981 Cayman S - General running costs & MPG

[lewisf182]

HI,

I currently have a 996 C4S which is lovely, but I do fancy something a bit more modern and the Cayman 981 S at circa £35k is catching my eye. Always been a fan of the cayman, and came close to buying a 987.2 but instead went for my current 911.

With my background being accounting/finance, I tend to create spreadsheets and calculate costs to the nth degree as, ultimately, I hate depreciation and hence tend to focus on minimizing overall ownership costs. I chose my 996 C4S on the basis it shouldn't depreciate but knew it would (and it has) cost me £2k per year to run. So, I'm figuring all in, I could have a 981 S for another £1-2k per year and that's including OPC warranty at circa £600 per year?

One of the things i'm struggling to find is real world average MPG of the cayman S, I do a 30 mile commute each day (about 8-9k per year) 70% motorway 30% A roads - what sort of MPG could I expect? I've calculated about 26/7 against my current 21.

What other annual running costs should I budget for?
So far I have:
OPC warranty: £600
Servicing: £500
Tax: £315

What i'd then like to include is depreciation. A decent 2012 987.2 S is circa £27k, so an £8k gulf between a 981 2013 S, I don't think the 981 will depreciate £8k in one year given it's a 'new' model so I'm banking on £2.5k depreciation per year in my calculations - does that seem about right?

This all seems a bit anal & crazy I know, and some would say just go out and buy the thing or you can either afford it or you can't, but I just like to make sure I'm limiting my costs where possible so that I've got free money for other things like holidays etc..

I'm also considering a few other options like Lotus Evora, Jaguar F Type, BMW M2/4 - the usual suspects really at this price point. I'd love an Aston but those in my budget are just too old and they can throw even scarier bills than my 996.

Thanks,

[Twinfan]

Extended warranty is £217 for the 111-point check, then £660 for one year or £1270 for two. Porsche Assistance is £169 for one year or £269 for two. Buying a used car from an OPC includes the check and 2 year's warranty/assistance so make sure you're comparing like with like when pricing up options.

981 servicing is only every two years and has a fixed price option at some OPCs, which is worth going for. It's £490 for a minor service plus £95 for a brake fluid change too. Major is £630 plus the £95 brake fluid change, plus an aircon service at around £200, spark plugs at around £230 and emergency tyre sealant around £50.

I'd say your MPG estimations are a touch optimistic. I don't commute or do track days in my GTS and my average from new is 25.1mpg from a mixture of short trips, long motorway journeys and weekend blasts.

Stick that lot in your spreadsheet and see how it comes out!

[bcr5784]

Economy is very use dependent. Hoon around and you'll get low 20s. Long motorway runs with PDK are very economical if you stick in normal and allow coast to operate -mid 30s are easy. Even cruising at 3 figures you should get 30 or more. I've averaged just over 30 for the cars life - but that does include more motorway work than I'd like.

Manual will be less economical on the motorway but probably similar on fun roads.

[Si-3PO]

bcr5784 said:

Economy is very use dependent. Hoon around and you'll get low 20s. Long motorway runs with PDK are very economical if you stick in normal and allow coast to operate -mid 30s are easy. Even cruising at 3 figures you should get 30 or more. I've averaged just over 30 for the cars life - but that does include more motorway work than I'd like.

Manual will be less economical on the motorway but probably similar on fun roads.

Low 20s? You don’t hoon hard enough

When I sold my 981 BGTS the average mpg was reading 18.9 after 10,000 miles.... Okay, so I had a 5 minute town commute back then!

[Green1man]

Yes mpg is very use dependent. I get about 20mpg if pushing on, but saw 40 mpg on a long motorway run (much at 50mpg). Your 27mpg average should be achievable. My long term average is about that (981 Boxster S)

[jonttt]

Lol, I’m a chartered accountant by background (although I don’t do much accounting nowadays) and the last thing I do with a car is a spreadsheet ;-)

The biggest cost will be whether you buy privately or from OPC and how long you are going to keep the car. I just work on £3k per annum as I don’t want to know if its more than that ;-)

Ps you have not mentioned differences in insurance so I assume they will be similar ?

[lewisf182]

jonttt said:

Lol, I’m a chartered accountant by background (although I don’t do much accounting nowadays) and the last thing I do with a car is a spreadsheet ;-)

The biggest cost will be whether you buy privately or from OPC and how long you are going to keep the car. I just work on £3k per annum as I don’t want to know if its more than that ;-)

Ps you have not mentioned differences in insurance so I assume they will be similar ?

Haha I don’t know why I just seem to use it for everything!

Tis’ looking about £3k per annum to change ‘up’.going to drive one saturday as well as a jaguar F type to see what I make of the drive.

Insurance is a tad more on the cayman S at £1k on the comparison sites but going direct to my insurer they could probably beat that and get close to my current £700 on my car

[Sam_A]

£500 a year for rubber and another £500 for brakes? I'm estimating my 2.7 will be £3-4 k a year including tax and insurance, although that may change if I track it. Bought privately so won't take that initial 2-3k hit just leaving the forecourt.

[Adam190]

Hope this helps. Mine is a Boxster 981S but running costs are the same!

Purchased 2 years ago and done 20k in my ownership. Costs:

£450 for 2 rear tyres
£800 Major service plus Spark plugs at OPC
Depreciation roughly £5k
I use it as a daily and it gets 30mpg

Not cheap but it was what I was expecting