lolayay

I am debating with myself, whether to keep using my 2002 Boxster S as a daily driver (daily commute is 100 miles: highway and stop-n-go city), or to get a Mazda 3. I will keep my Boxster S whether or not I get the Mazda. It will be either a single car (if I don't get a Mazda) or two car solution.

My Boxster S has ~90K on it right now. I imagine it to add another 30K in a year!!! Is it gonna be too much pain/too expensive to maintain over 100K? The car had a new clutch about 10K ago, new coolant/radiator 5K ago. I know tire and brake changes are inescapable.

I've tested drive many many cars and Mazda 3 is the only car I can barely live with given it's performance/price ratio. For example, BMW 328i perform better than Mazda 3. But its incremental merit doesn't justify its price tag compared to Mazda 3.

Please help!! to use the current car or to get an okay daily?

David A

Keep the Boxster, it will give you more driving pleasure than a Mazda. Just stay on top of your services. belts, oils....

00r101

Buy the Mazda. With 90K and your long commute the Box is likely to need some major repair in the next year. You will probably need another car at that point. Also, don't you occasionally need more space to carry things in your car?

SKM

I'd keep the Boxster as the daily driver. At 90K miles, its value has already diminished. Buying the Mazda 3 represents a significant outlay of cash to preserve a Boxster with a relatively low value.

Tierce

I have a 2000 S that serves as my only car. I currently have 130k on it, and it gets about 30k per year.

I haven't had any major problems. I've owned it since 60k and haven't replaced the clutch or anything major. It has a minor oil leak or two, but I keep the level up, at least until I can get the leak repaired.

My advice is keep the boxster and enjoy it. These cars weren't built to sit in a garage.

Macster

in upkeep for the S. There's two cars to service, insure, register and it seems -- I have two cars: Boxster and GTO; either one or the other needs service.

And guess which one gets the most use? The Boxster.

I've put over 214,000 miles on my '02 Boxster. Drive it 60 miles a day commuting and still take it half way cross country when I get the time off.

Been some items that needed attention: AOS (on its second), some O2 sensors (did it myself), water pump (dealer), brake light, clutch interlock switches, oil filler tube and coolant caps (leaked). One converter worn out and I'll replace it soon. But car still on original clutch.

I change oil/filter (myself) every 5000 miles and change engine and cabin air filters every 15000 or so. Tranny/diff fluid change every 90,000 but it should be more frequent than that. Coolant needs to be changed once every couple of years which I've had done twice now along with brake fluid several times, both of which I've let dealer do. I give car an aligment every full set of tires if old tire wear uneven.

I figure with as many miles as I have on car it has little resale value or trade in value and car is thus worth more to me to keep driving as long as it runs good and is reliable. Still runs great, oil consumption up to not quite 1/2qt every 5000 miles and rest of car's systems work just fine.

If one has to drive to/from work every day what better car to do it in than a Boxster?

Sincerely,

Macster.

mjet

Keep it and buy a slightly used Mazda 3. Use the Mazda on bad weather days.... I've seen 2006 Mazda 3's as low as 10-12k.

Doug&Julie

Macster...great stuff!

lolayay

Macster you are good! Thanks for all your reply!

It seems Boxster is a "reliable" car for people who are good at car mechanics. The best I can do for car mechanics is changing wheels (friends already worship me for that ;-)) which is not enough to take care of a 100K car. My fear is big items like engine blow-up or even RMS (labor costs thousands of dollars). If big item happens in the future (RMS/radiator/etc happened before when the car had more value), I don't know whether to fix it or ditch the car.

I forget to mention, I also use the Boxster for AXs. Poor baby, it has to take endurance daily and high-intensity driving event.

Thinking thinking...

TRINITONY

? Is it the original engine? Tks..

Macster

for a daily driver. Many owners drive their Boxster for many miles and never do any work on the car themselves.

I do some of the work on my Boxste and other car because I can, on my schedule, and save a bit of money, and have some enjoyment from workingn on the cars, but one doesn't have to do any of the work if he doesn't want to.

Any car you chose to drive is going to require some frequency of servicing so you don't escape that cost. You might pick a car that gets more miles on a set of tires or gets slightly better gas mileage or costs a bit less to service but unlikely you can find a car that does all the above and delivers half the enjoyment the Boxster does.

The Boxster is one of the best cars ever made, ever.

Biggest risk is engine failure. What risk the car has to experiencing this no one can say.

I believe that it is a mistake -- though an understanable one -- to buy one of these cars and keep the miles low.

What this does it almost ensure any serious problem that is going to happen will happen after warranty has expired. Problems almost always arise from miles driven, not time, so a car spending most of its time idle/unused will of course not develop any problems and remain trouble free as long as it's not used. I can't afford a car I can't drive use, as much as I need and when I need to use it.

If a complete engine failure and the cost to fix and put the car back on the street is a show stopper for you then you need to tailor your purchase.

Buy a Boxster with a good extended warranty (service contract) though this will at some point expire and you're faced with the risk again.

Or skip a Boxster and buy another brand of car, one that in some way you can determine is less prone to serious troubles outside of its warranty coverage and within whatever budget you feel is acceptable to you to fix should it need expensive work.

Or buy the Boxster, give it reasonable service, drive it a lot and like I have enjoy car for over 200,000 miles with another 200,000 miles not out of the question.

And should the engine blow up tomorrow, in my car's case, I'd likely replace the engine with one sourced from factory and installed by dealer. Still cheaper than being stuck with a used non running Boxster I'd have to give away to get rid of it and have to spend way more than what it would cost to fix to replace with another car.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Macster

car I've ever owned.

Funny what wear items appear after so many miles. Not engine (thank God) or clutch even, but brake light switch, clutch interlock switch, oil filler tube cap or coolant cap, both of which developed a leak.

Sincerely,

Macster.

TRINITONY

Tks, so here you have a high mileage one on the original engine, and you have others blowing 2 engines with less 100k miles. Good to know that there're high mileage ones still purring.. ....

perfectlap

I wouldn't use it as a daily driver. Unless you drive some very picturesque roads where it heightens the experience to be in the benchmark roadster.
I spent a couple of hours yesterday detailing the BoxsterS (lots of snow and salt recently) and I had a new neighbohr who actually thought it was a new car. I had to explain it was nearly 9 years old. I thought it noteworthy not because the car is well preserved but because the styling is still modern. A nearly 17 year old design rarely does that. I'm going to find a 996 C4, Turbo or C4S for winter driving and keep the Boxster looking fresh for another 30 years. If the engine blows up I'll just plunk down the cash for another 100K miles or whatever.

Get yourself an S2000 for the daily driver. Vtech is the way to go. You can get them for nothing but act quick before the track junkies do. They just pulled the plug on it.

originalmotorhead

Buy a civic that gets 35 - 45 mpg and drive the crap out of it to work and save the Boxster for the weekends. (the boxster will stay cleaner that way!)

The honda will make it to 200k(and then some) no questions about it, but the boxster and high mileage is an iffy gamble.

For as many people out there with 100k on their boxsters, there are as many that had the motor go ka-blam with under 100k miles on the odo. 100 miles a day commute would be a waste of a sports car unless it was twisty backroads.

I have a 50 mile round trip and traffic sucks. I gave up my scion xb over a year ago and I drive my boxster every day, but mostly because i hated to let the boxster rot by sitting in the garage. I rack up the miles half as fast as you but your climate may be better for a car vs the nice salt and crap they throw down in ohio. I have winter tires on mine right now and have been playing in the snow for two weeks.

Bottom line, do what you think is best for your wallet. An extra 5grand for a cheepo older civic and extra 150 a year for liability insurance on it or what does it cost for repairs on the boxster?

my 2 cents. best of luck making your decision.

Tom