I've been looking for a used Cayman S for two months now, and have been looking for some good deals. This would be my first adventure with a Porsche. I've checked out three cars (which are all still for sale at this point):

#1. 2007 29K miles. @Benz dealership. Wear present on the leather seats, fire extinguisher installed below drivers seat, battery terminals taped up, underbody covered in mud. Clearly a car that was tracked.

#2. 2006 18k miles. Being sold by the original owner. Full binder of all service records--impressive organization. Absolutely perfect condition. However, the car had very few options besides the sport chrono package and the lack of climate control put it a little over the top for me--I didn't even consider the fact that you could get a Porsche without climate control.

#3. 2006 21k miles. @BMW Dealership. PASM, chrono sport package, preferred package, heated seats, etc. stone chip on passenger door, stone chip on roof, very small ding in hood and passenger door. Lots of little stone chips--particularly around the rear air intakes. Some little bubbles forming under the paint where the screw's connect for the hood latch--the screws themselves showed a little rust. The engine oil pan and oil filter were pretty dirty, and the oil filter was covered in a sticky layer of gunk and oil. The engine serial number was obscured by the crud. No evidence of body work or touch ups. Leather is in great condition, but the air bag panels on the seats to show some scratch marks from the seatbelt. A little bit of rash on the edge lip of each door from opening them into something. A sticker on the window from the local Porsche dealer indicates that the next oil change is required in ~8-9k more miles. The clear bra is starting to yellow, and the edges are showing dirt buildup. Two small black marks on the rear bumper on the lower passenger side--wasn't obvious until the car was on the lift. Other than that the paint had a nice shine.



#3 seems like a pretty good deal considering all of the options and the fact that it has everything that I am looking for in a color that I like--The only one that I've seen so far that I can say that about. But the amount of stone chips around the air intake, the engine crud/oil seepage, and that little paint bubble spot has me a bit worried.

I read some good reviews about the local Porsche dealer saying that they did good work, but I'd wonder if the oil on the engine pan, filter, and some of the other areas was something new, or a sloppy oil change job. The area was glossy, but nothing was "dripping". It's the M97 engine. I've seen photos online that people have posted on their engines that look much cleaner than this one did--I should have taken a picture to share..

Also, I have not seen another Cayman or Boxter (even with probably much higher mileage) with that many small little stone chips around the air intakes--it seems like the chips were concentrated on the flat edge just behind the air intake rather than on the areas where the clear bra and protectors were applied. I'd be worried that removing the clear bra might cause some issues too considering that it was probably left on longer than it should have been.

I'm inclined to give #3 a pass and wait around for another one offered for sale with everything that I want.


Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks!

 

REgarding, automatic climate control, I believe it can be retrofit. Buying the ACC control and just replacing the replacing the manual should do the trick. There is a thread on P-9 about this.

 

#2.While I love my cars' auto climate heater/AC systems car #2 reads to be the best of the bunch by a bunch.

Car #3 is almost certainly not suffering from a sloppy oil change, it is almost certainly suffering from an oil leak of some kind.

To give you a bit of an idea of what you could be facing: Just paid $2K to have my Turbo's RMS fixed. You want to be darn sure the car you buy does not have any leaks, oil, or any other fluid.

 

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I would go with the #2 option. Good history and sport chrono. I have ACC in my CS and hardly use it.