Which Porsche for around £30k - Cayman 987.2 or 911 997.1
Discussion
I've just sold my Kia Stinger GTS and was going to go for something cheap for a few months, however i've started looking at Porsches and now I think I'm a bit hooked. This will be a second car that i'll mainly be doing local journeys in but will occasionally be doing 300 mile round trips. I'm looking at something like this:
Cayman 2.9 987.2 - This is low spec but also low mileage and being a .2 should be massively more reliable. For the money this will be more sensible but will be way more difficult to sell to the wife having 2 seats as we have a 5 year old. Not sure i'd be wasting money by going for a low mileage example if im going to be putting 5-10k miles on a year (worst case). Also a bit under powered compared to the S or 911 but cant seem to find a perfect S for the money.
911 Carrera S 997.1 - 4 Seats so easier to sell to the wife but concerns about reliability. This may have the IMS bearing done and sounds like it doesnt have bore score but it's something im always going to worry over. This looks like a great example though
911 Carrera S 997.1 Convertible - Again, the same as above. putting £30k+ into a car like this feels like it might be a bit of a bad idea though.
From there there's always the 981 Cayman but I like the idea of the 987 due to being last of the analogue caymans so to speak. I also want the car to be a bit of an event to use, not sure which would qualify more here.
A bit left field is this: Panamera GTS which will tick a lot of boxes but christ it doesnt look very good does it!
Cayman 2.9 987.2 - This is low spec but also low mileage and being a .2 should be massively more reliable. For the money this will be more sensible but will be way more difficult to sell to the wife having 2 seats as we have a 5 year old. Not sure i'd be wasting money by going for a low mileage example if im going to be putting 5-10k miles on a year (worst case). Also a bit under powered compared to the S or 911 but cant seem to find a perfect S for the money.
911 Carrera S 997.1 - 4 Seats so easier to sell to the wife but concerns about reliability. This may have the IMS bearing done and sounds like it doesnt have bore score but it's something im always going to worry over. This looks like a great example though
911 Carrera S 997.1 Convertible - Again, the same as above. putting £30k+ into a car like this feels like it might be a bit of a bad idea though.
From there there's always the 981 Cayman but I like the idea of the 987 due to being last of the analogue caymans so to speak. I also want the car to be a bit of an event to use, not sure which would qualify more here.
A bit left field is this: Panamera GTS which will tick a lot of boxes but christ it doesnt look very good does it!
bennno said:
Drive a few and decide, a 997 and 987 both feel pretty dated and prior to 2010 they do have bore score and IMS issues - so id try to look at cars after 2010 and id suggest you drive a 981Cayman or Boxster as both are superb.
Not that I’m disagreeing but could you expand on dated, do you mean interior, how they drive, lack of power / turbos etc? A cracking list and a nice problem to have. Would be the 981 Boxster for me if I could find one within my budget.
Out of interest, how did you find the Stinger? I had one for nearly 3 years - documented on here.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Out of interest, how did you find the Stinger? I had one for nearly 3 years - documented on here.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I love the look of the 981 and looking around there are a couple of S variants that look lovely, I've just heard of a lot of people saying that the 987 is a brilliant drive and look to hold their value well as they are pretty rare. The interior is definitely more dated than the 981 but it it still much better than a lot of cars around the 2010 era. The thing with the 981 is that i dont like that you get a load of button inserts if you dont get one with high spec. I dont want things like PASM as i've come from a car with driving modes and I much prefer a simpler setup as there are less things to go wrong.
I own a 987.1 and can vouch for them really delivering on the analogue feeling sports car - they’re amazing! The gen2 certainly seems the preferred bet for reliability (though a 2.7 Gen 1 is pretty low-risk too). They still feel modern but definitely have a bit of a classic feel to the interior - very simple and well-finished but nothing like modern stuff.
That feels like a lot of money to spend on a 987 and you’re paying a lot for the mileage there which you’re going to negate the benefit of pretty quickly. Why not aim for around a £22k budget and keep some cash back for some upgrades (Carnewal GT exhaust mod is on my list for a bit more “sporty” noise) and a maintenance fund?
The only thing I’d add is, if you’ve got the option to choose a 911 I can’t imagine you’d ever regret it! I love my Cayman but there will always be that bit that wishes…
That feels like a lot of money to spend on a 987 and you’re paying a lot for the mileage there which you’re going to negate the benefit of pretty quickly. Why not aim for around a £22k budget and keep some cash back for some upgrades (Carnewal GT exhaust mod is on my list for a bit more “sporty” noise) and a maintenance fund?
The only thing I’d add is, if you’ve got the option to choose a 911 I can’t imagine you’d ever regret it! I love my Cayman but there will always be that bit that wishes…
Agree with fieldatlanta that the 987.2 2.9 is a big premium over a 2.7 987C, which doesnt suffer from the terminal issues of the 3.4 (bore score) or slightly earlier 987 boxsters (IMS).
The 987.2 looks lovely but a higher miles 987.1 2.7 will give alot of the experience for a good bit less money.
Here's one from a good specialist, a 10k.ish saving for an older/higher mileage car:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2022100805...
The 987.2 looks lovely but a higher miles 987.1 2.7 will give alot of the experience for a good bit less money.
Here's one from a good specialist, a 10k.ish saving for an older/higher mileage car:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2022100805...
jakesmith said:
bennno said:
Drive a few and decide, a 997 and 987 both feel pretty dated and prior to 2010 they do have bore score and IMS issues - so id try to look at cars after 2010 and id suggest you drive a 981Cayman or Boxster as both are superb.
Not that I’m disagreeing but could you expand on dated, do you mean interior, how they drive, lack of power / turbos etc? The ICE and dashboard plastics aren't as good though.
I have a 987 3.4S Boxster that I use as a daily runaround. Cost me a little less than half your budget.
Brilliant car, quick enough, lovely handling.
No sat nav, no Bluetooth - although a £500 trip to Halfords would solve that.
I love it and after 16 years, if IMS and Bore scoring have not killed it yet, I am hoping that I have rolled a six!
Brilliant car, quick enough, lovely handling.
No sat nav, no Bluetooth - although a £500 trip to Halfords would solve that.
I love it and after 16 years, if IMS and Bore scoring have not killed it yet, I am hoping that I have rolled a six!
plenty said:
jakesmith said:
bennno said:
Drive a few and decide, a 997 and 987 both feel pretty dated and prior to 2010 they do have bore score and IMS issues - so id try to look at cars after 2010 and id suggest you drive a 981Cayman or Boxster as both are superb.
Not that I’m disagreeing but could you expand on dated, do you mean interior, how they drive, lack of power / turbos etc? The ICE and dashboard plastics aren't as good though.
dunc69 said:
A cracking list and a nice problem to have. Would be the 981 Boxster for me if I could find one within my budget.
Out of interest, how did you find the Stinger? I had one for nearly 3 years - documented on here.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
It really was a fantastic car. I loved that it came crammed with features, even things like tightening the seat bolsters when in sport i thought was cool! And on a 300 mile round trip it was such a nice car to be in.Out of interest, how did you find the Stinger? I had one for nearly 3 years - documented on here.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I ended up getting rid just because:
- It didn't quite feel like an event to get in and drive. Perhaps because we used it a bit as a family car though.
- I think it was too fast and struggled to put its power down some times. I've had things like GT86's, JCW MINIs, Z4Cs and i loved the fact that you can really drive them while still doing pretty sensible speeds. For outright torque though the Stinger was mad!
- There wasn't enough sound. I added a K&N intake to get some sound but it was just way too quiet. This was a big thing for me, i dont want loud but i do want to hear something that isnt fake cabin engine sound
OK so there's so much more to think about now. I think i'm going to tweak my search a bit, I'm going to look at a 987.1 2.7, a 987.2 3.4 and absolute max budget would get me into this which even though is a 981 looks fantastic: 981 3.4S
I'm still thinking though that a 987 might be more of an event due to it being more analogue, I dont dislike the interior but it does feel a bit dated tbh.
I'm still thinking though that a 987 might be more of an event due to it being more analogue, I dont dislike the interior but it does feel a bit dated tbh.
I have a 987.2 2.9, I decided to go for this as for my budget an S would be a 987.1 and I couldn't justify the risk of a major bork that I couldn't afford to fix. The 2.9 is only slightly slower than a 987.1 S anyway, not enough for me as an average driver to notice. I got it as a daily and occasional track day car, so it ticks a lot of boxes.
As for the 987/911 question, to be honest (and I know it's a personal thing) I'd take a Cayman over any 911 at whatever price point, just because for me the engine is finally in the right place.
However, for your budget and as your wife is on the 911 side for you youngster I'd be looking at an Evora 2+2. Lotus handling is and always will be better than a Porsche.
As for the 987/911 question, to be honest (and I know it's a personal thing) I'd take a Cayman over any 911 at whatever price point, just because for me the engine is finally in the right place.
However, for your budget and as your wife is on the 911 side for you youngster I'd be looking at an Evora 2+2. Lotus handling is and always will be better than a Porsche.
Chris-1e43g said:
dunc69 said:
A cracking list and a nice problem to have. Would be the 981 Boxster for me if I could find one within my budget.
Out of interest, how did you find the Stinger? I had one for nearly 3 years - documented on here.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
It really was a fantastic car. I loved that it came crammed with features, even things like tightening the seat bolsters when in sport i thought was cool! And on a 300 mile round trip it was such a nice car to be in.Out of interest, how did you find the Stinger? I had one for nearly 3 years - documented on here.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
I ended up getting rid just because:
- It didn't quite feel like an event to get in and drive. Perhaps because we used it a bit as a family car though.
- I think it was too fast and struggled to put its power down some times. I've had things like GT86's, JCW MINIs, Z4Cs and i loved the fact that you can really drive them while still doing pretty sensible speeds. For outright torque though the Stinger was mad!
- There wasn't enough sound. I added a K&N intake to get some sound but it was just way too quiet. This was a big thing for me, i dont want loud but i do want to hear something that isnt fake cabin engine sound
I lost faith in mine in terms of interior build quality. Too many niggles and rattles in the end. I had planned for it to be a keeper, but it ended up irritating too much. Was a shame because there were so many good things about it and it was asked about all the time!
Mine was a 2019 with the louder exhaust. Still not quite loud enough, but a lovely sound with the windows down and a stone wall alongside!
Edited by dunc69 on Friday 17th February 10:33
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