Moving from an NC to 987.2 - am I too scared for a reason?

Hey everyone, just wanted to say this forum is fantastic—it helped me figure out which Porsche to choose. After endless reading, I’ve zeroed in on a 987.2 . I currently drive an NC Miata , mostly on B-roads and at autocross. This car gives me so much confidence—maybe it’s the LSD , the suspension setup I bought, or just the fact that it’s a forgiving RWD roadster. Anyway my phase with this car is pretty high. But like almost every petrolhead, my dream has always been a Porsche . Why the 987? Hydraulic steering and a smooth V6 that really connects you to the road. In my country these cars are super rare and crazy expensive, so my options are pretty limited. Two base 2.9 Boxsters showed up for sale (both manuals, exactly what I’m after): High mileage but with a rock-solid service history. Average miles but unclear records. I’ll have both inspected, but that’s where things stand. Still, I’ve got cold feet because: Neither one has an LSD. I can add one later, but I’m worried about grip on corner exists without it, I thought this is mandatory for sporty rwd, and this is going to be another expensive purchase Wider rear tires—will it still feel as nimble as my Miata? I guess in both cars both suspensions are on the way out after all this years? Honestly, I’m just afraid it’ll feel slower or less connected than my NC. If you’ve made it this far, please let me know what you think! Thanks!

Hello, Good questions. The Miata is a great car! The 987.2 , is a flat six, not a V six. The steering lets you feel everything happening. The mid engine layout of the Cayman provides excellent balance, front to back. The wider tires , if good quality, will provide much better grip and with a 2900 lb. car, you will retain a very tactile, light weight and confidence inspiring road feel. These cars corner like go karts. They are not super fast, nor very powerful, but for tight, twisty, mountain roads they are perfect. Great brakes, when needed. Have a thorough inspection performed and a comprehensive, trustworthy service history is essential. 2009 Base here. Reliable as a hammer and a total blast to drive. Good luck and welcome to the smiles for miles club!

If you like all the good things the Miata brings, you will love a 987. They are amazing cars. I’m keeping mine forever. 🏎 In terms of the LSD , you won’t need one unless you are doing 10 tenths in autox. The weight of the engine over the rear wheels helps a lot. And if you get to the competitive levels of autox, you will likely have very sticky tires with wider wheels and maybe some suspension mods. In simple terms, the LSD is an upgrade folks do only after a lot of other upgrades, and even then only in a very competitive setting. Good luck with your purchase, and welcome to Planet 9.

Hello, I would strongly advise you stay with your NC. 987 is not an upgrade, but rather a side grade.

Love987, Porsche V6 is not a Boxster or Cayman motor. IDK, lots of one post members in this debate, are you all legit?

Hi, deffo my mistake, I meant flat 6, sorry for that. The comment above was a troll friend, sorry for that too and thanks for the helpful comments.

Well just know this: “ side grade” has been and always will be in the eye of the driver. I like car enthusiasts who subscribe to that idiom. Just because I do not covet a Mustang doesn’t mean I can’t still appreciate them. The gasoline powered so called “ entry level” Porsche party is sundowning. Buy a nice car and keep her sweet and I think you will have a great experience and something that should retain value reasonably well.

Ditto with @PorscheGreg , I'm keeping this one as long as I can. I've driven Miatas, and they just felt slow. My friend used to always say that it's easy to make a slow car handle well, but the 987 is certainly much faster, and feels as secure (if not more) as the Miata. I was considering a Miata, but after driving the 987.2, there was no comparison. I always wondered what the big deal was with Porsche, but now I get it... it doesn't show up on spec sheets... it's just something magical, honestly. That said, test drive them... you'll know pretty quickly. In fact, I also test-drove S versions, and didn't feel the S brought that much more to the table... the base was just perfect for me, which is why i have one. Needless to say, I recommend the trade. But, when you say "high mileage" what do you mean? These cars will run for a VERY long time, so "high" mileage can be relative. I bought mine with 73k on it, and it's at 110k+ with no signs of slowing... others have shown 200k+ easily. The base is a VERY reliable motor... Beyond that, there isn't a lot to worry about... but obviously some deeper inspection is ALWAYS warranted (PPI!)... so be sure to have that happen!

My only back to back with a cayman and a Miata was a track day at Laguna seca with my 987.2 base, and my friends track specific NC with a 2.5L motor in it and aero stuff. His car was SUPER fun on the track. Not scary fast, just fun. However, in no way would I want to take it on the street. The cayman was a fairly civilized drive to the track, a hearty rip around the track, and then a drive back home and about 85% of the track experience of his Miata . If I was a better driver, I would approach his lap times. Having said that, he just blew a motor, and it is hundreds of dollars to replace, not 10s of thousands, which is definitely a plus. My only not awesome part about owning my 987.2 base is just the cost of replacement parts. It is easily 2-4x the cost of what you (and I) was used to. I do all my own work which mitigates it, but just make sure you are ok with the maintenance cost increase. I do like my car, though, (as does everyone on this forum with their own car…)

The highest has 130k miles, the other one got half of it. Thank you.

The NC feels like a toy. Fun toy....but a toy. The 987.2 is just getting started where the NC stops.....

Well stated Caylman. If your passion is not working on cars, or you do not know how to twist wrenches. Then you best be fantastic at whatever you excel at because you will need your wallet far more than most of the people on this blog.

Miatas are great. They are on the same continuum as the two-seat Porsches, as Ric suggests. To modern SUV-addicted drivers they will both feel like toys, of course. Everybody draws the line in a different place. I tried and tried to convince myself to trade my supercharged NB for a 987.2 , but never pulled the trigger. The test drives all reminded me of a similar experience many years earlier, when I was trying to convince myself to trade my 968 for a 993. Where was the value, exactly? It was hard to justify the substantial price of the upgrade in both cases, so it didn't happen. The 981 was what finally dragged me over the line, and even then I swore I was going to keep the Miata . That sentiment didn't last long, I can tell you that much. I'm sure you'd feel the same after switching to a 987. Miatas are great but the Cayman/Boxster is just plain better, regardless of generation.

Noah, how was the 968 with the AC on? My 944 was 143 hp, stunning car at speed but you had to have your foot in it hard. The new Panorama has an article on the 968, seems that last iteration of the S2 engine was about 100 hp more than my 944 with the article stating the introduction of variocam raising the torque and HP, they needed to. They did say that the turbo version was still faster than the 968. I almost bought one of those, but it was a little too high in price at that time.

I'm going to offer a slightly different perspective. I owned a NA Miata 20 years ago, when I was living in central CA, San Luis Obispo. There were a lot of roads that were fun and challenging in the Miata , generally at speeds close to the posted speed limit. And the area was rural so I really never worried about speeding tickets or traffic congestion. Fast forward to now. I own a 2007 Cayman S . Clearly a much superior car to the Miata . Except, now I live in central NC. The closest fun twisty roads are a 3 hour drive away. So I pay to go to track events at VIR. There I have a lot of fun. Minimum corner speeds are 55ish. The "climbing eses" are easy at 100+. My point is, if you are going to enjoy the car on public roads, and really want to get close to the limit, you will be carrying more speed and more physical and financial risk. Due to that fact, my car really only satifies me now when I'm at a track like VIR, with all the associated costs. Public roads are a downer. So I encourage you to think about where and how you are going to use a car like the Cayman . It is a big jump, IMHO.

My '92 cab was the last model year that used R-12 if I recall correctly, and it handled Texas summer heat with no trouble at all. At least in the keeping-things-cool sense. The list of things that broke on that car was more like what you'd expect from Alfa or Fiat, and the A/C was no exception. The NA 3.0L was no slouch. Not quite 100 more ponies than the 944 (236 HP/225 lb-ft.) They did build a few 968 Turbo S cars for the EU market in '94, but I sure as heck wouldn't pay $500K+ for it . Presumably the A/C is working on that one, at least.

My $.02 Not quite apples to apples comparing an NC to the 987.2 , but: I've got 2 NA Miata 's (1 supercharged, 1 bone stock) and a 987.1 S. The lack of LSD in the 987 is, as pointed out above, noticeable at autox. Not so much in the twisties or the track. A Miata with an open diff is much more noticeable. If I had the budget, I'd prefer the 987.2 or a 981 to the 987.1 . The supercharged NA is comparable in terms of power to the Cayman . 0-60, the Miata wins. 60mph + goes to the Cayman . The Cayman can handle a car wash while the Miatas need to be hand washed. Biggest issue for me is simply cost for parts. A factory Miata longblock can be had brand new for $3kish. The Porsche powerplant is 4 times that for a junkyard unit. Tires are more expensive, wheels heavier and more expensive. It's certainly been an eye opener. Cayman is a better long distance driver. Which one I'm driving depends on what exactly I want to with that car today.

I hear you on the public roads is a downer… kind of. My 987.2 base is my daily driver with a longer than I’d like highway commute 3 days a week. I do feel a little bad that I’m usually just cruising along at 75mph with an occasional fun on/offramp. That sentiment is tempered by the fact that I now look forward to my commute after a few work from home days… so I genuinely get where you are coming from by feeling I’m not using the car to its potential (especially with Laguna Seca nearby!), but maybe it’s just because I have the base model, I have come to appreciate it for just being a car. It is fun to drive, not just on the track after the kids are done with university, I’ll for sure be hitting the track more often, though!

That’s exactly what I thought…..I’ll expand on this. Back in 2010 I owned a really nice 928GT and loved the car. I swore I would never sell it but then at a concours where I was showing the 928 a dealer had brought a new Spyder and I was immediately smitten with it. It was the first time that I had really paid attention to the Boxster platform seriously. I decided to take one for a test drive to see if I really wanted one and if I was willing to sell my 928 to get one. It literally took 2 miles and the first on-ramp on to the highway to realize it was exactly the ideal dream sports car. Acceleration was brisk, smooth and the engine revved freely right to redline. The noise made by the flat six only enhanced the experience, PSE is a must. But it wasn’t until I was in the middle of the on ramp that I realized the magic. It was like the car was wired into my brain and did exactly what I expected. I was going much faster than I had driven any other car and the sales guy had a “holy crap” look on his face as I went through the corner with zero drama at pace. And this was my first time in the car. Finally the fit and finish of the Porsche was excellent. Perhaps not as good as a Mercedes or Ferrari from that era but definitely above average. Still I wondered if I was making the right decision and I thought maybe it was the open top experience that had enamored me. So I took a drive to the local Mazda dealer to drive a new NC. Sales guy went out with me and when he realized I knew how to drive well he kept suggesting cool roads. I spent 30 minutes driving the car and during that drive I did my best to convince myself I could live with the NC and my 928. But it’s exactly what Ric_n_RVA says, the 987.2 starts off where the NC stops. The best way to describe the difference is precision. The 987.2 Spyder takes the softness of the NC and sharpens it for the better in every way. 15 years later and I don’t regret my decision, I still have the Spyder. One thing I will say, go for the 987.2 S if you really want to make a jump. I currently own a 91 S2 Cab and I don’t find the engine to be anemic with the AC on. You definitely use more of the go pedal but it’s totally fine for a spirited run or around town. It doesn’t come close to the torque and power of my 964 but it’s no slouch. A dmin note - a photo has been lost here - I t was simply bigger than our systems can handle. PLEASE read the lin k https://www.planet-9.com/threads/posting-photos-in-posts-to-planet-9.253974/ Two photos were over 60 MB each. The resolution on them was 5120 pixels across (horizontal). That's enough for the JumboTron in Times Square. The issue causing this is that modern cell phone cameras have very high resolution (more than a 4K TV), and transferring all that information takes time. If it doesn't get here in a certain time, the system times it out, and the photo never appears. The maximum resolution for photos for web-browser use is around 1024 pixels horizontally. You can imagine the wasted bandwidth that occurs when a cell phone tries to download one of these images. When it is finally downloaded, they are restricted to the display resolution, which is way less. Cropping to reduce extraneous matter helps focus the reader on what's important in the photo while also reducing its size. Then resizing it to a reasonable resolution (suggested 1024 pixels horizontal) helps it load on devices that may not have a Gigabit connection. Thanks for your understanding.

I had a 1996 Miata for 18 years before I purchased a 987. The Miata was dialed in and fast. I had the same doubts that were immediately and permanently dispelled. You won't be sorry with the 987.

I had an NC Miata for 10 years that I tracked, autocrossed, and taught both my daughters to drive in. I was lucky to have a 911 ( 997.2 C2S) join the stable, and I was smitten with the Porsche - although, I only used the 911 for autocross. I've since sold the NC and 911 , and the last 2.5 years have been using a single car, a 718 Cayman GTS4.0. In that time, this car has done at least a dozen autocrosses, and a dozen track days. Dollar for dollar, nothing beats a Miata for fun and smiles on the street. I'd also say it's equally as fun, and quite possibly nearly as fast, as the Porsche in autocross because it's so damn nimble and you can thread the cones with better precision than in the Porsche . I'm a good (not great) autocrosser, but I still whack cones regularly with the back wheel arches in the Porsche . The Miata is a toy, however. It's loud. It's especially uncomfortable for the passenger. But on the street, it's in its element. Consumable costs are ridiculously low, even if you track it. But at the track, it's really got a horsepower deficit compared to most cars these days. I got tired of point-by's on every straightaway, even when I was faster in the corners. The Miata is also chuckable, and getting it a little sideways around town in a controllable way is still possible. I'll probably have a Miata again at some point. But I've made the best new friends thanks to my Porsche club activities! And the sound of that flat-6 is addictive. But I'm far from wealthy, probably spending far too much of my disposable income on cars. Back to the OP: if I were you, I'd keep searching for a Porsche with a LSD since you autocross. Then, jump into the Porsche world and decide for yourself! Guaranteed it'll be a different experience than the Miata , and if you don't do it, you'll always wonder.