My 987.1 S journey from pre-purchase to making her mine

The return of Marty Wild said:

p.s. really don't think the air intakes are very attractive on the gen1s, when I saw this car I was instantly pleased. Being black really does make the best out of them!

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If you're talking about the side air intakes, they are the same on the gen 1 and gen 2. They didn't change.

Thanks for the kind words Gents, was all set for a spin down to the south coast last night..... Disaster strikes! Back near side was flat as a pancake! Spent all morning trying to get it fixed.... sitting in a rented Focus as I write this!

Metal shard 2cm from the inner edge, must have picked it up miles from home on my maiden voyage! Totally gutted and 500 sheets on top of the price of the car, only had it 6 days, driven it only once.

@ Pothole - Oh ok, so it's the 718 that has similar vents to the 918?!

A little update after a month of ownership, hoping if any other new/would be owners stumble across this thread.

The Technicals:

- The flat tyre turned out to be a shard of innocuous looking glass. Bit the bullet and put some new recently 'N rated' Super Sports on the back axle. Came in around £460 fitted from BlackCircles. Worth noting that the 19" 265mm rears are available as 'N0' rated. But same can't be said for the fronts.

- Recently found out the 'Sound Package Plus' amp made by ASK hasn't been powering up the 8" subs in the doors. Explaining why the sound is so tinny even with the bass turned up to full. Amp is whipped out and will be sent to Norway as per this thread:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1234814

- MPG when compared to the mkIV R32 seems better on long mixed road type journeys. Shorter trips to work (should I not cycle) or supermarket runs is worse. When I picked the car up I thought I got 27mpg on the way home, but it turns out unlike on the R, the indicated mpg does not reset every trip. Needs to be reset using the stalk every trip should you wish to view the mpg for that journey.

- The car had some hideously useless Phillips H7 Halogen bulbs designed to give an HID/Xenon look. Was literally scared the first time I used the car in the dark. Whacked some trusty Osram Nightbreakers in to tide me over until some HID kits were delivered.

Had pondered what the 'Design 911' HID kits at £250 afforded you over a cheaper set, so rang them up expecting a little bit of salesman spiel. The staff member had no information as to why their items were worth such a premium, in fact, the only explanation he offered me was incorrect. It ended with him actually hanging up on me. So wasn't a great first impression of their store.

Ended up getting a set from 'HIDS4U' after reading some good reviews. I must say the customer service was EXCELLENT in comparison, a member of staff took ownership of the transaction and went out of his way to keep me updated as to the progress as the items had been on pre-order. He went out of his way to get the kits sent to me before I broke from work for my Christmas break. So I fitted them the other day, simplicity in itself, took no more than 30 mins. No drilling required as there is so much space in the light assemblies for the kit.

The results are excellent, the light is now on a par if not better than the standard HIDs on the R32. I went for 5000k as I am after useable light and they are spot on IMO for how white they look to other road users. I had uprated to LED sidelights and they looked much closer to the 'Xenon look' halogens dips. But now, even though the HIDs are 5000k, they now don't look white enough. So may have to replace the sides as I am not a fan of the 'Mini Look' at night.

I had been worried about beam alignment as I don't want to annoy other drivers. But by my rough measurements and not having received any flashes. I believe I am not causing anyone any worry with my retro-fit. I think the fact the Cayman has 'Projector' lenses in the assembly makes retro-fitting HIDs a decent mod.

Link below, Cayman 987.1 runs H7 and you need the 'Projector version':

http://www.hids4u.co.uk/h7-xenon-hid-conversion-kits/

Plan to do a specific thread for all the lighting upgrades I am doing at some point. Incidentally, the 'Front headlight removal tool' actually failed when I was swapping the Osrams in. Had to buy a new one from here unfortunately:

https://www.porscheshop.co.uk/headlight-removal-tool-997-cayman-boxster-987.html

Thanks to OPC Cambridge for lending me one outside the front so I could just finish the job having swapped one out before the tool broke.

- Wheel protection for winter use as I don't have winter wheels. Read on here about washing the wheels once a week if you are going to use the car when the roads are salted and grimey. Read good reviews about 'Chemical Guys Wheel Guard:

http://www.chemicalguysuk.com/Chemical_Guys_Wheel_Guard_p/whegrd.htm

Have been washing the wheels once a week and they come up like new after the slightest of effort.

The Soulful Stuff:

The car is a dream to drive, every time I start it I know I have arrived. There has been times when I have looked down and been shocked by the speedo reading. The car seems a lot more balanced than the R32, meaning the grip and road holding on offer vastly overshadows the lack of balance on the R32. Having that heavy 3.2 out over the front axle and its effect can not be hidden.

The steering is on another level in terms of communication from the road, unnerving at first as you feel every bump, every catseye. But I am used to that now, car seems more responsive to not only your inputs, but also the surfaces/environment you introduce it to. Think the Cayman requires more attention to drive than the R32 but is so much more rewarding.

As for grunt, its 50bhp over the stock R32, with 150-200kg in weight saving. This is seriously noticeable, according to figures I found online, the Cayman S is 1.5s faster to 60, but 4s to 100. The latter being the more impressive in terms of real world in-gear performance.

Crazy how easy it is to spin up the rears with Winter roads when pulling away at T junctions. Was spoilt by the AWD of my previous car when it comes to getting the power down in poor conditions.

Have been warming her up thoroughly, probably even more so than I did with the R32. Am weary of not booting it after an unplanned stop from high load driving too.

Am totally in love though, have not missed my last car per se, despite having to rent a Focus to transport a large TV. One question though, where is the auto-dimming rear view mirror? Missing that! :lol:

Good review mate, my only thought on the review, have you considered fitting a 4" underdrive pulley and Low temp thermostat as the pulley adds a little weight to the power steering and gives it a more confidence building feel as these mid and rear engine cars are very light up front and the steering lets you know that a lot. I was very impressed when I did it to mine its just subtle but makes the steering feel far better. :thumb: keep up the reviews :grin:

Cheers Phil, the car came with the LTT and a Hartech deep sump on it.

Have heard of this underdrive pulley on here, is it an expensive mod?! Something I can do myself?!

Nice review. Nice to see one that is unbiased and purely based on the ability of the car.

Thanks isysman! Have driven a fair few 911s over the years, but you never get to grips when taking a quick blat in a mate's car.

It maybe an original Cayman with the engine in the wrong place, but I feel I'm getting a nice taste of Porsche ownership. The clunk when you pop a bonnet from the remote, the sound of the engine when it's wound up, that quintessential hot Porsche smell when you park up from a decent drive!

Love it :mrgreen:

Just got the amp back from Tore in Norway, very pleased, the difference in sound is night and day.

Here is his website, can't recommend his services enough. First of all, its worth checking your amp is working in the first place. You may not know you have an issue. I just figured the system wasn't up too much.

http://www.bergvillfx.com/index.php/services.html

The amp now has a 5 year guarantee after his upgrading and fixing the problem parts. Note his sticker on the bottom left corner. Turn around was just under 2 weeks. Him receiving the amp took the most days, once he received it, he turned it around in hours.

Rick Astly just isn't the same without lots of base! :what:

That's what they say isn't it! :lol:

Sorry for stealing the thead, but anyone thinking of chopping in their 2013 981 S at the end of a lease period let me know. Preferably manual, but would consider a driver spec'd PDK. Just call me analogue as opposed to digital. FPSH essential. Similarly if anyone is aware of a good car please get in touch.

I have eventually come round to realising that the Cayman is the current car that should carry on carrera name. The 991 is just a GT and no longer a sports car. Took a long time to get over the lesser porsche image if you know what I mean.

Thanks

MODS: Fancy deleting the above post please?! It's more of a 'wanted' thread than anything constructive in my thread.

imac said:

Sorry for stealing the thead, but anyone thinking of chopping in their 2013 981 S at the end of a lease period let me know. Preferably manual, but would consider a driver spec'd PDK. Just call me analogue as opposed to digital. FPSH essential. Similarly if anyone is aware of a good car please get in touch.

I have eventually come round to realising that the Cayman is the current car that should carry on carrera name. The 991 is just a GT and no longer a sports car. Took a long time to get over the lesser porsche image if you know what I mean.

Thanks

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Who would chop up their car? I don't even understand the question.

He means 'chopping in' as in moving on to another does he not. Was a strange post though, almost like SPAM but not quite.