Prairiedawg

Looking for a Nice well spec'd Boxster or Cayman S. I love my 997 but am smitten with the 981 look and platform. I'm cross posting from the marketplace thread here:

https://rennlist.com/forums/market/1244538

If you have a well sorted car with PDK, SC, PASM,18 way Sport seats, and Sports Exhaust and are looking to sell or know of one, please pass it along. I will also entertain the right Boxster GTS as well. Please do not contact me unless you are looking to sell. I'm not interested in "thinking about selling", which so far means "looking to cash out in this overinflated market".

Thanks everyone

Sub

You're describing my car! I will keep an eye out for ya.

Prairiedawg

Thank you. I'm not too picky on the color but we all know it's the option that make the cars. I waited it out and found my perfect 997 but now have another itch to scratch. It would be hard take anything less.

Sub

Someone on here said to just wait till you find the perfect one with all the options and jump on it, and its good advice I'm glad I heeded, but with a couple nuances..

You definitely don't need chrono, or pasm or 20" wheels or whatever it is, but they are really nice to have. They each enhance the experience a bit but if I found car with everything I wanted and it was missing one option, I'd probably just jump on it. For me the most important thing was low mileage because I didn't want to deal with a large service or issues buying so far out of warranty. I'm most happy I found a 12K mile 981s, which is pretty rare, but the pasm is really nice if the roads near you are decent. I didn't think I'd appreciate PASM as much as I do; it wasn't even on my list, but its a good addition for sure. The sc is nice for the clock and when you want the car to be a bit more raw (and annoying honestly), it'll also help resale if that matters, but in a pdk car its holding the revs so high on the straights and bumping you into gear semi violently, its not really a benefit on the street. There is a little bit of bragging rights associated with SC, and its always nice to have a button that changes the characteristic of the car, even if its use is limited. So you know where I'm coming from, I have attended maybe a hundred club racing events, and was class champion SSU when I retired (had kids and no longer wanted the risk), so I get the whole track and driving experience thing. If my 981 was going on track (it wont), I maybe would have bumped the need for SC a bit more.

Sport exhaust was right up top of my needs because I heard it on a 911 and wanted the car to have as much character as possible, but after I've had it a while, I am not sure it would be anymore. It drones like mother top-up on the highway, which is ridiculous on a car of this caliber, and I crap you not, I can not tell a difference from the driver's seat whether its on or off, roof open or closed. I thought it was broken initially, but got under the car to make sure the valves were operating (A common fault). They were, and I was so bummed. Outside of the car you can tell a decent difference, for example if the car drives by you under load, but from the driver's position, its 80% less of a difference than my m3, or my zl1 was. Its a very very very slight change from the cabin position. If I were to do it over, I'd not worry about it and then just do the stock exhaust mod, or find out which aftermarket drones the least. I am planning on doing some symposer type mod in the future. I would like to have a bit more intake or engine noise in the cabin. The intake noise when the window is open is quite nice to hear.

Other totally random ramblings, [feel free to skip]: Consider 20" wheels also, the lower sideway will flex less, and give the car some more reaction to steering inputs, and they do set the visual look of the car off right, and makes it look more special. I love the look of the rear wing when its up, but its annoying to keep hitting the button, I wish its setting memory was persistent. I was really into the SD steering wheel before my purchase as everyone raves about it, but after a few weeks of ownership, I have no desire for paddles (I have a 440i with them so my muscle memory took 500 miles of adjustment). I may actually try and find a heated wheel later (not available on SD), that would be nice to have for season transitions. Heated seats are great. Vented seems to work well, but I have them in my zl1 and never really use them. At 6' with the sports plus seats, I'm approaching cramped. I'd love another 2" for the seat back recline, but head room and overall seating position and comfort is fine. Wide folks may not like the top of the sport plus seats. Opening the top while moving is cool and really useful. Opening the top from the key was something I was looking forward to, but that's only on Europe spec cars, and I know I can buy a $400 module to do it, but that sucked. I also cant figure out the neutral thing with the double paddle pull. I think that's an internet myth, but not sure why I'd need it anyway. Initial corner turn in is not as good/responsive/rewarding/falling in as I hoped or as good as your 997 (or 991.1), but I'm adding a rear sway bar and support for $400, and that should help like it did on my Mini. Its not a big deal, just a near miss I thought would be better. Mid corner stability, feedback and exit feel is really great and trumps the 911 IMO. I found out I like mid engine cars! My mini sort of pulls you through the corner (FWD), my 440 sort of messily wallows and flips from under to oversteer (AWD), my zl1 dives into corners and satisfyingly turns with power (RWD) and the 981 just sort of pivots like there is an anchor in the middle, very little drama but still rewarding somehow. The electronic steering issue is not an issue, reviewers are digging deep on that one, no one I know could perceive its not mechanically hooked up, although now I think about it, perhaps this is a contributing factor to the loss of initial turn in feel I mentioned. 45degF is my limit for top down comfort with heaters blasting, not bad. I cant really tell what the wind deflector does, so I removed it because it limits rear view quite a bit - there is a pricey, easy to scratch, plexi clear option available there as a solution. I love the key and the different racing covers you can put on them cheaply, although I don't think I'll ever get used to inserting it left of the column. There is a strange "I get it" feeling knowing exactly where the front wheels are when cornering. Usually in my cars I'd have to learn where they are by running over tire strips or something. That's kind of cool. I like owning a Porsche and looking down at that little leather Porsche crest on my keychain, it sort of checks the caraholic enthusiast box, even if its not a 911. The interior is largely the same as far as I can tell, so the experience in the cockpit is identical for me. The buttons and whatnot are much improved over the previous gens. I feel a bit of a tart in it though, so if I want to look cool to 20 yr olds at a driving meet, I'll bring my zl1, and if I want to impress the ladies, I'll grab the Mini convertible (girls rubber neck that car like you wouldn't believe!!). I'm not sure who I look cool to with a Boxster, I don't think anyone, but its not why I bought it! OK, now I'm really rambling.

Good luck on your search. The 981 really is a great little car. I'm not sure its worth the original cost of entry, there are a lot of amazing cars under $80K, but a well looked after used one in the $40's is a sports car bargain.

Prairiedawg

Great, well reasoned information. Thank you.

gearFX

Not sure if you're in the market for a GTS, but mine may suit your needs. Just listed it in the marketplace.

thedude abides

Have you driven a 981 S with sport (X73) suspension and compared to PASM? I've driven cars with both and I MUCH prefer the X73. So much so that it was a requirement--which is why it's on my current 981 S!

Good luck with your hunt!

forestial

With that particular set of options, you should also keep the GTS in your search parameters. All those items are standard in a GTS (at least with a Cayman, I'm less familiar with Boxsters). But they are a significant premium over the S.

Prairiedawg

The GTS is exactly what I'm looking for but out of my price range. At this point I'd rather pay less and wait until the right car comes around and jump on it. I'm trying not to be too picky with colors or options and stick with what I feel is important. I want this to be my fun car that I can put the miles on but spec it the way I like. I looked for almost 2 years for my 997. I don't want to wait that long but by the middle of summer would be nice.
Yes, I definitely wouldn't exclude the X73 option. Seems few and far between though. I really only see it on the GTS '.

CarAholic

Pretty much describing my car. It's a tough search for sure but you will end up finding the one. Don't lose hope

Prairiedawg

Still looking

cyran

I’ve seen two “GTS-lite” Boxster S cars pop up for sale in the last two months and surely there will be more. Seem to be high 40s/low 50s. Keep on truckin’.

thedude abides

Also, don’t neglect Craigslist! That’s where I found my current 981 BS. You’ll find it!

Sub

close..
https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-fo...id=autotempest

Prairiedawg

Nice spec. Little higher miles than I'm looking for though. I want to find something under 30k miles, preferably under 20k but options and condition (and price) trump all. I want a PASM car so I can put a DSC module in it. I think? I have one in my 997 and I love it. One of the problems I'm having is being able to test drive cars and know exactly what I want. There's so few available to compare and I'm in a major market (Chicago). Obviously for a PDK car SC is a must and for me PSE is a must. My other two, PASM and 14-18 way seats are required also.

Big problem now in the market is the stop sale- no Sport Chrono PDK cars at Porsche dealers. Ideally I would find a CPO car with 20k miles on it with my options and buy it on the spot. There's one close to that by me but missing the sport exhaust but not for available due to the stop sale. It's black (I swore I'd never own another black car) and doesn't have PSE but I bet I could work in some kind of negotiation for it but's all moot, it's just sitting there on the back lot. I wonder how many other cars are waiting out there or are P dealers working the system and moving them around to sister dealerships under other brands? Strangely enough, there seems to be many 6 speed cars for sale whether SC cars or not, ( I don't believe manual SC cars are affected by the stop sale anymore). My wife is demanding a PDK car so she can drive it and that's fine, she won't drive my 6 speed GTS and she tolerates me so I have to throw her a bone every once and a while.