Hi peeps. After driving my Mitsubishi pick-up for a number of years I am looking to get a 2nd fun weekend car and I kind of have my heart on a Cayman S 3.4, my budget is 16k so only leaves me with a car produced around 2006 and looking for no more than 70k mileage. I have just made the mistake of typing Cayman 3.4 common problems and it is actually very worrying with horror stories of bore scoring and engines needing rebuilt due to this, is this as common as it makes out or should I just steer clear? The Last thing I want is my wife getting the last word in saying "I told you not to buy it" when a hefty repair bill happens. I know it's the chance you take buying a car so old. Would peace of mind be backed up with an on line warranty company?
2006 Cayman S 3.4 ownership possibility? (Poisoned Chalice)?
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Soldato
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for the purposes of balance, and because i'm right, i'm afraid to say the cayman is a much better looking motor than any boxter.
as for repair bills, it's an expensive car and that comes with expensive car maintenance bills, take a look at the running costs for (insert supercar manufacturer here)
I am not asking wither you like the look of it, I am not interested in a convertible as I stay in not so sunny Scotland and most ppl look like a t#t with the roof down up here. IMO. I am more interested with the reliability issues if any.
The main potential issues with the engine are the IMS bearing, RMS leaking and bore scoring.
IMS (intermediate shaft) bearing - catastrophic failure leads to valves hitting the pistons and lunching the engine. I'm not sure if and when they updated this on the Cayman but on the 911 this was late 2005 which has dramatically reduced the incidence of failures. Unpredictable as to whether this will happen, but by no means a certainty! Well reported online due to the catastrophic nature of the failure - bearings can be replaced to stronger ones prophylactically.
RMS (rear main seal) - leaking oil seal between gearbox and engine. Keep an eye on oil levels and replace the seal of oil useage is ridiculous or a large puddle appears. By no means catastrophic if a small leak occurs but I wouldn't buy a car with a leaking seal unless it was priced accordingly. Replacing the RMS gives an opportunity to put in the stronger IMS bearing if it's not an updated Porsche one.
Bore scoring - oil starvation especially to cylinder 6. Much talk online, many horror stories. The worse offenders are the 3.8 911s with automatic gearboxes potentially because they set off in 2nd gear. Unpredictable but potentially preventable if the car is warmed up properly before thrashing it and regular oil changes are performed. I think the 3.4 is much less likely to get scoring due to different liners, but you can get the car inspected beforehand to put your mind at ease.
Youre looking at a 11 year old sports car at the end of the day. Expect to need suspension components and other wear items replacing. Buy carefully and these might have already been done, but you will need to maintain it as with any other car of this age.
Find an independent specialist who can perform a pre purchase inspection including looking at the cylinder bores. The £300 spent on this will be well worth it if it gives you peace of mind or averts an impending total engine rebuild!
At £16,000 you're able to buy one of the best handling and performing sports cars ever made. Buy it with your eyes open, look after it and drive the wheels off it. If you manage to find a good one for your cash you shouldn't loose too much money on it either.
IMS (intermediate shaft) bearing - catastrophic failure leads to valves hitting the pistons and lunching the engine. I'm not sure if and when they updated this on the Cayman but on the 911 this was late 2005 which has dramatically reduced the incidence of failures. Unpredictable as to whether this will happen, but by no means a certainty! Well reported online due to the catastrophic nature of the failure - bearings can be replaced to stronger ones prophylactically.
RMS (rear main seal) - leaking oil seal between gearbox and engine. Keep an eye on oil levels and replace the seal of oil useage is ridiculous or a large puddle appears. By no means catastrophic if a small leak occurs but I wouldn't buy a car with a leaking seal unless it was priced accordingly. Replacing the RMS gives an opportunity to put in the stronger IMS bearing if it's not an updated Porsche one.
Bore scoring - oil starvation especially to cylinder 6. Much talk online, many horror stories. The worse offenders are the 3.8 911s with automatic gearboxes potentially because they set off in 2nd gear. Unpredictable but potentially preventable if the car is warmed up properly before thrashing it and regular oil changes are performed. I think the 3.4 is much less likely to get scoring due to different liners, but you can get the car inspected beforehand to put your mind at ease.
Youre looking at a 11 year old sports car at the end of the day. Expect to need suspension components and other wear items replacing. Buy carefully and these might have already been done, but you will need to maintain it as with any other car of this age.
Find an independent specialist who can perform a pre purchase inspection including looking at the cylinder bores. The £300 spent on this will be well worth it if it gives you peace of mind or averts an impending total engine rebuild!
At £16,000 you're able to buy one of the best handling and performing sports cars ever made. Buy it with your eyes open, look after it and drive the wheels off it. If you manage to find a good one for your cash you shouldn't loose too much money on it either.
Unless you fork out for a Porsche warranty I think you'll struggle to find a warranty which covers cylinder liners for engines over 3 litres.
Edit - loads of choice for your budget but I fear a Gen 2 is out of range.
Edit - loads of choice for your budget but I fear a Gen 2 is out of range.
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Thanks mate for the in-depth reply, yes a gen 2 cayman is out of reach for my budget sadly. and I have discovered with the online warranty that liners are not covered like you said. I have noticed that some come with full OPC documentation, can you shed any light as to what this would state?
Full OPC documentation will probably just refer to full Porsche service history. The issue you have is that even if you find one that has had a new engine under warranty, it'll still have all the inherent flaws of the original and is just as likely to go pop again. Unless it's had a rebuild from someone like Hartech who change the material of the liners then there is no guarantee that a car with impeccable history won't fail.
Unless you go into it happy that you may be faced with a £10k rebuild then I would stay clear. Anecdotally it seems that the same engine in the Boxster is less fragile for whatever reason. Alternatively the 2.7 engine is much more robust and is fun to thrash and makes a great noise so don't dismiss it as being the slow one.
Your budget would also get you a gen 2 Boxster 2.9 which is a much more reliable option and the option I chose after much looking.
Unless you go into it happy that you may be faced with a £10k rebuild then I would stay clear. Anecdotally it seems that the same engine in the Boxster is less fragile for whatever reason. Alternatively the 2.7 engine is much more robust and is fun to thrash and makes a great noise so don't dismiss it as being the slow one.
Your budget would also get you a gen 2 Boxster 2.9 which is a much more reliable option and the option I chose after much looking.
If you can find one with they IMS upgrade being completed, I'd have a go. They are very hard to find though as not many owners bothered to upgrade for peace of mind and usually had it done whilst the car was in for another engine strip down job.
Buy smart - there are loads to choose from. If you go unicorn hunting with the spec you'll run into trouble. If you find one with a wedge of service history and receipts then go for it. You won't find many with engine rebuilds out there because not many caymans have required it.
Get a pre purchase inspection, drive it and enjoy it. You can get a 295 hp mid engined sports car for £16,000... go for it!
Get a pre purchase inspection, drive it and enjoy it. You can get a 295 hp mid engined sports car for £16,000... go for it!
Caporegime
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Used gt86 + turbo = win
Soldato
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Asks about Porsche, offered Toyota. Motors
the 3 rules of motors:
1.always bmw
2.anything older than 3 years is a rusty unreliable deathtrap
3.rule 2 applies to anything except a ford mondeo
Caporegime
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Asks about Porsche, offered Toyota. Motors
Wants a coupe but worried about reliability. 16k budget. Toyota brings coupe, reliability and a better bhp/tonne than a cayman of that generation with a turbo charger. Thought it was pretty valid?
Going into a 16K cayman you are going to need either deep pockets or a garage you can keep it in and a toolbox if you are handy with the spanners.
Yep, a lot of people went for a GT86 instead of a used Cayman. It's just a safer bet, especially with ~7 year warranty. The Cayman looks temping at the price, but... it's a trap!
You can literally take a GT86 to pieces with a couple of spanners and a screwdriver. A Porsche is completely the opposite, it's as over-complicated as possible and parts are comically expensive.
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Soldato
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There was a while there that the 330i was also included in rule 3 though.
rule 2 is overruled by rule 1, so same thing to some extent.