Cayman S - manual, from 987 to 981 (+ some E46 love)
Discussion
Hello all!
After a couple of years of ownership and much tinkering, I've moved my 987.1 S on to a friend and picked up a 981 S.
I wasn't hankering after a 981, mainly down to not feeling the price differential was worth it after getting out of a friends 981 GTS and back into my 987. It sounded equally obnoxious with it's Carnewal exhaust and after some tweaks it was just as good ergonomically.
That said, I was keeping a close eye on the classifieds incase the right car came up. Engine worries with 987's can cause a bit of a headache for owners, especially if you enjoy track days.
Having put many thousands into the 987 it was a fantastic car. I've listed a few mods.
Carnewal exhaust
Bilstein PSS9 coilovers / spacers to suit
Michelin Pilot Sport 4S's
GT3 master brake cylinder
GT3 steering wheel re-wrap
Numeric Short Shifter
Sprint Booster (helped nicely with heel and toe)
Third radiator / low temp thermostat
Sports seats
That's aside from regular maintenance and replacing parts as and when. It was a joy to own, but I couldn't help the urge to move on.
As you can see, the car was used a lot. From being my daily for the better part of a year to sticking bikes on the roof.
Spec for a possible 981 had to be pretty much bang on if I was going to make the jump. Values seem pretty good right now, what with them being the last of the flat 6 caymans. On the list was a manual box / PSE / sports seats / sports chrono / LSD. I didn't want a car that was a worse spec than my 987 so that was the bare minimum.
Sadly, most modern Porsches are PDK as you all know and the small number that are manual are usually low spec to suit. Unless you go GTS, which I considered however the price jump just wasn't justifiable for a bit of Alcantara.
Then this came up.. it's a mid 2013 S, though the spec is ridiculous. It's beyond most GTS's that I've seen and yet, it cost £15k less. It's just crossed 37k miles, which is on the high side for a 981 at this point though totally realistic if used as a regular car. It's still got a years Porsche warranty which I plan to extend too. I found it on PH too!
It's fully ceramic coated and the front half has been PPF'd too. Spec list..
Sport Chrono Package Plus
Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM)
Porsche Torque Vectoring (PTV)
Sports Exhaust System (PSE)
SportDesign steering wheel
Sports package
20-inch Carrera S wheel
Wheel centres
BOSE® Surround Sound System
Automatic air conditioning
Climate control
Cruise control
Dynamic Light System (PDLS)
ParkAssist front and rear
Online services
Heated seats
Electric folding exterior mirror
Light design package
Top tinted windscreen
Power steering plus
Integrated rain sensor
Telephone module
Sadly it was 4 hours away and I was leaving for a 5 week road trip down through Turkey / Georgia in the next day or so. So I promptly drove up, had a good look around it, haggled a little and left a deposit. Wiring the rest of money across to the seller whilst I was camping somewhere in Slovenia. Fortunately he was kind enough to keep it on his drive whilst I was away, even if his friends couldn't understand why someone would wait so long! The wait sucked, but at least I was having some fun doing stuff like this (Cappadocia, Turkey).
(I did buy this image, but can't seem to find it now!)
(E46 330i, manual, touring with a lovely grandad spec interior package + light bar, roof box, spare wheels, 4x people and many, many spares). 7500 miles, 5 weeks & lots of off road tracks coupled with glorious mountain passes and incomprehensibly mad driving in Istanbul amongst many other cities. It lived to tell the tale and is currently sitting on my drive, albeit with needing some new front brakes. She's for sale if anyone wants her
ANYWAY, back to Caymans.
I headed up to pick the car up as soon as I got back. The seller had been fantastic and I'd already managed to sell my 987 to a close friend - although I'd used it as intended it was likely one of the best 987.1's around and was still low mileage.
I convinced myself I wouldn't modify this, but before I'd even arrived home I had BMC filters / side decals / some Sharkwerks goodies on the way. So that went well. PS4S's on the way now too as the 2/3 year old P Zero's are already perished and, well, suck.
White wasn't my first choice but the rest of the spec was too good to ignore. It's grown on me massively now and I think the side decals really add a bit of contrast.
Initial impressions? It's much more capable than the old car, if a little less raw. It's far easier to carry speed and the gearbox is just sublime. No matter what I did to the 987 it just wasn't where I wanted it to be in that department. The noise, even with the stock PSE is intoxicating.
Hopefully it'll be on track in the coming weeks, something these seem to take on easily which is a breath of fresh air compared to the oiling issues of old.
I'll upload some more photos in the near future. I've got a drive down to Tuscany planned in the coming months to shoot a rather nice car collection in the hills.
After a couple of years of ownership and much tinkering, I've moved my 987.1 S on to a friend and picked up a 981 S.
I wasn't hankering after a 981, mainly down to not feeling the price differential was worth it after getting out of a friends 981 GTS and back into my 987. It sounded equally obnoxious with it's Carnewal exhaust and after some tweaks it was just as good ergonomically.
That said, I was keeping a close eye on the classifieds incase the right car came up. Engine worries with 987's can cause a bit of a headache for owners, especially if you enjoy track days.
Having put many thousands into the 987 it was a fantastic car. I've listed a few mods.
Carnewal exhaust
Bilstein PSS9 coilovers / spacers to suit
Michelin Pilot Sport 4S's
GT3 master brake cylinder
GT3 steering wheel re-wrap
Numeric Short Shifter
Sprint Booster (helped nicely with heel and toe)
Third radiator / low temp thermostat
Sports seats
That's aside from regular maintenance and replacing parts as and when. It was a joy to own, but I couldn't help the urge to move on.
As you can see, the car was used a lot. From being my daily for the better part of a year to sticking bikes on the roof.
Spec for a possible 981 had to be pretty much bang on if I was going to make the jump. Values seem pretty good right now, what with them being the last of the flat 6 caymans. On the list was a manual box / PSE / sports seats / sports chrono / LSD. I didn't want a car that was a worse spec than my 987 so that was the bare minimum.
Sadly, most modern Porsches are PDK as you all know and the small number that are manual are usually low spec to suit. Unless you go GTS, which I considered however the price jump just wasn't justifiable for a bit of Alcantara.
Then this came up.. it's a mid 2013 S, though the spec is ridiculous. It's beyond most GTS's that I've seen and yet, it cost £15k less. It's just crossed 37k miles, which is on the high side for a 981 at this point though totally realistic if used as a regular car. It's still got a years Porsche warranty which I plan to extend too. I found it on PH too!
It's fully ceramic coated and the front half has been PPF'd too. Spec list..
Sport Chrono Package Plus
Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM)
Porsche Torque Vectoring (PTV)
Sports Exhaust System (PSE)
SportDesign steering wheel
Sports package
20-inch Carrera S wheel
Wheel centres
BOSE® Surround Sound System
Automatic air conditioning
Climate control
Cruise control
Dynamic Light System (PDLS)
ParkAssist front and rear
Online services
Heated seats
Electric folding exterior mirror
Light design package
Top tinted windscreen
Power steering plus
Integrated rain sensor
Telephone module
Sadly it was 4 hours away and I was leaving for a 5 week road trip down through Turkey / Georgia in the next day or so. So I promptly drove up, had a good look around it, haggled a little and left a deposit. Wiring the rest of money across to the seller whilst I was camping somewhere in Slovenia. Fortunately he was kind enough to keep it on his drive whilst I was away, even if his friends couldn't understand why someone would wait so long! The wait sucked, but at least I was having some fun doing stuff like this (Cappadocia, Turkey).
(I did buy this image, but can't seem to find it now!)
(E46 330i, manual, touring with a lovely grandad spec interior package + light bar, roof box, spare wheels, 4x people and many, many spares). 7500 miles, 5 weeks & lots of off road tracks coupled with glorious mountain passes and incomprehensibly mad driving in Istanbul amongst many other cities. It lived to tell the tale and is currently sitting on my drive, albeit with needing some new front brakes. She's for sale if anyone wants her
ANYWAY, back to Caymans.
I headed up to pick the car up as soon as I got back. The seller had been fantastic and I'd already managed to sell my 987 to a close friend - although I'd used it as intended it was likely one of the best 987.1's around and was still low mileage.
I convinced myself I wouldn't modify this, but before I'd even arrived home I had BMC filters / side decals / some Sharkwerks goodies on the way. So that went well. PS4S's on the way now too as the 2/3 year old P Zero's are already perished and, well, suck.
White wasn't my first choice but the rest of the spec was too good to ignore. It's grown on me massively now and I think the side decals really add a bit of contrast.
Initial impressions? It's much more capable than the old car, if a little less raw. It's far easier to carry speed and the gearbox is just sublime. No matter what I did to the 987 it just wasn't where I wanted it to be in that department. The noise, even with the stock PSE is intoxicating.
Hopefully it'll be on track in the coming weeks, something these seem to take on easily which is a breath of fresh air compared to the oiling issues of old.
I'll upload some more photos in the near future. I've got a drive down to Tuscany planned in the coming months to shoot a rather nice car collection in the hills.
Great pair of cars! I’ve been looking in the classifieds at 987.2 and 981 caymans, albeit budget wise I would probably only stretch to a 2.7 981. Caymans look great “value” just now with 911’s all into the stratosphere.
I think your 981 looks fantastic - looking I forward to more pictures!
Having had it a while what do you think the minimum spec you would want on a 981 would be? Could you do without anything you previously thought was required, etc?
I think your 981 looks fantastic - looking I forward to more pictures!
Having had it a while what do you think the minimum spec you would want on a 981 would be? Could you do without anything you previously thought was required, etc?
CrouchingWayne said:
Great pair of cars! I’ve been looking in the classifieds at 987.2 and 981 caymans, albeit budget wise I would probably only stretch to a 2.7 981. Caymans look great “value” just now with 911’s all into the stratosphere.
I think your 981 looks fantastic - looking I forward to more pictures!
Having had it a while what do you think the minimum spec you would want on a 981 would be? Could you do without anything you previously thought was required, etc?
Thank you sir!I think your 981 looks fantastic - looking I forward to more pictures!
Having had it a while what do you think the minimum spec you would want on a 981 would be? Could you do without anything you previously thought was required, etc?
PASM is great, but as always you seem to wand a mid setting for the majority of the time. Off is a little wallowy whilst turning it on does make it a little too firm for road use, though completely acceptable. I'd be happy with stock suspension, it's easier to swap out to coilovers after anyway.
Aside from that, you can go without the fancy interior lighting / leather (though it does make it feel more special). Sports Chrono is nice and makes more of a difference on PDK cars, rev matching is smart but I do prefer to do it myself. That said, with PSE it does increase the pops and bangs.
I'd be after a very much driver focused spec, but the LSD (PTV) option seems pretty rare unless it's a GTS and even then they don't all have it. PSE puts the biggest grin on my face but again, you can get that installed later on. Focus on the options that cost the most aftermarket I guess - sports seats are lovely.
Regarding the 987.1 2.7, they're quite a bit more bombproof and offer fantastic value for money if you're more focused with everything but straight line speed. With multiple friends owning them I can't recommend them enough.
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