My 12 months with Carman the Cayman S - Review

[markbarry1977]

Well as some of you may know it's time for me to hand over my Cayman this evening for a M135i. To that end I thought it would be a good idea and hopefully helpful to others to read an honest opinion of what the car is like and to live with. I'm going to break this down into a few headings and be as thorough as I can. 

 

Background and Car History

 

Porsche Cayman S  March  2006 Silver. 

 

i purchased the car the first week of August 2015 from a place called Kevin Martin Dpecialist Dealers. Not a Porsche specialist but a sport car specialist. There were a few niggling things picked up on the test drive but only

minor things like interior bulb not working. 

 

The car was on 45k ish miles, had opc for the first 6 years and then a Porsche specialist up near Bolton for the 8 year one. They agreed an oil and filters change before I picked I up. All in all on paper a sound looking car for the pricely sum of £18500. I thought a little in the high side but it had good history. 

 

Interior and Prwcticality

 

I personally think the interior is a lovely place to be. You sit down low in the car but visibility is good. The seats are supportive if not a touch firm over very long days. I did 6 hours straight apart from a fuel stop once. The instrument cluster is beautiful, the digital speedo a god send. The analogue speedo a complete waste of time and why they insist on using 25 mph increments is beyond me. Anybody seen a 25, 50, 75 mph speed sign anywhere. I would like to have seen an oil pressure and temp guage there instead. Switch gear,  It's all very good, well laid out and good quality. I had an an aftermarket head unit fitted with all the toys/nav/a2dp Bluetooth/hands free so I can't really comment on the stock head units. It did have the Bose option and although the base speaker is a little intrusive into the passenger foot well both the wife and I were more than impressed. One final comment about the interior of the car as a place to be is that glorious flat six engine sat 6" behind your head. 

 

Exterior and Mods

 

I decided quite early on that although it's a great looking car and gets a lot of attention on the road that I would to make my car a little more distinctive. To That end the first mods I carried out was getting the wing mirrors carbon dipped. About a third the price of genuine carbon fibre replacement. This was quickly followed by having the front fog light spars carbon dipped, the intake grills and the rear wing all carbon dipped to. Now the rear wing soon started to peel and after numerous attempts they decided to use Monza carbon wrap instead on the wing and the front lip. Happy with this I then went away. As summer approached my next mod was window tinting. While the AC on my car is fantastic I wanted a tint. Nothing gangster or drug dealer looking just a nice little tiny. I'm happy with the outcome and if you search my posts there are enough pictures about. 

 

Next came the zunsport full front and rear grill set. I did initially have some issues with the quality of fitment. Maybe it was just me, most people seem happy with the standard fit, I just thought they were a little out but I missed mine with some ultra tiny zip ties and hey presto I was happy. Again search my posts I did a full review on here. 

 

As for external modifications I would have liked to gone 19" wheels, I think the 18" look a tad small but they give good ride quality so it's up to you. Mine is a none pasm car so I can't comment on cars with it. 

 

Service and running cost

 

Now here is where my jubilation with the car is undecided. Overall the running costs of a good car is not that stupid. Minor servicing from Porsche Nottingham with brake fluid was quoted at £600+, major was £800+ but a local indie did it for £250 or £350  so if your outside the opc network it's not too bad. Tyres are okay if you don't drive like Lewis Hamilton and there is always deals online. My car averages low 20 mpg and I only ever put vpower or momentum in it unless I am absolutely strapped for fuel so it does cost a bit on fuel. The one thing I will say is that if you ever need a Porsche only part "bend over and it's going to hurt". I looked at the price for an a/c recirculating valve motor and not much change from £400, The two plastic protectors on the rear boot that protect the paint from the rubber are £20 each. Needless to say I bought some frame protector from a bike shop for £1.99. It's the same stuff lol.  

 

Smiles per mile

i can't fault the car for this. It handles like nothing else, even my 10 year old car is very precise and predictable. It goes like s**t of a shovel and sounds glorious. Everybody I know wants a lift in it just so they can feel what it's like and with psm switched off and 4K rpm it's like being fired out a cannon. Every time I drive it it makes me smile. It's a beautiful beautiful place to be and makes me smile so much. 

 

Why I sold it

Mmmmm, why am I selling it. It's such a great drive. 

 

 When I bought the car you couldn't tell how much oil it was using. Within 6 month I knew that it was consuming oil at an alarming rate, I buried my head in the sand, refused to believe. It must be the stupid onboard guage (it is highly sensitive to the car

being flat), it's because I'm driving it hard, it's because I'm 

 not driving it hard enough. Basically I think I was in denial about the prospect of a £££££&&£ bill from hartec, because if I'm going to rebuild it then I might as well do it right. Hartec are the go to guys. Well the time came for a service and when I got it back I was a bit devastated to say the least. The list of work was around the £2k mark, brakes front and rear, brake pipes coroded badly, cross over pipes leaking. I knew it was leakin water I had to top it up by about 100ml every month and there was a small damp patch on the floor. There was a small whining noise from behind my head and I had hoped it was a bearing for one of the aux belt guides. Further invest showed the water pump bearing was in the early stages of failing. 

 

So now I had a long hard thought. There was about £2k from the service to be done, I knew it was in the original clutch and that was starting to get heavy (£1k), the water pump needed doing, it's juddering a little on pulling away and that's a sure sign it needs a new dual mass fly wheel. The suspension and all the rubber parts are original so that's going to need a refresh in the next couple of years. 

 

All ll in all I totes it up and with ought the rebuild I was looking at the thick end of £4K and why spend that unless your rebuilding it. The thought of spending £14k on a car that I only had for a year with a purchase price of £18.5k was daunting and a big decision. 

 

I will say at this point I got unlucky I think and firmly believe the previous owner knew it was fucked and traded it in. I bought before the new car buying regulations so the new consumer protection didn't apply. I should have fought harder with the dealer but he basically stonewalled me and said take me to court you can't prove it was there to start with. Should I have taken a warranty out. Well I did, with warranty direct, read there terms of conditions and it read like a list of were never going to pay out and cancelled it especially as there list of excuses gets longer depending on the age of the car. Basically at 10 years old you never going to get a penny out of them. 

 

 

 

Would I buy another

 

So whats my conclusion, would I buy another. "HELL YES" so long as I could buy from Porsche and keep it within the opc network. I spoke to the opc who were very helpful and even did a quick fee check for oil leaks but took one look at the  exhaust pipes and how black they were and told me that if it was within there network it would probably have got a new engine if it was burning oil at the rate I was saying. 

 

Better start saving for a 981 gts to replace the brand new m135i in 3 years time.

 

Anyway these are just

my thoughts and hopefully it will help other. Oh and if it goes back on its original plate when I get my private plate in it off it will be Ae06 brx or bux WA on it before. Anyway it will be easy to tell that it's mine due to the black carbon fibre everywhere

Edited July 12, 2016 by markbarry1977
Written on an iPhone and I will be correcting mistakes as I find them.

[Trickle]

Nice write up!! 

[markbarry1977]

Just for info, it's now up for sale via soper select for a considerable mark up. 

 

I gave them all the receipts I had, including the last one at cavendish with a list of outstanding work required (which I never had done)

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201607155879223

[markbarry1977]

Well it's no longer for sale at soper select so I can only assume it's sold. Unless they had no joy at there asking price of .................. wait for it.............£17k and have punted it on to another dealer. I will keep my eye out for it and update the thread as I find out more. 

[Pretzel]

Interesting read, thanks.

[markbarry1977]

Well it appears soper couldn't get rid of it for £17k so they have sold it on. 

 

Availible here now. 

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201608257114827

 

i would love to know what they get for it in the end. 

[Pretzel]

So what did you replace the Caymen with Mark?

[markbarry1977]

13 hours ago, Pretzel said:

So what did you replace the Caymen with Mark?

 

 

Bmw m135i, I was thinking m2 but after driving the m135i I couldn't justify the extra cost. The m135i is more than enough car. 

 

I got got a pre reg car with 4 miles on it for £28k so about £11k of list, pretty much every option accept active dampers. I did consider waiting for the m140i but to be fair there's not a lot of difference between them. I realise it's a totally different engin but only produces about 15bhp more. 

[Pretzel]

13 hours ago, markbarry1977 said:

 

 

Bmw m135i, I was thinking m2 but after driving the m135i I couldn't justify the extra cost. The m135i is more than enough car. 

 

I got got a pre reg car with 4 miles on it for £28k so about £11k of list, pretty much every option accept active dampers. I did consider waiting for the m140i but to be fair there's not a lot of difference between them. I realise it's a totally different engin but only produces about 15bhp more. 

Sorry I missed the mention of a M135i in the opening paragraph.  It will be interesting to see how it compares with the Cayman, especially from a reliability point of view.

[Trickle]

They're reliable, and they're practically giving the 140i away at the moment, £7k contributions! Cheap as chips.  Still a hatchback though if that floats your boat. 

[markbarry1977]

19 hours ago, Trickle said:

They're reliable, and they're practically giving the 140i away at the moment, £7k contributions! Cheap as chips.  Still a hatchback though if that floats your boat. 

 

We sold our third car (fiesta) as the wife decided to quit running oil rigs after the rotor head seperated off the last helicopter crash. To be fair I'm glad she doesn't have to travel offshore for 3 weeks at a time but it's meant a considerable reduction on her salary. To that end we got rid of the fiesta and running a 370z along with a Porsche that need considerable money spending on it. I sort of came to the conclusion that I needed something I could get all my kit in and had more space but was stop quick. I tested the m135i, golf r, looked at a focus rs, in the I had a 1 series before and loved it. So the m135i won. I may look for a 981 in the future when I feel the itch to change again. 

[Pretzel]

Did you consider depreciation when choosing or was that not an issue?

The reason for my questions is that I have a 993 which I'm considering selling, as there is so much else that I could get for the money.  Initially my choice was a 2.7 or 2.9 Caymen, but I'm now looking at all sorts of cars. 

[PhilCS]

1 hour ago, Pretzel said:

Did you consider depreciation when choosing or was that not an issue?

The reason for my questions is that I have a 993 which I'm considering selling, as there is so much else that I could get for the money.  Initially my choice was a 2.7 or 2.9 Caymen, but I'm now looking at all sorts of cars. 

 

What's on the list??

[markbarry1977]

9 hours ago, Pretzel said:

Did you consider depreciation when choosing or was that not an issue?

The reason for my questions is that I have a 993 which I'm considering selling, as there is so much else that I could get for the money.  Initially my choice was a 2.7 or 2.9 Caymen, but I'm now looking at all sorts of cars. 

 

I did consider a 911, this would again leave me out of a warranty, my experience with 3rd party warranties has been woeful every time. 

 

This gives me 3 years worry free motoring with the option to extend the factory warranty if I want to do so. 

 

My ultimate decision was the BMW is one heck of a car. I would never buy another Porsche unless I could afford to a) purchase it from an opc and b) keep it in the opc network. Something I/we can't really justify the cost of. 

[Pretzel]

On 29 August 2016 at 22:32, PhilCS said:

 

What's on the list??

Maserati  Granturismo, DB9, 997 or the Caymen are this weeks thoughts.

[Pretzel]

16 hours ago, markbarry1977 said:

 

I did consider a 911, this would again leave me out of a warranty, my experience with 3rd party warranties has been woeful every time. 

 

This gives me 3 years worry free motoring with the option to extend the factory warranty if I want to do so. 

 

My ultimate decision was the BMW is one heck of a car. I would never buy another Porsche unless I could afford to a) purchase it from an opc and b) keep it in the opc network. Something I/we can't really justify the cost of. 

Fully agree, when spending serious money on a car the manufacturers warranty is a must.

[Beanoir™]

12 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

Maserati  Granturismo, DB9, 997 or the Caymen are this weeks thoughts.

 

There really are only 2 serious options on that list surely?

[DJMC]

It's weird isn't it that a £39k BMW is actually a £28k BMW. So... the real RRP is £28k. This worried me when my wife was looking for a new X1.

Paying "list" for your 135i would have meant a £39k car loses £25k in 3 years, down to £14k. This is due to the 50% depreciation off RRP which is... £28k in the real world. BMW do seem to be throwing their cars away nowadays. Just about every extra is standard to further encourage mass market appeal.

They really have become "common" rather than popular. 

 

Still, all said and done, she's really happy with the X1 and I must agree. Ticks all the boxes and fast for a brick on wheels too!

[DJMC]

6 minutes ago, Beanoir said:

 

There really are only 2 serious options on that list surely?

 Never, EVER, buy an Aston. It'll go wrong several times, leave you with wet feet and cost £1000 a month to run. I have the T-Shirt.

 

Neighbour's Vantage "couldn't be fixed" by AM (gearbox issue). We saw it for a few weeks, then it disappeared for months (five) never to be seen again.

I think AM must have just thrown it away. A Gallardo appeared in its place and has had no issues (it's an Audi I think?).

[Beanoir™]

17 minutes ago, DJMC said:

 Never, EVER, buy an Aston. It'll go wrong several times, leave you with wet feet and cost £1000 a month to run. I have the T-Shirt.

 

Neighbour's Vantage "couldn't be fixed" by AM (gearbox issue). We saw it for a few weeks, then it disappeared for months (five) never to be seen again.

I think AM must have just thrown it away. A Gallardo appeared in its place and has had no issues (it's an Audi I think?).

 

it was once said that 2 things in life would reduce a grown man to tears; 

 

1) a kick in the nuts 

2) the servicing costs of a DB9