Cote et avis sur le Cayman en Australie

par **patdunord** Dim 7 Avr 2013 - 11:33

Lisez la note en rouge, c'est assez intéressant et c'est un point dont personne n'a parlé ici
et aussi bien sur les cotes à la fin sont en $ AUS

Un article de: David Morley - Freelance Motoring Writer
Stuttgart's baby coupe is a real charmer, but needs to be well cared for.
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Porsche doesn't really march to be the beat of anybody else's drum.

And that's absolutely true of its Cayman coupe, which probably amounts to the best value Porsche you can buy (its cousin the Boxster – on which it's heavily based – aside).

While a car maker generally designs a coupe or hardtop (in this case the Cayman) and then cuts the roof off to make a convertible (the Boxster), Porsche tackled the process from the opposite direction.

Which means the Boxster, which was first launched here in 1999, was always designed to be a drop-top vehicle.

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And in turn, this means the Cayman that followed the Boxster in 2006 was actually a convertible with a fixed metal roof grafted on.

This is also Porsche's explanation for why the Cayman costs more than the Boxster when drop-tops have traditionally come at a price premium over a coupe.

But reverse engineering or not, the Cayman is a fantastic driver's car. Good enough, in fact, to make you wonder whether you really need to spend the extra on a 911.

And let's be honest, while the 911 does have a rear seat (the Cayman is a strict two-seater) nobody ever bought a 911 for its four-seater potential, did they?

The Cayman's two-seat layout is a function of its mid-mounted engine.

It sounds exotic and it is, and the engine itself is a ripper. But we still lament the fact that there's simply no access to the Cayman's engine from above.

All servicing must be done from underneath, ruling out home tinkering.

Like the Boxster, there are two versions of the Cayman, a base-model car with a 2.7-litre, six-cylinder engine and 180 absolutely adequate kilowatts.

The 2009 facelift saw engine size in the base Cayman creep up to 2.9 litres and with it power jumped to 195kW.

The Cayman S is the headline act, though, and with 3.4 litres of capacity and 217kW of power, it's an even better sports car.

Like the entry-level version, the 2009 upgrade brought more power, this time a total of 235kW. The optional Tiptronic five-speed automatic (on either version) was finally replaced with the company's seven-speed PDK clutchless transmission.

The manual gearbox remains the choice of enthusiasts, however, and the five-speed of the entry-level car and the six-speed of the S are truly lovely to use with huge precision, accuracy and a great feel.

The biggest question mark over the wet-sumped Porsche engines that power the Boxster and Cayman was to do with mechanical failure at low kilometres.

Like the 996-series 911 of the late '90s, early Boxsters (released around the same time) had a few examples of catastrophic engine failure. This was mainly due to a batch of bad cylinder liners which cracked and had chunks of them break away, wrecking the rest of the engine in the process.

But by the time the Cayman arrived in 2006, those problems had been fixed, and it hasn't appeared on any Caymans (or later 911s and Boxsters for that matter).

Early Boxster engines (on which the later Cayman's unit was heavily based) also had problems with intermediate shafts which could fail and also destroy the entire engine.

Again, this seems to be a problem from an earlier age in the engine's lifespan and doesn't seem to bother cars from 2006 onwards.

That said, you wouldn't want to be the first owner to discover it all over again, so a quick check is worthwhile.

The first thing to do is to listen to the engine as it idles. An experienced ear will often detect the signature tune of a worn intermediate shaft and the problem can be fixed before it destroys the rest of the picture.

But oil leaks from around the rear of the engine also point to intermediate shaft dramas, so a patch of oil under the car is a bad sign (as it is with any car, but usually for lesser reasons).

Check carefully, though, as the leak could be from a couple of external oil lines and not the engine itself, so make sure you discover exactly what's going on.

Another check to carry out is to cut open the oil filter at the next service and look for small metal filings trapped in the filter medium. Again, this suggests major engine problems.

The Cayman flat-six engine should be willing and smooth and sound refined at all times. A rattle at idle could be as simple as a loose exhaust heat shield.

As with any high performance car, the Cayman can consume tyres and brake pads at a pretty high rate if it has been driven hard.

And on any car with replacement tyres or pads, make sure the previous owner has replaced them with items that do the rest of the car justice, and not el cheapo jobs from the corner store.

A "beep" as the car is locked with the remote unit indicates that all is not well. Normally this beep is used to alert the driver that a door or the hatch has not been closed properly, but if the alarm system still beeps after this has been checked, there could be an issue with the security system.

Oh, and make sure the beeper is still connected, as some owners sneakily disconnect it to mask the fact that there is a potentially expensive fault on board.

Like a lot of new cars, the Cayman has hugely expensive ignition keys (replacements of which also have to be coded to the car before they will work) so make sure the seller has both keys that came with the car and that they both work.

Nuts and bolts

Engine/s: 2.7 6-cyl/2.9 6-cyl/3.4 6-cyl

Transmissions: 5-auto/5-man/6-man/7-auto

Fuel economy (combined): 9.3 litres per 100km (2.7)/10.6 litres (3.4)

Safety rating (courtesy of howsafeisyourcar.com.au): not listed

Our rating: 4.5 stars

Likes:

- Do you really need a 911 after all?

- Superb balance and agility.

- Great build quality.

- The right badge for any occasion.

- Tremendous engines and manual drivelines.

Dislikes:

- You need a post-2009 car for the PDK transmission.

- Some see the base model as less than the full serving.

- Servicing can be expensive.

- No access to engine.

Competitors:

BMW Z4 Coupe – Lovely in-line six-cylinder engine is a highlight of the BMW and it works well as a manual or automatic. Not everybody likes the styling and it could be starting to age a bit. 3.5 stars

Nissan 350Z – A very old-school interpretation of a sporting coupe. Big V6 engine has masses of urge but is pretty unrefined when you stoke it up. Handling is entertaining but ride quality poor in early examples. 3 stars

Porsche Boxster – The Cayman's stablemate is also a logical competitor. Why not have all the Cayman's charm with the option of a drop-top. Makes sense to us. 4.5 stars

What to pay (courtesy of Glass's Guide):

Model .....Year ..... New ..... Now

Cayman 2006 $118000 $47300

Cayman 2007 $118000 $51300

Cayman 2008 $121600 $56000

Cayman 2009 $122200 $64800

Cayman 2010 $114000 $76500

Cayman 2011 $115100 $85100

Cayman 2012 $115100 $91400

Cayman S 2006 $148500 $60100

Cayman S 2007 $149000 $65200

Cayman S 2008 $154400 $71700

Cayman S 2009 $155300 $82400

Cayman S 2010 $146000 $98000

Cayman S 2011 $147500 $109000

Cayman S 2012 $147500 $117000