Cayman £10k or £20k what would you do

[eastsider]

In the market for a second sports/weekend fun car and I've pretty much narrowed it down to a Cayman.

Budget is up to £20k, would you:

1. Follow the 'poverty pork' approach (great thread but I don't want a boxster) so look for one like, this: early 987.1 S, big miles, but seems to have fairly decent history:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

2. Or max out my budget and squeeze into a Gen 2
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...

Views?

Obviously on the Gen 1 I'm well aware of IMS, RMS, Bore Scoring etc - will most likely get a pre-purchase inspection and willing to take the risk at closer to £10k.

thanks

[PorscheGT4]

is a Cayman really a "second sports/weekend fun car " ?

why not get a boxster if it's for weekends ? night time driving roof off in the summer is one of those amazing things

[eastsider]

Fair question. I'm generally not a massive fan of convertibles, I have owned one. And it'll be parked on an inner city street so security/vandalism issues, plus at around 10 years old the soft top will need quite a bit of maintenance or degrade.

I've contemplated the 'poverty pork' 986 approach (for £5-6k) but I'm 6 foot 4 and find the cabin too small. If I'm going 987 boxster then it might as well be cayman...

[finestjammy]

Personally I'd go, and did, gen 2. I predominantly went gen 2 because of the issues you highlight. In addition to this though I think the subtle exterior updates make it look a lot fresher, the interior is also nicer too. The other option you have is to go 2.7 gen 1 save lots of money and negate (most) of the issues of the gen 1 3.4.

[Miopyk]

PorscheGT4 said:

is a Cayman really a "second sports/weekend fun car " ?

why not get a boxster if it's for weekends ? night time driving roof off in the summer is one of those amazing things

Especially if it's somewhere like the Highlands in Scotland, the Cotswolds, the Tuscan hills or the Sierra Nevada mountains in Spain (or California for that matter).

[HamidQ]

As you can stretch to it, I would recommend a Gen 2 Cayman. I had one and it was fantastic. I also had Gen 1 Boxsters and they were fab too but I would still go Cayman.

[HamidQ]

As you can stretch to it, I would recommend a Gen 2 Cayman. I had one and it was fantastic. I also had Gen 1 Boxsters and they were fab too but I would still go Cayman.

[Trev450]

Gen 2 Cayman would be my choice given your budget. I have owned a Gen 1 for the last five years and am very happy with it, but the fear of an engine rebuild is always in the back of your mind.

[g7jhp]

Gen 2 personally I'd choose a Boxster over the Cayman as even in London it's great to get the top down on a summer night.

[Steve H]

I'm running a Gen1 3.4 with 70k on the clock, it uses no oil and is an all round amazing car for less than the cost of a new Ford boringbox.

That said, if you are finding any Cayman down towards £10k (your link didn't work for the cheaper car ) I'm going to guess it's properly at the bottom of the heap and some of the reliability reputation has to be true.............


Buy the best you can, you won't be disappointed.

[Steve H]

OK, I exaggerate slightly.

Last oil change was for the 60k service and I think I've topped it up once since then, for sure no more than once. The level is currently still showing full so I guess it's fair to say no more then 1ltr per 10k which I'd consider very low for a flat engine.

I would be happy enough with the recommended 20k servicing but I'm doing less mileage at the moment so I'll probably give it a treat while I'm off over christmas as it'll have been two years since the last one at 60k.

[Kane-pc60s]

Forget the scaremongering about gen 1 engine problems. Think about it, people only generally write about their problems on forums and out of say 40,000 987.1 Caymans built you'll read of a handful in the forums where bore scoring was a problem. There will only be a very tiny percentage of cars with an issue but they are the ones people write about. If you read some of the stuff in the BMW or VW forums for example you'd be terrified of buying one but we all know how generally reliable they are.
Get your dream car. Make sure it has a full history. Take out a warranty and enjoy it.

[Trotmant]

Gen 1 3.4 will blow up. Mind did twice! first time under warranty second time it wasn't. It will cost £10k to fix and its really sad as it can blow up even if looked after very well like my motor was.

Great cars but unless Hartech fix it I wont take the risk. TBH one of the main reasons I opted for a 981. I don't trust the Gen 2.

Great cars however and even now have 'looks' that are current.

[Steve H]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I'm pretty sure some of it is.

Trotmant said:

Gen 1 3.4 will blow up. Mind did twice! first time under warranty second time it wasn't. It will cost £10k to fix and its really sad as it can blow up even if looked after very well like my motor was.

I'm not in denial that the problems exist but lets not be silly about the overall risks because of individual experiences, "it WILL blow up" etc. Really?

[DavidJG]

To answer the original question: buy the best car that you can afford - in this case a £20k ish gen 2 car. I'd be very worried about a 10k high miles Gen 1 - it's going to be leggy at probably building up problems that could cost you more than the £10k difference fairly quickly.

[beanoir]

PorscheGT4 said:

is a Cayman really a "second sports/weekend fun car " ?

why not get a boxster if it's for weekends ? night time driving roof off in the summer is one of those amazing things

Can be, my Cayman is the weekend garage queen, the Boxster sits out side and used as the DD, parked in station every day....

[beanoir]

Steve H said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I'm pretty sure some of it is.

Trotmant said:

Gen 1 3.4 will blow up. Mind did twice! first time under warranty second time it wasn't. It will cost £10k to fix and its really sad as it can blow up even if looked after very well like my motor was.

I'm not in denial that the problems exist but lets not be silly about the overall risks because of individual experiences, "it WILL blow up" etc. Really?

Cmoose was personnaly affected and one of a small exclusive club, a biased opinion shall we say. There are other sources of less biased views on the topic, give the experts a call if you're worried about bore scoring.

Aside from that, would agree that the gen 2 is the choice is make (had both by the way) and prefer the slightly more modern car, although miss the angry wail from the gen 1 engine.

[Magic919]

Cmoose is a bit like one of those ex-smokers. He read all the advice to never buy a 2006 Cayman S due to high risk of bore scoring. Despite that, bought one and you know the rest. That doesn't make him biased, just highly motivated.

[JackReacher]

I've just put down a deposit on a 2.9 cayman. For me, I completely discounted the gen 1 3.4. It seems impossible to gauge how wide spread the engine problems are, and even if relatively rare I don't want the worry in the back of my mind. I want to enjoy the car.

It was either a 2.7 for about £15k, or a gen 2 car. I've been unable to find a sensibly priced gen 2 S, so decided to go for a 2.9. £22k for a 18k mile car with sports seats and extended leather, with 2 year porsche warranty for worry free motoring, can't wait to collect!

[Stunters]

I would still suspect that the great majority of 987.1 Cayman S engines have not blown up (yet). So I do agree that there is an element of scaremongering.

The engine is a pretty lovely thing in terms of sound and power delivery, and its raucousness suits the car.