Hello people, I haven't posted on this forum for a fair few months now, mainly because I couldn't log on, no matter what I tried, but now hey presto it works. During this abstinence I have been regularaly reading posts, grieving, and wishing I could add my two pennies worth.

So anyways last time I was on, I started a little what car £30k thread. I had my heart set on a 911(996) Turbo) But at that price it would either have to be a high mileage or a pre 2001 car.
Other cars I looked at were, the M3 2006 shape,
BMW Z4M coupe, 370z, 911 997 carrera, RS4, and a Cayman.

So I've decided the Cayman is the best car I have driven so far, although it's a measly 295bhp, the chassis seemed so balanced probably because of the near perfect weight distribution.

Please let me know your thought's on the car and any other cars you would also consider.

Thanks,

Dean

I think it's great. And give me a well-balanced car over a more powerful one every time. I've driven a few powerful beasts, including an 8.3 litre Dodge Viper in California, and their power is intoxicating but ultimately frustrating. The joy of throwing a car into a corner or a roundabout is just so good.

I'm probably a bit biased from this point of view as I spend a lot of time developing my race car to handle well.

The Cayman is also less common than most of the others you list

see here

does S1MMA still have the Cayman or has he moved onwards and upwards?

No the Caymen is one of the best drivers cars around for that money and of that year/spec etc. Unless you want something more hardcore with hardcore running costs then you have other options.

Not necessarily if you are not too picky about colours:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/list.as...p;Submit=Search

Turbo is not as well balanced as the Cayman, no, but nevertheless handles extremely well with masses of grip and is massively quicker. A goodun will cost no more to run in a year than a coop - all the specialists I've asked (JAZ, Northway) say £1500 a year covers servicing/maintenance/repairs on average - I spent more than that on my coupe last year.

Anyway, just because I'm biased, doesn't mean I'm wrong. If you want a test ride to convince you (and it will)...

damm I love the 911 turbo. Can't wait for the ride/shoot Neil.

My only criticism is the interior of the 996 is very dated vs the 997 generation IMO. I didnt even think the 997's interior was that special for a £70k car.

If you want a fast 2 seater coupe then buy a cayman
If you want a fast 4 seater buy a 911 carrera
if you want a very fast 4 seater buy a 911 turbo
If you want a no compromise ultra fast 2/4 seater buy a GT2/GT3/RS
If you want a small 2 seater convertible buy a boxster.

I think that sums up the porsche range.

I like the look of the cayman over the new 911. Also less common than the 911 especially in the docklands area of london !

And if you want an ultra, ultra fast car and don't give a toss how many seats it has - buy a turbo and remap it

Only if the passengers you want to take in the rear seats have got no legs!

Corrected

Agreed! Also with the torso of a small child.

And with that you've hit the nail on the head.

The problem with most new / nearly new cars is that they are a little too sanitised, a little too tame, which is perhaps why I have always favoured older, more raw machinery.

As consumers the choices we have are all a too compromised. A Caterham, as amazing as it is, really isn't an everyday option for most people. Older vehicles, whilst still having the practicality, are likely to lack the reliability and ease of use of newer models.

Even though I have not driven a Cayman / Boxster, I'd have thought that it is unlikely you would end up dissapointed no matter what you bought out of your current shortlist.

Fine cars all of them. Just perhaps IMO all a little too soft and sanitised for what I would personally be looking for. But on saying that, one mans chalk is another mans cheese.

Have you considered a Maserati 4200?

Yes the spyder!... a lovely car.

Funny - that goes straight back to when I test drove a nearly-new Maser 3200 GT. After the drive I pointed to a Porsche that they were also selling (It was a Porsche/Maser/Ferrari dealership - Lancasters) and asked why I shouldn't buy one of those. The salesman said it would be "too good" - meaning too sanitised. It's why I race a classic car - not ultimately as quick/capable as modern stuff but more involving. If my wife didn't need use of it when I've pinched the big Merc as a tow car, I'd have something far more raw as my dat-to-day driver than the 156.

I would use my Caterham every day if I could, for commuting in all weathers too.

The Cayman appears to tick all the right boxes, but doesn't grab my heart like a 911 would.

Just to add another to the list, how about an NSX?

Or a Noble...

yah ! Seconded the m12 GTO 3R.

I reckon a cayman will still be cheaper to run long term and more reliable. It would have to be a second car.

http://pistonheads.com/sales/1799685.htmd.

Different league running costs, a Caymen is a car you can drive everyday anyday, a Noble really isn't. Also you will kill a raw cars value if you cane the miles on it.

You want a car you can enjoy in 99% of situations. I.e plodding in traffic and blasting a b road. Hence why a Porsche is popular choice. Depends on the driving you do but I personally want something that is both fun to drive when going for it, but also comfy and with toys when I'm not. Other than the ride issue the Z does this very nicely for me.

The father of a girl in my class has an M400 Noble he uses everyday. They are high and comfortable enough to cope with 99% of situations. No storage though.

As for reliability - Carrera/Cayman/Boxster (any modern Porsche with wet-sump lubrication basically) = IMS and RMS issues. I just wouldn't risk it personally. Pick a Porsche forum and start reading if you don't believe me. 997 generation not much better than the 996s were...

The new Gen 2 987s do not have the IMS issue. Also, post 06 987s are significantly reduced.

Porsche will usually help out with an IMS failure, though it needs to be stressed that this is a rare occurance. If you buy from a Porsche dealer, then you are covered, and most warranty plans cover this as well.

To be totally sure, get a Hartech Lifetime Maintenance Plan.

Thanks for the replies, I never picked up on S1MMA's thread.

I did also look into the Noble but thought it would be a little too harsh for "pottering about" as it were. Same reasons for discounting an Exige.



That £1500 figure seems a lot more appealing than what I suspected a 911 TT to cost. I am still really interested in the Turbo, maybe I need to have a test drive of one.

I think I have definately narrowed it down to a Porker, Shame the 997 Carrera's aren't more reasonably priced.


Also what do you guys think the depreciation will be like on a Cayman/Carrera?

911 better than a cayman simply because there is more demand for a 911.

Seeing as you cant buy a decent cayman for less than £22000 I think thats pretty good depreciation for a 3-4 year old performance car.

I would go for the cayman 3.4s every time if I only needed a 2 seater coupe.

You can go utterly mental and buy a 12k turbo kit, as featured in evo magazine.

I also like the lines of the cayman over the 911.

OR If you do not drive many miles then buy a M3 CSL, will NEVER loose money, is meant to be VERY good to drive and is very rare (even if it does look close to the common M3).

Just do not crash it in any situation where you have to buy new panels out your own wallet.....

CSL is lovely. Was the only saloon car I considered for weekend fun (well, that and an old 3 door, big wing Sierra Cossie).

Shame you are so far away from me. Definitely test-drive everything you are interested in, even if it takes months to find everything. All this stuff is academic until you have first hand experience of the cars.

Depreciation on a £30K Porsche probably around 10% per annum - expect about £21-£22Kk back after 3 further years.

Interesting statement Shabba, how come the CSL wont depreciate? I did look at the CSL's but discounted them because of their prices, but it's a different story if they retain their value.

Edited: Just noticed that the car is only available as an Auto, what are the gearboxes like in these? I've never been fond of Auto's.

Becuase its a nailed on classic already. They are only going up, pretty rare and sought after now.

Its like E30 M3's, I bet they are a really good buy now as in 5-10 years they will be VERY rare.

Same with the Z8m which wasnt even that good, they are rare so collectable now, I recall them as low as £40k, and now they are over £100k.....not bad given their age.

That's always been my main criteria I look for in a car. Would be different if using two cars where one is literally for weekend blast only, but if you're only running one car then I'd say this is pretty essential.

I can see why Porsche is a good choice, and as above I was surprised to see £1,500 as annual maintenance costs on a 911 Turbo - I'd heard Porsche servicing was extortionate, whereas that doesn't seem overly unreasonable given the performance you're getting.

What do you guys think of this Cayman?

Auto trader Ad

What attracts me to this is the high spec.. Can't get much extra than this. Active dampers, Chrono sports pack, Sat nav, 19" alloys.


But it has the ceramic brakes on too, and I'm slightly worried at the costs of replacing discs and pads, can't find any prices anywhere on the net.

Think it needs to be darker. Porsches should be black imho.

If I had 30k to spend on a car, I'd get one that was iconic, rare and a head turner.

3 such cars:

Aston Martin DB7
Ferrari 355
Honda NSX

*memory incoming*

See this for surprising fact on ceramic discs

For the record, it would be a Noble 3R or M400 for me with a £30k budget. It'd destroy anthing mentioned above and have a lot more presence on the road. I'd imagine the fun/ sense of occasion facor would be higher also...

Not everything.

Incidentally Trappy - don't you have some timing gear...?

Well I've found out how much a set of rotor's are to replace which is £4,000 per corner. Yes, thats correct. GT3 owners have been replacing these as early as 15,000miles.

What sort of running costs would I be looking at for a Noble.. I thought they were ridiculous money?

You see for me, they tick more boxes than anything else without having driven any of them of course. I just see them on the road and they stick out more than anything else. I love what they stand for, how they upset the establishment, trampling all over the big hitters in test after test. They have respect from Supercar drivers, don't have the snotty image of prestige performance cars, yet aren't perceived as rough quasi kit-cars like a TVR or Marcos.



Nope. Always wanted a Performance Box, but never found £350 I didn't want or need for something else.

I would recommend looking at the Porsche UK used car locator. Cayman Ss are on there from about £27, and you get a year's w'ty, and the cars go through a pretty rigorous inspection.

Ceramic discs are expensive but not that expensive. Buy one with ordinary rotors if you are worried. Have a look here at JZMs prices - and they are more expensive than Northway:

http://www.jzmachtech.com/shells/service...4&year=2007

SIGH....they aren['t everydays cars are they, maybe the NSX but thats it. The others are pretty dated now, 355 awesome but high running costs and same goes for the DB7 (which wasnt even that good really anyway).

Also not much point asking us what we think of a Caymen advert, go ask the Porsche forum as they are in a far better position to judge, and of course adverts mean little - you need to go inspect the car in the metal.

If I was spending £30k on an everyday performance car I'd probably go for a BMW M6, or if I needed a bit more practicality and a bit more head room in the back, an M5.

Not the fastest thing for the money and not the most exciting, but they're still great cars, there's still very little on the road that can get near you, and you get all the build quality, kit, practicality that you'd expect.

I almost said reliability there too but then realised that the 3 people I know who've had M5s have all had issues.. though I daresay nothing like what you'd get with a TVR or whatever.

That is a damm good shout! They are beasts, roomy, comfy, toys, sound good, reliable, quick and still relatively new. Plus you don't see too many, I also think they actually look ok!

Too big for me but good cars.

I'd be tempted by one of these;

Bit older but a great all rounder.
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1818397.htm

But I'd probably still go for a 911T.

Some interesting cars there, very similar to what I was looking at. I tried the Cayman 3.4 and Z4MC, the Cayman blew the BMW away for me. I've yet to try the 996T but will before I commit to a new car.

Another car that dawned on me last week was a SLK55 AMG. I’ve done a little home work on them and they sound good. Yesterday I took a SLK350 out for a spin as a lot of reports said not to over look the 350 if you're in the market for the AMG.

Long and short was that in terms of power it wasn't enough of an improvement on the coupe and the handling wasn't as crisp as the Cayman. Don't get me wrong it wasn't bad, and was the nicest car to be in, but just didn't have the WOW factor. I think the AMG might be a contender to the Cayman though and I'm looking forward to taking her out.

Its not everyday that you have 30k to spend on a car either.

Could you stretch to 32k ?

http://pistonheads.com/sales/1758972.htm

To be honest I'd rather it be nearer £25k mark but between £20-29k

Plenty on Porsche's site for that sort of money - maybe not with ceramic brakes though.

I wanted the Cayman originally, but after looking decided on the Boxster. Still have the Coupe as my hardtop! Both are probably slightly better balanced than a 911, and the engine noise is closer to hand, which I like.

Go and check them all out to what you think.
http://www.planet-9.com/ is a good forum for all Porsches, mostly US based, and boxa.net is also good one, mostly UK

hello! [/wave]

I have moved on from the Cayman S. Was a fantastic car, and to be perfectly honest it was quick enough for the road - probably the right amount of power for a road car, and still did the 1/4 mile in 13.4s so not really a slouch! To be fair though, it's wasn't mega quick and could easily have dealt with another 80bhp or so I would say, and on track you would want more power definately to really test the chassis.

My car covered over 30k in my hands in the 2 years I owned it, and it had one problem with an O2 sensor, a few rattles in the interior sorted under warranty, a set of discs and pads, a set of tyres, 2 RMS changes (car had a bit of an RMS problem - not massively commen in 987s/Caymans although not rare) and a clutch changed. Running costs were ok, insurance was reasonable also. I took a hit selling after 2 years (car was only a year old when I bought it), but it was a forced sale as I have now relocated overseas. If I was still in London, I'd still be driving it no doubt.

It's a real drivers car, and it's totally practical with 2 boots. I filled it up with a hatchback's worth of gear many times and it swallowed it all up. Can't go wrong with it really in my view as a £20k-£30k sports car. As the values fall further, they become more and more of a bargain for the overall performance and balance on offer. Enjoy!

What are you driving now and where are you living?

I thought I just tag a quick link onto the end of this post for others who may be interested.

Porsche Caymans 480bhp turbo engine upgrade for £11,240 fully fitted.

It'd certainly be a lot longer before you have another £30k if you blow it on something with Ferrari running costs.

It's a different league - if you're scrimping and saving to get to £30k, you can't afford to run one (unless you're planning on keeping it for a year, crossing your fingers and flogging it before anything breaks).

Just reviving this after having just come back from a stint in my mates Cayman R. Stonking drive, noise, build and engineering - even in todays weather. I only recently took out another mates 3 year old 911 Turbo and can honestly say they are not that far away from each other despite the price gap.
Terrific drive. Never thought I'd say it but the older I get the more of a Porker fan I become....

Yup, I'm the same, never taken much interest until the last few years (although always respected the brand) and now have a Boxster S and an old 3.2 Carrera.

Nice stable Dave....

My mates is identical to this one in White though he's taken the Porsche stripe off (I would have left it on TBH)....

Looks good in white.
I would love a 70's 911 Turbo in white.
The turbo lag was insane on the one I drove years ago!

My other pals 997 Turbo is only a 2011 but I was suprised by the lag still with that...... damn quick once spooled up though

I didn't think the 997 was supposed to have any lag?
Weren't they trying to deal with it with variable geo Twin turbo's or something?

Well seemed to have to me - TBH I thought that Cayman R was the better drive

Same here, but only feel interest in 911 water cooled

Would you fit this plate if you had one?

Personalised Plate

Personally I think the word "nob" is a risk if people don't know it is a Noble