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2014 WRX vs 2008 Cayman

9K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  Thrustmaster 
#1 ·
Hello! :wave::wave::wave:

So I just got home from a small car meet with the guys and there was a dude there around our age with a nice looking Porsche. I went over and started talking to him and he was telling me how he had picked it up last year for around $26k or so, which was around the same price I picked up my car. Now granted, my car was "newish" and fully loaded while his was pretty used up, but it looked great. It was a 2008 Porsche Cayman S (coupe & 5-speed manual) and completely stock. I have a 2014 WRX limited sedan with just the SPT-catback exhaust and some nice tires. He was telling me how he was cross-shopping a WRX also but chose the Cayman since it was quicker and more prestigious and all that good stuff.

So the question is, if you were in the same exact place of someone in their early/mid 20's and had around $26k, would you get the WRX or the Cayman as a daily driver? :)

Thoughts? :D
 
#4 ·
I mean isn't the Porsche one of the most reliable cars if treated well and maintained properly? I know it's expensive but if you know what you're doing and doing it right it should be fine correct? My apologies for not being specific haha.

I guess I'll include to the question if you had the cash to afford both the insurance, maintenance, and had a little extra on the side for anything drastically going wrong out of the blue, which car then would you pick?

:)
 
#22 · (Edited)
I have owned a few Porsche's so let me share my knowledge. Are Porsche's reliable? P cars from mid to late 1990's until 2008 on their flat H Configuration engines had an intermediate shaft to control the engine timing. It's called the IMS bearing. The bearing was at the intermediate shaft and looked like a wheel bearing and was not lubricated with a constant flow of oil from the engine. Some engines failed prematurely and some lasted well past 100k miles. So why did it fail? It seemed like owners who did not change their oil frequently had the most problems. Many theories as to why some failed prematurely and others did not when they were all built the same way. This happened in a minority of engines less than 10%. Porsche replaced the engines under warranty and even some out of warranty. Bottom line when it failed it was sudden and required a new engine. Very costly around $20 thousand. Google Porsche IMS Bearing failure to read about it. Another problem was broken shifter cables. If this IMS problem were to occur out of warranty period when the vehicle is 5 or 6 years old it would mean $20k in repairs to a car worth less than $30k. Starting in 2009 the IMS bearing was removed from the design. The new 981 Cayman (base price 2016 Cayman is $53,600) has a very reliable engine and manual and PDK transmission. A problem on the 981's is now appearing with the upper door panels warping (the area where a person would rest their arm with the window open) and Porsche is replacing the door panels under warranty. When these panels need replacing when the warranty expires the driver side costs $2,00 and passenger side $1,600 for the parts only. The 987.1 Cayman is a good vehicle if your engine doesn't blowup, 987.2 better and 981 even better. Insurance for the Cayman is cheap if you have a clean driving record. The Cayman has a lot of road noise inside especially on worn and rough asphalt. Owning a Cayman is not for timid or shy people because everyone who likes cars and jealous people will notice it. I and many other Porsche owners occasionally get bad reactions from some people. Bad reactions such as being given the middle finger salute, car being spit on and keyed. I had my cars keyed twice. It's almost enough to to not want to own a vehicle like a Porsche or Corvette etc... It's not limited to new cars only. When people see even a 10 year old Cayman worth less than a new base WRX it still infuriates the evil ones. Maintenance on a Porsche is costly. A brake job with 4 new rotors is 3 grand. The parts are not expensive what a Porsche dealer charges for repairs is what is expensive. Parts for a brakes job including rotors cost less than $500. Dealer oil changes cost between $225 and $450 depending which dealer you visit. The WRX has great styling and fantastic engineering and safety. Options like HK sound system, high level of safety, torque vectoring, all wheel drive, limited slip differentials and adjustable center differential make the WRX and STI exceptional bargains for the money. If the WRXSTI was made by some other car companies it would cost at least twice what Subaru charges. I am also a Subaru owner. I have a 2016 Outback 3.6r great engineering and I love it. I am now considering a WRX or STI and I can't decide which one I want.
 
#6 ·
5 speed Cayman S? I had a 2007 Cayman S--I remember a 6 speed. I wonder if he got what he paid for. Great car though. But, I'm looking for a WRX because you can customize the Subaru must easier than the Porsche and you can get 4 people in the Subaru if you need to.
 
#7 ·
maybe it was six then... looked like five to me but it was dark so maybe i was off...

but yea i agree that the WRX is definitely one of the best bang for the buck cars and is incredible for modding and making unique and even more fun...

oh and hello and welcome! :D
 
#12 ·
Yea that makes sense financially. All of the costs of insurance and maintenance, plus of course the depreciation, would be pretty heavy. Plus having a brand new car over a highly used one is always nice, especially if there is warranty on it to help out. :)

But at the end of the day he owns a Porsche and I own a Subaru you know? Guess he is the better man in the car world haha. Oh well. :p
 
#13 ·
Apples to dumptrucks. The Cayman is a pure sports car, very little utility or compromises, and will be a different animal to drive through curves, for an enthusiast driver. I don't think Porsche has made a manual transmission with less than 6 gears in quite a long time.

Honestly, I always fail to relate to people that are cross-shopping 2-door, 2-seater sports cars with a sports sedan like the WRX. They obviously approach the buying experience in a much different way than I do. If I was out visiting dealers, but not even sure how many doors I wanted on my car, I'd have to force myself to go home and do some thinking.

Yeah, of course a Porsche is going to be more expensive to live with and maintain. In 2013, used Cayman S's were on my short list of prospects, but the cost of ownership and possibility of expensive maintenance, while needing a reliable vehicle for duty as a family guy, pushed me towards the BRZ. No regrets, so far.

All that said, hand me $100K and tell me that I MUST spend it on a car, and I'd be putting in an order on a Cayman GT4 tomorrow. Admittedly, I haven't driven one, but Jeez...this car looks like the ultimate driver's car in that price range.

 
#14 ·
Honestly, I always fail to relate to people that are cross-shopping 2-door, 2-seater sports cars with a sports sedan like the WRX. They obviously approach the buying experience in a much different way than I do. If I was out visiting dealers, but not even sure how many doors I wanted on my car, I'd have to force myself to go home and do some thinking.
When I was in the market for a new car, I knew I wanted 2 doors. I wanted a sporty 2dr car with some grunt. Subaru weren't offering one. They still aren't. The BRZ had been launched, but my local dealers hadn't seen one yet, and I wanted more than 200hp anyway. What were my options for around $28k? One of the American muscle cars? Was/is there anything else? A year or two old 3 series BMW was out of my price range. Had I been up around the $35k mark, STi territory, my options for used cars would have opened up significantly. So I bought a WRX because I couldn't afford a 2dr car I wanted. But I would have paid extra if removing the rear doors had been an option.

All that said, hand me $100K and tell me that I MUST spend it on a car, and I'd be putting in an order on a Cayman GT4 tomorrow. Admittedly, I haven't driven one, but Jeez...this car looks like the ultimate driver's car in that price range.
Yeah, I think I'd have a GT4 over any other Porsche. But I think they're all sold out, or at least they were in Britain, a long time ago. Not that I was about to place an order.
 
#15 ·
Yea I get what you guys are saying, which I agree with.

On a side note, I would still take the Cayman GTS (with an automatic gearbox) over the GT4 (which only comes with stick) since I feel that cars at "THAT" level are more fun with little paddles to press, but that's just me.

Gorgeous car though, without a doubt, but I'll probably never be able to afford the insurance and maintenance on one in the near future.
 
#19 ·
Funny thing. While I was waiting for my 2016 WRX to arrive, I had sold my 2004 350Z privately since I was able to do better than the dealer was gonna give me trade wise.
Wouldn't you know, a friend of mine was leaving town on business for 3 months and wanted someone to run his 2007 Cayman S for him periodically. I happily obliged.

What I liked: Classic beauty. Great engine/exhaust sound. Great handling. I found the seats "out of this world" comfortable. Great turn in. High build quality/materials throughout.

What I didn't: The feel of the gearbox (extremely subjective, I tend to like the feel of those car reviewers hate on (like the WRX)); it was a little plasticy in my opinion. Its small. Really small. I mean, that's great for sports car, of course. But it has exactly 0 practicality, fronk and all.

Compared to the Z: The 20K difference when new is in the build quality and refinement. Performance seemed similar.

Compared to the 2016 WRX: Apples to oranges. While I flirted with cancelling my WRX order when I first took care of the Porsche (I'll get one of these instead!!), after the novelty wore off, the reality of just how impractical the car was set in. And the WRX "fun" factor is equivalent in my opinion.
 
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