Upgrade my 2.7 987.1C to 987.1 CS, 987.2Box or 996Turbo?

[Jakub]

Hi,
Here is my dilemma: my 56reg base Cayman is now on 60k miles and is faultless.
But the insurance, service and running cost are very similar to CS or 996T.

I could upgrade to:

2006 Cayman S – cheapest option but old car. I do not want to spend too much on Gen1 CS because of the potential engine failure – I prefer to keep few £££ just in case.
- Spend additional 4k and have a better car but same age and mileage (and additional risk).

2009 Boxster S – new engine design, nicer interior and lights. I never had convertible before, I do not know how the roof will work out as this would be an all-weather car. Much better car than my but with worse ‘image’ (not that I do care about).
- Spend additional 8-10k and have a much fresher car with no-risk engine but not a coupe

2003 996Turbo – power, speed and safe engine. The car looks a bit dated now and the interior is ‘past time’. I had no chance to try one yet. Would it be much better car than a Cayman?
- Spend additional 8-10k and have an Icon but a dated one.

So, here we are. I do not really know if this is worth the hassle. My car just had new brakes installed and is booked for 60k service… maybe I should keep it for one more year. But the situation will not change – the other cars will get cheaper and so will my. On the plus side 987.2 Caymans S will be more affordable.

What would you do?

[Mike_C]

You have to decide in what order you rate:

- Performance
- Image
- Reliability
- Practicality

If the top two are most important, it's got to be a 996 Turbo!

If the bottom two are most important, 987.2 Boxster S it is.

If the first and last two are most important, time for a new Cayman S!

For what it's worth, I would imagine the running costs on a 996 Turbo will be significantly higher than your Cayman. Insurance, fuel, tyres and servicing will all increase significantly! Personally, I'd be considering a 996 C4S.

I've just been in a similar situation (albeit I'm coming from a 330Ci) and I'm picking up a 2006 Cayman S this Saturday

[Jakub]

Hi Mike,

996Turbo is the only 996 I would buy. It is not about image really – for that I would get a 997. I do not want 997.1 for two reasons: engine problems, engine placement.
I do realise that 996 has same engine placement but for 4W practicality and performance I can cope with that.

Congrats to your CS!
Did you try 2.7 before? Is the difference worth £4k and additional risks involved (bore scoring)?

[Mike_C]

Hi Jakub,

I test drove a 2.7 and it actually made me decide to keep the beemer to be honest. For me, it lacked torque compared to the 330Ci and the leggy 5-speed box felt too stretched out for my liking - I was used to mucher closer ratio's in a 6-speed box.

So I went looking for 335Ci's and S5 Coupe's, but just happened to looked at a Cayman S 5 miles from my house, test drove that and loved it! So the deal was done, pick it up tomorrow morning.

As for engine issues, from what I've read both the 2.7 and 3.4 Cayman's can suffer intermediary bearing failure and rear main seals leaking. I thought bore scoring applied to both too. Either way, all vehicles have issues so I guess I'm taking a chance, but plenty of people run and own both cars with no problems so it hasn't put me off buying one!

[redback911]

Hi Jakub,

What budget do you have?

[Jakub]

Thanks Mike. From what I know (according to Baz from Hartech) the 2.7 is almost immune to bore scoring and this is the very reason for my hesitation to change.
But my other car (A3 3.2 DSG) feels and probably is quicker than the base Cayman – and that is not right The lack of torque in the 2nd gear at low city speeds is evident…

Has someone experience driving 996Tutbo and Cayman S back to back? How they compare?
Thanks,
Jakub

[Jakub]

redback911 said:

Hi Jakub,

What budget do you have?

I was looking for 2006 Caymans (S) - private for 16-18k.
The 996Turbos I like are about 24k – private sell.
As you can see the 996T is a big step up regarding money (for me anyway) and would have to be a keeper for next few years to justify it.

[FisiP1]

Jakub said:

Thanks Mike. From what I know (according to Baz from Hartech) the 2.7 is almost immune to bore scoring and this is the very reason for my hesitation to change.
But my other car (A3 3.2 DSG) feels and probably is quicker than the base Cayman – and that is not right The lack of torque in the 2nd gear at low city speeds is evident…

Has someone experience driving 996Tutbo and Cayman S back to back? How they compare?
Thanks,
Jakub

As above, 2.7 engine is pretty bulletproof in the Cayman as per data on rebuilds conducted by Hartech. Gen 1 3.4 is a minefield of issues.

@ OP, don't think the typical 2.7 Cayman running costs are anything close to what a 996 turbo can potentially cost you very quickly should anything go wrong. The turbo engine is generally reliable, but when other things let go the cost can be huge. There was someone on here (that you may be able to find if you search) who reported spending ~10k in the first year of ownership of his turbo just keeping it on the road. There is also a wider gap in running costs than you may think between the Cayman 2.7 and the 3.4; the consumable parts that are not shared are far more expensive to replace on the 3.4 version.

The 2.7 is not an especially quick car in a straight line/in most driving situations where you can't keep it in the top of its rev band. If you love driving and live around very good technical twisty B roads then it will give you just as much satisfaction as the 3.4. But, if you do 99% of your driving on big A roads, motorways, around towns etc. then the Turbo will blow both Cayman variants away, their talents are entirely wasted in those environments.

The 3.4 engined cars suit something in between, tighter A-roads, faster B-roads etc. I haven't owned a boxster yet long-term but I'd definitely go for a gen2 boxster over a gen1 3.4 cayman because of the reliability issues of the latter.

[996TT02]

Jakub said:

But my other car (A3 3.2 DSG) feels and probably is quicker than the base Cayman – and that is not right The lack of torque in the 2nd gear at low city speeds is evident…

Has someone experience driving 996Tutbo and Cayman S back to back? How they compare?
Thanks,
Jakub

Can't help with the Cayman experience, but as soon as the 996 turbo hits 2k rpm, it's weeeeeehhhaaaaaaaaaa... horizon express. At motorway speeds I am constantly checking which gear I am in, because it is hard to believe that I would be in 6th.

[Jakub]

Thanks guys. I am not in a rush but PH and autotrader visits are more frequent now