Cars , Life and other awesome stuff...: 2015

Somehow year 2015 has flown by right underneath my hardly noticeable mustache and its December 29th today. So lets talk about my loving Porsche Boxster named Fatty who has been my daily companion now for the last 2 years. Well it has been a dream of mine from young to get my hands on a Porsche before I turned 30 and no thanks to the Malaysian car tax structure the dream to own one nearly became just a dream. Lets begin with how it all started , Everyone knows that the Porsche to own is the 911 and everything else is basically a person settling because either the 911 is too costly or they are married and need a 4 door SUV which is only famous because of its Porsche Badge. Either way its call settling .

Now the situation , I was neither born rich or had a super awesome personality which could pay the bills ,So what does an average Joe with just a dream need to do to own a Porsche??? Well first is a reality check on how much I could afford to spend on a car... Answer was simple .. A new Honda City would have cost me about RM85000 and that was about the right amount of money I wanted to spend on a car at my age, As we all already know, Cars are more of a liability rather then an asset, So is your health after a drinking a bottle of Whiskey by yourself . Now lets jump right in and buy my dream 911 ... wait...I totally forgot that I am not rich ... maybe a used 15 year old 911 perhaps??? Suddenly RM85000 seems to be like RM850 when it comes to Porsche money. The Cheapest 911 with the shape I liked would have cost about RM160k and this was for a used year 2000 911 Carerra (996). I could always buy a used 2004 Cayanne for about RM85000 but why would I need so much space at this point in my life? I wanted something more sexy 911 looking.

As fate would put it, On a rainy winters morning hiding deep inside the classified section in the cars for sale column was a year 1998 Porsche Boxster 2.5 Tiptronic (986) with the ever reasonable price tag of just RM82900. But lets be honest ... there is no winter in Malaysia . Now back to my story .I quickly dropped my mobile phone from my hand and I picked up my ever durable ever reliable Telecom house phone which does not require charging every darn time you need to make an important phone call and called the dealer who advertised the Porsche. His line was engaged so I tried a few more times but luck was not on my side that morning as it was 10 years ago on prom night. Well, about half an hour later I tried again... Guess what? he answered...I said ... (Hello from the other side... I must have called a thousand times)... Okay that damm Adele song is stuck in my head now but back to the story. So viewing was set and I was off to see Fatty for the first time, I was so excited I forgot to iron my socks that day. Arrived at the dealer later that evening and my first glimpse of her....

She looked aged and quite tired actually but she was the only Porsche within my budget so I decided to settle with her rather then the ever famous 911 . People always say aim for the 911 somehow I fell short but to be fair the excitement of getting any type of Porsche quickly put a huge grin on my face. Managed to sweeten the deal further as she needed a new roof and her interior looked like it was from a 1975 horror movie. After 14 days of waiting and finally getting the paperwork sorted I could bring her home for the first time. Now I still had some cash in the car fund for all the repairs but being the kind of guy i am, I jumped into the purchase following my heart and not being too practical on the future maintenance or upkeep of my beloved Porsche.Its love, but now we needed the compatibility to make our relationship last and as the saying goes ..Love is not enough sometimes.

I started to research online everything I needed to know about owning a Porsche Boxster and my good friend Google was awesome and somehow gave me full confidence that my relationship with Fatty was gonna last. I believe in god and guardian angel`s and somehow only thru my research online I realized even if I could afford to buy 911, The maintenance and fuel cost would have killed me as I wanted to use the car as my daily ride. Basically getting the Boxster was a blessing in disguise as its cheap to run and its also so much more reliable then the Cayanne which was in the same price range as well.

First week of ownership and after a fun night out partying in Changkat , On the way home I got the first sign that Fatty was 16 year old lady and maybe I need to treat her with more care rather then paddle to the metal every time I drove her . I suddenly had so many bright warning lights flash on the meter panel it would have made my Christmas tree lights look dull.ABS, Brake Pad Wear and Porsche Stability Control warning lights were on and I also noticed that the Anti lock brakes stopped working as well as the electronic manual gear selector. Time for some research again, Time for Google. Managed to find out that this model Boxster uses the less high tech on board computer software and any BMW diagnostic OBD-11 reader can read the fault codes to tell me what the hell went wrong causing all the warnings lights to appear(saved again by God as the 911 can only be diagnosed by an authorized Porsche Dealer but the Boxster requires only a handheld device. ) After a visit to my friendly BMW mechanic I managed to find a fault and it was the speed sensor on the front drivers wheel. Simple fix actually but before I buy a new speed sensor and wire which would cost me about RM1800 , My friend Google told me that this cars come with high quality German parts installed so part failure is rare but sometimes because of our hot and rainy climate the wiring loom cracks and only the wires needs to be replaced. DIY Mahesh decided to fix the issue and did the most healthy thing ever done on the weekend by opening up his car rather then a can of beer. Pictures of the fix. Total Time 2 hours(Cost RM35 for new wires and RM10 for 3 cans of Tiger Beer) People said a maintaining Porsche was expensive???. I still could afford beers on the weekend too.

Fatty being raised and secured with the tire underneath.

Badminton racket just extra precaution and the task of finding the damaged wires starts.

Culprit found ... Wheel Speed Harness wiring had snapped .The wiring was re fixed/insulated and a job well done .No more warning lights. I am a happy child again.

So it was time to bring in the most powerful tool known to mankind... The woman.. So I asked a woman's opinion on how the car looked. They just said it just looked like a old and dated Porsche, That`s when I said... Don't fear Mahesh is Here. It was time for a make over. Pimp my ride style. On the list was a new fabric roof which will be taken from a newer version Boxster that had a rear glass screen rather then the easy to fade plastic , then its was just colour , colour and more colour changes. (Before and after Pictures Below)

First stop Interior change- Out with the red and in with the black.
(Dash Recoloured with a red lining , New Black Carpets everywhere and New Porsche Mats)

The Old

The new Look- Interior looks 10 years younger- Same feeling I get after Dyeing my hair sometimes.

Second Stop Rims
(Being Indian I like saving money so I can buy more beers-Rims only get a recolor)

Black is somehow on the menu....

Looking at the wheels you might feel the silver looked better then the black but I had more color changes in store.

Third Stop. Body and Paint
Time to bring out the Porsche white pearl paint.