u/diyandmc240

Hi ya’ll. I am not in the air cooled group, but I have a 2001 986 boxster s with 79k miles. I am inspired by the air cooled group and although my car doesn’t receive the same attention or respect, I look up to how the air-cooled cars have been able to achieve that status.

I’m curious how some of ya’ll are managing miles vs. usage. I know often times people recommend driving the car around once a week and long enough to get the car fully warmed up, but that can easily add up to 2-4k miles a year depending on how long the drive is. After 50 years, this can quickly become 100-200k miles.

For those of you with 30-60 year old cars, how do you manage the balance between adding miles to your beloved car vs. making sure it is driven often enough to keep everything well lubricated etc.? Basically I’m trying to determine if ya’ll have figured out a sweet spot recipe for maximizing longevity.

Thanks in advance ya’ll.

We recently checked into an Airbnb that was a luxury apartment in NYC. Upon checking in, we already realized something was off when we arrived to the address and the host told us the unit was actually at a slightly different address a few blocks away. This told me the host was scurting NYC Airbnb laws that I know to be very strict, but he hid this until we arrived so we just went with it as we didn’t want to suddenly rebook. The location was great, unit was great, view was great. Super happy.

Unfortunately on day 2 my wife notices a couple bugs before bed near her side of the bed. Then we start looking and notice a couple more, and a couple more, and now we start noticing them all over, they are hard to kill, about the size of an apple seed, reddish brown, we ended up killing about 50. I message the host and we’re about to go to bed when my wife says these might be bed bugs. I do some research and lo and behold, the bugs exactly match every description of bed bugs.

I took a few decent photos and videos of the remaining living ones we could find, unfortunately I didn’t get a picture or video of just how extensive the infestation was as we had already killed almost all of them. I messaged the host that we were leaving, we booked a hotel room last minute, and I contacted Airbnb for a refund corresponding to the unused nights.

Airbnb support has been lackluster at best. I called them directly yesterday and they said we will talk to the host and get back to you. This results in “the bugs you found are not bed bugs” so the refund is at the host’s discretion. I said that is completely wrong, they are absolutely bed bugs and I am showing you clear evidence of that, and even regardless of that 50 bugs suddenly showing up is grounds on it’s own for a pest problem.

After the airbnb rep doubled down, I asked to escalate which they did. The supervisor went through the exact same process which resulted in the host denying the refund saying “the bugs probably flew in when we opened the window”. It’s on the 40th floor and we didn’t open the window. I asked for Airbnb to review under aircover and now I am just waiting to hear back since yesterday.

I’ve been using Airbnb for over 10 years, I’ve almost always had a good experience and often recommend it highly to friends and family as a great way to stay in a place that feels homey while on vacation. What’s irritating me here is I expect a questionable host now and then, but Airbnb’s support has really got me irked at the moment. It feels to me like they just have this host’s back because they don’t want to be on the hook to pay out our stay, despite a clear health violation.

I’d appreciate any insight anyone might have.

Anybody limiting miles on their 986? I know every body says “get out there and drive it” “enjoy it” ”let it rip“.

But some counterpoints. I bought my 986 only in part because of the favorable price. A major factor for me is the design, which has not been replicated in subsequent generations(987’s are great too, but not as enjoyable to me as a 986). I didn’t like the 981 and wouldn’t really consider a 718 unless it was the N.A. motor, which is way out of my price range and I still think would be overkill and too modern for my taste.

Now there is the argument that mileage doesn’t really cause wear to a car if you do all proper maintenance. I just don’t really agree with this. I’ve driven well-maintained high-mileage cars(a couple of my own too) and eventually everything wears out. Creaks form in places that are virtually impossible to fix. Everything starts wearing out from the seats to the suspension to the drivetrain to paint chips to interior etc. All of that can theoretically be replaced, but at what cost?

My 986 has 79k miles, and I really see myself owning it for the next 20-30 years. If I didn’t care about wear and tear, I’d probably drive it 6-8k miles a year, maybe 10k a year max. Thats already low for most people, but considering it’s 25 years old at 79k, it has averaged just over 3k over its life. My driving pattern is nearly ideal for maintaining the car, year round(rarely get snow here and there is no salting), I drive at least once a week, and my trips are usually 10-15 miles each way and about 30 minutes, enough to fully warm the car up each time.

I usually use public transportation and the car effectively serves the purpose of what would normally be someone’s second car, just for fun and periodically for real use cases.

3k miles a year is about 60 miles a week, that’s about 2-3 days a week of driving for me.

I could theoretically drive more, and I would probably do about 5k miles a year, but I really don’t want to be 20 years down the road with a 180k mile car that is wearing out. At that point I expect another clean 986 will be hard to come by, regardless of the price.

Anyone else thinking similarly? Its not really about cost, its that I don’t see my 986 as easily replaceable, and I don’t necessarily agree that mileage is just a number, especially once you start pushing over about 150-200k miles.

I appreciate anyone’s insight