Late 986S vs Early 987S

[Dave200]

If you've seen my thread in the Car Buying section of the forum, you'll notice that I'm lamenting the choice of rwd, open-top fun cars at £13-14k. The car would be used for touring, 2-3 trackdays a year, and a trackday at the Ring once a year. My biggest problem with the £13k 987 is that I seem to be scraping the barrel in terms of my choice. Would I perhaps be better off opening up to the idea of spending £9-10k on a really good example of a late 986S, and keeping a couple of quid in my pocket? Can anyone give any insight into their experiences of owning both? I've driven a 986S and really liked it, and I've always felt like the early 00s was the sweet spot for analogue cars with the right levels of tech. I briefly drove an early Cayman on track, and it definitely felt better built and more modern inside, but too much time had elapsed since the 986 drive to really compare properly. I wouldn't expect running costs to be dramatically different, but not spending up to my budget and not buying at the bottom of the market for a 987 would make me feel slightly more comfortable.

[Dave200]

Sadly I don't fit in that generation of Z4, so that's out of the equation. I sort of feel like I stand a better chance of getting a really well sorted 986, with all the common problems addressed, and a bit of change in my pocket for my budget. Whereas with the 987 it's more likely I'll be getting slim pickings, and having to choose between desirable colours, the options I want and the work/history that I want.

[Dave200]

jamsp00n said:

If you don't fit in the Z, the 986 is going to be a struggle, too.

I've driven one, and I fit. The Porsche has more room in the footwell and the steering wheel sits higher relative to my knees.

[Dave200]

Shedding said:

I did quite a lot of reading before choosing a 2.7 987.1 Cayman. It seems to be about as reliable as you can get for a limited budget. Bigger IMS, unlikely to bore score plus the 5 speed manual scrapes into the lower road tax bracket (with some exceptions). I'm not convinced that any savings you make on buying a 986 wouldn't end up being spent on extra maintenance.

I really like a convertible, so haven't considered the Cayman to date.

[Dave200]

Thanks for taking the time to write all of that out. I think budget and time of year might ultimately end up making my decision for me. I'd ideally like to buy the car in the next month, so I can use it on a Route Napoleon/Alpine roadtrip at the start of July. I'm in 'peak convertible' time of year in price terms, which means that I'm fishing in a much smaller pond of good 987s for my budget than 986s. I always aim to buy the best example I can, because I'm not really able to do much work on cars myself, which might lead me to buying at the top of the 986 market.

Those photos of the seating positions are really helpful, and while I'm a few years older/stiffer than I was when I first drove these cars, I'd hope that I can still fit as I did. For reference, what height are you and do you have enough headroom for a helmet (I obviously wore one in the Cayman, but not the 986)?