advice on cayman on autotrader - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

I'm thinking about this car but am a bit hesitant about the hartech engine rebuild. http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2014... Also os this a fair price? I'm new to Porsche and just want a foot in the door to try it whilst I'm still young and have a little cash! Nujwaan

Triptronic, really?

What do you mean? I don't understand

I believe my learned friend is pointing out the car has horribly dated gearbox, which, even when new was poorly suited to the car. Even if he has misspelt it's name.

I think that most people in the know would consider a Hartech rebuild as a good thing, dependent upon how extensive the rebuild was. Hartech are one of the best independents in the UK with a good reputation for knowing the in's & out's of the water cooled flat six engines. Might be worth finding out the details of the car & giving Hartech a call to understand exactly what the rebuild entailed. If it all checks out then it seems a good price with the rebuild.

Hartech re-build is a major plus point.

Cayman S 3.4 2006, is the bore scoring favourite. Either buy a Hartech rebuilt one or buy something else.

DoubleSix said: I believe my learned friend is pointing out the car has horribly dated gearbox, which, even when new was poorly suited to the car. Even if he has misspelt it's name.

SkinnyP said: DoubleSix said: I believe my learned friend is pointing out the car has horribly dated gearbox, which, even when new was poorly suited to the car. Even if he has misspelt it's name. Sorry, I couldn't let Triptronic slide.... Bit like 'Caymen'. I agree with other comments Hartech no bad thing but more info needed and that gearbox...ugh....

hartech yes Tiptronic no!!

There are people who think that a Porsche should only have a manual transmission. Thus the remarks. I owned two Boxsters with tiptronic transmissions and they were the right transmission for my kind of driving at the time. It wasn't that I hadn't driven a stick, I had for many years and these were my 4th and 5th sportscars with 1, 2 and 3 being stick. I just wanted something easier in heavy traffic. I had zero trouble with either tiptronic transmission over 7+ years.

mikefocke said: There are people who think that a Porsche should only have a manual transmission. Thus the remarks. I don't think that I have a PDK Cayman S

craigjm said: mikefocke said: There are people who think that a Porsche should only have a manual transmission. Thus the remarks. I don't think that I have a PDK Cayman S Nor I, well maybe a bit, but tiptronic is a s te solution in sports car thats for sure!!

After ogling this car for god knows how many months, I might give up on the dream and go for a Mercedes coupe or SLK instead now. I think I'll treat myself to a Porsche when I've really made it and can afford to spend more than £20K on it. - still not that sad considering I'll still get a kick ass car with WAY more extras!

nujwaan said: After ogling this car for god knows how many months, I might give up on the dream and go for a Mercedes coupe or SLK instead now. I think I'll treat myself to a Porsche when I've really made it and can afford to spend more than £20K on it. - still not that sad considering I'll still get a kick ass car with WAY more extras! You can get a good Cayman for 20k and it will be tonnes more fun than either of those even with a tiptronic box

As above. £20k would get you into a nicely specced 2007 Cayman S or newer Cayman

07 Cayman S still risky IMO.

Magic919 said: 07 Cayman S still risky IMO. any more risky than most other expensive 7 year old cars? really when you put it all into perspective

mikefocke said: There are people who think that a Porsche should only have a manual transmission. Thus the remarks. [Google translate] I wish I hadn't bought a triptronic as I get teased. [/Google translate] I owned two Boxsters with tiptronic transmissions and they were the right transmission for my kind of driving at the time. [Google translate] but I just sit in traffic in my car so I thought it was a good idea [/Google translate] It wasn't that I hadn't driven a stick, I had for many years and these were my 4th and 5th sportscars with 1, 2 and 3 being stick. [Google translate] ***error*** cannot translate american *** [/Google translate] I just wanted something easier in heavy traffic. I had zero trouble with either tiptronic transmission over 7+ years. [Google translate] I don't actually need a sportscar, as I live in america, but hey someone has to buy all of those expensive european goods..... [/Google translate] HTH

Magic919 said: 07 Cayman S still risky IMO. You are correct in that, but I don't let it spoil the pleasure of ownership of mine.

craigjm said: Magic919 said: 07 Cayman S still risky IMO. any more risky than most other expensive 7 year old cars? really when you put it all into perspective I think so, just based on people posting on PH. The 06 cars in particular and some 07 seem to have more than their fair share of bore scoring. More than any 997 S variants. Seems to happen at low miles too. I'm not in a position to comment on non-Porsche offerings.

Magic919 said: I think so, just based on people posting on PH. The 06 cars in particular and some 07 seem to have more than their fair share of bore scoring. More than any 997 S variants. Seems to happen at low miles too. I'm not in a position to comment on non-Porsche offerings. Sorry Magic but I don't think this sort of 'information' is very useful for prospective buyers. It's one thing to highlight a known issue but another to cast doubts over a car based on other people's comments. People tend to come on forums when the have a problem not when they don't. For every Cayman that went bang, many others did not. I myself had 4 years trouble free motoring in my gen 1 Cayman, does that make them bullet proof? No. But unless you have some stats on failures vs non-failures then the best you can say is "there is a known issue" and leave it at that. You also mention that the 987 suffered more incidents of bore scoring than 997 S variants. Again, unless you have some data to back this up it comes across as nothing more than conjecture, albeit well meaning.

I spent 2 years looking at adverts on piston heads and auto trader so must have seen quite a few hundred ads, only saw 3 ads with rebuilt engines. So suspect the problem isn't as high as I first feared. Have now done about 2000 miles in my cayman and have not needed a drop of oil.

lj04 said: Have now done about 2000 miles in my cayman and have not needed a drop of oil. Always a good sign.

DoubleSix said: Sorry Magic but I don't think this sort of 'information' is very useful for prospective buyers. It's one thing to highlight a known issue but another to cast doubts over a car based on other people's comments. People tend to come on forums when the have a problem not when they don't. For every Cayman that went bang, many others did not. I myself had 4 years trouble free motoring in my gen 1 Cayman, does that make them bullet proof? No. But unless you have some stats on failures vs non-failures then the best you can say is "there is a known issue" and leave it at that. You also mention that the 987 suffered more incidents of bore scoring than 997 S variants. Again, unless you have some data to back this up it comes across as nothing more than conjecture, albeit well meaning. Exactly this. Pick any car, find a forum about it and you would never buy it because it will implode within seconds of buying.

Hartech rebuild = good Tiptronic = bad (horrible auto transmission) The bore scoring/IMS thing is heavily reported because it is a design 'feature' of these engines. There is no IMS on the DFI or 2.9 engines from 2009 onwards, so it's not there to fail. In 2007 Porsche were known to have addressed and 'uprated' (what this means, I do not know) the IMS bearing in their engines. So from 2007-2009 in theory there is a higher likelihood that you'll not suffer an IMS failure. Statistically, I read hear that Hartech have never had to rebuild a 2.7 Cayman lump due to IMS failure. Again, does this mean they're immune... no. All it means is that it's less likely on a 2.7. Bore scoring hasn't gone away. They fitted some different liners to the 2.9's when they came out and they were particularly susceptible to it. This was quickly supported I believe. Tiptronic cars appear to be more susceptible to it as they labour the engine a bit, which they don't like to do. Oil use that isn't traceable to a puddle under the car when you park it (that would be an RMS leak), would be a sign that you've got bore scoring issues. FWIW, I've had my car now a coming up to 6 years. It's done 30000 miles and doesn't use a drop of oil, rattle or piss oil out of the RMS (though it does weep slightly). So even though these issues exist and are known, I've not really suffered any of them. But I am aware of them... The fact that the 987s and the 996's are insanely cheap second hand buys means that this reputation has put some very interesting cars on the market and great money. So you weigh up the knowledge above against a £15k 911 or Cayman and you take a calculated risk based on what is known. The worst case scenario is an engine rebuild at £7k from Hartech. Again I've had 6 years with a wonderful car, and will hopefully have many more. But if it bit me in the ass now, I couldn't complain. I couldn't replace it with something more fun for £7k, so I'd get it rebuilt. Edited by juansolo on Saturday 3rd January 15:47

anonymous said: [redacted] I sit corrected, good to set that one straight. *thumbs up*

anonymous said: [redacted] I'll give you that. I suppose Boxsters / Caymans have never bounced back and just depreciate like a bomb (R and Spyder excepted). But the non-GT/Turbo 996's have always been the ugly duckling of the 911 range (which I've always liked because it doesn't look like every other 911). I'm not sure it'll ever get rid of that stigma and will be consigned along with the 987 to depreciation hell. That said, have you seen the prices of 928/944/928's now!? Barking mad! So you may be right... /wondering if I should bag that nice 996.2 C2S Manual that's up at the moment...

Not planning on selling mine, so we can only hope