Are mid engine cars difficult to diy?

Streetwiseguy wrote: "Fiero no." Interesting. I may have to go ahead and disagree with that statement. Thankfully, all those turds have been melted down around here, but I have no fond memories of working on them at all.

Do you have any first hand experience with those 'turds'?

If you do, you must be fumble thumbed to have problems working on them, and if you don't, you have no basis for your statement.

The V6 is just as easy as most in line engines to work on and better than many. And like a lot of mid/rear engines, you can have the whole cradle with engine and trans out on the floor more quickly than you can with many front engined cars.

I understand that the Boxster is NOT as easy, but I get that from clients that service them as I have no first hand experience. I suspect that the most difficult and painful task involved in working on a Boxster will be the fabled 'wallet purge' necessary by the time you are finished.

As the proud owner of a MK1 MR2, I think I have the necessary credentials to weigh in on this topic. I think the answer is really, "it depends." What are you trying to do? Maintenance stuff like oil changes, coolant flush, and the like isn't considerably harder than a front engine layout. What does get more frustrating are things like timing belts, water pumps, and sometimes even serpentine belts since access is worse. You will find yourself working from above as often as below the car.

I do understand that Boxters are harder to work on since its a longitudinal configuration (as opposed to transverse in the Elise, Fiero, MR2 and others). That may make belts slightly harder (but you do have a small front access panel). All in all, I wouldn't expect to have to do terribly much to the engine short of belts, hoses and fluid maintenance.

Wonkothesane wrote: I had a 97 boxster, and I did all of my own routine maintenance (oil/coolant changes/spark plugs/belts/etc) and I didn't think it was bad at all to work on. I was kinda worried about that when I got it, but I found that between the top and bottom access, it was all very well laid out and pretty simple to work on. Plan on laying on your back (creeper) for some things you're used to doing from the top like spark plugs, but even the stuff you access from the bottom is as easy to get to as any top-hooded car :)

+1

I own one and it's really not that bad to work on.

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