Had an '03 base for 3 years. Great daily driver. A great road car -- fairly rewarding as for a beginner track driver. Personally think the rear glass window is a must. The base '03 can get you into plenty of trouble w/ the law (personal experience).

 

from my research, here's what you get when going from 02 to 03:

clear fronts (no amber)
clear tails (no amber)
slightly different front bumper
glovebox
rear window glass (not plastic)

i believe there are a few other differences, but the lighting, rear window, and glovebox were enough to make me NOT consider ANY 02..

 

love it love it love it!

bought my 01 with 33K miles. no problems and have LOVED the hell out of that car! with the mid engine, it does great on the twisties and is a great track car as well being you don't have to dump $3K in a roll cage. it already has one! plus, the convert. in summer time is a huge plus!

i use mine as a DD and it's been 100% perfect. plus, it's got torque to it! a friend of mine that has a gt3 rode in my boxster for the first time and just kept smiling and laughing and saying "boy! this little bass *** can move!" he didn't expect it to have as much torque as it does!

anyway....good luck! i hope you get one!

 

i'm going tomorrow to look at it and do a testdrive... if all is good, i'll be driving it home tomorrow or tuesday

 

i traded in my '03 boxsterS last week (1/9) at park place porsche in dallas. arctic silver/black. 31K miles. just had 30K service and new clutch. don't know if they put it on their used lot or not. it was a great car. never had a problem with it.

 

yeah, they have it in inventory for $30,900...

the 03 S i'm looking at has 44k miles and is $23,900... as much as i'd rather have silver, $7k is a substantial chunk 'o change

thanks for the heads up though...

i wonder if we couldn't have made a deal beforehand... hahah hindsight 20/20

 

aww....i would have been HAPPY to show you mine! lol! it's silver and 37K. =)

actually, i won't be ready to sell mine for about a year.

GL on your hunt!

 

make them a low ball offer. ya never know. they might go for it. cash in hand speaks loudly.

 

thanks....looks like the 02 is out of the question for me as well...

 

if you're not opposed to it, could you PM me how much they gave you on trade (promise not to disclose that to them or anyone if i speak to them about buying the car)...

thanks

 

The '03 also gets upgraded suspension (I believe from '02 Boxster S).

Also gets a double liner on the soft top -- the soft top on the '02 doesn't have a liner.

Also revised ECU -- more torque and hp

I drove a base '00 -- which is the same as a base '02 -- I did notice the difference in power.

 

Okay, first of all, I love the Boxster. If I have unlimited funds and garage space, I would definitely get another one.

However, having driven both, comparing the power between a base '01 Boxster vs a GT3 (and I assume this is either an '04 or '05) is .... ehm ... well you can't!

Once you get used to a GT3, the Boxster will feel slow and underpowered.


Quick edit: I just re-read BGirl's comment, and I would say that her friend's surprise could be a valid statement if he overly under estimated the Boxster's power. My point was simply that you can't compare the two -- and that the original post didn't really do that.

 

^^ i understand what you're saying.

what i was meaning, was that yes, he completely under estimated the boxster's power. i definatley don't compare the two. hhahaha! i'm not that dense! lol! i was just saying that it was nice to get such good feedback from a passenger that normally drives a gt3. =)

 

just got back

i dont know ANYTHING about porsche so i paid for a PPI... most was common sense stuff i could have seen, but worth someone reinforcing that it's not the car for me... motor/tranny were great... better be w/ only 44k i guess... interior was virtually flawless.. the carpeting was a very dark blue.. seats were black i believe, but no crest on them.. did have the bose behind-seat speakers.. no center windscreen or seat rollbar windscreens...

one caliper looks like they broke off the bleeder valve and put a different one in its place.. while doing so they chipped off a lot of the paint on the caliper couple door dings, nothing requiring paint repair... there was a coolant leak, possibly from overflow, but still a leak... and there was a lot of rust on the seams of the exhaust and various places underneath... it had been up north only 2 yrs, but apparently that was enough to start tearing up the underside and corroding the exhaust tips (ugly!)... seats weren't power but i dont mind as once i'm in they'll always be the same...

this gave me a good feel for what i can look for myself and what i do and don't care about in the car... unfortunately, this isn't the one i'm buying so sad, because when i showed up and the sun was bright, the lapis blue looked **** with those red calipers...

 

^^^sorry it didn't work out for you. but, all in all, sounds like you've learned a great deal about what you do/don't want in a boxster.

the right one is out there for you! you'll know it when you see it. just don't get impatient or discouraged. i know you'll get a beautiful one!

good luck in your continued search!