Early Porsche Caymans

I've been casually shopping early Porsche Caymans.  My search started looking at 987.1 Cayman S's.  I almost bought one locally a few months back, but the seller gave me some push-back when I wanted take it to a local shop for pre-inspection.  That threw a big red flag for me.  As I continue scanning ads, I'm beginning to think a 987.2 non-S might be a solid (better?) choice.  It has the newer 9A1 engine with no IMS or bore scoring concerns.  The downside is that it's down about 30hp from the earlier S, but I don't think that would be a huge problem for me.  The 987.2 S's are out of my budget range, but the Non-S's can be had pretty reasonable in some cases.  I believe both models have 6-speed manuals.  In a recent post on the "Cayman Club" FB group, a guy posted about losing an engine at 150k.  Another guy responded, "Thats a pretty good run, you got your money's worth".  That didn't leave me with a good feeling.  But then I see Red Stapler's thread on here where he's having a blast in his non-S and I get excited again.

I guess my post boils down to 987.1 Cayman S vs. 987.2 non-S.  What should I know?

Following with interest; these are on my 'next car' shopping list.

What do you need to know? That I dearly want one, I think I made a thread about them 1.5 years or so ago and was given a ton of great info.

I'd probably keep saving for a 981.2 S myself.

987.1 S: undervalued based on current pricing and future collectible.  Yes this will be the Porsche purists want in 15 years.

The 06 car could have the old IMS bearing or the improved larger ones.  An 07 or 08 will 99.9% chance have the larger much more robust very rarely fails IMS bearing.  The only prevent on it is to pull the grease seals and allow it to see fresh engine oil:  viola.  

I spent good money on the M96/7 rebuild class this year.  The very early M96 cars or early M97s are the ones to have.  DFI isn’t that great except from an emissions standpoint.

An early 987.1 is a real performance bargain.  

z31maniac said:

What do you need to know? That I dearly want one, I think I made a thread about them 1.5 years or so ago and was given a ton of great info.

 

I'd probably keep saving for a 981.2 S myself.

Another thing I like about the 987.2 non-S is that it’s not direct injected. I’d like to avoid as many of the expensive Porsche repair items as possible. 

What is the year split between 987.1 and 987.2?

TIL that '07-08 Cayman Ss are not terribly expensive for what you get...

Knurled. said:

What is the year split between 987.1 and 987.2?

MY2009 is when the .2 generation started and ran through MY2012

They’re way rarer and more expensive due to the financial crisis.

I'd save up for the S or get the 987.1 S. I mean, it's a Porsche. You gotta get the better one.

Knurled. said:

 

TIL that '07-08 Cayman Ss are not terribly expensive for what you get...

Seriously. The price of them is making me consider selling the MS3 again.

red_stapler said:

Knurled. said:

What is the year split between 987.1 and 987.2?

MY2009 is when the .2 generation started and ran through MY2012

They’re way rarer and more expensive due to the financial crisis.

I didn’t realize yours was a .2 I’ll be watching even closer now!

Lof8 said:

red_stapler said:

Knurled. said:

What is the year split between 987.1 and 987.2?

MY2009 is when the .2 generation started and ran through MY2012

They’re way rarer and more expensive due to the financial crisis.

I didn’t realize yours was a .2 I’ll be watching even closer now!

Mine is a .1 base.

AnthonyGS said:

987.1 S: undervalued based on current pricing and future collectible.  Yes this will be the Porsche purists want in 15 years.

The 06 car could have the old IMS bearing or the improved larger ones.  An 07 or 08 will 99.9% chance have the larger much more robust very rarely fails IMS bearing.  The only prevent on it is to pull the grease seals and allow it to see fresh engine oil:  viola.  

I spent good money on the M96/7 rebuild class this year.  The very early M96 cars or early M97s are the ones to have.  DFI isn’t that great except from an emissions standpoint.

An early 987.1 is a real performance bargain.  

 

 

How did you like the rebuild class?  My 996 needs a rebuild and I’ve been thinking about taking that class.

My PCA friends with base cars are perfectly happy with them. My son has a 981S but told me he was fine with the non S cars he tested and was ready to buy before the deal with the S came up. I have a base 991 that checks all the boxes. They're all good. 

Cotton said:

AnthonyGS said:

987.1 S: undervalued based on current pricing and future collectible.  Yes this will be the Porsche purists want in 15 years.

The 06 car could have the old IMS bearing or the improved larger ones.  An 07 or 08 will 99.9% chance have the larger much more robust very rarely fails IMS bearing.  The only prevent on it is to pull the grease seals and allow it to see fresh engine oil:  viola.  

I spent good money on the M96/7 rebuild class this year.  The very early M96 cars or early M97s are the ones to have.  DFI isn’t that great except from an emissions standpoint.

An early 987.1 is a real performance bargain.  

 

 

How did you like the rebuild class?  My 996 needs a rebuild and I’ve been thinking about taking that class.

It’s worth every penny.  There is a lot more info provided than what you pay for.  There are other un named instructors.  If you want to talk about it over the phone, let me know.  I’m not going to give the details away on a forum as requested on day one of the class.  

In reply to red_stapler :

Oops, I confused “MY” to mean “mine” instead of “model year”