dawgcatching

I would like to eventually find a Cayman R, 6MT with buckets. I realize that these tend to be fairly rare, but they hold value well and would make a great driving partner.

I see them all over the place: higher mile examples with track time for around $50,000, all the way up to somebody hoping they have a collector's car and asking $75k. Very few sell: BAT has listings from a low of $42,500 to a high of around $57,000.

How does one price a Cayman R? $60k+ seems insane for a motor putting out this little of power, especially as a GT4 can be had for not that much more, but $45-55k, depending on the car, is a different story.

CW987

In my opinion, the Cayman R is a better value over the GT4. The R costs about $40k less and the 0-60 times are the same (4.2 sec) for each car, but that's not really what these cars are all about. Now is the time to buy an R, they will eventually start appreciating.

andy7777

The difference is, you can get a GT4 any day of the week in whatever color you want because they were essentially flipper cars. The R was flipped, if at all, a year or so after it was brought out and now tends to sit in a garage with an owner who appreciates it. When they go on the market its almost always a bad color, a PDK, higher miles, or a car that got track modded.

I got mine (peridot green, 6MT, buckets) by asking around and made a private deal. Im fairly certain its a good car to simply keep, as I see no chance of it depreciating, and mostl likely appreciating to some extent. More importantly, I think it's as good as a modern Porsche got for a street car, and plenty fun to take out for an HPDE every once in a while.

andy7777

And while BAT is great for a lot of models to get pricing data, they have only sold a few Rs, and never one with the right options. So to me, the BAT prices are unreliable right now, unlike the Spyder which they seem to sell once a week.

Of course, the fact that sellers with a good optioned R haven't bothered with BAT may also tell you something.

9872SpeedYellowCS

Either Rs are overpriced or nicely equipped Cayman S' are underpriced; theres a 20-30k delta.

There aren't many differences between the two cars that can't be easily remedied. My suggestion is to find a nice Cayman S and throw Cayman R Suspension and Wheels on it, you will have 99.9% of an R with the only differences being the "Aerokit", Bucket Seats, and lightweight doors with the former being options on the S anyways. If anyone on this board can tell the difference between an R and an S due to the "Lightweight Doors" and different headers, they should be racing in F1 instead of posting here.

andy7777

There isn't a 20 to 30K difference between an S and an R in terms of driving enjoyment. My Boxster S with a nice exhaust and the X73 suspension is virtually the same drive as my Cayman R for one-third the money. That's not really the point though. The R is perceived as a special model and market priced as a special model. That's always how Porsches break out.

vbb

^^ Exactly. One doesn't buy an R because they need a performance advantage over a Cayman S. People buy Rs because of that intangible "special" quality that is important to many folks whether they care to admit it or not. Some think that will also end up making them money in the long run. While that may be debatable, what isn't debatable is that the R will depreciate slower than a same year S now that both cars are 7+ years old.

To be perfectly honest, a base model Cayman or Boxster is about as much fun that can be legally had on public roads, so why even buy an S? But we all know the analysis is deeper than which car is fun to drive.

To answer the OPs question though, I honestly think it's going to be situational. A seller with the right color and options may list their car a little high (mid-upper $60s) understanding that the one buyer who is looking for exactly what they have may be willing to pay a premium just because the cars are so hard to find. My advice would be that if you want one and you see something come up with the options you want, be prepared to jump on it, especially if it's listed under $60k.

dawgcatching

I don't see many manual 987.2 S models for sale either! Those that are listed, and at a reasonable price ($35-40K) seem to sell immediately, unless they are black. Nobody wants a black car.

I figure Soul headers and a tune is going to result in the same power for either car, and that, plus X73 and buckets, is still comfortably under R pricing. I can sell back the buckets for what I paid for them as well.

I am looking at an R also, as it is easier to get that "out of the box" driver (suspension and buckets) but it is the same financially, in the end. I don't see either the S or R getting much cheaper anytime soon.

So, basically, the right build with not too many miles should be mid 50's and up. Garage queens in the mid 60's and up, but those don't interest me, nor do I want to buy a car for low mileage, only to drive it a bunch!

9872SpeedYellowCS

I don't know if I agree that the R will depreciate less. In the long run, the R has a lot more to lose than an S does. Initially the R depreciated way slower than an equally equipped S, but now that prices have normalized, the R has far more downside potential than an S does. These aren't R bashing comments on my end, I almost irrationally pulled the trigger on an R recently for nothing more than the "oooooh - ahhh" factor of it. I think at the R's price point, a lot more competitors start to come into the picture and with the amount of 991/981 GT cars that were produced, there is serious downward pressure. At the end of the day, I don't know if I could pay the same price for a Cayman R as a GT4 or even GT3. This all changes if were looking at pure speculative collecting, sure go out and find a 5 mile Cayman R and I'm sure you will do better than all the other examples, but for people who drive their cars I believe my points are valid.

My late night ramblings.

audipwr1

New GT4 comes out, 981 compresses 15-20k, then R compresses 5-10 - the staggering exists in GT3 land similarly

If you love it buy and don't worry though imo

MezgerFan

One to watch: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/20...e-cayman-r-10/

Speed Yellow, Manual, Buckets. Just needs Sport Exhaust.

Abbett

I looked for some time and paid what I thought I had to pay when I bought a Cayman R earlier this year for $62,900. It is a CPO with 19,000 miles, a Manual trans, lightweight bucket seats, a/c otherwise lightly optioned. It was the only R I found close to my desired spec in 6 months of looking for cars within 1,000 miles of California.

andy7777

Finally a well specced R on BAT. I'll be curious to see what it brings.

vbb

Agreed. That's a beauty.

il pirata

Porsche US specs at press release R 4.7 manual, R PDK 4.4, GT4 4.2