stumpjumper

editing in: (I didn't read the stats correctly, sorry)

are we really to believe that some people out there have made 15 visits per year for their 2002 boxsters?

I wouldn't consider myself lucky but I haven't even made 15, let alone 15 per year, and I've needed an rms, wheel bearing, primary cats, clutch booster spring, and a lower control arm in 65k miles over 8 years.

I find it absolutely impossible that there are enough people out there with more than 15 visits per year to average out my apparent "luck" especially when I have more miles on my car than most...

mkaresh

It sounds like you're dividing the stats by 10 rather than by 100.

The updated stat of 120 per 100 cars works out to 1.2 per car, not 15. Is 1.2 more believable?

stumpjumper

well if that's the case I apologize profusely, I read it as 120/car then did that by 8 years

mkaresh

Actually, thank you for the original post now that you've clarified it. It's very helpful to learn how people tend to misread what I post.

The stats are per 100 cars for the past year only, not since purchase.

stumpjumper

in that case 1.2/car on average seems completely reasonable, and I'll reiterate my apology

mkaresh

Updated stats in the next day or two. More participants remain needed to fully include all model years.

Help get your year fully included:

Car reliability research

mkaresh

We have updated reliability stats for the Boxster and Cayman that include owner experiences through June 30, 2010. Other sources of car reliability information won't cover the more recent months until the summer or even fall of next year.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2008: 36, better than average

2006: 47, better than average

2005: 49, better than average

2004: 67, about average, small sample size

2003: 94, about average, small sample size

2002: 118, about average

2001: 115, about average

2000: 92, better than average

1999: 117, about average

Important note: these cars are only driven an average of 5,500 miles a year, about half as much as the average car. No adjustment has been made for this.

Very consistent results from year to year. The result for the 2000 might be a bit lower than it should be, judging from the results for other model years.

I'd like to report specifically on the IMS failure rate, but we will need more participants to do this. So far, with 180 986s participating for an average of about six months, only four IMS failures have been reported, two of them over a year ago.

Thank you, once again, to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates, possibly including additional model years depending on the number of participants, in November and February.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help:

Porsche Boxster reliability comparisons

mkaresh

We have updated reliability stats for the Boxster that include owner experiences through September 30, 2010. Other sources of car reliability information won't cover the months since April until the summer or even fall of next year.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2004: 71, about average, small sample size

2003: 55, better than average

2002: 92, about average

2001: 98, better than average

2000: 69, better than average

1999: 156, worse than average, small sample size

Important note: these cars are only driven an average of 5,500 miles a year, about half as much as the average car. No adjustment has been made for this.

I'd like to report specifically on the IMS failure rate, but we will need more participants to do this. A few more failures have been reported recently, but still about two to three per 100 cars in the past year.

Thank you, once again, to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates, possibly including additional model years depending on the number of participants, in February and May.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help:

Porsche Boxster reliability ratings and comparisons

smshirk

Michael, Are you attempting to identify IMS upgrades on Boxsters, and then ongoing failure rates VS those not upgraded?

mkaresh

I'm not attempting to do this. Given the small number of reported failures, it would require a far larger sample size.

mkaresh

We have updated reliability stats for the Boxster and Cayman that include owner experiences through December 31, 2010. Other sources of car reliability information won't cover the months since April until the summer or even fall of this year.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2004: 88, about average, small sample size

2003: 58, better than average

2002: 124, about average

2001: 104, about average

2000: 90, better than average

1999: 106, about average, small sample size

Important note: these cars are only driven an average of 5,500 miles a year, about half as much as the average car. No adjustment has been made for this.

Six IMS failures were reported for the 2010 calendar year, most of them for 2004-2005 model year cars (with the 2005 being a 987 rather than a 986). Some of these failures might have occurred before the car was enrolled, in which case they would not be included in the above stats. So this count might err on the high side. The total sample size for 1999-2005 is 220 cars. No IMS failures have been reported for cars 2006 and newer.

Thank you, once again, to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates, possibly including additional model years depending on the number of participants, in May and August.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help:

Porsche Boxster reliability ratings and comparisons

cretinx

all 4 of my cars are on truedelta.

mkaresh

We have updated reliability stats for the Boxster and Cayman that include owner experiences through March 31, 2011.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2004: 62, better than average, small sample size

2003: 65, better than average

2002: 112, about average

2001: 83, better than average

2000: 84, better than average

1999: 97, better than average, small sample size

Important note: these cars are only driven an average of 5,500 miles a year, about half as much as the average car. No adjustment has been made for this.

Six IMS failures were reported for the 2010 calendar year, most of them for 2004-2005 model year cars (with the 2005 being a 987 rather than a 986).

No IMS failures have been reported for cars 2006 and newer. None have been reported for any year since the beginning of 2011, with over 220 owners of 1999-2005 cars participating.

Rear main seal and air/oil separator repairs are far more common.

Thank you, once again, to everyone who has been helping. We'll have further updates in August and November. With more participants we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help improve this information:

Porsche Boxster reliability ratings and comparisons

mkaresh

We have updated our car reliability stats for the Boxster that include owner experiences through June 30, 2011.

Repair frequencies, in terms of repair trips per 100 cars per year:

2004: 77, about average, small sample size

2003: 54, better than average

2002: 142, about average

2001: 101, about average

2000: 90, better than average

1999: 93, better than average, small sample size

We have two additional statistics, "Nada-odds" and "Lemon-odds," to indicate the percentage of cars with no repairs in the past year and those that required 3+ trips to the repair shop.

For the years where we have enough data for these:

2001: 47, 7

Porsche Boxster Lemon-odds and Nada-odds

Important note: these cars are only driven an average of 5,500 miles a year, about half as much as the average car. No adjustment has been made for this.

Six IMS failures were reported for the 2010 calendar year, most of them for 2004-2005 model year cars (with the 2005 being a 987 rather than a 986).

No IMS failures have been reported for cars 2006 and newer.

No IMS failures have been reported for any model year since the beginning of 2011, with 220 owners of 1999-2005 cars participating.

Rear main seal and air/oil separator repairs are far more common.

We'll have further updates in November and February. With more participants we could provide more precise information and cover all model years.

To see how competitors compare, and to sign up to help improve this information:

Porsche Boxster reliability ratings and comparisons

Plyman438

No IMS failures have been reported for any model year since the beginning of 2011, with 220 owners of 1999-2005 cars participating.

Rear main seal and air/oil separator repairs are far more common.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's good to hear. That should cut down on the number of IMS threads I hope.
--------------------------------------
2001 Orient Red Metallic Boxster