Planet 9

Hi guys,

I'm new on here but have been lurking in the background reading up on things around the above. I've got a rough feel for what to expect in terms of cost and ownership of a cayman but would like a bit more info on these before I take the plunge and it would be good to hear from other UK owners.

I am currently driving a honda civic type-r, which is quite good but is not refined enough for long journeys. I have not decided on whether to go for the basic cayman or bite the bullet and go for the CS yet as I am still weighing up the cost of ownership.

The cayman won't be the only car we have, we will have a run-around family hatchback so practicality is not essential but a big bonus. At the moment we can only afford to go for a used one so advice on where to look would be appreciated.

Theres a lot I want to ask so I'll try to list them here. I know things like running costs is something that is subjective and is different for everyone but I want to know what it is for you personally. I have searched around for this information but am still not quite sure.

1. How much does it cost for your annual service/intervals?
2. How much does it cost for consumerables such as tyres, oil, clutch, brakes etc..?
3. Any known common faults, how much did it cost to repair? How reliable is the Cayman/CS? What should I look out for when inspecting a potential buy?
4. Do you take your Cayman to a Porsche dealer for servicing and repairs or are there cheaper reliable alternatives?
5. What is your fuel consumption like, does it meet the spec sheet? I am averaging about 25-30mpg in my type-r.
6. Insurance cost? I got a rough quote from elephant at £800 for a CS whereas my type-r is currently £500 (group 17).
7. How much does it cost for extended warranty with porsche?
8. How much is road tax, and how much will it be when the increase kicks in next year?
9. Did you take out finance for the cayman, any recommendations? What are repayments like?
10. Finally, although I'd a CS (obviously) if running costs are much more than a basic cayman I may have to be sensible and go for the standard one. Anyone been in this situation and can offer advice on this? Did you end up finding the cayman too slow and having to tune it up for more bhp?

Many thanks if you can offer some of your experience on this.

SuperCNJ

Wow, that is a lot of questions!!
1) £350-450 for servicing every 20,000 miles at an OPC. Just don't get suckered into the "you need new brakes, you need new tires, you need the aircon freshening" stuff they try and get you do at the same time.
2) Depends on the tire, but maximum you will pay is £295 for a rear 19" PS2 and £245 for a front 19" PS2. If you go for Contis or other brand, they are normally cheaper. 18s are cheaper also. A rear PS2 used quite hard should be good for 12-14k miles. The fronts about 17-18k. Contis and others tend to last longer. My car uses no oil, and most are very very good on oil consumption, so negligable. Brakes, if no track days, look at 20k+ miles out of the front pads and 30-35k out of the disks. Rears a lot more. Change the pads yourself. Very easy to do.
3) RMS is the main issue with pretty much any Porsche but has been very rare issue on the Cayman as far as I can tell. Nothing else jumps out as a must-watch. Se complaints section on this forum.
4) Have done both. OPCs seem willing to negotiate on price at the moment, and you always get a nice car whilst your is in for work.
5) I drive my CS very hard and I am on a very steady 21-22mpg. On a long cruise on the motorway it is easy to average mid-30's.
6) See the Sticky thread at the top of this forum page.
7) Don't bother. It's just gone throught the roof!!
8) I just payed £210 on my Pre-March 06 CS a 2.7 with 5-speed is below the magic 225g/km
9) No I didn't.
10) I don't see the running costs to be THAT different at the end of the day. You can put the same wheels on both cars, so tyre price and usage will be down to wheel size and driving style. Service costs are the same, as are intervals. Insurance and road tax are possibly the only real considerations, and fuel, of course. And no, after 3 years, I haven't modded for more bhp. Have you modded the Type-R? If you are modding-type person, then I'm sure you'll mod the Cayman too

Jack

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Cayman S - Since December '05

Hi Jack,

thanks for your advice. I only lightly modified my type-r with breathing mods as the standard car is quite nice to drive as it is. I don't drive the type-r very hard most of the time but I do like the odd b-roads! I'd say that I'd probaby do the same on the cayman with breathing mods and may be the odd cosmetic mod unless the 2.7 is too underpowered for my liking.

A full service on my type-r is about £180-£200 every 12.5k miles or 12 months, so £400 for a service every 20k miles on the cayman is probably going to be every 2 years as I do about 9-10k a year so thats pretty reasonable. Is every 20k miles the only interval condition or is there a time constraint as well?

Yep, I change my own brake discs and pads myself too but weren't sure if they were expensive to buy?

I've heard that road tax is going up hugely next year, some saying it would be double the current fee for high CO2 emissions! That would make it almost as much as your insurance!

The government have put a freeze on those Road Tax increases. They did that a couple of weeks ago.

Disks can be had for around £200 per pair, and pads for £50-60 per set.

20K miles or every 2 years is the service interval. I think it is bloody reasonable myself.

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Cayman S - Since December '05

Other thoughts from a Brit in the US. I get a steady 20-22mpg in commuting, which is 25-27mpg in Imperial gallons. On a long run, I see an improvement of 4-6mpg.

Another difference between the C and the CS is that the former has slightly smaller front brakes, allowing the 17" wheels to fit. I suppose pads and discs might therefore be slightly cheaper.

I traded from a 2002 996, and I'm not really missing the extra power compared to my C 2.7 here on the east coast, which can be almost as busy/heavily trafficked as the SE of England. If I were back on the west coast (or indeed the Scottish Highlands), I'd probably have more opportunity to stretch out a CS properly.

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Simon
Another Brit in Delaware

there must be something wrong with my 2.7! i drive mine pretty hard and im getting an average of 18.5 mpg, how is a 3.4 getting up to 30? i must be doing something wrong.haha

I Drive My Highly Modified CS Hard on the Race Track and get around 9 Miles per Gallon............

On the Road I drive it like a Pussycat........
A Bright Yellow CS Attracts Far Too Much Attention......

My Last trip from Surrey to North Wales and Back - Returned 34.7 MPG

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Cheers Karel



'Power is Nothing - Without Control..........'

Where to buy 2nd hand? I only looked at OPCs and found that, without any real haggling, they were prepared to drop prices. For instance Swindon were selling a 6 month old 2.7 ex demo with about 5k mileage. It had about £10k of options fitted including PASM, 6 speed, 19" alloys and climate for about £35k. I asked if they would do it financed over 2 years for £33k and they came back pretty quick saying yes. (I went for a new one in the end as I wanted the experience of driving a new one off the forecourt. Plus piece of mind with a full 2 year warranty)

Regarding finance, again OPSs are prepared to offer good rates and incentives. My new one came with an APR of about 6.6%. Their initial offer was about 9% APR.


Hope this helps. Happy hunting.

I just bought a car from an OPC, they're in dire times so negotiate hard for discount, but don't wait much. In the last months interest has picked up again and the sweet-spot won't last for long. I negotiated my car from 36.980 down to 34.450 with one 15m phone call and a 2k deposit. Don't be affraid to give them a deposit, it's fully refundable if you don't like the car.

Funding is an interesting case, though be aware they make about £47.50 per £1000 they fund, per year. So don't even think about taking the "balloon payment" option of paying a large sum at the end of the borrowing, it'll drive your Cost of Lending very high. I know the car you're talking about at Swindon, if the car I was looking at wouldn't work out, that's the one I'd have been going for. It's a good model, go for it.

Demos are always cheap. They get them at lower prices so they are prepared to cost them down quite a bit in order to push sales up a little, it's quite common for dealerships to try and kamikaze sales up by selling demos really cheap. Be aware, demos will have had a hard life; 5k miles means it may have been used to demonstrate to many people; most test-drives are much less than 40 miles long, though a lot of the mileage on it will have been replacement-car miles from long services at the dealership.

Also be aware OPCs are quite willing to offer freebies; I got offered 3 years GAP insurance for the price of 2, and I got an extra year warranty for free.

Having said that, there's some very tasty cars out there on the private sales, some as low as £20k for long-in-the-tooth ones.

One last word of warning: If you opt for a 2.7 with the 6-speed transmission (comes combined with PASM and named 'sports equipment') you'll be at 227 CO2 and will fall under the £400+ not the £210 tax disk.