Cayman R - Sports Exhaust and AC - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

I'm debating whether to buy a Cayman R without AC or the Sports Exhaust which where initially 2 times I thought I needed. However I'm having trouble locating an OPC car that has those with the carbon bucket seats in a price range I am able to afford. I'm looking for feedback from existing owners who have a CR without AC or the SE and whether it makes a big difference to their enjoyment of the car, with hindsight would you seek out an AC car even at the premium they come with or is it manageable without? I read conflicting reports about the SE and whether it makes a big difference to the noise and or experience, is this the case is it something I should really hold out for? All being well I'm looking to take the plunge into the CR world in the next few weeks so any advice would be much appreciated.

Mine did not have sports exhaust and like you it was something I wanted. The rest of the car was spot on though so I thought I could add it at a later date. I didnt bother. The car has so much induction noise that I felt it didnt need another load of noise out the back just to please the crowds. I drove a CR briefly with a non porsche sports exhaust and hated it as it was too boomy and could not be switched off. As for AC - thats going to be purely your personal choice. My personal choice was it had to be fitted to ease resale which it did.

I'd hold out for what you want. Whilst they are rare, one is bound to crop up with your acceptable spec sooner or later. In any Cayman, I would want aircon and if you're going all out for an R with bucket seats then you may as well treat yourself to the sports exhaust. It's a big purchase, don't settle for something that's not quite what you want.

both are a must have imo non AC cars are ok as long as you pay a lot less for it and there fore sell it a lot less. the PSE can be fitted so if you find the perfect car, just factor in buying a PSE.

Thanks to all for the feedback. The one I'm seriously considering has sports chrono, carbon bucket seats, manual and is in black which I like. Looking at the approved Porsche used car site there are so few around that I may be waiting sometime to find the right one and the price is only going to go up as the weather improves, so rock and a hard place at the minute. Is anyone thinking of trading their CR in anytime soon?

On my CS the Porsche Sports Exhaust really made the car and personally I wouldn't want any Cayman without one... but that's just me. Edited by DoubleSix on Friday 4th April 15:43

May I suggest broadening your search beyond opc? The right car is the right car. If you want an opc warranty, you can get one subject to certain criteria.

I love the PSE on my Spyder, but having heard the Carnewal conversion on my mum's Boxster, I would more than happily have had that instead - it's epic. If you don't have warranty issues to worry about, just go for that instead and save yourself a lot of money.

Both are fitted to my 'R'. I could (reluctantly) live without the PSE. I would really struggle without the Air Con.

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Find one with a/C And negotiate price with the OPC to include PSE. And stay firm if they charge the retail price for it. They can get it for much less so really use it to make a deal on the car.

The black OPC one is quite good value IMHO, but I personally wouldn't touch one without AC. PSE is a really a good addition, but can always be purchased later. Offer enough and I might be persuaded to sell mine

I bought mine with PSE, PDK, carbon buckets, ceramics, leather dash, nav, chrono plus (in fact everything except air con). I think it had stuck around at the dealers because it had no air con. It was a Sep 12 car with 4k miles and I paid just over £43k last November (and their invoice shows them having paid £47k in June). I wanted it for track use, sprinting and fun on the road so air con wasn't important to me. I guess when i sell it will be more difficult to shift but I love it and I went in with my eyes open. The only car I have seen since which I would have preferred to buy was the grey one at 911V a few weeks back. Based on the comments above it appears that air con is essential and PSE is optional. Oh, and that green one above looks great!

Each to their own. I have the PSE and have never used it. Maybe in Sport it turns itself on ... But Aircon, yes, you should. IMO. My must have was PCCB's -- and PDK a very welcome learning experience.

Surely only you know if you can live with a car without air con. For something as fundamental as this though, which you'd probably use every day, I suspect that if you're asking the question you actually really want a car that includes it. As far as the exhaust is concerned there are plenty of aftermarket options available or even the official PSE can be retro-fitted. Surely not therefore a deal breaker.

ChrisW. said: Each to their own. I have the PSE and have never used it. Maybe in Sport it turns itself on ... But Aircon, yes, you should. IMO. My must have was PCCB's -- and PDK a very welcome learning experience. Hi Chris, I have heard that the PSE releases a little more power but haven't seen any data to back it up. On a standard Cayman S it does sound better and gets through the sound police at Oulton, Donny etc. might be worth trying on your R...

I specifically specified my Cayman R without AC and I haven't missed it once. Had AC on my 997 C2S and can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I turned it on in three years, and even then only for passengers. And before a we get into the "you can't clear the windows in winter without AC" that's patently nonsense. Pretty sure people drove their cars in winter before AC was common or even around. Plus with a window down, you can hear that sports exhaust better :-) Anyway, as stated, it's personal preference. For me It was a cheap way to save weight on an item that I wouldn't use. Edited by MDT48 on Saturday 5th April 09:31

n17ves said: The black OPC one is quite good value IMHO, but I personally wouldn't touch one without AC. PSE is a really a good addition, but can always be purchased later. Offer enough and I might be persuaded to sell mine The problem is I need to do purchase using finance so that cuts out the private sales and a lot of the independants are forced to use very high interest rates due to their size; the OPC cars even though the sticker price is more it works out more cost effective due to their lower rates of finance. Plus the 2 year OPC warranty gives piece of mind and it's included in the finance of the car rather than having to shell out again after I have purchased one from an independent. For me the OPC option works out the best way of buying a CR but the downside is very limited numbers to choose from especially as my budget is no more than 40k.

nice spec OPC R for 40k , it's going to be basic and no AC, just like the black one for sale now. nice ones still go for 45k at the OPC I would get a loan out for 4.5% or better still take it off your mortgage and pay it back. finance is always a killer as most take out PCP so you are left with a hugh balloon in 3 years most of the time cannot be paid off. And of course you are paying interest on that balloon for the life of the car. OPC works out to be about 10k of interest on 40k , so cannot see how that's the most cost effective lol Edited by mrdemon on Saturday 5th April 10:38

mrdemon said: nice spec OPC R for 40k , it's going to be basic and no AC, just like the black one for sale now. nice ones still go for 45k at the OPC I would get a loan out for 4.5% or better still take it off your mortgage and pay it back. finance is always a killer as most take out PCP so you are left with a hugh balloon in 3 years most of the time cannot be paid off. And of course you are paying interest on that balloon for the life of the car. OPC works out to be about 10k of interest on 40k , so cannot see how that's the most cost effective lol Edited by mrdemon on Saturday 5th April 10:38 To be fair the deal the OPC have put in front of me means I'll only be paying and extra 5k over the lifetime of the finance agreement than if I was buying it in cash. I've just bought a new house so all my savings have been used up, hence a finance agreement with a predictable monthly expenditure works for me right now and the settlement figure at the end if the term is very agreeable I can't imagine a CR even without AC will depreciate to that level in 3 years and if it does I will keep it and not sell on as I believe these will be very sought after in the years to come.

Lox said: I love the PSE on my Spyder, but having heard the Carnewal conversion on my mum's Boxster, I would more than happily have had that instead - it's epic. If you don't have warranty issues to worry about, just go for that instead and save yourself a lot of money. That's nice to know. I've got a Cayman S and have just ordered one of these: http://www.carnewal.com/products/P87/p87026/P87-2-... A nice new Cayman R exhaust sent to Gert at Carnewal to work his magic inside. Ok, it won't be switchable.....but I doubt I'd ever have a switchable one on quiet anyway!

apachesmith said: The problem is I need to do purchase using finance so that cuts out the private sales and a lot of the independants are forced to use very high interest rates due to their size; the OPC cars even though the sticker price is more it works out more cost effective due to their lower rates of finance. Plus the 2 year OPC warranty gives piece of mind and it's included in the finance of the car rather than having to shell out again after I have purchased one from an independent. For me the OPC option works out the best way of buying a CR but the downside is very limited numbers to choose from especially as my budget is no more than 40k. That's not strictly true. Companies like Oracle finance offer finance with a balloon if required. They will match or offer lower interest rates than OPC to.

apachesmith said: To be fair the deal the OPC have put in front of me means I'll only be paying and extra 5k over the lifetime of the finance agreement than if I was buying it in cash. I've just bought a new house so all my savings have been used up, hence a finance agreement with a predictable monthly expenditure works for me right now and the settlement figure at the end if the term is very agreeable I can't imagine a CR even without AC will depreciate to that level in 3 years and if it does I will keep it and not sell on as I believe these will be very sought after in the years to come. Still 5k in interest and a balloon needing paying which if people keep the car often gets financed. Most of the time the balloon cannot get paid and the cars handed back. Very expensive way of buying a car and no future in upgrading your car over time.

rudester said: apachesmith said: The problem is I need to do purchase using finance so that cuts out the private sales and a lot of the independants are forced to use very high interest rates due to their size; the OPC cars even though the sticker price is more it works out more cost effective due to their lower rates of finance. Plus the 2 year OPC warranty gives piece of mind and it's included in the finance of the car rather than having to shell out again after I have purchased one from an independent. For me the OPC option works out the best way of buying a CR but the downside is very limited numbers to choose from especially as my budget is no more than 40k. That's not strictly true. Companies like Oracle finance offer finance with a balloon if required. They will match or offer lower interest rates than OPC to. Thanks Rudester I'll have a look at Oracle.

mrdemon said: apachesmith said: To be fair the deal the OPC have put in front of me means I'll only be paying and extra 5k over the lifetime of the finance agreement than if I was buying it in cash. I've just bought a new house so all my savings have been used up, hence a finance agreement with a predictable monthly expenditure works for me right now and the settlement figure at the end if the term is very agreeable I can't imagine a CR even without AC will depreciate to that level in 3 years and if it does I will keep it and not sell on as I believe these will be very sought after in the years to come. Still 5k in interest and a balloon needing paying which if people keep the car often gets financed. Most of the time the balloon cannot get paid and the cars handed back. Very expensive way of buying a car and no future in upgrading your car over time. I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one.

Paul_M3 said: That's nice to know. I've got a Cayman S and have just ordered one of these: http://www.carnewal.com/products/P87/p87026/P87-2-... A nice new Cayman R exhaust sent to Gert at Carnewal to work his magic inside. Ok, it won't be switchable.....but I doubt I'd ever have a switchable one on quiet anyway! But the Cayman R manifold is also greater in diameter than that on the Cayman S -- just the kind of thing that Porsceh do without telling anybody ... I only know because a friend races a Cayman S with a complete Cayman R exhaust system ...

ChrisW. said: Paul_M3 said: That's nice to know. I've got a Cayman S and have just ordered one of these: http://www.carnewal.com/products/P87/p87026/P87-2-... A nice new Cayman R exhaust sent to Gert at Carnewal to work his magic inside. Ok, it won't be switchable.....but I doubt I'd ever have a switchable one on quiet anyway! But the Cayman R manifold is also greater in diameter than that on the Cayman S -- just the kind of thing that Porsceh do without telling anybody ... I only know because a friend races a Cayman S with a complete Cayman R exhaust system ... That's interesting. Despite lots of threads on various Porsche forums it's the first time I've heard that.

ChrisW. said: But the Cayman R manifold is also greater in diameter than that on the Cayman S -. The manifold of the Cayman R is 100% the same as any other gen2 Cayman or Boxster. It is the inlet pipe of the CaymanR exhaust (std and PSE) that is bigger in diameter.

Having both cars and PSE and owning some digital verniners I have all the dia of all the cars exhausts inc the ti remus one because most after market ones are not even the dia of the R system lol. Not That I publish my data these days due to all the s t I get on Pistonheads. But as every one knows I can always back up my data and posts :-) It's interesting to see people say black is white when I have the data in front of me though.

If you willing go private and like white/manual/pse/ac/carbon buckets PM me, have to make decision in next 10 days if accept P/ex offer on my nov 2011 with 5200 miles warranty till oct 14

Hi I have a peridot green r which I am thinking of selling 8k miles mint pse no ac buckets chrono pack superb car.

Baileythecake said: Hi I have a peridot green r which I am thinking of selling 8k miles mint pse no ac buckets chrono pack superb car. Out of interest, what are you thinking of replacing the r with?

Sorry a bit boring but 4 walls and a roof. Pig sick a stunning car if house does come throu will be gutted.

Bit sad really something bigger, but no wheels got a roof and 4 walls thou. Will be totally gutted if r has to go wot a fab car.

Baileythecake said: Bit sad really something bigger, but no wheels got a roof and 4 walls thou. Will be totally gutted if r has to go wot a fab car. Can't get down to Italy in a house lv.

Ah i've been in that position Baileythecake. I feel for you! I've got a 981s fully loaded PDK at the moment. I've just ordered a Golf Mk7 R and have a longing for a more hardcore form of Porsche. Anyone out there interested in a PX that might fit the bill please PM me.