1996–2004 Porsche Boxster or Boxster S?

Hello, I bought the 2.7 Boxster last year. It is the base Boxster made from 2000 and up.

The reason I chose the Base 2.7 is because of reliability and price. The 96-99 Boxster had the 2.5 Liter 201HP engine. It was fun to drive and felt fast, but it was actually slow. They also had some problems since it was Porsche's first watercooled engines. In 2000, they fixed most of the problems and greatly improved performance. The hp jump was only 16HP, but the car accelerated much quicker and has a much better top speed.

Now, the 3.2 Liter Boxster S is much faster than the 2.7 Base, but I have heard of them having more problems than the 2.7. So the S will be more expensive to own in maintenance, repairs, and insurance. The downside to the 2.7 is that, to make a 2.7 as powerful and as fast as a Boxster S will cost up to $6000 in performance parts when you can get a Boxster S for only around the same price or a bit more expensive.

They are fun and amazing sports cars. Fatality and crash rates are low because the car was sold in small numbers. But it is a relatively safe car with traction control and a well designed chassis for more stiffness that helps in handling and safety. With a low center of gravity and a 50/50 weight distribution, these cars are nearly impossible to flip over if you lose control.

Common problems: IMS, RMS, and AOS. I would say this happens with 50% of Boxsters. It can happen at anytime at any mileage without warning. The way to check if you have that problem if to look at the oil filer. If there are metal shards in the filter, then your IMS is bad and needs to be replaced right away before it permanently damages the engine. The only preventative maintenance is to change oil more often around 4000-5000 miles instead of Porsche's recommended 10,000-15,000 miles. There is also an IMS upgrade sold by LN engineering. The IMS repair or upgrade will run you about $2000 because it requires 12 hours of labor and many Porsche dealers charge $130+ hourly labor. Parts are cheap for Porsche. It is the labor that will kill you. The RMS is just a seal, $15 for new seal, a couple hundred for labor. If you have an oil leak, it might be the RMS. If the oil filter has clear plastic shards in it, that is your indication that the RMS will need to be replaced soon. Many people do it at the same time as clutch change because it is cheaper. Lastly, the AOS- if the Boxster blows white smoke out of exhaust even after the engine warmed up, you need a new AOS. Easy to replace yourself and will run you about $350 in parts. AOS is air/oil separator.

Luckly, I have not had any of these problems. I did have an idle problem when I bought the car, but I just cleaned the thottle body myself and it fixed the problem. Since they are old, if you get a rough idle, then you need to clean the dirty throttle body or MAF sensor electric parts spray cleaner. It could also mean a vacuum leak because the rubber hoses are a decade+ old and are starting to crack.

Feel free to email me for more information on Boxsters. Save the sources I provided for more information.