Hi everyone! So, hear me out - I want to buy a Porsche for my mom for her upcoming 60th birthday. She’s not a car person at all, but it’s one of her dreams to own a Porsche. I know she will not track it, mod it, and will probably just drive it here and there as a daily car.

I found a 2023 Cayman S, ~under 3k miles. PDK, premium package, etc. - most importantly, besides the remaining warranty, theres the additional two years of CPO. Car is in great condition with PPF applied on the front bumper.

Only thing is - it’s likely a PEC tracked car (CarFax is clean but the record shows no owner, just dealer begin the listing as CPO after 3k miles with one recent oil change service). Even if it’s not a tracked car, likely, it’s a loaner or has had some tough 3k miles.

Realistically, how concerned should I be with this car’s reliability? Generally speaking, most folks here warn not to buy PEC car - but given the warranty to 2029 (likely will sell it before it ends), PDK, and less than 3k miles for a pretty decent price, should I go for it or go back to the drawing board? Thank you.

 

The car is either a track car or a dealer car used by a manager of some sort. You should be able to look at the Munroney Sticker on the listing page and see where it was shipped to. If it was shipped to the dealer then it most likely wasn't a track car... if it was used for track at an experience center it will show that as well... but I can't remember exactly what it says in that case.

Either way, good luck! Your mom will love it.

 

If you post the MSRP and selling price, you could get better help, since we don't know what kind of deal you're getting. But since I doubt your mom cares if it's an S or a base, I'd buy her a new base (including the Style Edition), rather than a used S, and not worry if somebody beat that car to hell and back. But that's just me. And there are A LOT available on Porsche's site. She'll be grateful you bought her a car either way, but she'd probably enjoy a brand new car more than a used one. By the way, that's exactly what I did, and I DO care about performance, but much rather have a base loaded to the gills, than an S with less options. Even the base is more than quick enough for me, and I enjoy spirited driving. So it should be quick enough for your mom too. Just giving you more options, with full warranty, and no worries about past ownership/use. Good luck.

 

Pretty sure all PCNA cars which include PEC, executive, fleet, etc show on CarFax as manufacturers registration. They do have unique plates and carry registration.

Could have been a dealer car who just punched the warranty on the car.

Anyway, the dealer knows it’s history…just ask.

 

Thank you! I’ll take a look. Msrp is around 98k, selling for 73k. The dealer is close to me and the car has all the specs and the s is the cherry on top lol

 

Also could be a PCNA executive lease car. Their employees get lease cars.

The PEC cars won’t show any registration from what I’ve seen. Same with the exec cars.

 

Good deal and agree that it's not necessarily tracked. Even if it had been, I would go for it at that price.

The Cayman S is only a small part of the program at PEC in a 'mid-engine v. rear engine' program. It's a short track where the car would spend little time at redline and this program isn't hard core race pace. It would be a different story if the car was used at one of the Porsche schools at Barber (Cayman S isn't to my knowledge) which is a full length track and the programs are race pace.

These cars are very robust. 50k miles on mine, many of them on track with no mercy, and she runs like a top with only routine maintenance (on top of the obvious consumables and prophylactic more frequent fluid changes.)

Plus you have a longer warranty than you would get on a new car with the CPO being included.

26% off MSRP is hard to ignore. I say yes unless you're financially at a point where that doesn't matter.

 

I wouldn't hesitate for a good deal , the bugs get worked out mostly in remaining warranty / CPO time

 

A $25K discount? Great price, but I'm not sure what to think about that.

 

That's a great point - based on the sticker, it was delivered to the PEC.

 

In the RL purist world resale value is the issue not the fact that it has a warranty now

Track car to some equals discount or for many non starter

Good news is not all P car buyers are RL members

Do you homework and buy the right car for you

 

It's a great discount, but that pretty much tells you the car was tracked (probably heavily). So now you have to decide how much you love your mom. Seriously, depends how long she'll keep it, and how many miles she's going to drive it in that time. It'd be a hard pass for me (I'm on the '****' side, though), but to each his own, of course. Good luck.

 

Has your mom driven a Cayman? I am older (63) than your mom but I am a car guy so I love sports cars. My wife (62) is a not a car person at all and she merely tolerates riding in my sports cars to indulge me.
Caymans are small inside, noisy and not the easiest for ingress/egress. They can be tricky to drive in inclement weather. I would ask her if she really wants a sports car and if she cares more for the Porsche experience, maybe a Macan S may suit her better. Good luck.

 

Agreed. Just curious about the reliability of those PEC cars, but it’s rather hard to quantify. Most are case by case example I guess.

 

haha I hear you. it’s actually in a very nice condition at least cosmetically from what I can tell. No scratches, dings, marks, comparing to some other abused PEC cars. She personally wouldn’t care whether it’s a PEC car (nor does she know the implications). She just wants more reliability and peace of mind - hence the CPO