Which Cayman 981 and best was to fund?

[matt21]

Hi all

Looking for your thoughts. I have always had a nice daily and have an old Passat at my disposal for the nasty stuff and airport runs, so will be doing about 10k per year in the new car. I get a company car allowance with no restrictions so expectation is I buy something half decent, which since my M135i went back I do not have

I recently bought a house and increased mortgage by an extra £20k to help me fund a car. I am over paying, mortgage is 1.99% and I am comfortable with this

I have a cash budget of £35k to buy something nice. No need to be practical as I have no kids and the Passat but nothing hardcore, I like my toys!

I am a BMW man, and nothing other than a Porsche would tempt me out when buying a car £30-50k. After going around the houses I have settled on a 640d which I can get fully loaded 18mths old for about £35k.

However, my father recently has purchased a 997.1 Turbo, and the Engineering quality has amazed me. I was thinking that getting into a Cayman may actually have a lower cost of ownership due to strong residuals.

Looking at Porsche approved you can get a 2014/5 Cayman for about £40k or an S which is a year older for £5k more.

Friends who have owned Porsches before always seem to upgrade and stay with the marque claiming that the cost to change was a "no brainer". They have always had PCP.

if I bought the Porsche I would probably pay £35k cash and finance the rest depending on APR. Yes, I understand spending hard cash on a depreciating asset is silly, but it typically still works out cheaper than financing it.

So my questions

The 640d will shed money, I accept that. In pure £ terms do you think a similar age Cayman will lose less over the next three years, and 30,000 miles?
Am I missing something with funding a Porsche? Am I best to finance to get stronger residual values? Or is cash still cheapest?
Cayman or Cayman S? Cayman S seems a lot more, is it really worth the extra? Or should I go bonkers and try and get a GTS?
Are there any other Porsches which Are fairly new (less than 5yrs), sub £50k which are likely to still have strong residuals in 3 years and an extra 30k on the clock? Cayman R?

Thanks all!

[Heathrow]

981 GTS and 987 R will likely hold their value best of all the Caymans (GT4 aside).

Porsche finance rates will be higher than the BMW or other marques. Expect higher running costs generally.

I'd recommend a boggo spec 981 Cayman 2.7 manual as a weekend car. Would go for a 981 Cayman S as a daily. There are lots of threads comparing the pros and cons of the various optional extras.

[GT4P]

Buying a 981 Cayman at £45k will loose you a heap of cash! Imo much better to buy a 987.2 caymanS for about £30k where it is now at a stable price and won't fall and may rise slightly!
If you really want a 981 and if not in a hurray wait until end of year when prices are lowest but don't pay more than £40k for a 2014 onwards low miles 981S !

[bcr5784]

GT4P said:

Buying a 981 Cayman at £45k will loose you a heap of cash! Imo much better to buy a 987.2 caymanS for about £30k where it is now at a stable price and won't fall and may rise slightly!
If you really want a 981 and if not in a hurray wait until end of year when prices are lowest but don't pay more than £40k for a 2014 onwards low miles 981S !

Not so sure. Nearly 2 years on dealers are asking similar money for a 981S as I paid for mine (from a dealer), so it hasn't depreciated that much. GTS are doing even better. How long the 718 effect will last I'm not sure. £40k for a 2014 S to a decent spec by the end of the year? I'm doubtful. The cheapest Porsche approved cars 2014 cars with a decent spec are still approaching 50k

[JayK12]

bcr5784 said:

Not so sure. Nearly 2 years on dealers are asking similar money for a 981S as I paid for mine (from a dealer), so it hasn't depreciated that much. GTS are doing even better. How long the 718 effect will last I'm not sure. £40k for a 2014 S to a decent spec by the end of the year? I'm doubtful. The cheapest Porsche approved cars 2014 cars with a decent spec are still approaching 50k

GTS's are doing really well in value, missed 5 CGTS last week alone, all sold for asking price from dealers very quickly. Not many BGTS and they are at or above list. A dealer is now selling one of theirs with the title "last of the flat 6".........

Try SCF for funding, then send the quote to Porsche and let them get competitive.

[DJMC]

As a Nationwide flex account holder, I noticed the other day they are doing 3.4% APR to £15,000.

Sounded pretty good but others are slightly cheaper: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/loans/cheap-perso...

£5,000 over 3 years will be about £150/mth.

My opinion is that the 981 residuals will hold up far better than a BMW.

I really don't know what's happened to the BMW marque. Haven't been driver's cars for around 10 years now, just resting on their laurels. My 981 2.7 is the first car in ages I try to find any excuse to drive. DB7 was the previous one, but that was all show and no go, and my mid-life crisis car.

Wife's dragging me off this afternoon to drive the new X1 she fancies. Yawn!

[LotusAde]

If you are considering up to £50K what about a 991?

[Heathrow]

Slight aside but there are still a few unregistered 981 cars at dealers. OPC Hatfield this morning had a guards red 2.7 with PDK and a few other toys.

[gl20]

matt21 said:

Hi all

if I bought the Porsche I would probably pay £35k cash and finance the rest depending on APR. Yes, I understand spending hard cash on a depreciating asset is silly, but it typically still works out cheaper than financing it.

Not necessarily silly at all. OPC dealers often use the 'go PCP because who wants to put cash into a depreciating asset' line as a way to get you into PCP that makes more money for them. But depreciation is depreciation and is in no way impacted by how you finance the car. If you went PCP then the level of depreciation is simply reflected in the monthly payment. That said with PCP you eliminate any uncertainty around the level of depreciation that hits you although you're paying a premium to pass that uncertainty on to the finance house.

Key thing on the finance side is to consider the APR and how else you could use any money if not paying off a loan and how much overall debt you're comfortable with. Personally, given your proposed option or PCP, I'd go your way.

[DJMC]

gl20 said:

... with PCP you eliminate any uncertainty around the level of depreciation that hits you although you're paying a premium to pass that uncertainty on to the finance house.

I'm guessing you have to state an annual mileage with PCP, and there will be an "excess mileage fee" after that, so you'd need to be sure you won't go joy riding over the limit you set.

My thought is that any dealer's ideal would be to ask you what you want to spend monthly on a car... forever, and set you up so that every two/three years you update the car and carry on paying a similar sum. That must surely be how the majority of owners finance cars in general? Or that's the impression I get walking into any brand dealer and being told "right, firstly we'll sort out the finance, then we'll find you a car to suit... oh, and then perhaps a test drive to see if you like it?" When I say "it's cash" it seems to not compute and they keep on wanting to draw graphs and offer contributions to convince me.

Whatever type of finance, if it's being pushed it must be better for them. If it's better for them, it's worse for me! And 0% finance doesn't much figure on desirable models.

[matt21]

Thanks for the feedback all. Regarding funding only debt is mortgage, so if I did PCP I would chuck an extra 30k into the mortgage, so my thought is buy for cash is better for me! The last BM I bought I got £1500 extra finance contribution for going PCP. I took it out and settled a few days later

Looking closely today it seems that to get decent spec on an S is nearer £50k. Call me soft but I would like nav, xenons and ideally Bose if I'm paying £40k plus. Maybe I get a 2.7, they are much better value and get good reviews! That said, it's the GTS or GT4 that I really want, but they are out of reach

The other curveball is the F-Type. I can get a cab S for early to mid 40s.

I am in no rush so will see what happens to prices into Autumn. Just want something nice ahead of winter

any more thoughts are much appreciated

[GT4P]

if you fancy a gt4/gts then you are always going to be wanting if you buy a 2.7!!! So go 3.4S!
but imo why pay £50k for 981s you could buy a lovely 997.2S (same engine as a gt4)and it has all the toys!buy well and a manual and you wont loose a penny as last of the analogue 911s! but good low miles are hard to find now!

[Thorny]

Heathrow said:

Porsche finance rates will be higher than the BMW or other marques. Expect higher running costs generally.

That's not true I'm afraid, standard APR on BMW used in 10.9 whereas Porsche you can get around 7.4%. I am sure you can haggle BMW down but I doubt there is much in it.

[Inverted]

My GF has recently bought a used 2.7 981 with a few toys she wanted heated seats, parking censors, PCM. I hadn't driven a boggo cayman before this, closest was a previous gen cayman R. and tbh I was pleasantly surprised. Feels quicker than I expected it too, of course you have to keep it on the boil to get the most out of it but it definitely doesn't feel slow. Sweet revving engine and lovely gearbox. 38 MPG too on a motorway trip recently.

As a reference point we managed 2k ish off the sticker OPC price. with some other bits chucked in too.

[Heathrow]

Thorny said:

Heathrow said:

Porsche finance rates will be higher than the BMW or other marques. Expect higher running costs generally.

That's not true I'm afraid, standard APR on BMW used in 10.9 whereas Porsche you can get around 7.4%. I am sure you can haggle BMW down but I doubt there is much in it.

Didn't realise that was the case for used cars - thanks. I was assuming it was the same as with new cars, i.e. Porsche don't tend to offer the attractive low APR offers like you'll see on a current M6 (0%) or M5 (2.9%) for example.