2005 vs 2006 vs 2009 Auto?

[mat1]

I'm looking for a new daily driver I can use and enjoy until we're all driving Teslas in 10years time. My main requirements are that it is automatic, not too dated inside (987) and that the man-maths works out.

I'm looking at 2.7 or 3.2s 987 tiptronic due to IMS worries and trying to weigh up the benefits of paying more tax (£540) on the 2006 which has the bigger bearing or taking my chances with a 2005 (£315).

Given these are all around £9/10k it costs £1500ish to upgrade the IMS my man maths tells me it'll take 6/7 years for the upgrade to equal the cost of the extra tax on the 2006+ models.

 

Something tells me it'll be hard to justify £540/yr tax on a £5000 car in a few years so my mind is telling me to avoid these models.

 

The other option is to stretch to the cheapest PDK gen2 for £15k with likely double the mileage and the associated costs that come with that. I imagine history will look back kinder on the PDK than the tiptronic so that has to be a consideration too who knows where the bottom will be on these long term?

 

Anyway long post but interested to hear your thoughts and how you made the decision! Obviously buying a manual solves a lot of problems but that's not an option.

 

Cheers

[Scubaregs]

Hi, and welcome.😀

You are looking at cars 10 to 14 years old and as a daily driver. All these cars will incur maintenance costs are you budgeting for that?

If you are concerned about £225 extra a year in road tax I'm not sure a Boxster as a daily driver is a good idea as running costs will potentially be high as cars that age will need work doing.

[Mattman42]

i was in a similar boat - started looking at tip's for around £6k - then went to £10k for a 987 - but pre-March 06 as i refuse to pay the tax man £200 more a year to drive my car (Petty i know!)

I ended up with a 2010 987.2 PDK as its a more modern auto and general consensus are that its a better automatic than the earlier Tiptronic, but both have their fans, it was also quicker, newer, lower tax again but more expensive to buy.

I can highly recommend the PDK - it drives great, you can potter around town easily and then boot it down a country road, either in sport mode or manual mode. The standard change buttons on the steering wheel take a bit of getting used to, but you can upgrade to the sport wheel which can have larger paddles if preferred.

Not sure if its still around, but there was a 1 owner 987.2 PDK floating around with 99,000 miles for £15k - looked pretty good and if its got the service history to support it, i would have been tempted

[Nobbie]

What mileage will you be putting on it? I'd be very tempted to get a 2009 high miles 2.9 with FSH, lowish tax, reliable engine, relatively modern. If you're planning on keeping it 6-7 years, you can just run it into the ground. Should be good for 200k with regular servicing.

[Menoporsche]

Extra £200 per year tax is three tanks of fuel. If you are concerned about that you should forensically examine mpg. Don’t worry. 

[Nobbie]

55 minutes ago, Menoporsche said:

Extra £200 per year tax is three tanks of fuel. If you are concerned about that you should forensically examine mpg. Don’t worry. 

Maybe they have. £200 a year is a fixed extra expense for every year you own it that you get no benefit from and could well hamper resale in 5 years time compared to a virtually identical car and you will have paid out an extra £1k in tax. It's a perfectly valid concern, so not sure why some are keen to dismiss it so lightly, unless they are invested in some way😉

[Arl30]

Hi why auto? The manuals are as usable and plentiful! 

   How many miles a year? 

Buy the best you can afford and check the service history , as many cars are now over 10 years old people let the service slip as it is still a 40k car for spares. 

 I looked at a 2010 987.2 in a dealer last week manual, 52k, service history 17k unfortunately it was in poor condition compared to mine .

 Lots of test drives! 

    Good luck. 

[Pinewood]

2 hours ago, Mattman42 said:

i was in a similar boat - started looking at tip's for around £6k - then went to £10k for a 987 - but pre-March 06 as i refuse to pay the tax man £200 more a year to drive my car (Petty i know!)

I ended up with a 2010 987.2 PDK as its a more modern auto and general consensus are that its a better automatic than the earlier Tiptronic, but both have their fans, it was also quicker, newer, lower tax again but more expensive to buy.

I can highly recommend the PDK - it drives great, you can potter around town easily and then boot it down a country road, either in sport mode or manual mode. The standard change buttons on the steering wheel take a bit of getting used to, but you can upgrade to the sport wheel which can have larger paddles if preferred.

 

Same thought process as Matt, and plumbed for a 59 plate 2010 gen 2 PDK.

VED is £315 per year and love it!!

[in_dellible]

@mat1 sounds like the man maths adds up to a Gen 2 PDK with highish miles. If it has been well looked after, the associated costs should not be any higher than a Gen 1 TIP with lower miles. Have you driven a TIP? For me it was no fun, so sluggish. Plus you'll get left behind by Polo 1.4s.

If Auto is a must the PDK coupled the 9A1 engine in the Gen 2 is the way to go if you can afford it. It is about as trouble free as you can hope for in a 987. 

I'm with you on the £540 tax, it is off putting. 

 

[iborguk]

Burger or Steak ? I like both 😀

I have a 2006 987.1, 6 speed manual with the £540 (last year) tax hit. It sounds great, drives great.

Mate has a 2011 987.2 PDK, computer changes gears faster than he can and again is a great drive (he keeps telling me mine "sounds dirtier", thus mine is "dirty burger", his is "steak")

Personally I like the organic connection of mine with the manual and my mate loves his PDK. 

Drive a few combos and see which one makes you smile when the key turns.

 

 

 

 

[Menoporsche]

44 minutes ago, iborguk said:

Drive a few combos and see which one makes you smile the widest when the key turns.

Corrected  

[iborguk]

Your smileage may vary

 

[Paul P]

How about a steak starter with a burger chaser or vice versa.  ? 

[iborguk]

Well first Porsche so guess I could say my Burger has been my starter (and hopefully not my ender)

@Paul P As you know I think a mix up of courses is no bad thing.

@mat1 PDK is an awesome bit of kit and if I were in the market for an "auto" that 987.2/PDK combination is a great way to go.

 

 

 

[Paul P]

@iborguk agree. Mix it up. But yours definitely has a “dirty laugh”. 

[mat1]

On 3/7/2019 at 12:44 PM, Scubaregs said:

Hi, and welcome.😀

You are looking at cars 10 to 14 years old and as a daily driver. All these cars will incur maintenance costs are you budgeting for that?

Hey!

I was budgeting around £1200/yr for costs. I'd probably go for some kind of warranty, either OPC on a gen2 or warranty wise or similar on a gen1. Portiacraft is 10 mins away too.

 

Does that budget sound reasonable or am I being optimistic?

[mat1]

On 3/7/2019 at 12:52 PM, Mattman42 said:

 

Not sure if its still around, but there was a 1 owner 987.2 PDK floating around with 99,000 miles for £15k - looked pretty good and if its got the service history to support it, i would have been tempted

That one has gone but I actually saw one with half the miles for s similar price so I know they're out there! Did you get the OPC warranty?

[mat1]

On 3/7/2019 at 1:16 PM, Nobbie said:

What mileage will you be putting on it? I'd be very tempted to get a 2009 high miles 2.9 with FSH, lowish tax, reliable engine, relatively modern. If you're planning on keeping it 6-7 years, you can just run it into the ground. Should be good for 200k with regular servicing.

6/7000 miles a year. Mostly in London. Yeah the plan was to basically keep it forever and use it as a second car once kids/electrics are a consideration. If it'll last til 200k I that's perfect.

 

On 3/7/2019 at 3:30 PM, Arl30 said:

Hi why auto? The manuals are as usable and plentiful! 

 Lots of test drives! 

    Good luck. 

I'm in london. Getting my first automatic a couple of years back was a revelation. Don't think I can go back!

And thanks 

 

23 hours ago, in_dellible said:

@mat1 sounds like the man maths adds up to a Gen 2 PDK with highish miles. If it has been well looked after, the associated costs should not be any higher than a Gen 1 TIP with lower miles. Have you driven a TIP? For me it was no fun, so sluggish. Plus you'll get left behind by Polo 1.4s.

If Auto is a must the PDK coupled the 9A1 engine in the Gen 2 is the way to go if you can afford it. It is about as trouble free as you can hope for in a 987. 

I'm with you on the £540 tax, it is off putting. 

 

I'm having a test drive on a tip this week. If it's as bad as everyone is saying then it'll have to be gen2..

[Paul P]

It’s been a while since I drove a tip car (and that was on a track day) but my experience in London with the pdk is the its the “weakest” part of the pdk repertoire. It feels a little clumsy when you go/stop but not quite/go.  Almost like it’s expecting third gear and suddenly needs first. I have heard people say that traffic is the only place tip is better than pdk  apparently in manual mode the tip chooses 2nd to pull away  the pdk always goes to 1st from a standstill  

Its not undrivable just its the least “good” part of the experience.  

Sometimes I switch to manual.  It won’t let you stall so it will still downshift in traffic but will hold onto 1st until I decide otherwise and I find that smoother in real London crawl. 

 

 

[Nobbie]

The Tip is a good gearbox, it can get a bad press on here since many want the involvement of a manual. I intended to buy a manual, but this car was so well cared for that I thought I'd give it a go. I love it now, around town I can just relax and let it do it's thing, but when out in the country I can switch to manual and it feels like a little race car with the extra paddles I've added.

Tip is also a well proven reliable gearbox, mine's done 144k without major work, although to be fair, the PDK appears reliable from reports so far.

[Paul P]

39 minutes ago, Nobbie said:

The Tip is a good gearbox, it can get a bad press on here since many want the involvement of a manual. I intended to buy a manual, but this car was so well cared for that I thought I'd give it a go. I love it now, around town I can just relax and let it do it's thing, but when out in the country I can switch to manual and it feels like a little race car with the extra paddles I've added.

Tip is also a well proven reliable gearbox, mine's done 144k without major work, although to be fair, the PDK appears reliable from reports so far.

I think whatever the transmission you have to drive to it’s strengths.  Mate has a tip boxster and he said just think a second or two  ahead and adapt your style. I certainly  would consider any of the transmissions in the “right” car  

I had change how I drive a little to suit the pdk to get the best from it but it’s all learning. 

[DaveEFI]

4 hours ago, Paul P said:

It’s been a while since I drove a tip car (and that was on a track day) but my experience in London with the pdk is the its the “weakest” part of the pdk repertoire. It feels a little clumsy when you go/stop but not quite/go.  Almost like it’s expecting third gear and suddenly needs first. I have heard people say that traffic is the only place tip is better than pdk  apparently in manual mode the tip chooses 2nd to pull away  the pdk always goes to 1st from a standstill  

Its not undrivable just its the least “good” part of the experience.  

Sometimes I switch to manual.  It won’t let you stall so it will still downshift in traffic but will hold onto 1st until I decide otherwise and I find that smoother in real London crawl. 

 

4 hours ago, Paul P said:

I have a 2011 S PDK and also drive in London. The only thing I would say it worse for than a Tip is parking etc. With a Tip you can let it creep and control the speed with the brakes. Other than that, far better. It might be the larger engine, but at low speeds it uses a higher gear than the Tip, so less fuss. Nor does it change down unless really needed - the torque is more than ample in a high gear for town driving. I never quite worked out why the ZF5HP was so bad in my previous Boxster when I loved the same box in my BWM.

BTW, just had my VED reminder. £315 for a year.

 

 

[mat1]

Just tried a low mileage 2007 Tip. Was not as bad as I was expecting but definitely wasn't as smooth as the s-tronic in my Audi which is similar to the PDK I believe.

The interior definitely felt a bit dated but I'm unsure if the 987.2 would be any different in this regard? I know the centre console is black instead of grey but is that it?

I'm going to try a PDK soon but I'm pretty sure this will be the way I go if I can find one that hasn't been abused and can stay under OPC warranty for 4/5/6 years. Probably looking for under 80,000miles just in case.

 

[Paul P]

987.2 interior feels more modern. Yes. It’s black.  Also I think the switches are different materials less of the sticky rubber feel to them. 

Round airbag in the steering wheel makes a big difference to looks  

Earlier gen 2 had silver highlights on the steering wheel spokes later ones all black. (May be dependent on steering wheel spec )

if you get one with pcm the. It’s v3 in the gen 2. With the right original spec that can give you Bluetooth hands free phone and wired iPhone connectivity. (Look in the centre armrest / cubby for aux /usb/iPod)

i have a 2011 PDK. Feels “modern” enough for me without any playstation look and feel. 

[in_dellible]

15 hours ago, mat1 said:

Just tried a low mileage 2007 Tip. Was not as bad as I was expecting but definitely wasn't as smooth as the s-tronic in my Audi which is similar to the PDK I believe.

The interior definitely felt a bit dated but I'm unsure if the 987.2 would be any different in this regard? I know the centre console is black instead of grey but is that it?

I'm going to try a PDK soon but I'm pretty sure this will be the way I go if I can find one that hasn't been abused and can stay under OPC warranty for 4/5/6 years. Probably looking for under 80,000miles just in case.

 

Gearbox wise there is Very little to choose between the Gen 2 PDK and the S Tronic. Both nice boxes. Interior wise, I agree, the Gen 1 feels extremely dated in comparison to the Gen 2, however there are gen 1 owners that have addressed this with updated Headunits, steering wheels etc.