Picked up a very low mileage 2008 base 5-speed last week. Some quick first impressions if anyone is interested or wants to comment:
1) I owned a 911SC for about 15 years, and it had this "carved out of granite" vibe to it, though it was unrefined. This car has that same feel, but more modern and more attention to detail.
2) The interior feels very cheap. Mine still looks like new, but every other car I've looked at has a beat up interior. I even have some small scratches on the dash despite low mileage. Just a matter of time until the cheap paint on the climate control levers starts to flake off I'm sure. Surprising to see this in a car of this caliber. BMW and Audi much stronger in the interior department.
3) Surprised by how much low-end torque the base engine has. Makes driving in traffic a bit easier, as even down around 1500 RPMs it wants to run.
4) It is VERY fun to drive, even in a straight line. The engine is magical. It feels like a small F1 race car.
5) With the windows down, it sounds wonderful. With windows up, I get more engine whine and less exhaust note. Needs more exhaust note.
6) Not a fan of the transmission gearing. First gear is too low(high?) and almost useless, like a granny gear on a truck. Fifth gear is too low as well. Needs a sixth gear for speeds above 60 MPH. That said, car's primary purpose isn't 70 MPH highway cruising, and if you are on the highway, it is fun to cruise along in 5th gear at like 3000 RPMs and be forced to be in the rich part of the torque curve. (I think I read somewhere that the 6-speed has the same ratio as 5th in the 5-speed, so a 6th gear doesn't help with this anyway?).
7) Shifter is a bit clunky. I also have a 1991 Miata and I like shifting it better. But, I hated the way the 915 transmission shifted in my 911, and this is at least better than that.
8) Stereo is a weak point, and unacceptable that bluetooth, aux, and Sat radio weren't available even as options in a car of this caliber in 2008. Prior owner apparently added a Dension gateway unit, so I will probably stick a JL-Audio bluetooth-to-RCA adapter into it to get basic streaming capability. My 2006 Audi A4 had satellite, two years earlier.
After a week, I'm thrilled with the car, despite a few nitpicks above. It is exactly what I want, and it really is the only car out there that checks the boxes I wanted checked. I think I would prefer a more-difficult-to-find 987.2, but nothing newer than that. Seems like 2006-2012 is the sweet spot for these cars -- the last gasp in something with lineage back to the first half of the prior century. I feel fortunate that this kind of car was made in #s large enough, recently enough, at a low enough price point to be available today for what a new car would cost.
-DDD
Thanks for the review! The longer I have my 987.2, the less I notice the poor finish on the window switches, etc. It is a great dance partner.
I love my base 2011 987.2 . I sometimes find myself "wanting" an upgrade, newer, more HP ect but when I drive the car and use all that it has available, I basically come away saying why? Your points are all good one ( especially the stereo/nav ect) but the engine, the handling and the "your car is beautiful/stunning ", comments erase the negatives.
Of course that does not negate the fact that I am always looking for that late model Cayman S deal
I forgot to mention- I installed a dynavin in my (Bose) car. It really helped.
The Bluetooth call quality sucks, but I know there are some settings I have not bothered with.
So true on all accounts. Mine is an 08 Base S. No tricks and toys. Yes the plastic feels cheap. The Florida sun is slowly burning the black paint. However, 4th entering the freeway near the limit on the tac with a symphony playing from the tail, shifting to 5th and triples are on the display, sixth and let off the pedal as you settle down to the commute to work makes all the little things disappear. So many comments regarding steering feel of the later versions being less than it could or should be make me feel like why spend so much more for less feel.
Stereo? Oh yes, I just noticed mine does have a stereo. I guess one day I will turn it on and give it a listen. But in the meantime I will simply continue to listen to the music composed by "Porsche". There will be plenty of time to listen to a good audio system in the near future............the electric future.
All valid points - and as the other 987.2 owners have mentioned - that's really the sweet spot IMHO of affordable reliable Porsches. The interior can be fixed. Painting the console body color makes a BIG difference and isn't awfully expensive (mine was around $400 installed), I also had the trim strips between the upper/lower dash (cupholder level) painted body color - on a dark blue interior the Carrara white really pops. New heater control buttons are available (luckily they solved that with the .2 - different toggle entirely). The ancient PCM that came in the car can be replaced at a reasonable cost with a modern head-unit that will outperform it all the way around, and offer lots more capability (mine will do AM/FM, Satellite, iPod, memory-chips, USB thumbdrives, CDs and DVDs, plus phone and streaming blue-tooth.)
I'm slowly working mine toward perfection (lots of other small non-obvious "mods" done for my satisfaction only..) and plan on it being a keeper. So far it's been stone-cold reliable (not the case with my newer Cayenne Turbo) - the only thing that's broken is one of the door-handle interior levers. Cost about $300 to have it replaced. That's it.. will have to do brakes sometime in the near future, I'm looking forward to it since it will give me a chance to paint the calipers which badly need it.
You actually removed the black (or tan) rubbery-feeling console and had it painted the body color? I’ve seen that as an option in some cars — I assume you stripped the existing paint or coating or whatever it is? I’ll need to research that.
I have a factory wooden dress up option (Sycamore I think) that covers that strip in the dash and the shift knob and handbrake. Hope that holds up better than the plastic.
I appreciate all of the replies.
I hate that soft touch paint that they used. I bought some of that Magic mender paint and repainted a bunch of trim pieces that were scratched pretty well. It’s been about 4 months since I did it and I’m quite happy with the way it’s holding up.
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Would you mind posting a few pictures. I am thinking of doing the same.
I can post some pictures when I get home. I don’t have have any before pictures but it had the usual scratches on the rear shock towers and on the drivers side armrest trim. It really matched good and so far I am still pleased with it.
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I did a big write up on striping the Soft-touch and repainting. Even took the bezels around the key and headlight switch back to straight black to eliminate any other scratching (if painted). Also, the Ben's-short shifter is a great option on that end. Might take a look......very pleased with how it shifts now. Cleanup all the slop and smoothed the shifting.
I have a 2007 987.1 Base model and love it. Only options original owner added were the paint (Atlas Grey Metallic) and heated seats - everything else is bone stock. Within my first year I've added the Numeric Racing short shifter / cable setup (adjusted to shortest position) which corrected everything that was wrong with the factory setup.
Interior surfaces are easily worn, I agree. My climate knobs are barely discernable and several areas of the plastic trim are scratched, showing black marks underneath. But overall this little thing is absolutely beautiful.
