Considering a 987 Cayman: what should I know?

Hey folks, been lurking for a while and finally looking to jump into Porsche ownership. I’m considering a 987.1 or 987.2 Cayman (2006–2012), ideally manual. I’ve read a bit about IMS issues and bore scoring, but would love real-world feedback. What should I budget for first-year ownership? Also -I’ve seen a few listings on Dyler.com , some even from Europe. Anyone here buy through them or know if it’s legit?

The 2.7 (.1) and 2.9 (.2) bore scoring is almost completely unheard of. LN Engineering has stated that their company has never come across it. The IMS bearing failure is also vastly overstated in those engines. There have been just a few documented cases in the .1, and the .2 doesn't have one at all. The .2 will be a few more dollars than the .1, maybe 10-20%. Whatever you do, GET A PPI! Personally we went with a 2010 for my wife's Cayman . The PO was a 30+ year PCA member and the car had a full service history. With 59k miles, we paid $31 for it.

Hey there, @yuzuu - Welcome to P9. Looks like you've been lurking for a while and taking one's time when making a P-car purchase decision is always a good thing. LOTS of threads on this here about the 987.1 vs 987.2, so there's plenty of real-world advice to read up on. I've been lucky to own both. Super-short summary is they're both great cars. Yes, read up on IMS and bore scoring threads; I eventually shifted over to the 987.2 2.9L so I can sleep well at night. At 260K miles, ideally the proof is in the pudding when it comes to escaping both potential issues. However, due to the recession, there were many fewer 987.2 produced than the 987.1. In fact, I believe the entire production run of the 987.2 (2009-2012) was roughly equal to the entire 987.1 2005 production year combined . Plus, if you want a 987.2 manual, they're incredibly scarce. @theblooms has some great points here, but I disagree on a few items. Real-world price differences (at least at this point in time of writing this) is generally much higher than 10%. Great bargains can be found for the 987.1, but the 987.2 sales prices are typically much higher than for the 987.1. My feeling is that with the 987.1, a PPI is always a good idea (a borescope is almost mandatory if you're buying an S). But if you find a 987.2 in great shape and is very well priced, I personally would just buy it as it's not going to last long on the open market -- especially if it is specced to your liking and has a MT. Not every seller has the time or patience for a PPI. I say, just factor in extra cash in your budget for any unseen repairs with a 987.2 and fire away at your own risk tolerance level. As always, it's YMMV. Plus, I'm from the school that both neither the IMS issues and bore scoring are NOT strongly overblown. When it's bad, it's really end-of-car-bad. Familiarize yourself with the risks. Just ask my Porsche master tech colleague who sadly lost his 987.1 S due to bore scoring; that was the end of his car. Know what you're getting into, especially you're spending big money on a P-car. One final note - If you come across a 2005 2.7L Boxster (base), that's also a great find. Probably the lowest 987.1 risk of bore scoring due to cylinder wall composition, but then you've got the IMS to worry about. It's all a trade off. Good luck on your search and be sure to post to the New Members section with photos -- especially once you get it! Cheers.

I'm an unapologetic base .2 fan. I just couldn't take the very small but very catastrophic risk of IMS failure or bore score. I also ruled out PDK for the same reason. All those are very unlikely but stratospherically expensive to fix. I went base .2 manual and luckily stumbled across my perfect car minutes from my house. These are hard to find since few were made and fewer were manual. Just over 100000 miles and very low $20's. I've done about 5000 of maintenance (in parts only....I did the work) but a big chunk was replacing all the suspensions which was probably overkill. Belt, Plugs, Coils, Fluids, a cracked PCV line. I've got a car that I would unhesitatingly jump into and drive cross country tomorrow with zero anxiety. Other advantages arising from a base .2 manual are: *NO DFI ....so no expensive DFI pump, injectors or eventual decarboning of intake valves. Regular old port FI. *Closer ratio transmission than any of the other manual Caymans. (all.2 have 6 speeds. Most .1 base have 5 speeds) 987.2 in general get these upgrades: *better oil scavenging and far less likely to starve oil in high G loading. (This is a BIG risk in a .1 car on track with good tires) *better lighting *better interior materials (no melty switches) All 987 are great cars but .2 base manuals are greater than most if you worry about big problems. The 987.2 was recently rated by one online source as the single most reliable european sports car. The Most Reliable German Sports Car On The Used Market Is... Good luck with your search!!

Early 2005 have replaceable IMS bearings....late 2005 are captured and larger, thus "safer" but require complete teardown. One of these cars was in the running for me when I found the 09 Cayman base. It can be difficult to determine if a mid year 2005 car has a replaceable IMS. ALL Caymans with IMS (987.1. 2006-2008) have captured IMS bearings. If you determine that a .2 car is the way you want to go you almost have to start thinking about Boxsters to increase the pool of cars available unless you are dead set on a Cayman. Prices are lower on the Boxsters by a fair amount too. A little less HP and less torsional rigidity but still a fantastic car. At the very least it opens up a few more cars to drive and look at during your search.

Regarding first year ownership costs- My wife's 06 Cayman S with ~75K miles has required very little in routine maintenance, with me doing all the work. As you know, the big gorilla in the room of course is the possible very big maintenance cost of an engine rebuild. And if it has a PDK , they can get expensive. As others have noted, there are ways to mitigate the risk. It really just depends on your circumstances.

I picked up a couple weeks ago a manual 987.1 S. I read the bore scoring concerns and spoke to Indy shops that wont even scope for it claiming it is so rare. I also owned a 996 Twin Turbo and a 997.2 S and both had potential claimed issues as well. Time will tell. Love the car and more fun at the moment than my F Type R with 550 hp.

The 996 Turbos had Mezger engines in them. Whomever told you they were prone to borscore or IMS issues took you for a ride. The Mezger engines don't even have an IMS ! And the cylinder coatings are completely different from the Carrera models and utterly immune to borescore.

I have to second everything that Ric and Foodbiker stated. I, too, am a 987.2 base fan and owner, but I think only you can figure out which generation (.1 or .2) and trim (base, S, R) is best for you. When I was looking for a 987, I spent a lot of time researching the same concerns with IMS bearing and bore scoring before settling on the 987.2 base as the ideal car for me. A few things about me that made the 987.2 base the perfect fit. -I have a very low risk tolerance. I don't like gambling so even though some will say the risk of IMS bearing failure and bore scoring is very low (<1%), I personally cannot stomach that risk. As others have said, the most reliable 987 are the 987.2 base followed by the 987.1 base. However, the 987.2 base has some significant improvements over the 987.1 base as listed below. -My Cayman is my fourth car -- I don't need it to be the fastest, I have another car for that. I bought this car because I always loved the body of the 987 Cayman and wanted a relatively cheap car to tinker on. The power of the 3.4L engine would be nice, but I'd rather build a Cayman "T" which is what I intend to do. I've always enjoyed modifying cars and tinkering, and making my interpretation of a 987.2 Cayman T is what I think would be fun and enjoyable as oppose to buying a more expensive S or R trim and being worried that any modification or mileage will significantly impact its resale value. Advantages of the 987.2 Base model: -Short gearing 6 speed MT (1st and 2nd gears) compared to all other MT in the 987. The 987.1 MT is a 5 speed as standard, however, there were a few rare builds with the 6 speed MT. I don't know if this optional 987.1 6 speed MT is different from the 987.2 Base. -Bigger "S" brakes on the 987.2 base as standard. Calipers are just not painted red, but I like the slate gray/unpainted calipers. -Improved front and rear ends including headlights and taillights. -Better interior. The black center console not only looks better, it is better quality. -Reliable. No IMS , no direct-injection. The only port-injected 9A1 engine from Porsche also happens to be regarded as the most reliable. 987.2 S/R and 981 + 9A1 are all direct-injected. Disadvantages of the 987.2 base vs 987.1 : -Significantly more rare and harder to find. -Cost. The 987.2 base will cost similar to the 987.1 S. I don't mean to completely discount the 987.1 S model, but I just don't know enough about the value of borescope/PPI on its long-term reliability.

I'm very much risk adverse just as @Spjs is. I'm the opposite of wealthy and can't afford a situation where the engine could potentially self-grenade. TBH, a lot of us 987 guys are in the same boat and originally went with the 98X series as we couldn't afford the 99X cars. Well, call us pleasantly surprised as we wound up buying amazing cars for much less money. A few other notes... Part of the magic of the 987.2 2.9L (base) is that it has old-school EFI, not DFI -- which helps prevent bore score. With DFI, it seems to involve the fuel (spray angle) fuel washing away the oil on the cylinder walls, especially during warm up. No oil, no lubrication. TBH, my 3.8L 991.1S engine in my 981 Outlaw is DFI -- and it may be a case of "we're not seeing bore score cases yet" as they're newer cars. However, bore score also involves the cylinder wall composition (and possibly pistons too). Much was worked out with the MA1 engines. Although I'm not too worried about it, I will be taking great care to do treat the warm up procedure in that car like a 2006-2008 987.1S for the best chance. Plus, I'm likely going to shift over to a different oil (probably Driven) that's made for those cars as insurance going forward. Again, YMMV and there are plenty of options out there for all sorts of price ranges -- and they're all fantastic cars. But yes, expect to both wait and pay much more for a 987.2, especially if 6MT.

I think the bore scoring and IMS problems were usually with cars that saw a bunch of track time. If you're not going to track the car and you're able to buy a car that didn't get taken to the track (at least not regularly), I wouldn't worry about it too much. There's also the rear main seal ("RMS") issue, which I also wouldn't worry about too much — there's a fix for it if you want to spend the money. One thing I'd suggest is that if you're not going to do work on the car yourself you should have a 3rd-party specialist mechanic. That mechanic should also inspect the car before you purchase. You're looking at a 10 to 20 year old car at this point. A pre-purchase will give you peace of mind and bargaining power. A car of this vintage with 100k miles is likely to have a long list of things that are starting to wear out, such as suspension components, starter motors, water pumps, etc. You can probably drive the car without addressing that list of issues, but at least you should be aware.

Buying any Porsche, you'll need to keep some spare cash tucked away - just in case. I've always factored 5-10% of the purchase price, although happily, I've never needed to access those funds. Having that back-stop makes sense, not because the cars are fundamentally flawed, it's simply because they are expensive machines (very well made machines). I've had various 911s, and now 3 different 987s (totalling 43 years of Porsche ownership). Each time, I've bought well; - Learn the market, - Take your time, don't rush, - Make sure you get a PPI, - Ideally put yourself in the position where you know more about the car than the seller does, you should be fine. I've had none of the dreaded issues with both of the 987S series 1s. If you buy well and you maintain the cars properly, the probability of encountering these issues is low, despite what the internet tells you. I find the one difference between the 987 series 1 & series 2 that I notice the most, is the improved quality of the interior of the series 2. After all, that's what you're faced with every time you drive.

You asked about work done. I bought my 2009 with 141K miles on it already. It has needed some love. Part of my reason for picking the car I did was because I knew it needed some work, and I wanted something to tinker on in the garage A picture is worth lots of words... so here is a picture of words and numbers Of the items above, here are the ones I think HAD to be done. Everything else was just me making the car nicer, or fixing something I broke while doing something else. rear control unit clutch slave door latch left rear rotors oil change

I don’t have the super fancy Excel spreadsheet for Parts. My 2009 base that I bought with 105,000 miles on it in October 2023 for low 20s has had coils, plugs, the vent line that goes to the throttle body, battery , all the wear items in the suspension, cayman r springs , koni r shocks, all the filters and fluids, I’m sure missing something. I did all the work myself, so there was no labor charged. I’m sure there’s at least $4000 of parts listed above. I would jump in the car and drive anywhere, any distance, with no qualms, and have a hell of a good time the entire way. I still wouldnt consider a .1 car though.

Well a few weeks into owning the car and love it. I have owned a couple 911 's prior so very familiar with Porsche . My Jaguar F Type R has been sitting in the garage as I take the Porsche almost every time. It is partially the newness but also having a manual and just learning its quirks. I had to tip off the oil and antifreeze. Prior owner just had an oil change so assume they only fill to the mid mark and I always till to the max line. Neither fluid has deviated since I topped them off. Debating on having it paint corrected and ceramic coated then PPF . Now I just need to see what things should be done to the car for both longevity and fun factor.

It is not recommended to fill the oil to the max line. Keep it one or two lines down.

I have not read that on the Cayman . What is the reasoning behind it? It was at the mid point and it took almost a full quart to bring it up to the fill line. Normally the bottom line to top line is around 1 quart but this drank some oil to get there.

I believe the thinking goes that the dash gauge becomes non-specific when the car is overfilled. In other words, if it is overfilled, by a little or a lot, there will not be any indication. So a "work around" is to leave the fill so that it shows 1 line short of full, which does seem to be accurate. Especially if you had a 3rd party do the oil change.

I don't want to test it but it appears the gauge would register if overfilled, no? In my Jaguar F Type it will show on the gauge when it is over the fill line. When I bought from the dealer, I checked it and they had about 2 extra quarts in the car! I had to suck that out and get it to the proper fill line. Another reason I prefer to do as much maintenance on my car as possible. You would "think" a Jaguar or Porsche dealer knows how to perform a simple oil change but shocked they don't.

I believe you'll find a difference between the service departments of PorSche and JagUar - just like the cars.

The newer the better. The better-maintained, the better. Cost of ownership 1st year depends on what scheduled maintenance might be coming up. Find a good indy mechanic, steer clear of dealers, and it shouldn’t be bad. Had a 2010 CS that was indestructible.

Hi there I have always wanted a Porsche , can see looking online one can purchase a used 2009 onwards around £13k-£16k, i wont have a big budget and this is what concerns me if the costs spiral. Would anyone be able to give some running and maintenance costs and any other advice would be much appreciated? Just for my son’s 16 year old fiesta is £320 for just a full service as a little comparison. I read a lot about the 987.1 generation are a bit cheaper and would be happy with one of those but the IMS and bore scoring issues would lead to substantial costs if the engine went. Thanks everyone.

Realized i was re-posting what I had on page #1 already. Ignore this post.