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Gen 1 Cayman (987) as a Daily Drive?

volks_womble

Well-known member
Joined
19 Sep 2014
Messages
53
Hi,

I am considering my first foray into Porsche ownership, and am looking at the Gen 1 Caymans as a Daily driver.

I have a couple of questions, which I am sure have been asked but I have yet to see much response form a UK perspective...

Firstly, given my budget (sub 20k), I am looking at older cars - Am I going to be able to get a reliable car for that sort of money, or should I give up and buy a focus?

Secondly, the eternal 2.7 vs 3.4 debate. My heart wants a 3.4, but doing ~15k-20k miles pa the 2.7 seems the more sensible option. Will the 2.7 leave me wanting on normal UK road driving?

Advice and real world experiences very much appreciated,
Thanks
Mark
 
Hello,
Good choice for a daily IMHO.

I had the gen 1 manual 3.4s and did about 15k in a year.
I reckon you will get a decent one for under 20k.
I didnt get on so well with the manual around town, so i gave up on it and got a gen 2 pdk which was excellent, thats gone too now but only because I wanted an open top 981.

Kimbo on here has a gen 1 manual (at least i think it is and thats a 2.7) - maybe p.m him hes approachable

:D

If you could go the extra dosh, Id stretch to a gen 2 and get more peace of mind with reliability, you will recoup it at the other end come resale time and a 2.9 should be around 25k.

Hope my information isnt too far off.

Here is a gen 2 2.9 for a few dollars more but looks pretty good to me
the extra money would cover the worry factor for possible engine issues.
plus it has chrono and a sports exhaust which is essential for town driving:)

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifi...cayman-987-2-9-gen-2-coupe-manual/5842399?v=c
 
Thanks :) appreciate the real experience.

stretching the budget would be nice, but is unlikely. I like the Gen 2 in the link, but needs to be cobalt blue to totally sell me on it ;)

Cheers
Mark
 
I would suggest either a late 2.7 2007-2008 or a 2.9 gen 2. Both these are reliable, if your not too fusy on spec the gen2 2.9 can be had for just under 20k. The 3.4 gen 1 whilst is has the extra power but can have issues with engine. Its all about how you look at risk??
 
jimmy p said:
The 3.4 gen 1 whilst is has the extra power but can have issues with engine. Its all about how you look at risk??

Depends on how big the risk vs reward is...

I am seeing quite mixed feedback about how likely the 3.4 bore scoring issues actually are.

Is there a ballpark figure to rectify if the issues do manifest themselves?

I have booked to try a 2.7 at the weekend, but I need to find a 3.4 to try and compare them.

Cheers
Mark
 
I own a 2008 987 Boxster 3.4 and it is a great engine (gen.1) there are known issues with the gen.1 cars but very rare on later cars (it was very rare anyway).

I used to have a 3.2 Boxster and once when it was in for repairs they gave me a 2.9 Cayman to drive. There wasn't much in it between those two cars (the 3.2 being a gen.1 and the 2.9 being a gen.2) I did notice a slight increase in torque when I got my own car back after the service but it was small. Not sure how thev3.4 would compare though.

If you can get a gen.2 I'd go for that just because you'll get the better PCM (stereo) with touch screen etc. With the obvious other improvements. But if you find a good gen.1 3.4 I wouldn't let it worry you about the engine they are good engines. Just get it checked out before you buy.
 
As has been mentioned .. Cayman problems are rare .. possible but still rare .. from my experience anyways .

I would suggest having a chat with Kimbo .. he can tell you a lot more than i can .. hes also passionate about his :)
 
Thanks chaps, much appreciated. As I said, my heart wants the 3.4 but it may co e down to what cars are available to me within budget.
 
volks_womble said:
Firstly, given my budget (sub 20k), I am looking at older cars - Am I going to be able to get a reliable car for that sort of money, or should I give up and buy a focus?

Secondly, the eternal 2.7 vs 3.4 debate. My heart wants a 3.4, but doing ~15k-20k miles pa the 2.7 seems the more sensible option. Will the 2.7 leave me wanting on normal UK road driving?

Hi Mark,

I have a 45,000 mile 2006 £16000 2.7 manual with 6-speed gearbox and the power and torque is more than enough for spirited UK driving. I did a 3.4 comparison before I bought mine and there's not much in it. The 2.7 feels lighter and seems to rev more freely. The 6-speed manual box is a marvel.

The clutch is a fraction heavier than our family Polo, and dead easy to drive on a daily basis, but I would never drive a manual car in London.

I don't have any sort of backup fund for repairs, and before I bought mine, asked my Indy garage Precision about bore scoring, IMS failure and all the other internet worries. They said Cayman failures were rare, even rarer for the 2.7's.

As for the car, I've owned 2 x 70's 911S, 3.2 Carreras, SC Sports, Ferrari Dino, Ferrari 308 and 4 x 993's and I have to say this Cayman is the most fun I've ever had on four wheels in 40 years of sports cars.

Not one rattle or squeak, razor sharp handling, Jaguar comfort with the PASM, light, nimble and quick. It's a faultless car, the only thing I'd change is the exhaust.

As a daily, I would suggest buying one with PASM and 17" wheels.There's a marked difference in ride quality once you go for 18's and upwards.
 
For 4 years I used a 2008 Cayman (gen 1) 2.7 as my daily. I covered 40,000 miles and the only expense I had was 2 services (major and minor), 1 set of front pads and 2 sets of tyres.

Car was amazing fun to drive and I really enjoyed my ownership experience. I wasn't aware of the borescoring \IM issues until after I sold it so slept well every night :D

Mine had 19" Sport Design wheels and as a driver I didn't notice\mind the bumpy ride, my wife didn't enjoy being a passenger as much. My understanding is that smaller wheels would have resolved this, if you can get a car with PASM too (non-standard option in the 2.7) then the larger wheels might be OK.

Car tax was about £275 per year too which is pretty good for a car like this (my 911 is double).

The cd\radio (CDR24) was ok but I installed a Parrot device enabling me to stream audio from my phone and make\receive calls and this integrates nicely with the CDR24 and was only about £150 fitted (by Halfords).

Get a decent TomTom with speed cameras updated and this would be better than the PCM provided with the S models (or any other Porsche).
 
nigel99 said:
For 4 years I used a 2008 Cayman (gen 1) 2.7 as my daily. I covered 40,000 mi

Car tax was about £275 per year too which is pretty good for a car like this (my 911 is double).

Mine's £500 for a 2.7 2006.


The tyres on 17" Cayman wheels have a thick and juicy sidewall that gives a more compliant ride than the larger wheels.

With PASM turned off, it's saloon car comfortable.

With PASM turned on, the suspension stiffens up and the ride is much sportier and firmer.

A Cayman with 18 or 19" wheels without PASM would be too firm for me driving on the majority of UK roads.

I like the best of both worlds, so mine had to have PASM.
 
Kimbo said:
nigel99 said:
For 4 years I used a 2008 Cayman (gen 1) 2.7 as my daily. I covered 40,000 mi

Car tax was about £275 per year too which is pretty good for a car like this (my 911 is double).

Mine's £500 for a 2.7 2006.

I just checked on the DVLA website and found out that there are two variants of the manual 2.7!

5 speed M5 = £295 per year (What I had)
6 speed M6 = £500 per year (what Kimbo has)

Everyday is a school day!
 
Yes cars registered before April 2006 are in the lower tax bracket. My 3.4 is also £500 a year (as is my 911!)
 
isysman said:
Yes cars registered before April 2006 are in the lower tax bracket. My 3.4 is also £500 a year (as is my 911!)

Mine was registered in Jan 2008 (57) and was in the lower bracket.
 

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