Looking for my first Cayman S - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

Hi all Been wanting one for a while and now firmly in the market for a Cayman S Gen1 ideally a later Gen1 too. Just missed out on a dealer, warranted, 36k miler tiptronic couple of weeks back that was very clean and right options, but now swaying towards a manual. Prices vary dramatically from what seem 45-50k milers starting at circa £16k to 25-30k milers starting at £17.5'ishK and upwards into the lower 20's. Conditions will vary of course and thats always to be taken into account, but what is about the right price for something with 30-40k miles in tip top condition from a dealer with warranty and needing nowt done or a private, no warranty? Also what if it needs consumables, tyres or brake disc/pads? Im sure its been asked a number of times but my search didnt really pop up with anything recent. Cheers Vin Edited by Vinny73 on Thursday 15th January 12:57 Edited by Vinny73 on Thursday 15th January 13:26

Well my old one has popped up for sale in the PH classifieds by the looks of it, I'd advise against buying it I think if you want a really nice Gen1 S with sub 40kmiles on it, good history etc then you'll be looking at about 18k (+/-). Just before I traded mine in I was quoted nearly £1k for a new clutch, the tyres needed replacing @ £700 for all 4 Michelin, then look at bodywork becasue this is the most expensive part (aside from engine) to correct properly I find. I'm sure many will advise having a boroscopy done to ensure no bore scoring is apparent, although this can still develop 1000miles down the line so you're always taking a risk, it is quite rare but expensive to fix. Edited by Beanoir on Thursday 15th January 14:01 Edited by Beanoir on Thursday 15th January 14:06

From an OPC you can expect to pay around £18-20K for a lowish mileage car with reasonable spec (adjust price accordingly for mileage and options) From a reputable indy, prices generally are not much cheaper, but you may have more room to negotiate. A private sale should be cheaper, but no warranty of course, however, you can get a Porsche one put on it after having a 111 point check and any defects found rectified. Replacement discs and pads will cost you around £7-800 fitted by an indy or at least twice that by an OPC.

Worth bearing in mind that private or OPC is the only way you'll get to benefit for any remaining Porsche extended warranty. If you buy outside the network when it doesn't have one you'll have to wait 90 days before you can put it in for the inspection.

Thanks for all the responses. All valuable and interesting info!

I don't deal with many of them but I recently (October) sold this one as a 57 reg high spec (PASM, Nav, 19's) car, in superb condition, for £20,490

thegoose said: I don't deal with many of them but I recently (October) sold this one as a 57 reg high spec (PASM, Nav, 19's) car, in superb condition, for £20,490 That was a nice looking one!

I would pay a bit more and look for an early gen 2 car.

It always amazes me when this question is asked on ph. The answer is usually either 'spend a bit more' to get a Gen 2 when actually a Gen 2 is quite a lot more to buy, or don't buy one unless you have a warranty, or simply don't buy one at all. As if no other option exists, what a complete load of b**locks. How about do what i did, buy a well looked after one, drive it for 2.5 years with no warranty whatsoever, love every second of it, sleep soundly at night, and if it goes pop guess f***in what, i'll repair it.

PR36 said: It always amazes me when this question is asked on ph. The answer is usually either 'spend a bit more' to get a Gen 2 when actually a Gen 2 is quite a lot more to buy, or don't buy one unless you have a warranty, or simply don't buy one at all. As if no other option exists, what a complete load of b**locks. How about do what i did, buy a well looked after one, drive it for 2.5 years with no warranty whatsoever, love every second of it, sleep soundly at night, and if it goes pop guess f***in what, i'll repair it. I agree with this, my early gene 3.4S was trouble free for the 2 years I had it, and from my reading of them and member of various Porsche forums i've only ever heard of a couple of instances of bore scoring on these cars. Thats not to say it doesn't happen but if you speak to the specialists they'll tell you it's not that common. Having said that it is expensive to fix - the old 'inch wide, mile deep' analogy. Its also not a £10k fix, places like Hartech etc don't charge that kind of money as far as i've heard. maybe £5-6k although happy to be proven wrong there. So personally i'd take the risk on a Gen1, indeed I did and never looked back. And I can safely say mine wasn't a premium car either, wasn't looked after particularly well, had been in an accident and a dotted service history, BUT it was cheap, so I figured at the time I wanted Cayman and if it went pop 6 months down the line then i'd take the risk and pay out to fix it.

PR36 said: How about do what i did, buy a well looked after one, drive it for 2.5 years with no warranty whatsoever, love every second of it, sleep soundly at night, and if it goes pop guess f***in what, i'll repair it. Was always my philosophy. Until the engine went bang in my 996.2 Carrera... If it actually happens to you, my word, it is difficult to express how annoying/frustrating/disappointing that can be. And, yes, a £5 - £6k repair bill is wholly unrealistic.

rob.kellock said: Was always my philosophy. Until the engine went bang in my 996.2 Carrera... If it actually happens to you, my word, it is difficult to express how annoying/frustrating/disappointing that can be. And, yes, a £5 - £6k repair bill is wholly unrealistic. £5-6k is very much realistic, that also assumes it's all 6 cylinders that need to be replaced, which is unlikely. Prices straight from the horses mouth - it's been discussed on this forum a number of times. If you go to Porsche for an engine rebuild then you deserve to pay more as far as I'm concerned given they don't actually fix the issue like others do now.

I too have been looking at a Cayman S but knowing next to nothing about technical issues will not attempt to buy one without an official warranty. The only problem Im finding is that the lack of availability of models around Gen 1 2007, 2008 with warranty in place, Ive been searching for 6 months and only found a couple on the market. Is winter traditionally a poor time to be looking for Caymans or is it just bad luck?

Are you aware that you can put a Porsche warranty onto a car purchased outside of the network after 3 months of ownership? Alternatively, if you buy privately, have the owner put a warranty on it on your behalf before changing ownership details.

I bought my Gen 2 Cayman S private which was out of warranty , my terms to the seller was I'd pay for the 111 point check and buy it if it passed but any repairs needed he would pay for then I'd buy it, everything worked out great and I saved about £5k against a similar OPC car.

Fancy a fast one? Parr

Vinny73 said: Hi all Been wanting one for a while and now firmly in the market for a Cayman S Gen1 ideally a later Gen1 too. Just missed out on a dealer, warranted, 36k miler tiptronic couple of weeks back that was very clean and right options, but now swaying towards a manual. Prices vary dramatically from what seem 45-50k milers starting at circa £16k to 25-30k milers starting at £17.5'ishK and upwards into the lower 20's. Conditions will vary of course and thats always to be taken into account, but what is about the right price for something with 30-40k miles in tip top condition from a dealer with warranty and needing nowt done or a private, no warranty? Also what if it needs consumables, tyres or brake disc/pads? Im sure its been asked a number of times but my search didnt really pop up with anything recent. Cheers Vin Edited by Vinny73 on Thursday 15th January 12:57 Edited by Vinny73 on Thursday 15th January 13:26 I certainly would advise against a Gen 1 tiptronic - a rubbish transmission that does a good job of ruining a great car, and nowhere near as good as the PDK that was introcuced with the Mk 2 987. Stick with the manual, a brilliant shift and if it hasn't got it retrofit the Porsche sports shift linkage which makes the manual 'box even better. And, as others hve said here eitrher buy from a Porsche dealer (dealer supplied cars all come with a two year warranty) or from a private buyer if the car has a proper Porsche warranty. Make sure that the car hasn't been modified if it has this invalidates a Porsche warranty and that it the service history is up to date - again this invalidates the warranty. Edited by dreamcar on Thursday 29th January 09:16