Almost bought a 2007 Cayman S...

[indeep75]

Hi all,

Went to look at this beauty the other day. Only 21,000 miles on the clock and not a mark on it, absolutely immaculate condition. Had a decent test drive, the power delivery is very different to the ZM, you have to get the revs up to make it sing but once there it's a beast, albeit an ever so slightly tamed one. Stuck to the road like glue as Porsche are so renowned for.

Then I found out about the bore scoring issues that have been known to affect the Gen 1 Caymans. Quite a few of these have had full engine rebuilds as a result, some say between 5 - 10%. How Porsche could drop the ball so badly is frankly baffling! Has anyone on here been unlucky enough to experience this?

The issue has gone away in the second Gen Caymans (2009 onwards) though quite out of my price range at the moment.

 

[Z4M-2006]

911, boxster and Cayman had the s**t engines for over 10 yrs...

Typically Porsche buried their head in the sand and fobbed everyone off..

All engines have problems but the problem with the Porsche is that they are so expensive to repair... £8000-£10000 is not uncommon if you have bore score or chain snaps or jumps..

I wouldn't risk it if you don't have the reserve to fix it if the worst happens...

 

[MattHall91]

They are quite renound for this and they cost a bomb if you're unfortunate with one, but it is also escalated on forums as you only hear about the examples that go wrong.

It wouldn't put me off as long as you wait for a well sorted car. A neighbor has just bought a 987 Boxster S and it is a hoot.

 

[MACK]

Intermediate shaft failure was a bigger issue than bore scoring on the boxster/caymans. The bore scoring was more of an issue of the 911 3.6/3.8 from memory. Still the true failure rate for IMS is circa 5-8% according to the specialists but does vary with the age of the vehicle as there were a number of revisions of the part, Some versions of the IMS have had next to no failures.

 

[pvr]

How long do you keep it and how much is a warranty for that timescale?

 

[Hilly30si]

The main reasons I kicked them into touch and bought the Z a 10k engine rebuild is not the way to go :thumbsdown:

 

[un1eash]

My next car will hopefully be a 2.9 Gen2. Looking at approved porsche cars as they come with 2 years warranty but cost quite a bit more then non main dealers.

 

[Ducklakeview]

Intermediate shaft failure was a bigger issue than bore scoring on the boxster/caymans. The bore scoring was more of an issue of the 911 3.6/3.8 from memory. Still the true failure rate for IMS is circa 5-8% according to the specialists but does vary with the age of the vehicle as there were a number of revisions of the part, Some versions of the IMS have had next to no failures.

Beat me to is mentioning the IMS, not a cheap or quick repair, but I believe a few places have a retrofit kit that "engineers out" the problem..

Mike

 

[MACK]

Intermediate shaft failure was a bigger issue than bore scoring on the boxster/caymans. The bore scoring was more of an issue of the 911 3.6/3.8 from memory. Still the true failure rate for IMS is circa 5-8% according to the specialists but does vary with the age of the vehicle as there were a number of revisions of the part, Some versions of the IMS have had next to no failures.

Beat me to is mentioning the IMS, not a cheap or quick repair, but I believe a few places have a retrofit kit that "engineers out" the problem..

Mike

Would be a good buy if you could find one with it done by the likes of Hartech etc. A couple of grand or so of a job but wouldn't make any difference to a cars secondhand value.

 

[Dave1971]

I bought this a couple of years ago from a Maserati main dealer down near Preston, it was the cheapest car they had on the lot . Within the first week I had my suspicions that something was not right, they can all give a little puff of smoke on start-up due to it being a boxer engine but mine was more than just a little at times.

I won't bore you with the details but after about 6 months (and getting a local specialist involved) of going back and forth with the (useless) after-sales manager I was passed onto the sales manager and within a week they took the car back and refunded most of my money.

The engine did indeed have bore scoring and the repair bill would be around the £7500 mark from what the garage said to me. As others have said it's a problem that affects the Boxster,Cayman and the 911 and there doesn't seam to be any rhyme or reason as to why it affects one car and not another.The figure of between 5% and 10% seams to be about right from the research I did, high in my opinion especially given Porsche's head in the sand approach to dealing with the aftermath but it's not a ticking time bomb the internet would make you think it is.

The IMS bearing issue had been fixed by 2007 with a newer uprated version so you should have no worries in that department.

I suppose the ultimate question is would I buy another one, yes without doubt. They are fantastic cars that really do make going fast very easy, they are not as entertaining as the ///M but still a hoot to drive. The only caveat I would put on that would be a good warranty is a must and have an specialist put a camera down the bores and inspect them for damage before you hand over the cash.

Have a look at hartech's website and have a chat with them and than make your own mind up, yes there is a risk but you can mitigate the risk so it's not as bad as you might think.