Following on from the midlife crisis car thread where the Cayman was mentioned a bit I went and had a sit in one earlier and well….. Basically fell in love with it 🙂

I’ve done a bit of reading about them and seen the stories of bore scoring. Does that affect the gen 2

Any owners on here run them as a daily driver ?

My mate has one, the Gen2. Used to be his daily driver and put 55k on it in 24mths. Now it’s sat as a weekend car. He doesn’t want to get rid of it.
That says something, he’s notorious for being a picky arse about anything. The only thing I’ve heard  him moan about was tyres…

If you love it…

Buy it…

The only thing that matters is the smile you give it when you look at it..

Bore score as far as my research tells me only affects the early motors and even then it is quite rare. I know of loads of early Cayman / Boxster and 996/997 gen 1 owners with cars with high mileage which are daly drivers and have a few track days or a European road trip a year, and amongst them absolutely zero issues….no bore scoring….no IMS bearing issue….no weeping RMS seal. One had to rebuild his engine but it was a dirt cheap dodgy car with no service history and even with the cost of the rebuild factored in the car was still great value.

Obviously usual rules apply…buy the best car you can afford…decent service history and evidence of care and attention easily outweighs milage…don’t be put off by higher mileage if the service history is there to back it up. Keep on top of the service schedule using decent quality consumables and just enjoy.

Also I don’t think these things react well to not being driven regularly. They don’t make great garage queens. My brother recently bought a 2013 911 and he had issues initially, all sorted out under the Porsche Approved warranty, but all most likely linked to the previous owner not driving the car that much. All sorted now and my brother drives it regularly and all has been well in his world ever since.

What size engine? I think the bore scoring (it’s still arguable whether it was actually a thing) was limited to the earlier 3.2L engine.

Re the IMS bearing…. anything post 2007 is not affected and any pre 2007 car will either have had the upgraded bearing fitted by now or the original bearing simply will not fail as it would have done by now.

RMS isn’t a big deal by all accounts.

I would be looking for the larger engine (3.4 ?)

Sat in this earlier ……..

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F352745881676

Why not get a Boxster so you can have a convertible? I loved having the roof down all year round when I had a soft top.

Maybe worth a test drive too before you splash the cash?

Wasn’t the bore scoring on 2.7’s?

Not keen on the boxster to be honest. To easy to break into.

No defo the 3.2 (he says…. No I’m pretty sure).
The 2.7 had the quite real IMS breathing issue on the early engines, no bore scoring.

Edit… Bollocks. Bore scoring was 3.4 not 3.2.
TBH I’m not sure 90% of people need the 3.4!

Not keen on the boxster to be honest. To easy to break into.

If you’re being serious then yes I guess so, but other than the roof they are the same car.

Personally, if it was a second car, then I’d go boxster. Driving with the roof down is just fantastic. Loads more luggage space then you’d think also.

But for daily use then Cayman just cos of rain etc in the winter.

It would be my daily sharkbait. My wife runs our vrs estate.

Bonus of being able to stick a roof rack on it too😃

Any ideas what the mpg is like.

22-30 according to my Mate.

I’d have a read of the Hartech info (Porsche engine specialists)/ some of the Porsche magazines and PistonHeads Porsche forum. This all have articles on IMS / bore scoring / D chunking risks. Very generally the larger/earlier the water cooled engine the higher bore scoring risk. IMS risk is dependent on the engine and size/rows of bearings of engine. If you can go for a DFI engine later Cayman and they have very little risk. Too much time spent on Porsche Forums!

My business partner has one. He managed to burn out the clutch in under 10K miles at a cost of £3000. I’m not sure if this is a weakpoint or whether he’s muppet (as a comparison, the clutch on my Elise was still going strong at 120K miles, even though I’d done over 200 racing starts with it at sprints and hillclimbs).

Parts seem pretty expensive on the Cayman, so beware.

JP

Don’t have a Cayman, but I run a Porsche as a daily commute/ 25k pa car. I’ve had one previously and in both cases they have been peerless motors. Don’t think too hard, if it feels right get it. Good luck

I bought a 56 reg 911 a couple of years ago, a carrera s with the larger engine, 3.8?

Despite being from a supposedly reputable specialist in London it turned out it had the bore score issues and absolutely drank Oil with a load of smoke on startup. This wasn’t noticeable when I got it but worsened very quickly so I suspect they might have done something to hide it, is that possible? Anyway, I took it back and they rebuilt the engine by claiming on the warranty they gave me with it.
The sceptical part of me thinks that it was a premeditated plan so they didn’t have to sort the engine At their own cost before selling.

Either way, I learnt after my purchase that for a minimal cost of about £200 you can get them looked at by specialists who will tell you the engine condition so alleviate any worries. I believe this only affected the earlier engines up to about 2006.

They sound really shite, and ain’t particularly braw looking.

Don’t believe all the rumour spouted and repeated by people on the internet.

I run my ’99 996 3.4 to work and back twice a week and for weekly jaunts. It is 21 years old, has 140k miles on it. For the last 2 years I have done nothing to it aside from change the oil.

£3000 for a clutch! They saw him coming. It’s sub £300 for a sachs clutch kit and an afternoons work. A luk flywheel is £400. Both these are the OE makers.

I replaced my own clutch and fly on my drive on axle stands 2 years ago- You don’t need to be a magician to work on a Porsche! It’s as easy as ANY car, don’t pay the “specialist” or OPC ransom.

Mine predates the plastic piston coating (they changed from a ferrous coating around 2000), so no risk of bore score. I’d be getting one at risk bore scoped, but even so it will score one day when the plastic coating gives – but then again an engine can fail for any number of reasons.

Nobeer – drive one for a while and they make sense. It’s the way it handles – and the m96/7 is easily one of the greatest engines ever put in a road car. You can tell somebody has thought very carefully about every aspect of driving the thing, every contact point and the mechanical weighting of every interaction.

Go buy it and get the roof rack, mine is on all the time nowadays…..

Speak to/join the Porsche Club GB. I had a long chat with the guy running their stand at RaceRetro a couple of years ago. Didn’t get one in the end butI believe they will do an inspection of a potential purchase.

Issues with the 987 3.4 engines is very real, some people have had more than one engine rebuild before they gave up. Later 981 3.4’s seem to be OK though.

LS3 engine swaphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0u8CDeGMUI”>LS3 engine swap.

I really like the idea of this and I love a project, not going to be cheap though 🙂

The reason I went to have a look at one was to make sure I would fit into it. I’m 6 foot 1 and have quite wife shoulders and was worried the seats wouldn’t be big enough. As it happens it felt perfect. If the steering wheel went a bit higher that would have been a bonus.

I’m going to hold out for a gen 2. The interior looks less dated and the stereo is a bit better in that you can connect via Bluetooth.

I’m not sure about the engine. I drive a Honda civic 1.8 with 140 bhp and it’s the slowest thing over ever driven.

Our other car is a 2016 Octavia vrs estate with 220bhp and that feels quick enough however we always want more power.

Have any of you driven both the 2.9 and 3.4 ?

The 987.2 Cayman (>2009) doesn’t have an IMS and the Lokasil was replaced by Alusil, so no bore scoring either.

I drove one and thought it was a bit lazy on gear changes, but that was the base model and I think the S would have been better. But… Such a balanced car to drive. It loved corners.

Sadly it was also too small for my 1.97m frame and had no effective luggage space, so I bought a 3.2 VR6 TT instead.

If I just wanted a toy and was a bit shorter, I would have bought one, but the S.

I’ve got a gen 2 Cayman S. Had, as a pure MLC for about 4 years.

I keep thinking that I can’t really justify such an expensive toy, but I cannot bring myself to sell it.

I’ve had no issues (although I’ve only done about 15000 miles, out of its total of 48k) and I think the servicing is not all that expensive – I use an indy specialist. The 20,000/24 month interval helps here.

I had a 2005 Cayman S for 2 years with approx 80k miles, no issues with Bore Scoring or IMS/RMS, but did have to replace shock absorbers and quite a few other suspension components.
Drove really nicely after replacement of suspension parts, new tyres and geometry, but I fell out of love with it after spending a fortune on it.
Road bike fitted inside, got about 22mpg average.
Everyone else on the road hates you!
It would be fine as an everyday car, but as a weekend toy it was a bit bland, and I have replaced it with another Lotus.

I am in the same boat – looking at a Cayman S. Have test driven one , and it was wonderful!
Gen 2 don’t have IMS issues.
Bore scoring was rectified by the different injection system – but the still has the old one. I believe bore scoring was caused by over-revving.

It is a lovely car and I would have one in a heart beat – but here is my issue . I felt like that when I bought a Ducati 998s. I had it for 10 years and hardly rode it – it was very fast, handled brilliantly. But bugger me, it was uncomfortable and impractical.
i would worry that I would buy one, love it for 3 months – and then it would become a bit of a burden.
With my sensible head on, (and very different) is a BMW X3 335… similar money but I can get something 5 years newer! And pratical for bikes, windsurding, going away etc.

Issues that the Cayman has for me:-
Interior seems to wear quickly esp the seats
The navigation belongs to another era ( but everyone uses google maps now, so not such a biggie)
The std sound system is gash.
They are very quick – and speed cameras abound here in Sussex.
In the summer it would be nearly impossible to use and see an benefit in SE England because of tourists / pensioners/ the general standard of driving in Sussex.
They hold their value very well – the only way of getting a newer one cheap is higher miles.
The above is good for the prospect of owning – but interestingly, I don’t see them selling that quickly at the moment.
It’s not a 911 ( but it is nowhere near as expensive to run and won’t kill you if you don’t set up the corner correctly)

Gonna get a Cayman one day.

Like dis.

986 Boxster S owner here, so basically the same thing except in a slightly older dress with no roof.

I believe early 3.4s are the ones vulnerable to bore score (and it is a proper problem), unlike the IMS bearing which seems to be more internet panic than a truly common issue.

Also check brake hard lines (under passenger sill especially) and the hard lines on the powersteering rack (you can see the very ends of these through the drivers front wheelarch. They’re plastic coated steel – once the plastic gets damaged (stone chips, fretting against the clips) they rot like b*ggery. A couple of them are pigs to replace.

I keep thinking that I can’t really justify such an expensive toy, but I cannot bring myself to sell it.

So much this. I’m also very aware that on anything other than a really tight B-road, for me – it’s at its most enjoyable in that bit between the NSL and where the plod laugh hysterically whilst burning your license. I’m kinda glad I don’t drive it often enough that it ever becomes “normal” to do that. I’d think a Cayman with the roof on would be more isolating, so yet easier to act like a tool in…

Gonna get a Cayman one day.

Me too, I’m a bit too self aware for a Boxster and generally don’t like convertibles anyway.

Life is just too hectic and expensive at the moment, but it won’t last forever.

I’ve seen them as cheap at £8k for an early non-S, and S model don’t seem to cost a lot more, but I think I’ll wait until I can get a nicer one.

I just hope the image is maintained, I shouldn’t care, but I do, I’ve seen a few with very rough looking modifications, ropey resprays (or wraps) dubious badges and other assorted stick on crap.

A cayman is not a 911.

Its better, its just a better balanced sports car, every 911 owner knows it.

Buy a 911/box/cay and you’ll find it very difficult to ever part with.

They aren’t hard to work on, the brake lines are a little awkward but not too hard to replace in kunifer. Don’t get ripped off.

Don’t bother with stuffy PCGB club, join Tipec if you have to associate with porsche owners….. but boxa.net and 911uk.com will be your new singletrackworld.com

It’s not about going fast per se but the sheer pleasure from threading it down a good B road.

An mx5 is 95% as good though.

Bore score? Anything to do with the 20k service intervals?

Save your pennies as hard as you can because Porsche have just announced a 4.0L Cayman/Boxster GTS. It really sounds a perfect package, if somewhat pricey!

I had a 987 gen 1 2.7 and recently swapped it for a gen2 S.the problems are mostly with the early cars as the ims bearing was upgraded after 2007 i think,and the gen2 cayman s has a completeley different engine to the supposedly bore scoring gen 1. that aside they are absoluteley fantasic drivers cars, I still miss the howl of my old 2.7 although the mega performance of the S more than compensates! i run my own hgvs and the porsche is comparable to work on maintainance wise. its well put together and easily accesible for a mid engined sports car.i love em.

wzzzz

Member

Don’t believe all the rumour spouted and repeated by people on the internet.

I run my ’99 996 3.4 to work and back twice a week and for weekly jaunts. It is 21 years old, has 140k miles on it. For the last 2 years I have done nothing to it aside from change the oil.

£3000 for a clutch! They saw him coming. It’s sub £300 for a sachs clutch kit and an afternoons work. A luk flywheel is £400. Both these are the OE makers.

I replaced my own clutch and fly on my drive on axle stands 2 years ago- You don’t need to be a magician to work on a Porsche! It’s as easy as ANY car, don’t pay the “specialist” or OPC ransom.

People say stuff like this, but it doesn’t add up. My business partner isn’t going to replace his clutch himself on a brand new Cayman: firstly, most people can’t do this, secondly it would be awful for resell value on a new car, thirdly it would result in questions being raised if the warranty were eve to be used. Apart from that, if you’re buying a new car you are pretty much stuck with OPC prices if you want to sell it on at a decent price.

JP

We have a 987.1 Cayman S and bloody love it to bits. My wife uses it as a daily driver, and we’ve also taken it down to Morzine with the bikes on the roof. It’s fantastic GT car for long journeys, the 8 hour schlep from Calais to Morzine was a doddle. We use the Porsche roof bars with Whispbar bike carriers.

Renton – you’ll be fine, I’m the same size as you and no probs with room in the cabin.

We’ve had it for four years and have had a few things to do on it – cracked rear spring, air/oil separator, couple of coolant pipes. As someone said above, parts aren’t cheap but there are plenty of good indy workshops about.

– oh and the Pioneer SPH-DA120 head unit is a direct fit into the centre console, gives you Apple carplay, Bluetooth, etc.