Purchasing first Porsche Cayman (2007/2008 2.7) Any and all advice greatly appreciated!

[tailhappy]

Hello all,

Looking at purchasing my first Porsche in the next few months, having recently returned from living in the states. My dad owns a 1978 911 SC (he's had it for twenty years or so), and as such i've always wanted a Porsche of my own from a young age. Specifically now looking at 07/08 Cayman's, of the 2.7 variety. In my opinion a great "starter Porsche" with a view to working my way up to a 911 further down the line.

Having trawled various forums and sites, my primary concerns are bore scoring and IMS issues, however have read that the 2.7 engine did not suffer as much with these issues. From your experience and knowledge, what specifically should i be looking out for as i search the web for my ideal car. Mileage, dealership only service stamps? etc. I'm knowledgeable on cars and Porsche's in general; however somewhat of a virgin when it comes to buying second hand. Any and all help/advice is greatly appreciated!

Lastly, i have already identified a few models to go and take a look at. I want to take a specialist with me to inspect and proof the car once i really get hot on one. which specialists who offer this kind of service would you recommend? I live in North London, so in that region.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Motorhead]

Hi Stephen,

Welcome to this part of the forum and good to hear that you're taking a sensible approach to your first Porsche - the Cayman's a great choice, and once you've owned one you'll wonder why people bother with a modern 911.

In the first instance, why don't you take a look at the BUYING GUIDES part of the forum which should help answer many of your questions.

It may be true that the smaller-bore 2.7 engine suffers less than the larger bore engines with bore-scoring/D-chunking but failures of this kind are relatively rare anyway and the Cayman benefits from many years of Boxster RMS/IMS development. If funds allow, a 987 Gen2 car will eliminate the uncertainties surrounding the earlier cars.

As always, buy on condition and service history (Porsche Centre/Indy specialist advisable) and it's certainly worth getting a PPI from a Porsche specialist. Have a look in Porsche Post or you may be able to find someone local from this list: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=48&t=394669

Good luck with the search for your "ideal" Cayman.

Jeff

 

[John H]

I bought my '06 2.7 new and have owned it for 10 years and 75k miles with none of the horror issues that get publicised ... but ... that's not to say it hasn't needed maintenance money spent on it. Obviously things like servicing, brake disks and pad, tyres etc, but also coolant leaks, failed A/C condensers, coil packs, leaking RMS seals, inner track rod ends, suspension bushes and various other non critical stuff but it all adds up. I have kept mine under a Porsche warranty, pricey but it has more than paid for itself by covering all this lot, not to mention being the ultimate insurance against a possible bigger issue.

The point here is that I'm a fastidious owner, whereas most are not and a lot of this stuff gets left for the next owner, so beware. One of the Cayman purchasing guides recently reckoned that most of the cars they had seen were harbouring an immediate bill for a couple of grand just to sort out items like these. None of them life threatening but at Porsche prices it soon mounts up, so look carefully at more than just the engine.

This is not to put you off, far from it, as I consider my Cayman one of the best cars Porsche has ever made and really good original ones will be recognised as such in the not so distant future, so now is a great time to buy.

 

[tailhappy]

Thank you both for your reply, I really appreciate the input and help.

I'm actually Stephen's son, just piggy-backing on his account until I purchase a Cayman and set up an account of my own!

The top end of my budget is £20,000, which all but rules out the Gen 2 987. I'm confident in purchasing an 07/08 Gen 1 2.7, however I want to make sure that I've really done my due diligence beforehand. In the process now of identifying specialists to conduct the PPI once i've found a vehicle that I'm serious about.

Considering my price range, should I be wary of the cars out there hovering around the 12-15K mark. Or should my primary concern be the cars history and the thorough PPI check?

Thanks again in advance.

 

[John H]

Considering my price range, should I be wary of the cars out there hovering around the 12-15K mark. Or should my primary concern be the cars history and the thorough PPI check?

Probably yes, as a rule the cheapest cars are cheap for a reason, although that is not a totally golden rule. Personally I'd try and find a really good one for sale privately from a proper enthusiast who really knows about the car and has looked after it, and with documentation to prove it. Remember that at the bottom of the market, if you buy a cheap-ish car from a non-franchise garage you are paying them a margin for doing usually nothing more to the car than washing it. So just remember that the shiny £12k Cayman in a back street garage was bought from the auction for £9k. Tread warily.

 

[Buddy]

Having run my Gen1 987S to almost 89,000mls before trading it for the Gen2 I would say that if getting a PPI ask for a bore scoring check ( Borescope Inspection ) wherever possible, I had none of the problems on that car that we hear so much about and in the 8 years that I ran it there was only servicing, two steering track rods, brakes, tyres, an alignment, coil packs, gear change cables, and a blown chrono pack which knocked out all of the column switch gear, as with John I kept it under extended warranty but in my case Porsche made a good profit on my warranty. A smoking Cayman can be simply the Air Oil Separator, check for condensers and radiators as they can get a build up of leaves causing corrosion and some of the early cars may have damage to the leading edge of the sills from gravel etc. Bore scoring is generally caused by running the engines at low revs, they can pull from about 1,000RPM but the oil pressure isn't high enough at that point to open the lower bore oil jets and so dry bores and a possibility of promoting piston slap by labouring the engine. The bore scoring was also effected by the water flow around the rear cylinders as the water by the time it reaches there is at a much higher temp than the front end, again low engine speed means the pump is running slowly so another way taking things too easy can cause problems.

 

[Motorhead]

Sound advice from John, with which I concur thoroughly. As he's pointed out in his previous message, the cost of running a Porsche isn't cheap and many people fall into the trap of being able to afford one and then find it a struggle to maintain it to the high standard required of a high performance car.

If you're purchasing from a reputable Porsche specialist I would expect them to have conducted a thorough check on the car which should have included a full diagnostic check (including an engine over-range check) and rectified any problems. Although a number of specialists will conduct a PPI for you, they may not be prepared to travel long distances to do so if the seller isn't prepared to take the car to their premises, in which case this link could be useful http://www.porscheinspections.com/ .

One further thing I would recommend is that you go along to one of your dad's regional Club meetings. I'm sure that there'll be someone there with experience of Cayman or Boxster ownership (there's very little difference mechanically between the two types) who can give you first-hand advice.

Jeff

 

[keiththo]

Before buying my 981 Cayman I owned a 2008 2.7 Boxster. I bought it when it was 3 years old and kept it for 4 years but did fairly low mileage so it had only done about 50k when I sold it.

It was a great car but as it was 7 years old a few expensive repair bills came my way, air-con condensers needed replacing, a coolant leak gradually worsened so the OPC replaced all the pipes including crossover pipes and I replaced front discs and pads. The rear discs needed replacing as did the rear shock absorbers which were expensive as I had PASM so I decided to sell.

These repairs, which have been mentioned by others, are expensive so if you can find a car with much of this work recently done you can save yourself lots of money. Personally I'm wary of some smaller dealers and would look for a private car from a genuine enthusiast.

Happy hunting

Keith