Here is a question. CaymanS or a AM Vantage V8? I know they are two totally different cars but I have a couple of questions. The main one is service costs. AM dealer costs are $1200 a year to $1500 pending the year. A lot of the things done are things I can do at home. Pollen filters, wipers and so on. What are the yearly costs on a Cayman? The service side may be the deciding factor.

Please advise. Thanks.

 

Depends on miles driven. I drive less than 5K a year, and the costs of servicing were less than $500 per annum each for my 997 and my 981. Most of the costs were for the annual oil changes. Porsches are extremely reliable cars, from my experience.

 

I was down to choosing between a Cayman GTS and a Vantage GT after driving a bunch of different cars. The Vantage wins in the looks and sound department, but just by a little IMO compared to the GTS Cayman. From a driving standpoint, the Cayman takes the prize. It feels more precise, agile, and is a little faster. Likewise, as posh as the Aston interior is, a properly spec'd Cayman will be just as nice. With the Aston, a manual gearbox is a must, but with the Porsche, either transmission will satisfy. The Aston definitely has a vintage, hand-built, craftsman type look to it when you examine it up close. The Porsche has the look of an assembly line car, albeit a nice one.

Can't go wrong either way really, but after driving, the choice for me was pretty clear cut. The Aston was also significantly more money, and yet wasn't really any more of a car.

 

If I were you and considering an AM V8 Vantage, I'd read this:

http://jalopnik.com/i-bought-a-45-00...lea-1751337202

then this:

http://jalopnik.com/my-new-aston-mar...own-1752936014

and I'd follow this guy's journey, although it probably wouldn't be necessary as I would have already been talked out of the Vantage.

 

A buddy of mine had a Vantage. Loved it. The previous owner had fried the clutch, so it failed when my buddy had it, and I believe it was about twice or thrice the cost of a clutch for a normal car. And with that weird configuration, it's not a DIY. And you don't want the automatic version of the Vantage, it sucks.

If you buy a nice AMV8 used, you can probably drive it for a few years and sell it to close to what you paid for it. The Cayman will depreciate just like every other Porsche. However, the Cayman will likely cost you next to nothing to maintain, whereas the AM will always have something going wrong with it and it will cost a fortune to fix.

 

I'd think the maintenance and reliability factor alone would drive your decision to Porsche.

djcooper@rennkit.com

 

I had a 2007 (987) Cayman S which I replaced with a 2009 Carrera S (997.2) and I then replaced that with a 2014 AM Vantage Roadster.

The Cayman was the best handling car I have ever owned. The 997.2 was faster and the interior was a bit nicer (both had full leather) but not as much fun to drive as the Cayman.

The Vantage is, however, a completely different animal. In terms of raw speed its about on par with the Cayman (4.7ish 0-60). Handling is not as sharp and the car feels a bit heavy on the twisties but its still a blast to drive. What it lacks in outright performance, though, it more than makes up in looks and sound.

I've owned four Porsche models since 1999 and never have I had people trying to sneak a cell phone pic of the car at a gas station like I have with the Vantage.

While the Jalopnik guy is trying to get clicks by posting lots of problems, the reality is quite different. I've had mine for about a year and a half and other than a rather expensive 1st service (about 3x what I was used to with the 997) there have been zero problems. The car is also completely squeek/rattle free which is something I could not say about the Porsches at the same age. The Jalopnik guy had 3 issues. A plugged AC drain line (not surprising given the car's age), a faulty thermostat (Something that I believe was a service bulletin that the prior owner never had taken care of) and the terrible grinding noise... a stone in the brakes. Which to be honest sounds absolutely horrible and likely very expensive if its not something you are familiar with. In his latest post he is complaining that it gets stuck in the snow when he tried to drive it with its stock summer tires... (Duh)

So its not an unreliable car.

 

There is no denying the appeal of the Vantage. It is a spectacular ride. Maybe it is the way my car is spec'd, but I get the same type of gawking and people wanting to take pics, etc.




The sound of the PSE, on the 981 gen cars, also is simply spectacular.

 

Wow, beautiful GTS! I'm also contemplating some similar cars: 2014 Cayman, 2011 Boxster Spyder, or 2009 AM V8V. I love my 997S and don't plan to get rid of it, but am still soul searching what I want in this next car. I love the confidence of Porsche reliability and I already have an independent shop I trust so costs are very predictable. On the other hand, I'm lucky to live in a big city that has a couple of independent shops that service Aston Martin, but I still feel a $6-8k reserve fund is necessary to cover unexpected failures, especially the expensive (and frequent compared to P-cars) clutch job! I know it's been said before, but the Aston has looks and sound, Porsches have reliability and true performance - only question is how you value these attributes...

 

I was considering a slightly used AM Vantage v8 at the time I purchased a Cayman GTS. AM won me over on looks, uniqueness. To me, one of those cars that would be very cool to own for a few years.
Porsche won me over on reliability for long term ownership - say 8-12 years, fit and finish, handling, the complete package.

If I flipped cars every 3-4 years, I may have gotten into the AM. That was not my goal though and the Cayman won out. The depreciation on a new AM is staggering IMO, not a car you want to own brand new or 8-10 years old (potential maint).

Depends on your goals.