Which Cayman? and a question on power.. - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

Hey guys, wonder if anyone can help me here. Basically I chose a Z4m over a Cayman two years ago and now I'm ready to move on. I've played with the idea of a 360, a vantage and a 911 GT3 all of which are the same price here; or for 20-30k less I can have a Cayman. I LOVE the look of the Cayman, and the handling of the few I have driven, the only area I wasn't sold was speed. But they were 2.9 tiptronics, which on paper are comparatively quite slow. It felt really sluggish and uninspiring for what I expected from a Porsche.. So my question is two fold - 1) what flavor of Cayman to go for? There literally are no R's that come up for sale where I am, but have seen S' non S' and auto and manuals of all different engines. Do the engines suffer the same rms etc failures as the 911's? Any particular combo preferred? I think the PDK models when they come up are priced similarly to the 360 and gt3 so discounted them. 2) what common mods are there for guaranteed deccent power increases? Have had a search and for every person claiming 911 intakes, exhausts, maps etc, there are another 5 saying their BHP claims are bogus so it's really hard to tell what I can get - I like the idea of a cayman and having $30k to throw at it to make it just so, but ultimately that would cover a supercharger, big brake kit, new chairs and dampers for my 4M, so unless the cayman will be spectacular with that thrown at it, seems better spent on the beemer or trading up to the Gt3/360 etc. Any info would be great, I've been searching but keep coming up with mixed info and am a bit lost to be honest!

Hi there, question gets asked quite a bit, have a search.

For speed I would say it's got to be Cayman S with PDK and sport chrono - porsche's own figures tell the tale. Paddles on the steering wheel are nice too - but be aware that lots buy them but never use them because sport & sport plus are so good in auto mode. Buy one and I don't think you'll bother tuning it - its fine as it is for road use. The Porsche switchable sports exhaust is the icing on the cake.....

Definitely buy an S, or at least try one. I had a 3.4 (first generation) and when I tried the newer non-S variants they just didn’t feel quick. Similar to your experience coming from the Beemer I suspect. It’s all about the torque Yes, in theory the engines can suffer IMS failure but I’ve only ever read about failures third-hand on the Internet, I’m not convinced it’s a common problem. This has been discussed at length elsewhere, I'm sure! Newer DFI engines don’t have the same issue. You might eek out an extra 10bhp with a few mods (exhaust and remap) but it’s never going to transform the car. 360 and GT3 will be in a different league, although quite a different ownership proposition (my Cayman was a daily driver, I wouldn't use a 360 or GT3 as such!)

Go for at least a 987.2 S The DFI gives the engine an extra edge that the .1 doesn't have.

Have a Google for TPC Racing.

Thanks for the responses sorry if it sounds a bit convoluted and confused (mainly because I am confused with exactly what I want!) deggles said: Definitely buy an S, or at least try one. I had a 3.4 (first generation) and when I tried the newer non-S variants they just didn’t feel quick. Similar to your experience coming from the Beemer I suspect. It’s all about the torque Yes, in theory the engines can suffer IMS failure but I’ve only ever read about failures third-hand on the Internet, I’m not convinced it’s a common problem. This has been discussed at length elsewhere, I'm sure! Newer DFI engines don’t have the same issue. You might eek out an extra 10bhp with a few mods (exhaust and remap) but it’s never going to transform the car. 360 and GT3 will be in a different league, although quite a different ownership proposition (my Cayman was a daily driver, I wouldn't use a 360 or GT3 as such!) jcarruthers said: Go for at least a 987.2 S The DFI gives the engine an extra edge that the .1 doesn't have. Good info thanks, which years were the DFI's introduced? Yeah I supposed you're right have read a few accounts but they're always 'I read somewhere' so was trying to gauge if there was any weight - doesn't seem so.. good to know, some accounts have claimed big increase from exhausts, maps and inlets but seems a lot of pub talk. Am thinking bigger mod wise but good to get a base of what to expect. I'm lucky in that I don't need a daily driver, I commute on one of the bikes usually so want something that's more of an occasion than a softer daily drive - problem being I don't really 'like' the 911's beyond the pace. Peter Cee said: For speed I would say it's got to be Cayman S with PDK and sport chrono - porsche's own figures tell the tale. Paddles on the steering wheel are nice too - but be aware that lots buy them but never use them because sport & sport plus are so good in auto mode. Buy one and I don't think you'll bother tuning it - its fine as it is for road use. The Porsche switchable sports exhaust is the icing on the cake..... How does the PDK handle a performance hike? Any obvious drawbacks in terms of reliability? I would deffo look to tune and like paddles/manual - that's just me though, I get bored and the previous vehicles have left me a little power hungry take it the switchable exhaust is similar to the 991's etc? VladD said: Have a Google for TPC Racing. Thanks for that, just the sort of info I was hoping for, I wonder if both ends of the scale are achievable, re the 460bhp or the 'up to 600 bhp' claims. Will read more into them

rick88 said: VladD said: Have a Google for TPC Racing. Thanks for that, just the sort of info I was hoping for, I wonder if both ends of the scale are achievable, re the 460bhp or the 'up to 600 bhp' claims. Will read more into them A good review of a Parr Cayman turbo here. Parr do a modified version of the TPC Racing kit.

I agree with the sentiment re DFI engines - which I think started on MY 2009 cars (so Gen 2 cars, from late-ish 2008 I think). The DFI is about 10 or 15hp up on the non-DFI 3.4 in the gen one cars, and revs out better IMHO and won't be significantly slower than a Z4M.

Got a manual 981s Boxster and have borrowed a Cayman PDK 2.9 off Leeds OPC today while mine is getting a minor display issue resolved. The base car is quick, but you have to rev it to the nth degree to get the performance, with the S you can be a bit lazier with the engine. The nonS also desperately needs PSE in my opinion. The PDK? Well it's rather good if I'm honest, easy enough to use and in automode quite acceptable. However, I just prefer the manual, it feels as though you are more involved in the process and when all's said and done I'm not going to be chasing the last 100th of a second in race mode in my car. For me the S in manual is still the right choice, but whatever you get I'm sure you'll be happy with. The chassis in the Cayman is an absolute highlight mind, just wonderful. However, the roof down driving over this last two summers trump a very very marginal increase in stiffness by a large margin for me.

ellroy said: The base car is quick, but you have to rev it to the nth degree to get the performance, with the S you can be a bit lazier with the engine. That's very true. Even the S needs some hefty rpm if you really want to get it moving up the road.

Agreed.

Things are much more lazy when your engine is turbo charged. 322 lb ft makes for relaxed progress.