[XutvJet]

For the last 3 years or so, I began my search for a "fun" car to go along with my already stellar 2016 M235 6MT that I've owned new since early 2016. I wanted a true 2 seater sports car and my budget was $35k. I had always wanted a Porsche and it was a bucket list car for me. After a lot of consideration, I decided that the 2009-2012 987.2 Cayman Base model with 265hp/221tq was what I wanted. Per the mags, the Base model good for lower 5 second 0-60s and ~13.7 1/4 mile with a 6MT though it sure feels quicker than that. The Base models at reputable dealers or private party were going for around ~$28,000-$35,000 depending on year, mileage, and options in 2022. The 320hp S models are much quicker 12.7-13.1, but they are also $6K-9K more, hard to find with a 6MT, plus my M235 is already easily a mid-12 second car. I didn’t need another fast car. I wanted a driver’s car that I could hustle on the back roads and explore the limits.

After 4 months of searching, in early October I found a CPO'd 2011 Cayman Base 6MT in Carrera white with black interior with 68K miles. That was my #1 color combo and the only CPO'd 987.2 Cayman I had ever found online. The car was being sold at Porsche Colorado Springs for $33K. The car was loaded with a ton of rare options including an LSD, Sport Chrono package, multi-function steering wheel, heated Sport seats with deviated seat stitching, 19" Carrera S II wheels, HIDs headlights and headlight washers, parking sensors, Bose/NAV/BT, and rain sensing wipers.

As part of the CPO process, dealer installed new Pirelli PZero "N-spec" summer rubber (they're not great tires), new front and rear brake pads, brake fluid, spark plugs, oil change, new rear view mirror, and some other things. The car's maintenance history appeared decent and was apparently good enough to get Porsche CPO'd so I didn't bother with a PPI (a bit of a mistake, read more below). I hopped on a plane from Kansas City and flew out to get the car. When I got to the dealer, the car looked great. During the test drive, I noticed a very heavy clutch pedal. The salesman indicated that it was likely an aftermarket clutch. I didn't know any differently since I hadn't driven one before so I believed him. I could manage. I noticed some minor engine vibrations but figured it was because it was 30 degrees that day and the rubber in the mounts wasn't happy about cold weather. I had also read that the 987 Caymans weren't known for being overly smooth cars. The shifter was sloppy as hell, but I wasn't surprised given the age. I figured the original shifter bushings were toast and it was an easy $70 fix. After the 15 minute test drive and no obvious major drivability issues, I bought the car and proceeded to drive the car 600 miles home. Here's the car the day I picked it up:





About 300 miles from home, I was driving around a town to get dinner and noticed a pulsating vibration through the clutch pedal when I'd push it in and release it. The vibration definitely wasn't there during the short test drive. I also noticed that on harder, higher rpm shifts, the engine was rocking/slamming hard in its mounts and thus the trans mount and/or the tranny mounts were toasted. Damn, why didn't I drive the car harder during the test drive I thought? I got the car home late that night with no other problems.

I drove the car for a week and really started to assess things and grew a bit more disappointed with the Porsche CPO process or lack thereof. I pulled the engine covers and the engine was filthy and oily. The air filter was filthy too. Why was all of this missed during the CPO process? The air oil separator (AOS, common failure point) and leaky PCV line O-rings were the likely source and the AOS had been replaced very recently as it had a 2021 build date on the housing. The vacuum line O-rings looked new too. I figured that someone replaced these parts recently but didn’t clean anything which is common. I cleaned engine bay including removing, cleaning, and inspecting the MAF and intake boot. It all cleaned up nicely.





The rear hatch opens extremely wide and you can sit in the trunk and work in the engine which is comfy. I then inspected the suspension, under the engine, the miles of coolant hoses, etc. No leaks were found. The transmission and motor mounts were the originals and typically need replacement after 6-7 years. The upper rib of the front shock bump stop was destroyed.



The shifter cables were original too so I needed to replace those as well because they are a well-known failure point after 6-7 years and if one breaks, you’re not getting home if you can’t reach up onto the tranny and put the car into 3rd. Beyond that, everything seemed ok from what I could tell.

I made an appointment with the Porsche Kansas City to have the clutch, mounts, and shock bump stops inspected in hopes that CPO would cover some or all of these issues. I knew they wouldn’t cover the cables so I didn’t ask. The dealer said that a finger(s) on the clutch pressure plate was likely bad, the springs in the dual mass flywheel likely had failed, the mounts were done, and the front bump stops toast. Total cost to fix all of this? Around $10K and NONE of it would be covered under CPO as it was all considered normal “wear and tear”. Ouch. I said no to the work and took the car home. I contacted a local independent Porsche shop to see about the clutch. The shop said they could do a SACHs clutch and OEM flywheel for $2,700. I booked the work for early December. In late October, I did aftermarket metal shifter bushings to replace the plastic ones, new OEM engine and trans mounts, and air filter. I also adjusted the stretched out shifter cables. Replacing the engine mount was frightening as it sits above the main two coolant lines that run to the front the car and you have to bend them significantly to get the mount out and back in. Think “10lbs of sh!t in a 5lb bag”. The transmission mounts were easy in comparison.



The new mounts, shifter bushings, and adjusted cables made a nice improvement, but there was still some engine vibration, likely from the failed flywheel/pressure plate and the shift action was still poor because the cables were well beyond their service life.

In early November, Porsche USA sent me a questionnaire asking about my experience. I gave the salesman and those I interacted with “10s”, but the quality of the car a “5” and a long-winded response as to why. I’d knew that would bring attention. Within 1 hour of submitting the review, I got a call from my salesmen. He asked why I hadn’t contacted them earlier. I told him I planned to but needed to figure out everything wrong with the car and figure out what it would cost me. I calmly I told him I understood that it was a 12+ y/o car and I wasn’t expecting it to be perfect at all, but it seemed to me that a lot had been missed during the CPO process and questioned the purpose of it. After a week of back and forth, Porsche Colorado Springs sent me a check for $3K for my trouble. I was pretty happy with that as I wasn’t expecting anything from them.

In mid-December I got the clutch/flywheel installed and my God, the difference the clutch and flywheel made was massive. The clutch pedal was light, but linear. The grainy vibrations and pulsating pedal were gone. The shop said a pressure plate finger was bent, the flywheel springs collapsed, and the clutch disc heavily worn. During Christmas, I installed the new shifter cables and upgraded OEM transmission cable levers and mounts to address the cable snapping issue. This required full disassembly of the center console, removal of both engine covers, as well as working under the car and using a specialty puller to remove the old cable lever from the transmission. I also inserted 3 ozs of Tungsten putty weight into the voids of the OEM shift knob to add some much needed weight. With the new cables, shift knob, and lever, the car’s shift action is damn near perfect and rivals a direct fixed lever shifter.









Between October and December, I’ve done the following silly mods and other stuff:

• Removed the air intake baffle for more induction noise
• Painted the rusted wheel lugs black
• Black painted side intakes
• Wrapped smoked vinyl front side markers
• Black painted "Cayman" rear emblem





The car now is what I had hoped it would be. It is such a driving experience. It is so damn connected and it makes my M235 feel so disconnected in comparison. With exception of the clutch pedal, all the controls are very linear and somewhat heavy feeling. The ride is rather stiff, but when hustled, the chassis is very controlled. The car definitely rides better in 60+ degree temps. It’s also much quicker than I thought it would be and sounds really good. The engine really comes alive at 4500prms and sails to the 7400rpm fuel cut. The interior is comfortable, but it is pretty loud inside, especially with the windows up. You can faintly hear engine accessories whirling away behind you at idle and in the lower rpms. It seems like every time I drive it, people approach me about how much they love it.

All in, I’ve got about $1500 of my own money in the car which is what I figured I’d need to spend on any 987.2 Cayman within 1 year. I just had to do it earlier than I thought. I've learned a lot about the car to say the least and removed many parts already.

Upcoming mods include:

• 45% tinted windows
• Body painted front bumper chin spoilers (currently unpainted black plastic)
• Gloss black calipers with OEM replacement emblems. The calipers are currently an unpainted silver.
• 7mm wheel spacers in the front and 10mm spacers in the rear
• Dual exhaust tips either in satin silver or flat black
• Modified OEM headers with hi-flow cats
• Gloss black side view mirrors
• Cayman R shocks and springs (20mm drop) and rear sway bar
• Semi-gloss black wrapped hood
• Polish the OEM mufflers (currently brown and are visible through the rear valence vents)
• Softronic tune

[mecheng77]

That is pretty good customer service to own up to their mistake.

They are great cars but I find them loud on the highway. Is your m235i still fun to drive?

[Alfisti]

Ya should have let us know, I could have told you Posche's CPO process is hilariously bad. You're a nicer guy than me, I would have politely driven the car back and suggested they fix everything or demand my money back. Absolute BS that all those problems are normal wear, the entire point of CPO is they should have corrected all the normal wear!

I like your list of discreet upgrades but would not do the black hood, can look a bit ricey.

[Humdizzle]

good thing you are handy with a wrench! As i'm sure you've also noticed porsches are very easy to work on. everything just makes sense in terms of how its put together.

[chassis]

Congrats! Great looking Cayman, enjoy!

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Alfisti

Ya should have let us know, I could have told you Posche's CPO process is hilariously bad. You're a nicer guy than me, I would have politely driven the car back and suggested they fix everything or demand my money back. Absolute BS that all those problems are normal wear, the entire point of CPO is they should have corrected all the normal wear!

Yeah, I quickly learned CPO is a bit of a joke. Porsche can basically claim that anything is wear and tear. I asked Porsche Kansas City what it would cover and they said "ahhh you know, the engine, water pump, DME, parts of the trans, stereo...". Sure. We'll see.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Humdizzle

good thing you are handy with a wrench! As i'm sure you've also noticed porsches are very easy to work on. everything just makes sense in terms of how its put together.

Agreed. They do seem to be generally easy to work on but like a BMW, a lot of stuff often needs to come out before you get to what you're trying to fix. You'd also best have a lot of tools at your disposal. I would have done the clutch/flywheel as the trans is fairly accessible, but I wasn't interested in doing it without a lift.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by mecheng77

Is your m235i still fun to drive?

Very much so, but it is an entirely different driving experience. It feels like a GT car now. The Cayman made me realize just how refined the M235 is. I'm pretty sure that I'll get a 2017-2018 M2 DCT to replace it. I absolutely love the 1st gen 2 series chassis.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by Humdizzle

good thing you are handy with a wrench!

That was my reaction.

[Socal_R8]

wow! congrats and like others have mentioned, good thing you got some tools and know how to use them


as an original NSX fan boy on my third one over 20 years it was time for something new and the Cayman was the logical choice...it's kinda coincidental or is it? that the Cayman came along as Acura killed off the NSX...it was modern day NA1 NSX...I personally wasn't really interested in the Cayman until the 2nd gen 981 arrived with its more aggressive styling and its IMS bearing issues ironed out. So in 2018 I sold my 92 NSX and flew to San Jose to pick up my first Porsche...a 2014 981 CS in almost the perfect spec I was searching for, white on black with the 20" Carrera S wheels with the X73 sport suspension...she was a beauty



although I wanted a 6MT, it was a PDK and after all the glowing praises of that transmission I was willing to give it a try.....Like you, I took a gamble and flew out without a PPI, but it did come with a 30 day 3000 mile warranty from the Lexus dealer I bought it from, so I figured I could deal with it....Luckily it was flawless for the 10K miles I put on her and ended up making about $6K profit on her when I decided a few years later when I decided I needed to get back into a 6MT

So I started looking for a 6MT version which were becoming impossible to find..I finally got lucky and found a 981 CS and a 718 GTS(2.5T) at same dealer to compare and test drive back to back....I was a 981 die hard, but after the back to back test drive, I was now hooked on the 718 and that much quicker feel, sleeker looks and updated tech....it sounded great from inside the cockpit too!!

Anyways, I ended up flying to Tucson AZ and picking my latest Cayman up after finding a super low mile CPO base 718 6MT in Graphite Blue Metallic ....It's not the fastest thing on the road, but I would say it out handles probably 90% of the modern sports cars on the road...I love this thing!!!




Enjoy!!!

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Not a flame, but your car seemed to have a surprising shit load of issues for the age and miles on it. Shifter cables? Bad DMF at 68,000 miles?

Most of these problems could be explained by winter driving on salted roads, given the miles it is a possibility. Still, price point is crazy low TBH.

[chris719]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Not a flame, but your car seemed to have a surprising shit load of issues for the age and miles on it. Shifter cables? Bad DMF at 68,000 miles?

Back in 2014 I was shopping a 2008 Cayman that was CPO and under 30,000 miles. The IMS bearing issue ultimately kept me away from it and I didn't much like the cockpit fit. I bought a low-mile Z4 3.0si coupe instead. Glad I did. The Z4 has needed just tires, brakes and fluid changes for the past 95,000 miles.

The shifter cables are just a Cayman thing and very common. IMS sucks but actually isn't as bad as some of the other issues that plague those engines, although the 2.9 is less affected.

[Alfisti]

Yeah I went to look at my car (7 hr drive) and still got a PPI and bore scope at local Porsche dealer. TBH they messed up, misdiagnosed a surging idle as CO sensor rather than MAF sensor.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Not a flame, but your car seemed to have a surprising shit load of issues for the age and miles on it. Shifter cables? Bad DMF at 68,000 miles?

The 987 cars have an issue with the shifter cables due to the way the cables are run and are affixed to transmission. Most owners have to replace the cables around the 5-7 year mark or they run the risk of a cable snapping. The cable snapping issue was so common that about 5 years ago Porsche revised the cables, one of the cable mounting supports, and the transmission lever one of the cables attaches too. The independent mechanic that did the clutch was shocked that a 12 y/o Cayman with 70k miles was on the original cables. I laughed when he brought it to my attention as I too was shocked and knew the cables were on borrowed time.

Unfortunately the clutches in these cars don't last a long time and seeing that this car has had 4 owners prior to me, I'm not surprised the clutch was done. Same goes for the flywheel. Failure of the dual mass flywheel isn't a rare occurance in Porsches that are 10+ y/o either. Clutches and flywheels typically last 50k-100k miles.

But yeah, my Cayman pretty much had every common issue that ultimately happens to these cars. Clearly the owners before did the bare minimum to maintain the car. Interior and exterior wise, the car is in great shape. The car is now sorted for $1500 of my own money and I've enjoyed doing the work myself. The car is a very rare and unique spec, the color I wanted, and well within budget. With all the mods I want to do, I'll likely have about $42k into the car. I'm totally cool with that and I doubt I'll lose much money, if any, on the car.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Dino GT

"PPI"........"PPI"...... I can`t stress this enough.

I was under the assumption that a well-respected dealer like Porsche Colorado Springs and being CPO'd would alleviate the need to do a PPI

[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Fair enough. If you knew going in what to expect, it's all good. I'm just surprised at the depth of wear the 987 has at that mileage. I didn't mean to flame the car nor your decision; I think it's a very cool car and I'd love to own a flat-six mid-engine sports car (the Cayman is really the only one on the market), so I can see it as your bucket list car.

Porsche guys have a warped sense of what reliability means while they claim their cars are more reliable than BMWs. So many of them suffer from bore scoring even models they claim don’t suffer from it. Don’t get me wrong they drive great and are decently reliable but they can drain your wallet depending on the model.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Dino GT

You're not the only one, I made that mistake too . Oh well, live and learn, I'm sure you won't do that again.

Nope!

Of course now I know so much about Porsches that I'll just do the PPI myself. Just need to get a good Autel bidirectional scanner. I already have a boroscope.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by mecheng77

Porsche guys have a warped sense of what reliability means while they claim their cars are more reliable than BMWs. So many of them suffer from bore scoring even models they claim don’t suffer from it. Don’t get me wrong they drive great and are decently reliable but they can drain your wallet depending on the model.

Truth. I think Porsche gets high reliability marks only because many owners hardly drive their damn cars.

[c1pher]

First, one thing that does make Porsche unique is that they will CPO a 12 year old car. I think that’s a testament on its own. Second, I will say that some Porsche dealers aren’t as rigorous or knowledgeable in their cars as other dealers. Not knowing anything about Porsche CS, but having been in the area several times, I suspect it’s more of a Macan/Cayenne dealership and less of a Cayman/911 dealership. When they CPOd the car, they probably went through the checklist but didn’t know what unacceptable wear was prior to CPOing it. Wear items such as tires have to be replaced if they don’t meet certain specifications. Their willingness to recoup some of the costs admits they didn’t do their job.

When I wanted to swap a steering wheel, three dealers told me it wasn’t possible. One said “we do it all the time” and was able to get it done despite needing to travel 200 miles.

[chris719]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Truth. I think Porsche gets high reliability marks only because many owners hardly drive their damn cars.

They are also very good at sweeping issues under the rug and keeping them quiet via goodwill work. A good friend of mine had a Panamera Turbo and the engine blew up just outside of warranty. Camshaft adjuster bolt backed out and got sheared off, enters the engine. PCNA did a goodwill replacement of the entire engine on the condition that the owner did not talk about it online. No papers to sign or anything, rep just gave a verbal warning.

This failure ended up being incredibly common but there was not a ton of info on the forums at the time and no recall ended up being initiated for this in the US for until years later once a class action was filed.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by chris719

They are also very good at sweeping issues under the rug and keeping them quiet via goodwill work. A good friend of mine had a Panamera Turbo and the engine blew up just outside of warranty. Camshaft adjuster bolt backed out and got sheared off, enters the engine. PCNA did a goodwill replacement of the entire engine on the condition that the owner did not talk about it online. No papers to sign or anything, rep just gave a verbal warning.

This failure ended up being incredibly common but there was not a ton of info on the forums at the time and no recall ended up being initiated for this in the US for until years later once a class action was filed.

I wouldn't touch an Audi/VW based Porsche with a 10 foot pole. Sounds frightening!

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Fair enough. If you knew going in what to expect, it's all good. I'm just surprised at the depth of wear the 987 has at that mileage. I didn't mean to flame the car nor your decision; I think it's a very cool car and I'd love to own a flat-six mid-engine sports car (the Cayman is really the only one on the market), so I can see it as your bucket list car.

No offense taken. I'm fairly risk adverse when it comes to big purchases thus I researched 987.2s for months ans watched tons of YT videos and forum posts to get a sense of the problems, maintenance, ease of DIYin,g and costs.

Porsche, like BMWs, do wear out the soft chasiss parts quicker than an Asian or domestic make, that is for sure. But the tradeoff is that they are built better and are more fun to drive.

My 2016 M235 doesn't have a single rattle and I thought my M235 had thick sheet metal until I got the Cayman. The Cayman sheet metal feels three times as thick as the metal on my wife's 2020 4runner or my son's 2015 Outback.