Z to a Cayman 987?

[Yorkshire_Zed]

With around a £15K budget ive been looking at other alternatives to my 350Z and the Cayman 987 comes up on the radar a lot. (I dont like convertibles so that rules out the Boxster)

 

3.4 would be the preferred choice due to the increased power.

 

Has anyone gone to one? Differences between the Z?

 

One thing i will say,is that you see quite a few Caymans on the roads compared to the Z. Theyre not as 'rare' imo and so not really more of a head turner.

 

 

[Ekona]

Better in every way that matters. Better chassis, better interior, better noise, better balance, and the same costs to run and own. 987.1 leaves you somewhat at the mercy of the M97 issues, but the odds of either IMS or D-chunk failed are about 5% (but expensive to fix!). 

[Yorkshire_Zed]

11 hours ago, Ekona said:

Better in every way that matters. Better chassis, better interior, better noise, better balance, and the same costs to run and own. 987.1 leaves you somewhat at the mercy of the M97 issues, but the odds of either IMS or D-chunk failed are about 5% (but expensive to fix!). 

 

And it has to be the S imo.....the non S at 245 bhp seems a bit underpowered? Even though its the lower tax bracket hehe...

[pintopete58]

Your buying a badge some of the earlier ones suffered with square piston problems .nismo is alot more car price wise 

[docwra]

18 minutes ago, pintopete58 said:

Your buying a badge some of the earlier ones suffered with square piston problems .nismo is alot more car price wise 

A Nismo is physically a lot more car .......... but so is a transit van, or a bus, it doesnt make them better. A quick check shows 987 prices are about the same as Z34s too. 

As for buying a badge - a Z33/Z34 is good but no-one would ever claim they are the best sportscar of the last 30 years, the Porsche is a better car in nearly every respect.   

[Ekona]

10 hours ago, pintopete58 said:

Your buying a badge some of the earlier ones suffered with square piston problems .nismo is alot more car price wise 

Driven many?

[Ekona]

11 hours ago, Yorkshire_Zed said:

 

And it has to be the S imo.....the non S at 245 bhp seems a bit underpowered? Even though its the lower tax bracket hehe...

Not at all, I’d say it might be more enjoyable as you get to wring its neck without hitting licence losing speeds too quickly. 
 

But yes, the S is what you’d ideally want. 

[GranTurismoEra]

Better driving dynamics I agree with Ekona despite not having driven any. Then balance the fact of reliability. 

 

Owned 4 Zeds over 7 years Honestly the issues ive had were

 

Wet seatbelt

Warranty claim on starter motor for 350Z

banana arms

DTV

tramlining

burning clutch

TPMS light

Strange occurrences of dash lights that fix themselves.

 

All trivial issues that can be sorted. 

 

Fortunately no steering lock issues or gallery gaskets the expensive bits

 

987 has its own well known issues not cheap to fix but you could spend easily £5000+ in a year for repairs going by research into the 981. Much rarer to spend that on a Z but can be done. We all know the engine/gearbox repairs arent cheap

 

Engine at the back, MR experience isnt common. You only get that in supercars or the odd roadster. MR2, Alpine and the like. Its gives a different dynamic and balance to the car

 

Weight differences about 100kg lighter. Power and Speed not much in both cars. A Porsche would probably be on your case if you were in a Nismo vs a 981 S....Nismo vs 987 obviously the Nismo has a little bit more power but not the same handling. 350 is more comparable to the 987. 

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by GranTurismoEra

[Yorkshire_Zed]

An issue aswell i have is the colour of them - black or silver is pretty dull to me,and there seems to be loads. White or Blue is much nicer,but a lot harder to find for sale!

[Eddie_r32]

I came back to nissan from Porsche (986 s), I didn't enjoy the ownership experience that much, nice to drive but a pig to work on, my local specialist just drop the engine out for most work now, takes them a couple of hours but means you end up doing lots of while you are in there. On 987 Cayman you need to make sure you buy right spec if you want to do any track work, a mate took his to Nur with us a few years back and the traction control cooked all four discs and all pads, was not a cheap fix. I do keep considering a 987 Cayman but think I will miss the simplicity and aggression or the 370z, oh I would miss a dipstick as well!

[pintopete58]

VERY TRUE 

[pintopete58]

I forgot your buying a badge or is it a bus van who knows 

[docwra]

On 12/03/2023 at 10:09, pintopete58 said:

I forgot your buying a badge or is it a bus van who knows 

You seem to have missed @Ekona question, have you actually driven many Porsches? 

Id put at least my mortgage on the total being zero, otherwise you wouldnt make such a stupid comment.
Porsches have a reputation for exceptional engineering standards and very desirable cars for a reason. 

And much as I like a 350 or 370, the Porsches are much faster IRL. Mainly due to that engineering thing. 

[pintopete58]

I do apologise this seems to have got to the stage of spitting the dummy out I have driven a boxer but I've owned faster than a porsch ( corvette c5 ) and others what I'm getting at is  value for money and A GTR NISSAN and Toyota make better cars 

[docwra]

OK. The fastest ever car round the Nurburgring is a Porsche, until very recently the fastest production car was also a Porsche and 6 of the current fastest 10 production cars are ......... you guessed it, Porsches. Slow AF, obviously. 

On value for money we are talking about a Porsche as a similar money alternative to a Nissan and as for a C5 being fast dont make me laugh, Ive got a LS7 Z28 running 650hp and I cant keep up with a GT2RS. 

BTW, its not spitting dummies, its people talking absolute arse about stuff they dont know ......... and then repeating it? SRSLY? 

[pintopete58]

Never mind .

That's why this forum is the best .

[GranTurismoEra]

 

The 350 and 370 are meant to be equivalents to the Cayman S 987 and 981 S. Bar engine position and PDK gearbox theres not much in it. Can chuck it down to better handling and driving dynamics. Caymans a better car sure. 

 

The 370 is a very capable car as seen on many track videos where a competent driver is keeping pace and overtaking cars that have more power up to 400hp. Obviously its dependant on lots of factors affecting driver, cars and track. 

 

 

 

[ilogikal1]

I'm somewhat surprised there's not a YouTube video on this thread. I don't know how anyone can have an opinion, let alone offer adivce, without a YouTube video.

[davey_83]

3 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

 

The 350 and 370 are meant to be equivalents to the Cayman S 987 and 981 S. Bar engine position and PDK gearbox theres not much in it. Can chuck it down to better handling and driving dynamics. Caymans a better car sure. 

 

 

I would disagree with that unless you've not explained it clearly. The 350z was a rival to the 986 Boxster S, S2000, RX8 231, TT 3.2. The 350z was late to the party however offered greater fire power for less money. The 370z was then a rival to the 987 S's, MK2 TT 2.0T, BMW Z4 3.0, GT86 and Peugeot RCZ. 

 

Obviously looks, price, cost to run, reliability, noise, availablity all play their parts. The Japan stuff is just a different ethos. You'd go to a BMW or Porsche meet and the cars are all the same, at a glance clones of each other whereas with a JDM sports car (loose term) the scene will be no two are a like. Different wheels, tyres, exhaust, suspension, spoilers, splitters, diffusers, seats, stereo not to mention engine tuning levels. Each is special and individual. Not saying one is 'better' than the other, however pointing out they're different flavours.

 

The JDM car scene is like no other imo. Put it this way you'd have never of had a Stuttgart Drift movie worth seeing. 

Edited March 14, 2023 by davey_83

[docwra]

14 hours ago, GranTurismoEra said:

 

The 350 and 370 are meant to be equivalents to the Cayman S 987 and 981 S. Bar engine position and PDK gearbox theres not much in it.

Youve not driven a Cayman either, have you?  
And I wont even mention a Peugeot RC-Z being a rival to a 987S  

Fair comment as far as Stuttgart Drift goes but you only have to go to a trackday to see what the better cars are dynamically even though they generally cost more - your average Touristfahrten is probably 70% BMWs and Porsches, include Golfs and youre hitting 80%. 

Ive said it many times before, Z33's (and Z34's to a lesser extent) are great cars for the money but they dont measure up to a Cayman, until recently 2nd hand prices have definitely reflected that.   

[davey_83]

I'm sure Brandshatch track days back in the 80's 90's when Britain actually built cars here were mainly Rovers, MG's, Ford's, Lotus, Vauxhall and TVR's - bit different to a worldwide successful movie about car tuning culture. 

 

That's the thing the 370z when new was circa 27k while the 987 Cayman S was closer to 44k (65% increase), when comparing the new car prices consideration has to be made. 

 

I personally think both the Z models for their price points, do an amazing job with what they offer.

Edited March 15, 2023 by davey_83

[ilogikal1]

Sorry, did you just refer to a Fast & Furious film as a film about car tuning culture? 

[pintopete58]

Hi all .

This what I was getting at 350z  370 are a  fantastic buys for the money 

[pintopete58]

My 1971 ford pinto would eat anything off the lights even my mates R1 YAMI Couldn't get near it so don't tell me I no nothing about cars  . It's all good fun

[docwra]

2 hours ago, davey_83 said:

I'm sure Brandshatch track days back in the 80's 90's when Britain actually built cars here were mainly Rovers, MG's, Ford's, Lotus, Vauxhall and TVR's - bit different to a worldwide successful movie about car tuning culture

So an 80s trackday, or a made up story about car tuning in Japan are more relevant than what people are actually driving on trackdays today?
As an old bastard who was doing trackdays in the 90s I can assure you we would have given limbs for a 968 or an M3 rather than the MX5s, Civic and Astras everyone was using, Ze Germans have always had the performance car game wrapped up IMO.   

Agree on the price point thing though, people seem to have very short memories - I bought a 350Z as a Cayman was way, way out of reach financially, of course its not going to be as good.
Same reason we used 200SXs and Skylines for drifting rather than aforementioned M3s and 968s, no-one had any money and the Jap iron was much cheaper.