but you get the idea.

Buying the wrong car without knowing your way around is like buying a Tiger. You thought buying the Tiger was expensive until you started feeding it 40 lbs of red meat every day.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jigray3,

I’m going to add my vote that older Porsche’s can be a headache on specific models. I have looked into one here and there and always end up closing the web browser.

I love Porsches, but everything about them will cost three times as much to fix as on a Toyota or other more 'normal' car.

If you want a 'reasonable' fun German car consider the Volkswagon GTI. Turbocharged four cylinder econobox looking little hotrod. They're a hoot to drive.

Being a Born Again Cynic There's a reason why they're on Craigslist.

I want to add that no matter what vehicle you purchase has its quirks, regardless of where you purchase it from. I have been doing the same searching as you, on Craigslist. I have run into a lot of overpriced junk that is why I wrote what I did in my original post. Location is key as to what you may find. Being close to Philly, I am finding garbage.

Are you looking for a daily driver or a sunny day cruising Porsche? As a daily driver, you will see higher maintenance costs per year of ownership than a pleasure car. In the end, you will have the same costs, only spread out over time. If you have any experience with diesel trucks, the oil changes are not cheap. My truck takes 15 quarts of oil, so 9 quarts for a Porsche is not that much different.

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/porsche/

I recommend these manuals for some do it yourself repairs. The one I have for a VW Jetta we had saved me hundreds even thousands of dollars in repairs by not having to take it to a shop for some of the repairs. Google also helps as most people have had the same issues and repairs that you may encounter.

Depending on the years/models you are looking at will determine issues. The 996 has the dreaded IMS issue. But if you find a turbo, they use a different motor and you don't have to worry about it. Boxsters of the same years have the same issue.

The older air cooled are over 20 years old. There will be repairs needed sooner or later. Do you know of a 20 year old car that doesn't? If the previous owner took care of these issues, the car will not be cheap to begin with. Keep in mind that parts are imported and can be expensive. Higher up, someone posted about a 959. The clutch plate alone is $17,000 for that car and needs to be imported from Germany with a few months long wait to get here. I don't know what the total cost for that clutch job was, but it isn't a common car here in the states, so no one has parts here for it. A 964, 993, 996, Boxster will have a better chance of the parts being here already, so down time will be less.

Lastly. Make sure you inspect what ever you buy. If you want a project car, that is one thing. If you want a turn key car, have it checked over as well as it can. If the person doesn't want to let you take it to your mechanic, walk away.

25-30 years ago I remember watching someone pay $19 for an oil filter for a Porsche. (when most were $2-$4) I can't imagine it's gotten any better.

In the early 90's I did lots of work for two friends cars... an '84 944 and and '83 922?? (IIRC). Some of it was straight forward auto repair. But some of it was the dumbest, over engineered nonsense I've ever seen. ("Why would you go through all that time, effort and expense to design and build this part this way, unnessisarily complicated, so it's different (and a worse idea) from 98% of the engines in the world!!??" (in the firearms world the term is "terminally teutonic"))

Now granted, the 944 had all sorts of minor age related quirks that were easily repaired by me, and I probably close to doubled the value of that car. In theory anyway. There were other large repairs that ate him up. Even with the added value, when he sold it I think it was at a loss.

The 922 eventually ended up being a basket case with a blow engine, it went to the junk yard.


I'd only consider it if you have he money to spend/lose and it will be a hobby car/project.