Mat777's early midlife crisis - 986 Boxster S

[mat777]

Given that my last 2 collection threads have been a moped and a bare chassis, you could be forgiven for being merely whelmed by my proclivity. 

But today is different, for I am off to collect and actual running, driving car! *gasp* 

Bus wankered my way to the local station and froze ma tits off waiting 

 

All change for another line. Also, FLOL,  not in my lifetime.....

[Twiggy]

Good luck ! I hope it all goes well.

[mat777]

Final destination (although sans any unusual causes of death) 

 

Picked up by a very familiar AS regular 😁

 

Spotted a movie star on the way out of the station too! 😅

[mat777]

First order of business.... A trip to Halfords to get a new battery, the elderly current one having died completely whilst the car has been off the road for 6 months 

 

Second order of business...

Achievement unlocked: Watch Wanker 🤣

[Split_Pin]

Orange dashboard, I love that. I think the 1993 prototype had a similarly coloured interior.

[mat777]

So, as some of you may have guessed - the Porsche, the BMW, and indeed the arms driving the BMW, all belong to Horriblemercedes of this parish. 

Due to trying to get his recently acquired Maserati to do 185, the Boxster was not going to drive (SWIDT?) anytime soon. It's a car that I've had a few goes in, and loved the performance and especially the colour combo. I therefore opined that it would be a shame for it to sit on SORN in his garage for the forseeable, and that I would be glad to purchase it if I could afford to do so. Ever the gentleman, friend and scholar, Merc quoted me an unbelievably generous price for the car on the proviso that he could have first refusal when I needed the money for its intended house-related purpose in a year's time or so (I've never seen a more immediate case of "seller's remorse"!)
Seen here after disinterring it,  parked next to the new toy:

 

First impressions on driving it back from Nottinghamshire to Liverpool?  Unbelievably refined at a cruise, for a 22 year old soft top! Also, wow does it have some poke (Ok, so I'm used to dailying Japanese pickups, but I've driven plenty of fast things in the past). The noise, as you'd imagine, is pretty damn good as well - especially with the "sports" zorst toob currently fitted, which borders on an obnoxious burble at idle but howls like a GT3 racer at the 7.5k redline.... 
"I paid for the whole rev range, Imma use the whole rev range!" 😂

So, surely there must be a catch, right?  Well, Merc was as ever scrupulously honest about the niggles with the car. Firstly, the knackered battery, and secondly, the front tyres are also not long for this world and predictably these aren't exactly a £30 kwik fit budget option. These are all things I'm happy to sort even though I'm not planning to keep the car, as thanks for Merc's ongoing generosity.
Another niggle is a knackered window regulator, for which a good genuine spare came with the car but hadn't had time to be fitted. I still haven't had a chance to do this /get it done yet, and until this is sorted there is a water leak from the front corner of the window due to it not going up into the hood enough to seal when the door is shut. 
To counter this, there's a "shower cap" for the car that fits over the soft top and screens. A slight faff, especially if you want to use the car and put it away when wet, but hardly the end of the world! 

 

[SiC]

Rare to see one with cruise. 

My Boxster was one of the longest cars I've ever owned (my MG BGT being the longest). Once the weather hots up I think I may regret selling it. 

[83C]

For the brief time I had it I very much liked the 2.5. A 2.7 or 3.2S is very much on the ‘to own’ list.

[Morris 63]

Seem to see more of these on car forums lately, or even the one that Jonny Smith's slowly reviving on his Late Brake Show channel.

Maybe it's a sign of spring?  

For those who like something a bit different, there's a great thread in PistonHeads, Readers Cars section where a guy (poppopbangbang), who obviously knows his mechanical onions, has put a VW 1.8T 20v in an old Boxster he got hold of.

[mat777]

On 12/03/2024 at 12:36, SiC said:

Rare to see one with cruise. 

My Boxster was one of the longest cars I've ever owned (my MG BGT being the longest). Once the weather hots up I think I may regret selling it. 

This one is, I believe, fully loaded. Cruise as mentioned, the option full coloured interior, sports exhaust, parking sensors (another huge plus for me, coming from camera-equipped SUVs and not being used to non existent rear visibility!) and some "991 Turbo type 2" wheels which are apparently super rare (as merc found out when he had to replace one through pothole damage). The cruise was important to me as the throttle pedal is very heavy, I wouldn't like to have to hold that in place for an extended amount of time! 

 

23 hours ago, 83C said:

For the brief time I had it I very much liked the 2.5. A 2.7 or 3.2S is very much on the ‘to own’ list.

I'm told the 2.5 is somewhat pedestrian, though it does at least have a different engine design that is free of the IMS bearing worries. This 3.2 is unreasonably rapid on the road! And luckily the previous owner from before Merc had a receipt for an IMS bearing replacement too. The 3.2Ss do command a fair premium though it seems, maybe a 2,7 is the financial and performance sweet spot?

 

21 hours ago, Morris 63 said:

Seem to see more of these on car forums lately, or even the one that Jonny Smith's slowly reviving on his Late Brake Show channel.

Maybe it's a sign of spring?  

For those who like something a bit different, there's a great thread in PistonHeads, Readers Cars section where a guy (poppopbangbang), who obviously knows his mechanical onions, has put a VW 1.8T 20v in an old Boxster he got hold of.

I guess they are now cheap and old enough that they are beginning to fall into the hands of shiters?   Not sure I'd personally stick that particular engine in one though....  a wankel would be an interesting conversion however!
 

Gratuitous interior shot of the full red leather trim. It seems to be splitting opinion amongst my friends of those who love it and those who think it's gash! I quite like it, it's much nicer than plain black and not as though it's, say, pea green like one particular 911 whose pictures often do the rounds....

 

One thing I did quite quickly realise was that the included car cover had suffered during the car's garage sabbatical over the winter. I can only assume it was slightly damp when put away in the boot, because upon retrieval merc was unpleasantly surprised to discover it had gone quite stiff. It's a multi layer design with an outer corduroy type material and an inner plastic-y waterproof layer. Seems weirdly back to front to me, but that's definitely the right way round.  Later on when at home, this translated (when held up to the light) into the inner waterproof layer having quite a few splits in it which was going to lead to trapped moisture ingress when on the car in the rain. As these tailored covers are £lol and I didn't want the hassle of a full cover because they're a colossal pain and a danger to paintwork, I opted for plan D(uct tape)
 

 

On the topic of swift fixes for damage, the car has a  "dink" of creased and split paint on the middle of rear bumper, from the owner prior to merc. It looks as though the car was reveres into a lamp post, which is impressive given it's got the parking sensors....
It's not immediately noticeable, but when you know it's there you always see it. Merc actually had a brand new bumper for the car, but didn't want to fit it until selling the car in case the new one should get damaged. For me, given the temporary nature of my custody, I'm not especially keen on going to the hassle of changing it either especially as it's 99.9% likely to go back to merc. 
Luckily, a friend suggested an amusing yet simple solution 🤣

The observant amongst you may notice that the "S" is also missing from the bootlid, this is because when merc bought it there was a nasty "RS" badge there instead which was swiftly removed. As replacement badges seem to be about £70, that's also something I'm very "not bothered" about - although the fact the Boxster script is consequently off centre on the bootlid is playing on my CDO tendencies.......

[83C]

4 hours ago, mat777 said:

I'm told the 2.5 is somewhat pedestrian, though it does at least have a different engine design that is free of the IMS bearing worries. This 3.2 is unreasonably rapid on the road! And luckily the previous owner from before Merc had a receipt for an IMS bearing replacement too. The 3.2Ss do command a fair premium though it seems, maybe a 2,7 is the financial and performance sweet spot?

The 2.5 isn’t ‘proper quick’ but given the amount of stuff written about its alleged slowness I was very pleasantly surprised. Driven back to back with your 3.2 it would feel slow, but come to it from any normal car and it’s more than adequate, as 200bhp in a 1250kg car should be.

[Timewaster]

On 28/02/2024 at 12:02, mat777 said:

 

 

Spotted a movie star on the way out of the station too! 😅

I've known of that dealership for 30 something years, I've been there, I could sing you the 1990s radio adverts (#T C Harrison,  there's no comparison #) and I never ever saw "Harrison Ford" before.

 

Oh, nice Boxter by the way....

[horriblemercedes]

On 28/02/2024 at 12:02, mat777 said:

Spotted a movie star on the way out of the station too! 😅

There's a Working Girl there

Some guy legged it after stealing a windscreen wiper - Blade Runner. There was no Witness to The Fugitive

Apparently he spray painted "Fuck da LAPD!" on the wall....More American Graffiti

 

How was The Long Ride Home?