I have been looking for my first sports car and have narrowed it down to an elise or cayman / cayman s. Living in Texas the utilitarian nature of the elise (air-conditioning among others) worries me so i'm leaning toward cayman.

I had planned on getting a 2006-2008 Cayman S with relatively low mileage, however now I am considering a 2009 base (2.9L) version with PDK. I am wondering if anybody knows how close to an earlier model S the 2.9L base would be given the supposedly quicker shifting, 20 hp bump, and lighter weight. I do not want to regret buying a 2.9 over the S, but I suspect with the modifications on the '09 the difference may now be negligible.

Additionally if I decided to play with my options later on as far as mods, would there be one of the two engines that would be easier to work with?

Thanks in advance.

 

First a disclaimer... I DD an '07 Cayman S.

There are several folks that say the '09 base is "close" in performance to the 987.1 S... but IMHO get the S... (unless warranty, age, etc are a big concern for you)...

I have one car buying mantra I have lived by for the last 25+ years... ALWAYS buy the biggest motor in the car!!! It is next to impossible (w/in reason) to get the power that you're missing out on after the fact...

Depending on your situation, I'd try to wait until the '09 CS falls in line w/ what you want to spend (987.2... DFI... and maybe PDK, but I'm not sure about that??)

jt

 

when i bought in 09 i cant recall how many i road tested. no way was i going with a gen 1 from all the issues motor wise. i settled with an 09 base automatic....it rode the best to me. my car before the po was a new 07 z06 which i put 50 k on it but it was time for me to slow down........i sure got my wish

 

I am in the camp of waiting to get the S. A .2 S is a great car to wait for, but I would not be heartbroken over a .1 S. It seems that the problems with the first generation are limited to things that can happen at the track under more aggressive conditions. If you are not tracking the car, then a Gen 1 S will probably be just fine. As always, make sure that you get a PPI / DME done before purchasing. A CPO car is always a good way to go.

Good luck with it.

 

I have been leaning towards just waiting until year end because I suspect the 2013's may have a newish body style and push down the cost on an 09.


From reading quite a bit on the web, it was my (possibly incorrect) assumption that the IMS/RMS issues on the 987.1 were severely overstated and would likely never show up on OR off the track, but the likelihood off the track was basically infinitesimal.... regarding your wish, I think we have different wishes hahah.



Did you mean 0.2 Base? I have also heard that the IMS issues are highly unlikely (1% occurrence) off the track as mentioned above, let me know if I am fooling myself, any of you guys. PPI and DME will definitely be done, CPO I am undecided on because it seems like the price diff is generally around 5k for CPO vs non CPO, and unless there was a catastrophic failure, that's not a good deal. Such is the nature of insurance, they make money on the average, but can you take a chance to be the outlier?

 

I'm selling my 07 Red CS with 17k miles (sport chrono, sport seats, 19" turbo wheels, etc) and it's by far the best car I've ever driven. I like driving it more than my brother's 997 S Cab PDK. I think the engine issues are overstated as I've run into many Cayman owners with many more miles than mine and none have had any engine problems.

 

Dumb question but what are the differences between 08 and 09?

 

I meant .1 S. Sorry - typo.

 

Direct Fuel Injection on the engine and 25 more HP. A little bit different interior electronics and tail lights. Maybe a few other things that I forgot to mention. The biggest thing is the DFI engine in my opinion.

 

Scooter -- your plate on the GT3 doesn't happen to say "RAD GT3" does it?

 

Not my plate. I just have a standard Texas plate on mine.

 

I believe that only the 987.2 S has a DFI engine, the base Cayman and Boxster do not.

 

06 cars are just fine. If you plan to track excessively I've heard others rep the 09+ due to gremlins (allegedly) living in the Gen I

 

I have a 2006 rd/blk cayman s for sale. 17700 miles. Sports chrono, 18 in wheels, bose stereo, red seat belts, embossed seat porsche , never tracked, no accidents. Sports seats Fresh oil change last week. PERFECT. I'm in NJ. PCA member for over 20 years. rdarnone@verizon.net