In preparation for my midlife crisis, I bought an 06 997S Cab manual with "sport chrono" package (PASM, PSM (2 shock settings, and Porsche Stability Management)) . After looking at tire and rollbar prices, I decided to keep the miata for the track (not stripping it though).
So far I've taken it to a nearby mountain road. The engine sounds awesome past 5500 RPM. Bit less front end bite than the miata, but powers out hard. Less at home in the tight switchbacks, and loves the >50 mph corners. Paint and interior in great shape despite high miles.
I was set on a 996 but this one showed up for only a bit more. 3.8L 350 hp.
Too lazy to take nice pix, see ugly pix.

 

Is that model affected by the IMS?

My best friend has an 06 Cayman that needed it and one of his camshafts snapped in two when the shop was reassembling after fixing the IMS issue. He didn't have his car for nearly two months.

 

Yes and no. The IMS bearing in the "7" cars is an upgraded design of the prior gen "6". None of them with the IMS shaft are exempt from failure and few are prone to it.

I think the 986/987/996/997 Porsches are the bargains at this point given the crazy prices on all the other flat sixes. Porsche buyers are going to realize just how nice these cars are for the price and the market with then react. Nice buy Jason- it's beautiful. Hope it keeps the aging down.

 

Nice, I'm still trying to sell the wife on a Cayman.

 

AFAICT the 06+ 997's have an improved IMS with a much lower failure rate (supposedly ~1%) than the earlier ones (up to 5% according to some estimates). Not worth losing sleep over. Especially since it went >100k miles without failing.

 

But this is MiataTurbo!!!! Where is the PSSSTttt..... Welcome to the porcupine club...

 

Jason, don't be so modest. You've always been a member of the ***** club.

 

hahaha NICE car.
though I'd have gotten the hardtop version

 

Ya I hemmed and hawed... I like the looks of the coupe better, and it makes the car more trackable, but decided top-down mountain road driving was worth it.

 

[QUOTE=Splitime;1339423]But this is MiataTurbo!!!! Where is the PSSSTttt..... Welcome to the porcupine club...
[QUOTE]

Stunning pic!

 

[QUOTE=JasonC SBB;1339480][QUOTE=Splitime;1339423]But this is MiataTurbo!!!! Where is the PSSSTttt..... Welcome to the porcupine club...
Super strategic placing... in a gas station under a big ole parking lot light ... using high quality cell phone imaging!

 

I'm not concerned with the 5%. Did an oil analysis with perfectly normal results and haven't thought about it since.

Had you gone turbo per splitime, you'd be at 0% with no IMS to worry about.

 

Basically swapping out that concern for wondering if/when the coolant lines are going to separate from the motor

 

Speaking of which, which site is the mt.net for ******?

 

I have these two that I look at periodically (Turbo sections for me obviously):
996 Forum - Rennlist Discussion Forums
996 - 6SpeedOnline - Porsche Forum and Luxury Car Resource

 

Keep it stock, because the parts are ridiculously expensive...

Although the shifter sucks, the stock exhaust sucks, the stock wheels are ugly... My friend is 10k+ in and its just bolt ons lol

I still hate the shifter.

 

I've been told by those in the know, go newer and Cayman S.

 

Yes, definitely skip any Cayman models affected by the IMS issue. Always go for an S, as well.

 

I drove my roommates '11 Cayman S on the tail of dragon in a road rally. I was a fan to say the least. Even once we hit some snow

 

Superior engine placement and looks to all other Porsches?