s.hasan546

yeah its funny that the stupidest small things break on these porsches. Everyone says their reliable, but the small seniors & electronics are POS. A close friend of mine has a 07 cayman and a 14 Boxster. The Cayman has had the TPMS all fixed under warranty. The boxster, which only has 5k miles, just got lights for no PSM. Probably a speed sensor.

Out of warranty those little sensors aren't cheap.

Mr.E.G.

Well, plot thickens. I had a deal worked out on an 06 Cayman S with a TPC turbo kit. The car was fast, had an incredible sound system, and looked awesome in dark blue with 19" 911 turbo wheels. I negotiated a very good price, got a check from the bank, and was about to hop on a plane to go finalize the deal... then I got the service records which showed that it had engine damage.

Here's the crappy part. I paid the scumbag Porsche dealer $200 to do a pre-purchase inspection. They were very familiar with the car and they knew of its service history long before I asked them to do the inspection. It was immediately clear that the service writer was chummy with the seller. So much so that I made it a point to explain to the service writer that we were entering into a service contract predicated upon his honesty, and that if I suspected any collusion between the dealership and the buyer that I would be none too happy about it. He was taken aback, but he assured me that he would be impartial. He takes my money, does the inspection, and then tells me that everything looks great. I ask him for a copy of the service records, and he more or less says, "Sure, I can send them to you via fax or you can pick them up when you fly in (after you've bought the car)." He seemed to prefer that I pick them up rather than have him fax them to me. I insisted that the records be faxed to me.

Later that evening, I got the service records via fax, and he called soon thereafter to offer a disclaimer. He said, in so many words, "You're going to see some stuff in the records that may scare you a little bit, but don't worry about it. It's no big deal and I still think you should buy the car." I sort of bully him into elaborating, and I can tell that he's being very careful with his choice of words. He goes on to tell me that they have found metal shavings in the engine oil filter on two separate occasions. One time the found what they thought to be aluminum and the other they found brass and aluminum. So now I'm pretty ticked off, because that indicates a major engine problem. He senses my anger and basically says that he doesn't want to be responsible for ruining the deal I have with the seller and that I probably shouldn't worry about it. It goes on like this and he dances around any straight answers for a while.

When I get off the phone with him, I delve into the service records wherein I find things like, "engine damage" and "customer refused further investigation of problem". So I called the seller and told him the deal is off.

On one hand, I just avoided a $15-$20k engine replacement due to a pre-purchase inspection. ON THE OTHER HAND, the freaking dealership knew about the problem long before they ever did the inspection, so they should have just told me about the known problems before they ever did the inspection. In other words, the inspection didn't reveal anything. The service records are really what saved my butt.

Needless to say, I'm pretty upset about the whole thing since I bought a plane ride down there to test drive the car, plus I spent $200 for the inspection. Then again, I also just dodged a bullet.

Mr.E.G.

So now I'm thinking that I should just avoid modified Caymans altogether. But since a stock Cayman doesn't appeal to me all that much, I guess I'm going to look into a C5 Z06 Corvette. I really don't love the Vette the way I do the Cayman, but I think that maybe the Cayman needs to be the car I buy once I've paid off my house and I can afford things like $20,000 engine replacements.

Marioshi

The prospect of a engine replacement certainly is scary. My father in law has an older Boxster S, he doesn't seem too nervous about it then again, if his engine went, the car might be a parts car at this point (cost of engine > value of car). How much was the modified Cayman if you don't mind me asking? Just guessing but a C5 Z06 seems like it would be considerably cheaper than any Cayman at this point (they are a bit older).

berny2435

that sucks. bullet dodged though

When I was younger I had a fast one pulled on me when going to buy a car. Rule of thumb, don't buy cars with aftermarket boost. And typically, don't buy someone elses project.

Mr.E.G.

No, I don't mind at all. He was asking $37,500. A Cayman S of that vintage normally goes for about $29k -maybe $34k. He tried selling it in the 40s originally, got nowhere, lowered it to $37,500, and then I negotiated a price of $32,500, which I thought was more than fair. The turbo kit alone costs $10k, plus he had upgraded wheels, a bunch of stereo stuff, clear engine cover, etc.

I honestly can't figure if he knew the engine was bad or not. I mean, when he let me test drive it, he was not at all shy about beating the piss out of the car, and he let me do the same. Plus, many guys on the Cayman forums seem to report metal flakes in their oil filter and nothing ever comes of it. So, giving him the benefit of the doubt, he may have not put too much thought into it.

The C5Z06 I'm about to go test drive is an 03 with 25k miles, and they want $28k for it, which is maybe even on the high side. So, you're totally right. The Corvette is far cheaper than the Cayman. I think I'll buy a Vette since I can't think of any better way to have a 12 second car that handles well, but the Cayman is, in my opinion, better in every other way. It sucks that I just can't trust the damn thing.

Marioshi

Wow 25k miles is low low. Have your considered a non Z06 C6? Newer, a little nicer, and they all have as much power as the C5Z06. Might be able to grab a Z51/GS that adds some handling finesse in your price range.

d1rtyc4r

Then you will wind up regretting your Chevy purchase. Leaf springs/oil starvation/plastic interior < ze Germans.

It's not a good idea to post that you are buying a Porsche on this forum. The IMS/RMS issues are blown wayyyy out of proportion here. We already have someone posting "my friend has one it's in the shop ALL the time", when probably his friend mentioned in passing that some little gremlin popped up and needed to be fixed.

One time my car was in the shop to get an exhaust put on. One of my coworkers found out and instantly it became "Your car is in the shop all the time and it was just broken!!!11".

The one you dodged a bullet on is a rare case and probably abused by its owner. You have no idea if the guy was just redlining the car without proper warmup or not.

I've had 3 different Porsches of various mileage, only one had an issue with the ignition switch (the highest mileage one at 80k), that was it. They are rock solid.

Marioshi

I am certainly in agreement that the IMS/RMS issue is "blown out of proportion" but it doesn't change the fact that it does happen, and a replacement engine on a Porsche is serious money.

I would say it warrants caution but not total avoidance, I spent quite some time on Rennlist contemplating an early 996, I would say it is blown out of proportion on the Porsche forums too BUT Porsche is currently paying out a settlement to owners who have had the issue so it is something to consider.

jeffbrig

So sorry to see this deal didn't work out. Turbo Caymans are really amazing cars, and that one looked great. But you're made the right move - metal shavings in the filter are just way to scary. It would probably be close to $10k to open it up and rebuilt it now, or roll the dice and pay $20k for a new one if/when it grenades. Heck, even the used 3.4L engines are going for $10-12k, and they're just as much of an unknown.

I'll echo what one of the others said - be careful buying a car that doesn't thrill you, that's a recipe for disappointment and a quick trade.