981 Boxster 2.7, manual. Perfect ? - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

I'm pondering my next fun car and have a fairly open budget - up to £50k or so, However, I can't get past the fact that for road driving anythong over 300 BHP is unnecessary. I previously owned a 987S and never felt it was too slow, and a 981 2.7 is very close power wise, so I'm considering finding a manual base car, preferably with passsive suspension and treating it as a project - Ohlins (or similar), modiied suspension arms, Centre Gravity setup etc. Has anyone else been down this road, and if so what were the results? Edited by Patrick1964 on Tuesday 14th October 15:58

I would strongly strongly recommend that for that money you buy a higher mileage 981 GT4. 3.8 great noise manual handles well with minimal set up (rear toe arms and geo) white black yellow red and sapphire steels for a long term fun hold, buckets and clubsport entirely optional.

OP, my neighbour shared your thought process, albeit, he has left his car stock. His has shared his garage space alongside an Aston Martin Vantage, an RS4 and his 992 S over recent years. It is the car he intends never to sell. Plenty enough power on the road, sublime sounding engine, lovely six speed gearbox, handles and rides well, yet the ability to drive it for pleasure without being terrified of being caught reaching silly speeds too easily. I've been to France in it a couple of times, it's a lovely thing. If that philosophy works for you, then it's a great idea. Personally, if it was to be my only Porsche, I'd maybe choose something else but it certainly has its appeal.

Rob says "Plenty enough power on the road, sublime sounding engine, lovely six speed gearbox, handles and rides well, yet the ability to drive it for pleasure without being terrified of being caught reaching silly speeds too easily". This is exactly what I say about my 993.

I think you are correct re the 300 Hp . Assuming sub 1400 kg car ? That’s all you need on real roads with pit holes , traffic , and speed cameras . You don’t really need nannies either . Have a look @ Ferrari 348 s in particular the Spider . The rides better than the Porsche . I own both ,

There's a fairly well known Porsche done by Renngineering which has that ethos. He's got an Instagram account with that name and has documented his mods. He owned the 981 Cayman and sold it, moving into a 991 T. I think he had it 3 or 4 months and bought his 981 back and turned it into a project car. He's probably done more mods than most would, but that's the great thing about a project, you can personalise it exactly as to what you want.

My old one might fit the bill, half your budget, it had an owner in the interim, but was on a Porsche warranty and when I had it it had new a/c condensers etc Would be a sleeper with ohlins and trick suspension https://www.northway.co.uk/used/porsche/boxster/27...

Snafu361 said: bennno said: My old one might fit the bill, half your budget, it had an owner in the interim, but was on a Porsche warranty and when I had it it had new a/c condensers etc Would be a sleeper with ohlins and trick suspension https://www.northway.co.uk/used/porsche/boxster/27... Fk me that is cheap. I d have that vs any EV although the 2.7 was gutless at the unveil. It had a full Porsche history, I paid similar for it 3 years ago with 5k less miles, only a basic spec. The 2.7 had circa 270bhp - Sierra Cosworth had what 220bhp? Similar power to an e36 bmw.

80sMatchbox said: There's a fairly well known Porsche done by Renngineering which has that ethos. He's got an Instagram account with that name and has documented his mods. He owned the 981 Cayman and sold it, moving into a 991 T. I think he had it 3 or 4 months and bought his 981 back and turned it into a project car. He's probably done more mods than most would, but that's the great thing about a project, you can personalise it exactly as to what you want. This one? I remember watching a while back and looks like more done since on the interior: https://youtu.be/nV9wcRYMLEU?si=vmGiRIwqSa8xRsy3 I haven't checked prices for a while but there was an overlap between 981 base Cayman and 987.2 Cayman S. Assuming 981 S is still holding quite a premium, and there you'd have the Caymam R and 718 S in a similar ball park price wise. You can see why people rarely bother modifying base Porsches though, it makes much more sense to spend on the next model up. I get if you are going to keep forever and want to put your own individual stamp on things like the chap above. I always felt my 987.1 could have done with a bit more than 245 PS even before the horrible prospect of being outsprinted by a boomer in their Jaecoo 5 or 7 became a factor. But I do like the ethos of these lower end Porsche models that you can wring out and enjoy without breaking speed limits by a huge margin. 300bhp, give or take a little, does seem like the sweet spot for a fairly lightweight car (Cayman, Boxster or Alpine).

Given the ample budget, I’d go 3.4. Partly because finding a good spec 2.7 is tricky, but mostly because the 3.4 is hardly a rocket ship itself. On the right road, at the right time, the 2.7 is enough. It’s a sweet, zingy engine. But it also feels pretty gutless in a fair number of scenarios. The 3.4 gives you the option of not only winding the engine out for fun but also riding the mid range a bit. Think the 2.7 is a bit more one-trick. Fun to wind out, too little torque a bit further down the rev range. It’s quite a big capacity step from 2.7 to 3.4 and a 981 isn’t a true lightweight.

OP, I just bought a 981 2.7 PDK and couldn’t be happier. I’ve had a number of 911’s, Ferraris, aVantage and 924S so feel I’m placed placed to comment. The v12 ferrari was amazing but driving on 10% throttle 99% of the time was frustrating. Opposite to this was the 924S…this was 90 to 100% throttle all of the time and lot of fun. I went pdk matched with the 2.7 as you have the closer ratios in the 7 speed. And when you do need to change down due to lack of torture, say on a 7th gear incline it’s at a flick of a paddle. I would def go manual with the 3.4. Good luck! PS…sport chrono with PSE is essential on both. Gives some much flexibility and different characters to the car.

Personally I’d go 2.0T. A minority opinion perhaps but available as a manual and equivalent 981S 3.4 power for the base budget. Noisy fans will claim to prefer an F6 but I’d suggest trying a base 2.0, I drove a few 4.0s which sounded great but must say I far preferred the turbo. YMMV of course!

OP, I just bought a 981 2.7 PDK and couldn’t be happier. I’ve had a number of 911’s, Ferraris, aVantage and 924S so feel I’m placed placed to comment. The v12 ferrari was amazing but driving on 10% throttle 99% of the time was frustrating. Opposite to this was the 924S…this was 90 to 100% throttle all of the time and lot of fun. I went pdk matched with the 2.7 as you have the closer ratios in the 7 speed. And when you do need to change down due to lack of torture, say on a 7th gear incline it’s at a flick of a paddle. I would def go manual with the 3.4. Good luck! PS…sport chrono with PSE is essential on both. Gives some much flexibility and different characters to the car.

bennno said: My old one might fit the bill, half your budget, it had an owner in the interim, but was on a Porsche warranty and when I had it it had new a/c condensers etc Would be a sleeper with ohlins and trick suspension https://www.northway.co.uk/used/porsche/boxster/27... ...and the best colour! I chose 2.7, albeit PDK, over the 3.4 for the same reasons. The 3.4 was easier to unconsciously drive too fast. Had my Cayman 10yrs now and don't hanker for faster. Compared to my Aston it's a far easier car to live with all round.

80sMatchbox said: There's a fairly well known Porsche done by Renngineering which has that ethos. He's got an Instagram account with that name and has documented his mods. He owned the 981 Cayman and sold it, moving into a 991 T. I think he had it 3 or 4 months and bought his 981 back and turned it into a project car. He's probably done more mods than most would, but that's the great thing about a project, you can personalise it exactly as to what you want. Hola! I've been banking content for a while and will be putting out a whole series on the Cayman called "Build your dream car!" using my car as an example but with everything I've learned, in order to help people figure out what to do to get their own build right. October's 911 and Porsche World is worth buying as it has a tonne of 981 content including an eight page feature on my car. There's a Porsche Post episode coming up if you're a PCGB member with a feature on my car... Lastly a second episode of Niners Unplugged that I co-host with Frank, that's also on the finished version of my car (there's a phase 1 build episode out already). Ignoring my car for a mo... the 981 is such a good VFM proposition. Leggy, iffy ones sub 20k now... perfect cars still in the 40's with GT4's in the 50's. There is a tonne of cross compatibility between 991.1/2 and the 718 that you can updgrade a lot just by doing a parts bin exercise. Time will be very kind to the 981.

Renngineering said: Hola! I've been banking content for a while and will be putting out a whole series on the Cayman called "Build your dream car!" using my car as an example but with everything I've learned, in order to help people figure out what to do to get their own build right. October's 911 and Porsche World is worth buying as it has a tonne of 981 content including an eight page feature on my car. There's a Porsche Post episode coming up if you're a PCGB member with a feature on my car... Lastly a second episode of Niners Unplugged that I co-host with Frank, that's also on the finished version of my car (there's a phase 1 build episode out already). Ignoring my car for a mo... the 981 is such a good VFM proposition. Leggy, iffy ones sub 20k now... perfect cars still in the 40's with GT4's in the 50's. There is a tonne of cross compatibility between 991.1/2 and the 718 that you can updgrade a lot just by doing a parts bin exercise. Time will be very kind to the 981. I'l try to pick up a copy, although the publising dates look a little confusing. Which car is on the front cover of the issue featuring yours please ?

Renngineering said: Hola! I've been banking content for a while and will be putting out a whole series on the Cayman called "Build your dream car!" using my car as an example but with everything I've learned, in order to help people figure out what to do to get their own build right. October's 911 and Porsche World is worth buying as it has a tonne of 981 content including an eight page feature on my car. There's a Porsche Post episode coming up if you're a PCGB member with a feature on my car... Lastly a second episode of Niners Unplugged that I co-host with Frank, that's also on the finished version of my car (there's a phase 1 build episode out already). Ignoring my car for a mo... the 981 is such a good VFM proposition. Leggy, iffy ones sub 20k now... perfect cars still in the 40's with GT4's in the 50's. There is a tonne of cross compatibility between 991.1/2 and the 718 that you can updgrade a lot just by doing a parts bin exercise. Time will be very kind to the 981. I'll pick up a copy, thanks

Patrick1964 said: Renngineering said: Hola! I've been banking content for a while and will be putting out a whole series on the Cayman called "Build your dream car!" using my car as an example but with everything I've learned, in order to help people figure out what to do to get their own build right. October's 911 and Porsche World is worth buying as it has a tonne of 981 content including an eight page feature on my car. There's a Porsche Post episode coming up if you're a PCGB member with a feature on my car... Lastly a second episode of Niners Unplugged that I co-host with Frank, that's also on the finished version of my car (there's a phase 1 build episode out already). Ignoring my car for a mo... the 981 is such a good VFM proposition. Leggy, iffy ones sub 20k now... perfect cars still in the 40's with GT4's in the 50's. There is a tonne of cross compatibility between 991.1/2 and the 718 that you can updgrade a lot just by doing a parts bin exercise. Time will be very kind to the 981. I'l try to pick up a copy, although the publising dates look a little confusing. Which car is on the front cover of the issue featuring yours please ?

Went for a quick blast around the South Downs National Park this afternoon. Appreciate it’s not a Boxster nor a manual but the 981 with PSE really screams at 4k rpm! In love. These things are magnificent.