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Question: Better resale value, Cayman R '12 or Cayman GTS '15?
Backstory: I'm currently on the waitlist for the Tesla Model 3 which I expect to receive delivery early 2018. My dream Porsche is the Cayman GT4 but I am "in need" of a daily driver until I get the Tesla.
I am debating between the Cayman R or the Cayman GTS but I'm not sure what to expect with resale value. Which of the two will have a better resale value in early 2018 and why?
Just a guess here, but the GTS will still be quite new in 2018 and it generally has performance that matches the R and is more expensive to buy. Therefore the GTS will have a higher resale value.
The R is more if a niche car, is more "pure" and in the long run should hold its value better, but that might take 5-10 years to realize.
If you are asking about depreciation, the GTS will lose more in a year-and-a-half ownership than the R since the R is already fairly well depreciated while the GTS is probably still declining more steeply.
The difference between your purchase price and your future sell price of the Cayman R would be less IMO. Same thing Spokayman says, just in a different way. I've been looking at 987.2s for potential track/race car and the 2012 Cayman Rs are highly valued. The transmission type (manual vs PDK) may make a value difference as well. PDK costs more and seems to transfer over to asking price.
I bought an R in the spring and was hunting for a long time. Since that time I have been keeping a look out just because I'm curious. I love my R and could easily see myself keeping the car forever and maybe even being buried in it . . . JK . . . anyways, totally unscientific personal observation . . . when I bought mine in late winter/early spring 2016 I found several nice R's under 50k. Now I think you would not be able to find a deal like that. I think when the GT4 first came out many R owners were quick to dump their R's and order the GT4 and now that the GT4 is out and folks are finding it more of a challenge to drive well than the "simple" R, I think there has been a tiny rebound in the prices of the R. As to PDK adding value, that has not been my experience and may be more location dependent. I know in the Northeast you can not give away a PDK R. The R has a lot of subtle differences like you can do the brake job yourself which is not true on a GT4 so I agree with the posters above that overtime there is a good chance the R will become a "classic" more so than a GTS. However, I have driven both and as a daily driver I think the GTS would be nicer, but as a track car the R wins hands down in my book.
The Cayman R is a one year only limited production car that has held its value nicely and will continue to do so. As the R's are converted to pure track cars , good factory production R's will become harder and harder to find. The 2012 Cayman R was the last year for the 986.2 model and paved the way to transition to the current larger more refined Caymans. There were only 563 Cayman R's exported to the US market. It was also 40 years earlier that Porsche last used the R designation on a production car......so rarity, designation, end of model year all make the car very special. Oh and did I say it is a blast to drive.....The current Cayman models are "production "cars and Porsche will now produce as many as they can sell.
Find a good appropriately optioned low mileage R and you can't go wrong.
Look for PDK, sport chromo, Carbon sport seats, and an unusual color. They are value drives in the long term.
Enjoy
Cayman R by a long shot. It's much farther down the depreciation curve than a GTS. I've seen a couple new Cayman GTS's offered at 10% off MSRP or so. They will continue to lose value at a similar rate for at least a few years.
The 'holy grail' Cayman R is a 6-speed manual with the sport bucket seats. Good luck finding that!
To answer your unstated question - you will lose less money on a Cayman R. Although you may just decide to keep it!
The 'holy grail' Cayman R is a 6-speed manual with the sport bucket seats. Good luck finding that!
Not easy. I have the 6MT but not the buckets. The regular sports seats are actually very good and probably easier to get in and out of, but the buckets look awesome! I'm not sure they're worth the additional $9K to me at this point, however.
I did it the hard way and bought my seats after the car. Got some cool Alcantara aftermarket knock offs for free as part of the package. Not sold on the red RS lettering, but I prefer the no slip feature of the alcantara so I am using them instead of the original leather.
... and now that the GT4 is out and folks are finding it more of a challenge to drive well than the "simple" R, I think there has been a tiny rebound in the prices of the R. ... The R has a lot of subtle differences like you can do the brake job yourself which is not true on a GT4.
Not to get too defensive over my GT4, but I do not have the impression that popular opinion says it is a challenge to drive. Besides some understeer, which can be adjusted out, I have not read about any issues - it's generally the opposite, glowing remarks about the car's handling. My first track day with it was amazing, and I previously drove the CS, CGTS and GT4 back-to-back at the Porsche driving experience. The GT4 was simply more of the goodness of the other two!
Also, I believe I can do the brakes myself on the GT4. Have not changed pads yet, but have bled them prior to track day. Same thing with the rotors - not sure why I can't change those myself. What is the issue you have heard with the brakes?
You can absolutely 100% take care of the brakes on a GT4 yourself. It's just takes a little longer as the calipers have a solid top and need to be removed for pad changes. And the caliper bolts are one-time use and should be replaced each time. (they are torque-to-yield bolts) Plus there is a bracket that needs to be removed as well. Adding caliper studs and studs for the brackets helps.
And the GT4 is no more difficult to drive than a Cayman R. No clue where that came from??
You can absolutely 100% take care of the brakes on a GT4 yourself. It's just takes a little longer as the calipers have a solid top and need to be removed for pad changes. And the caliper bolts are one-time use and should be replaced each time. (they are torque-to-yield bolts) Plus there is a bracket that needs to be removed as well. Adding caliper studs and studs for the brackets helps.
And the GT4 is no more difficult to drive than a Cayman R. No clue where that came from??
Of course, anything the shop can do you can do with the right tools and experience, but look at the work you listed . . . it is not nearly as easy to change brakes on a GT4 as it is on an R therefore many folks, myself included, would not take on the added hassle. What I should have said was: A brake job is more difficult on a GT4 than an R and prohibitively so for many.
Also, you may disagree with whether or not the GT4 is more of a "handful" than the R, but the fact remains that is my opinion and one not too infrequently mentioned online and at the track, and yes I have driven a GT4 at Lime Rock so I can speak from experience. Do I think I could learn to handle a GT4 as well as I handle my R? Yes, again, of course. What I should have said was: It is my opinion that the R is an excellent car for the intermediate driver offering honest and simple handling whilst the GT4 is at the top of it's breed and has enough power at it's command to warrant a little care and caution when learning to drive it well.
Good points. I did some reading on the GT4 brakes yesterday. I didn't realize repeatedly removing/replacing the brake caliber bolts caused issues with the aluminum threads on the uprights. People install studs with nuts to avoid re-inserting bolts in the aluminum threads. Kind of annoying to have to do this, and I'm not sure why Porsche doesn't fix this at the factory instead of making owners do it. They should use steel thread inserts in the upright or put studs in it. Apparently this is a well known must-do for GT3 cup cars.
Last edited by aryork; 09-28-2016 at 09:38 AM.
Reason: typo
09-15-2016, 09:34 PM
Question: Better resale value, Cayman R '12 or Cayman GTS '15?
Besides some understeer, which can be adjusted out, I have not read about any issues - it's generally the opposite, glowing remarks about the car's handling. My first track day with it was amazing, and I previously drove the CS, CGTS and GT4 back-to-back at the Porsche driving experience. The GT4 was simply more of the goodness of the other two! 