I have wanted a Porsche all my adult life. Being a working family man finances alway dictated that money always went for other things. I have found a 2008 Porsche Cayman with 14,600 miles being sold with a CPO by a Porsche dealer. I have been reading a lot about the IMS issue and it freaks me out. I'm retired now and don't have a great deal of extra funds. I've read that the 2008 requires that the engine must be dismantled to do the IMS. I also read that the IMS failure rate is low on the 2008 Cayman. Most of you guys have much more knowledge than me and your opinions are important. Please help me as I don't want to end up with an expensive paper weight.

Thank you

 

I'd buy a 2009 or newer - no IMS issues because design changed.

 

I just recently purchased a 2009 Cayman and would definitely recommend this car. I have no experience with older models but I do know that 2009 received many upgrades, including new engines, which do not have the IMS issue. I would advise you to look for a 2009 or later model with higher mileage instead of the low mileage 2008. I've been told by some mechanics that the IMS is more likely to happen to low mileage "garage queens". As always, look for a well maintained car and take it to a trusted mechanic for a PPI.

 

My memory is fuzzy on this but didn't the base car while fitted with a DFI engine wasn't the block the older style block?

IIRC only the S came with the new/redesigned DFI engine. A year or so later then so did the base.

 

The last models were fitted with a more robust IMSB. From my recollection if the IMSB needs to be replaced -- as a precautionary measure -- the engine has to come apart.

However, I seem to recall that one after market bearing kit company (LN Engineering?) offered a tool one could use to open up the engine IMSB bore so the old bearing could be removed and a new one fitted.

You might want to visit the L&N Engineering web site for more reading. Also, Pelican Parts has a section of I think white papers that covers the various iMSB issues.

In early 2009 I bought a new 2008 Cayman S. Even with all the talk about IMSB I was willing to take my chances. Also, my 2002 base Boxster was on its original IMSB but I forget the mileage then. However, today I can telll you my 2002 Boxster is still on its original IMSB and has over 305K miles.

Just a heads up on price. Back then Porsche was giving away these cars. With no negotiation on my part -- this was the marked/advertised price -- I bought a brand new Cayman S discounted by $12K marked down from $62.6K to $50.6K.

Heck of a deal. And this wasn't just an outlier. Every dealer I visited and since I live close to the SF bay area and its 7 or 8 dealers I visited almost all of them but the one in the north bay offered me Caymans, Boxsters (even the special model), and even 911's.

Just to let you know dealers weren't getting full price for these cars new so to my that affects their used price as well.

Oh, about the new Cayman S. Unfortunately, due to an accident -- not my fault -- just 4 weeks after I bought the car the car was totaled and I never got a chance to find out how long lived the IMSB would have been.

 

woah!! that's impressive

 

I have an '08 Cayman and the IMS is not an issue with these cars. When I bought mine it had just over 27k miles on it and I would have absolutely no problems buying the one you are looking at. As a huge plus on that one it is CPO! Mine was not and still I had no qualms buying it. My independent mechanic who worked for Porsche for 15 years and now owns his own business said he has never heard of a failure in an '08. The IMS problem was more attributable to the older Boxsters with the M96 engine. I have a friend with an '02 Boxster he uses as a daily driver with over 120k miles on it and it still has the original IMS bearing. While the '08 does still have the IMS bearing the M97 engine had a redesigned, more robust IMS bearing. PLUS: It is CPO so if something does break the warranty will pay to fix it. If this still worries you then like others said buy an '09 or newer. Trust me some one is going to snag that '08 pretty quickly.

Wanted to add: I looked at the dealer's add for this car and it is priced $3,700.00 more than I paid for mine with the same options plus Bose two years ago (!) but not CPO and it does not have Bose which isn't a wonderful stereo but it does have NAV and some other stuff that the radio in this car isn't capable of. With that price they are adding quite a bit in for that CPO warranty and the low miles. If you do decide to go for it I wouldn't pay what they are asking.

 

Are you sure about the CPO coverage? It's normally 6 years, or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. If I'm right, then this 2008 wouldn't be covered by a CPO warranty.

Guys?

 

If direct fuel injection (DFI) was introduced only on the S in 2009 (and not the base), would the block on the base then be any different from the block on the S simply because the fuel delivery system was different?

Guys?

 

My memory of this is both 2009 engines were the new 9A1 engine with improved oiling, no IMS/IMSB and overall just a better engine platform.

The 2.9l engine though did not have DFI. Only the S engine was DFI.

I do not know when the base gained DFI. Perhaps when it's displacement dropped to IIRC 2.7l.

If you must be certain I think it wise to *not* rely upon my memory. But where you would find high confidence info is not clear to me.

I did a search and got a lot of hits. The "best" one I have provided a link to and quoted a paragraph.

At this link:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...trumented-test

Here's what Car&Driver had to say:

"Revised Engine, Revised Power
Under the skin is where the major changes take place, beginning with the heart of the Cayman. Up 0.2 liter from the previous engine, the new 2.9-liter flat-six develops 265 hp at 7200 rpm and 221 lb-ft of torque from 4400 to 6000 rpm. Those are increases of 20 hp and 20 lb-ft of torque, thanks to a boost in compression and Porsche’s variable valve-lift and -timing system on both exhaust and intake cams. On the street, the bottom end still lacks the grunt of the 320-hp, 3.4-liter direct-injected flat-six in the Cayman S, but the base engine winds up quickly while blurting out a rorty exhaust note. On the track, the enhancements translate to an impressive 5.1-second run to 60 mph and a 13.7-second quarter-mile at 102 mph with our PDK-equipped car. For perspective, that makes this Cayman 0.4 second quicker to 60 than the last 2.7-liter Cayman and nearly equivalent to the pre-2009 Cayman S we tested, both of which were fitted with a manual transmission"


Note it says "new 2.9l" and a line or two later refers to the 3.4l it specifically mentions "direct-injected".


This does suggest the two engines shared the same platform (block if you will) but the 2.9l did not come with direct-injection.

 

CPO adds 2 years to warranty for a total of 6 years. The key for a CPO qualification is mileage on car. A car can be older than 6 years and still qualify for CPO. I attached the Porsche brochure on CPO which states that mileage must be below 50k to certify.

 

I have seen numerous confirmations that the 2009's all got the new 9A1 motor, but only the S got DFI added. The base moved to DFI with the 981's.