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First post and looking for a 987.1 S


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Morning all, 

 

This is my first post on here although i have been lurking for the past few days. I'm a bit of a car nerd and have owned some silly cars in my time and have always learnt that forums are the best way to find the in's and outs.

 

I set myself an aim when i was younger that i would own a Porsche by the time i was 30. I have grown up around them with my uncle having pretty much every 911 since new, in my younger years i looked at 944's as that was all my budget allowed, i kind of kick myself a bit now as they have pretty much doubled in price. Recently i have looked at Boxsters but i do enjoy a roof over my head so that rules them out.

 

I am coming the end of my ownership (getting bored and don't want to spend anymore money) of my mk5 Golf Gti, which i have modified up to around 300bhp (Stage 2+). I enjoy the car but it doesn't really corner too well and it is now beginning to look a little long in the tooth, especially with the mk7 and newer models coming out.

 

I set myself a budget of £15k and hit up autotrader and piston heads to see what i could find that was fun. My circumstances have changed over the years and i now work from home 100% of the time, with a very occasional trip to the office which is only 20 mins away. So i can get something that isn't economical and not very practical (the girlfriend has an a3 sportback) So this will be the weekend fun car for nice days out doing <8k miles a year.

 

On my searches i did see a few ropy 911's, which then led me to look at what other Porsches i could afford. Ta Da, Cayman Gen 1 normal and "S" models. I am leaning towards the S model as there doesn't seem too much difference in price and i don't really want a step down in power. 

 

After geeking over the last week for common faults, watching just about every Youtube video and review i have my mind set.

 

I still have a few unanswered questions,

 

  1. Having not driven one yet, i am 6'4. Will i fit? My size has ruled me out some other cars that i would have loved to own.
  2. I play golf, will a set of golf clubs fit? (I have no issue with putting them on the front seat, i only play in summer so they won't get dirty)
  3. Is the borescoring on the S model a real issue? Also is the normal base model affected as much or at all?
  4. Running costs, are they biblically expensive? The most "expensive" car is my current golf and i have been able to tackle most issues myself.
  5. A general one, i have never bought a car from a dealer or garage before i see a lot of people mention about getting it checked by a porsche specialist. What is the cost for this and does anyone know of any recommended specialists local to Northampton?
  6. What is the auto box like? My one regret about the golf is not getting the DSG version, don't want to make the same mistake if the auto box is a peach

 

I think that is all for now, sorry for the wall of text and life story :)

 

 

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2 hours ago, beeby11 said:

Morning all, 

 

This is my first post on here although i have been lurking for the past few days. I'm a bit of a car nerd and have owned some silly cars in my time and have always learnt that forums are the best way to find the in's and outs.

 

I set myself an aim when i was younger that i would own a Porsche by the time i was 30. I have grown up around them with my uncle having pretty much every 911 since new, in my younger years i looked at 944's as that was all my budget allowed, i kind of kick myself a bit now as they have pretty much doubled in price. Recently i have looked at Boxsters but i do enjoy a roof over my head so that rules them out.

 

I am coming the end of my ownership (getting bored and don't want to spend anymore money) of my mk5 Golf Gti, which i have modified up to around 300bhp (Stage 2+). I enjoy the car but it doesn't really corner too well and it is now beginning to look a little long in the tooth, especially with the mk7 and newer models coming out.

 

I set myself a budget of £15k and hit up autotrader and piston heads to see what i could find that was fun. My circumstances have changed over the years and i now work from home 100% of the time, with a very occasional trip to the office which is only 20 mins away. So i can get something that isn't economical and not very practical (the girlfriend has an a3 sportback) So this will be the weekend fun car for nice days out doing <8k miles a year.

 

On my searches i did see a few ropy 911's, which then led me to look at what other Porsches i could afford. Ta Da, Cayman Gen 1 normal and "S" models. I am leaning towards the S model as there doesn't seem too much difference in price and i don't really want a step down in power. 

 

After geeking over the last week for common faults, watching just about every Youtube video and review i have my mind set.

 

I still have a few unanswered questions,

 

  1. Having not driven one yet, i am 6'4. Will i fit? My size has ruled me out some other cars that i would have loved to own.
  2. I play golf, will a set of golf clubs fit? (I have no issue with putting them on the front seat, i only play in summer so they won't get dirty)
  3. Is the borescoring on the S model a real issue? Also is the normal base model affected as much or at all?
  4. Running costs, are they biblically expensive? The most "expensive" car is my current golf and i have been able to tackle most issues myself.
  5. A general one, i have never bought a car from a dealer or garage before i see a lot of people mention about getting it checked by a porsche specialist. What is the cost for this and does anyone know of any recommended specialists local to Northampton?
  6. What is the auto box like? My one regret about the golf is not getting the DSG version, don't want to make the same mistake if the auto box is a peach

 

I think that is all for now, sorry for the wall of text and life story :)

 

 

The Gen 1 has the Tiptronic box, essentially similar to a draditional auto box. Not driven one so can't say how it feels but it certainly isn't a dual clutch DSG type system. By the way, you can fit roof bars! There's a thread on here that lists the Thule part numbers, the Porsche bars are stupidly expensive. I'm thinking of getting the Thule parts in case I want to buy a ladder!

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Amazing, i generally go skiing in winter and have always wanted to drive to a resort. May have to look into winter tyres and roofbars for the skis :D

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2 hours ago, beeby11 said:

Amazing, i generally go skiing in winter and have always wanted to drive to a resort. May have to look into winter tyres and roofbars for the skis :D

This link...

Edited by Porker
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Hi Beeby, welcome aboard

I might be able to help with some of your questions but they will only be my opinions.

I am 6 ft tall and over 16 stone and I find I have plenty of room and I could lower the seat about an inch on its height adjuster if I had needed too but I do have it pushed almost to the back. you will have to develop your own technique for getting in and out gracefully. mine works for me but is not exactly graceful.

I shoot and can get 5 cased long guns in the back and have fitted a standard sized golf bag and clubs in with loose clubs, not tried a full tour bag. no room for trolley.

borescoring although widely reported is actually very rare, don't forget you only ever hear the horror stories, never the thousands of happy ones. if the car you are looking at smokes on start up and continues to smoke, walk away, there are plenty out there to view. note: all flat sixes puff a bit on startup as gravity does not drain the bores like a straight or vee engine.

in my opinion, if you look around, parts are not biblically expensive and the cars are well built to start with. economy wise I average low 20s urban and have seen low 30s on motorways

general consensus is that the Tiptronic auto box is just about ok but the 6 speed manual is awesome and only the much later PDK double clutch is better

hope this helps. Steve.

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Welcome!

 

My son is 6'4" and he fits fine.  

 

Regarding common problems, I posted my experiences in this thread recently:

 

 

An independent inspection is a good idea unless you are very familiar with these cars as the newest Gen 1s are now 8 years old.  Dove House Cars has a good reputation as an independent specialist but I don't know if they do inspections.  

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Will you fit? That depends on the length of your legs/body/arms, the height at which you set the seat, and the angle at which you set the backrest - at 5' 11 3/4" (well I was when I was younger and never did reach 6') I have to have my seat as far back as it will go, so my best advice is to find a Cayman to try for size before looking for one you want to buy.

 

 

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Thanks for the replies everyone, regarding the golf kit. I only carry a small stand bad so that is good that will fit. I have to take my Driver and 3 wood out at the moment even in my golf.

 

Is bore scoring pot luck, or are the chances increased with aggressive/track driving? Does anyone have any experience on how much it costs to have it scoped and are garages usually ok with you bringing someone in to do this?

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This bore scoring keeps popping up with every thread. Has anyone here suffered and what are the costs to make the repair?

 

Beeby I have a 07 plate S, can't comment on the you fitting as i am a more normal 5'9" (short) but the seats slide back well and it seems to have plenty of leg room.

 

I have the auto/tiptronic option on mine and I like it, my first everyone manual so I wouldn't be put off if the car is a good one. There is something satisfying of pushing your right foot down and it drops down a couple of gears and hurtle up the road a little faster.

 

Running costs, tax is high, mine is £590 ish per year, insurance is cheap if you're an old git like me (£280 for 5000 pa). Consumption anything from 25 to 30 on the journeys I do which are mainly 20 - 30 trips.

 

Budget, you're starting where I did, around the 15K mark, I ended up paying £15,650.

 

Good luck in your search.

 

 

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Thanks for the reply,

 

I am not too fussed about running costs, i am used to running multiple cars at the same time (i will be condensing down to 1 with the cayman) to tax wise it will be around what i am paying at the moment. Insurance cost is actually cheaper than my golf. Consumption is a little worse than my golf as that will do mid 30s on motor way and 25 around town :)

 

I would be interested to see how many people have actually been affected by the bore-scoring as i see a 50/50 split of it is real vs it is a bit scaremongering.  

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5 minutes ago, eponymoose said:

There is one outfit in the UK that alone repairs about 300 M97 engines a year for bore scoring.

 

I've spoken to numerous traders who all regularly send cars off for bore repairs. I spoke to one last summer who'd already had three 3.4 Caymans repaired that year. There are numerous outfits doing a very nice business repairing M97 with bore scoring. Most are done on the cheap with steel liners for one or two bores to get them going again and I suspect most of those are then bought without the buyer knowing what he/she has.

 

And as I said above, there are also all the cars that are repaired by Porsche under warranty, like mine was, and the cars that get broken for parts.

 

It's hard to be certain what the precise numbers are, but anyone who thinks it's a rare / uncommon issue is either poorly informed or has their head in the sand.

 

It's also worth bearing in mind that during the early to mid' stages of bore scoring, it would be very hard for a buyer to detect short of a bore inspection. I think quite a few cars get punted on when the early symptoms crop up - specifically rapidly increasing oil consumption. Owner takes car in to an indy, reports the oil consumption, it gets inspected, they're told the bores are going and it gets traded in pronto. Someone on this very forum traded his 3.4 in with suspected bore scoring and he claimed that he told the dealer about it and they were fine with it as they were themselves going to punt it on through the trade. Eventually, that car with early signs of bore scoring ends up being bought by someone.

 

The point of all that is that if it's correct, then the proportion of cars for sale with bore problems will be higher than that of the broader installed base. That will obviously increase the risk of buying a bad one.

 

If you want an outright opinion, mine would be that if you took a number of a gen 1 3.4 with at least 40-50k miles at random from those on sale you'd find at least 30 per cent had at least early stage bore scoring.

 

Again, it's hard to be sure of the numbers. But with a 3.4 the solution is simple. Pay the £200 to get the bores inspected by an outfit that really knows what it is looking at. one thing is for sure. If you did buy one with bore scoring it will be very expensive to rectify it properly.

300 a year? How many m97 engines are there out there? 

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Thanks for the unbiased opinion, i guess anyone i am seriously going to look at i will have to get inspected first.

 

I really like the look of this one 

 

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/porsche/cayman/porsche-cayman-24v-s------------------2006/7180041

 

Not the best advert, looking at the pictures it is a really high spec, I wonder what it had done at hartech? Whether it was just a bandage put on to keep it going or whether it was fully repaired. 

 

The price seems a little too cheap...

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31 minutes ago, beeby11 said:

Thanks for the unbiased opinion, i guess anyone i am seriously going to look at i will have to get inspected first.

 

I really like the look of this one 

 

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/porsche/cayman/porsche-cayman-24v-s------------------2006/7180041

 

Not the best advert, looking at the pictures it is a really high spec, I wonder what it had done at hartech? Whether it was just a bandage put on to keep it going or whether it was fully repaired. 

 

The price seems a little too cheap...

Id assume when it mentions that the 'aircon needs attention' would be that it needs some new air con condensers. Pretty easy fix and relatively cheap but worth bearing in mind as it will start to creep that price up to other better examples. Also if the condensers have gone back the coolant pipes may also need replacement due to corrosion (another common issue).

 

Price being that low would make me a tad wary.   

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Welcome to the forum.

 

One area that people have not answered fully so far is the one regarding maintenance and running costs, but probably an important one for someone coming into first time Porsche ownership, like myself last year. My car is a 09 plate Gen 2 Cayman, and in my first year of ownership I've spent nearly £3k in Maintenance and Servicing. I'm sure it's luck of the draw as to how much you'll be likely to have to fork out per year, but I was personally surprised at my ownership costs. This year I've had a major service, clutch and flywheel change, disc brakes and pads, replacement bolts and clamps due to corrosion, spark plugs, timing chain, front tyres and most recently, replacement front radiator piping due to corrosion damage. For a car with only 50k miles on the clock, I was surprised that it needed a clutch change and other unexpected maintenance so early in it's life, but reading through the forums this isn't uncommon. Personally I'm someone who likes to keep maintenance by the book and replace parts as soon as they need replacing, so I've spent what I feel needs spending to keep the car where it needs to be, and to be clear this is most definitely not a reflection on the car or it's previous ownership, looking through service history and receipts the previous owners have also been good with maintenance, I think I've just been unlucky with my costs.

 

Hopefully that helps your decision anyway, and shows the importance of having a slush fund with these cars :)

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2 hours ago, Luke said:

Welcome to the forum.

 

One area that people have not answered fully so far is the one regarding maintenance and running costs, but probably an important one for someone coming into first time Porsche ownership, like myself last year. My car is a 09 plate Gen 2 Cayman, and in my first year of ownership I've spent nearly £3k in Maintenance and Servicing. I'm sure it's luck of the draw as to how much you'll be likely to have to fork out per year, but I was personally surprised at my ownership costs. This year I've had a major service, clutch and flywheel change, disc brakes and pads, replacement bolts and clamps due to corrosion, spark plugs, timing chain, front tyres and most recently, replacement front radiator piping due to corrosion damage. For a car with only 50k miles on the clock, I was surprised that it needed a clutch change and other unexpected maintenance so early in it's life, but reading through the forums this isn't uncommon. Personally I'm someone who likes to keep maintenance by the book and replace parts as soon as they need replacing, so I've spent what I feel needs spending to keep the car where it needs to be, and to be clear this is most definitely not a reflection on the car or it's previous ownership, looking through service history and receipts the previous owners have also been good with maintenance, I think I've just been unlucky with my costs.

 

Hopefully that helps your decision anyway, and shows the importance of having a slush fund with these cars :)

 

Thats the trouble buying a Cayman at that kind of mileage, will always require a major and some.  

 

It'll level out over time though, next couple of years will be far less. 

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Just now, Tom said:

 

Thats the trouble buying a Cayman at that kind of mileage, will always require a major and some.  

 

It'll level out over time though, next couple of years will be far less. 

 

That's what I'm hoping. Major was obviously no surprise, I factored that in when buying the car, but clutch and especially flywheel was unexpected for me, and all of the miscellaneous little bits and bobs. I wouldn't expect for some of the parts I've had to replace to fail on a car that is only 7-8 years old, it unfortunately means that I'd have trouble trusting using the car as a daily driver. Oh well, like you've said, hopefully will level itself out :) 

 

All the costs fade to the back of my mind when I get to open it up on a nice road, or when I look back at it on a carpark!

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Luke, as per my earlier post in this thread, your experience is pretty typical if you want to keep your car in good shape.  I changed my clutch and flywheel at 58K miles.  There was plenty of life left in the clutch but it was getting heavy and the pedal action was slightly juddery.  The flywheel had lots of life left but for £300 or so I felt it was worth doing while I had it apart.  Many people probably wouldn't have bothered with either until the clutch started slipping or it got unbearably heavy.  Ditto with suspension parts which are past their best at that mileage.

 

My first Boxster was a 115K mile 6 year old lowly basic spec 2.7 but it was in fantastic condition due to the original owner who I bought it from having spent around £14K in OPC servicing and maintenance (excluding tyres), replacing anything that started to show wear.

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