Jump to content

I bought this to keep me sane: Cayman S manual


Bugs 77

Recommended Posts

Hi Troops,

After making the momentous mistake of selling the 74 IB I went in search of a replacement, couldn't stand being Porsheless. I felt I should try and move ahead from what I had but realistically I was already there with what I had, looked at and nearly bought a 993 C4 but still needed to sell the Kombi too to get there without eroding the funds too much. Thought about 996 turbos too or even a Mk1 GT3, then went back to looking for a good 3.2 Carrera but here a proper OZ delivered, fully sorted no more to spend car is $AUD120k plus, yes I could find something for say $90k but most likely there could be $30k of sorting to do, for the level of car I wanted in a 911 it kept getting back to $120-130k and way more, nuts really.
I do have a few work projects to do in the next few years so getting time to work on the cars was getting harder, hence looking for something sorted, it annoyed me a bit not being able to get to some of the jobs on my last car which is why I sold it I think, really should have chilled a bit and enjoyed it how it was, there was no rush and it wasn't like it was broken or anything, but there you go. I even quizzed  the new owner on me buying it back but he loves it.
Then I thought about Caymans, had always liked them as a "modern" Porsche if you must go water cooled and the 981 seamed to get all that much better, we all know the 911 has grown a lot, still the sports car that all others are judged against and awesome bits of kit but now not what our aircooled cars are. I felt the Cayman closer to what I like about earlier 911s so I started checking them out. As good as the PDK stuff is, teamed with Sports Crono to have launch control is a tad unsociable at the lights, had an Audi A3 2.0 turbo quattro with dual clutch and flappy paddles which was great but ended up letting the car do it's own thing in the end which made it a less engaging experience so manual the car had to be. Looked at GT4s but I won't be tracking at this stage, GTSs are a bit saner but a lot more expensive than an S for not much more grunt, did some research and all said base Cayman is fantastic but get an S if you can, so it all pointed to a 981 Cayman S in manual for me. To top it off you can get them with low miles and sub $AUD100k, and that's what I found, a 2013 981 Cayman S manual with sports exhaust and only 24,500ks on the clock for $95,000. Has all servicing up to date and a two year extended warranty, just wash and stick oil in it (and check the water!) for a while.
I bought it from the eastern state of Victoria, took three weeks to get it over here! but I picked it up from the freight depot yesterday and drove her home (by the way I bought this sight unseen) and I am very, very happy. It drives very similar to a 993 C4 but better, very easy to drive, just noisy enough with sports exhaust on and comes with all the mod cons. Feedback is good, not quite IB like but good enough, it's exactly as I hoped/expected and my wife likes it more than the IB which is good.
So this will do nicely for a while, it will be interesting to see what happens to the value of aircooled stuff over the next few years, I will be getting another IB in the future, will most likely be a project, would like to build a RUF BTR replica when the time comes.
Will let you all know how the Cayman goes over time, but for now stay safe folks,

Cheers, Phil

SLPJ2336.thumb.JPG.62d61e553ebb29d1d8c0b068293e9fdf.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • johndglynn changed the title to I bought this to keep me sane: Cayman S manual

I believe Cayman's are a logical progression from an IB if you want to stay within the Porsche fold as many on here will testify too,  great car , great garage. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Built the house about 5yrs ago now, garage was the first thing designed and then progressed from there 😁. Requirement was for three cars, wife/family hack, work van/Kombi and the IB with enough workshop space in front of the cars to "do stuff".The Kombi was too nice for work in the end so bought another van for that so the Kombi just sat idol. Was then keen then to sell the Kombi and use that money to finish off the IB but it didn't sell, no one that looked at it said it was overpriced or even offered a lower reasonable amount, just said they only had x amount to spend which was way off the asking and left, why bother coming?

IMG_0372.thumb.JPG.20b9c8e4a86e62698e67c8faef754f5d.JPG
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to continue, had to do some work! 

IMG_0237.thumb.JPG.79e0be3372c4efc68dbb44a62d262878.JPG

74 gone and missed.

Anyway, in that moment of madness sold the IB first (minimal problems there besides low ballers that hadn't see the car in the flesh) then fire saled the Kombi and suddenly the garage was very empty (work van stays outside mostly, not that precious). With the funds from those two burning a hole in my pocket the hunt was on which resulted in the Cayman in the garage. I'll keep the work van outside or in the shed at work and reserve the last spot for a project later. (things are starting to fill that space though!)
It was strange though, I've never spent that much before on a car buying the Cayman and my dear wife was beside herself doing so, it took some convincing that we can do this and have some change left over and that we'd be paying less on insurance, licencing and most likely maintenance for a while, but that's the reality.

Better get back to work, at least I'm not being bothered by too many customers right now!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Bugs 77 said:

Better get back to work, at least I'm not being bothered by too many customers right now!

But...it’s a beautiful day and the wind is blowing :doh2:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Have been out in the Cayman, or as much as is socially acceptable with the movement restrictions here at the moment, mainly between home and work. It really is very good, would have to say I wouldn't want a sports car any bigger, this does feel bigger than the IB as it is. The level of performance fits well with road use and still gives some feedback, the torque is enough that the gear ratios are fine in more relaxed driving, really effortless, just a bit long if you want to redline in more that just 1st gear in the suburbs and keep your licence. I would certainly recommend these as an IB replacement if you have to, and PDK (with flappy paddles) would be fine if you're more city bound. Compared to the IB it's as if it was all Porsche needed to do to cure the air cooled 911s quirks for the masses, with the engine in the middle the base engineering is so good even without a bunch of electronic aids or 4WD, I'm glad this S is relatively low specced and manual with just a sport and loud button. It has Bluetooth, sat nav, air con, heated seats and whatever, I wouldn't use any more performance or luxury ever. The only downsides are in comparison to the IB, not any other car. The build is awesome but the doors have lost that solid feel on closing and after the chatter of the unassisted steering in the IB the Cayman is sharp and clinical but mute. None of this is probably  news to many on here, but it possibly may help some wondering if the change would be good, and it is, but they do show how good IBs are. The feel good out on the road was noticeable in the IB too, heaps of smiles and thumbs up, not so with a newer Porsche, was at a friends having a roadside chat and got the old "someone's got too much xxxxen money" from a passing resident.

I think this car is a keeper, I don't think for a minute I could buy something that would do any more than this in normal road use, in the future I could track the Cayman and build/buy a nice IB for the road, this time a Turbo, it's still the poster car of my youth.

Edited by Bugs 77
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

Well, that almost lasted 12 months.
I've just sold the Cayman even though it was very very good, but it's just not me. Nice part of owning the IB was being able to tinker away on it myself or with my mechanic. We did a service on the Cayman and checked it from bumper to bumper but it wouldn't talk to Richard's computer when it came time to tell it it had its service, had to go round to Perth's OPC to have that done and hand over some more cash. Richard is our top independant here that they know only too well but still did another checkover too (helped justified handing over the cash). So you're locked into OPCs with these here, but I can't really take to the one here.
To get the same buzz as the old IB on the street you have to go close to losing your license, found instead of smiles and thumbs up from people (kids and mainly older blokes) that knew what the IB was, this attracted the attention of, well, gold diggers that could see the badge that said Porsche and that "it's so sleek"
With stock low and prices up I put the car up for sale and it went in 12 hrs, for a bit of a profit. I'm how keeping an eye out for a new IB, problem is once again that stock is low and values have gone up yet again so won't be in a rush, maybe things will correct a bit over the next 12 months.
So I've experienced owning close to a brand new Porsche, it was definitely the right one, it did tick all the boxes but in the end didn't feel as special or for me as comfortable as a nice IB, what is that?
Will let you all know what I find next. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

An IB is a very soulful, communicative and satisfyingly challenging car to drive and is no slouch for that matter either. The Boxster/Cayman are also very rewarding to drive but in a completely different way, that’s why I think they complement each other and I have them in my stable.

The IB is like going 12 rounds with Mike Tyson, the Boxster/Cayman 6 full on sparing round with Sugar Ray - at the end of both you know you have had a good workout, but are bruised differently!

You also grow more of an attachment with an IB as you physically connect with it by tinkering, servicing, modifying it.

One does get a lot more positive appreciation and acknowledgment of the IB from other drivers and the public than the modern stuff.

Good luck with the search.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...