Porsche Boxster vs BMW M3

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Porsche Boxster	BMW M3
Complaints on file	221	552
Model years covered	1989–2015	1988–2025
Worst model year	2003	2008
Best model year	2005	2018
Crashes reported	10	35
Fires reported	4	6
Injuries reported	5	22
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	8.6%	11.4%

Porsche Boxster by year

1 30 44 35 5 24 12 13 5 21 7 1 13 3 7

89 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 12 13 14 15

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 59 26.7%

Airbags 31 14.0%

Electrical System 26 11.8%

Transmission & Drivetrain 20 9.0%

Body & Structure 20 9.0%

Seat Belts 11 5.0%

Brakes 9 4.1%

Suspension 9 4.1%

BMW M3 by year

2 16 1 28 18 13 20 48 69 38 12 14 102 54 20 41 6 17 4 7 3 10 5 1 1 2

88 95 96 97 98 99 01 02 03 04 05 06 08 09 10 11 12 13 15 16 17 18 21 22 23 25

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 120 21.7%

Airbags 101 18.3%

Engine & Cooling 94 17.0%

Electrical System 37 6.7%

Body & Structure 27 4.9%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 24 4.3%

Fuel & Propulsion 23 4.2%

Suspension 21 3.8%