Prospective 987.1 Owner: Which options to look for?

[Scottland]

Hi there,

Looking to pick up a 987.1 in the not too distant future. Will probably be a 2.7 but maybe a 3.2 S if one pops up in budget. What I'm wondering though is what options were available that are particularly desirable?

2 musts for me are heated seats and xenon headlights. Factory nav doesn't bother me as I'd probably want to put in a double din unit for Carplay/Android Auto etc. Is there anything else I should particularly look out for? Or avoid?

 

Cheers

[red rocket]

Welcome. Be mindful that these cars were all individually specced so you may struggle to get everything you want. Most like heated seats though I don't really miss them. Personally like climate control and rear parking sensors (though the latter are after market on mine). Full leather would be nice. PSE would be very nice but easy enough to get a Carnewal mod. Sports steering wheel also but again wheels can easily be modded.

Most important thing is service history and work done especially suspension. 

[Menoporsche]

Welcome.  It was leather, xenons, heated seats, climate, door speakers that were the ones that were uneconomical to retrofit.

[Scottland]

56 minutes ago, red rocket said:

Welcome. Be mindful that these cars were all individually specced so you may struggle to get everything you want. Most like heated seats though I don't really miss them. Personally like climate control and rear parking sensors (though the latter are after market on mine). Full leather would be nice. PSE would be very nice but easy enough to get a Carnewal mod. Sports steering wheel also but again wheels can easily be modded.

Most important thing is service history and work done especially suspension. 

 

41 minutes ago, Menoporsche said:

Welcome.  It was leather, xenons, heated seats, climate, door speakers that were the ones that were uneconomical to retrofit.

Thanks both. I'm not going to be chasing a unicorn, I just wanted to gauge what was/wasn't worth getting. 

With regards to putting in a double din unit after market - is it better to have the standard audio or Bose for that? 

 

@Menoporsche - that list would be basically what I'm after I think. A good car would potentially trump any options, but ideally that's what I'd want. 

[zcacogp]

That seems like a slightly odd Q but don't want to be rude. 

What's important to you? How long are you willing to wait for the 'right' car? 

I wouldn't settle for a black car and didn't really want a car with a black interior although I was quite keen on the all-leather interior. I waited quite a while for a car I liked to come up and it happens to have a lot of other options as well. However it was basically a sound car, which was the most important thing. 

In terms of aftermarket audio, it depends upon how far you want to go and how deep your pockets are. Something with BOSE will require a connector to connect an aftermarket head unit to the BOSE system, which are expensive. I think they also have different impedence speakers amongst other things. If you want to put in a good aftermarket system (by which I mean new head unit, speakers, amplifier) then you will probably want to remove everything that's already there in which case then paying the extra for a BOSE car will be a waste of money. However if you just want a better head unit then buying a connector to make it talk to the BOSE system isn't a bad option. 

[Mattman42]

Heated Seats, Climate, Parking Sensors and extended leather as the basics for me - i also prefer the looks of larger wheels - wouldn't consider a car on 17's as they look "under-wheeled" to me.

Then its buy on condition, history, condition, history and then condition  - don't get too hung up on miles or number of owners - they tend to have had a few owners over the years

[Menoporsche]

For me buying again, I'd want xenons for night driving, heated seats for top down winter driving (awesome), probably some upgraded sound package but I never use mine... I don't care about full leather, that some here rave about, nor climate control in my second car where the roof is always down.  I do really appreciate the PSE being switchable, so I can be calm/hooligan as required; the non-switchable sound was available from Carnewal for years, but I believe now there are other switchable solutions on the market. Gradually decent bulbs that don't mess with CANBUS are also coming out.

[zcacogp]

... and a lot of it comes down to how hard it would be to put in some options that weren't there at the build, as MenoPorsche said. 

Changing the wheels for bigger (or smaller) ones (I'm a sucker for small wheels) is pretty easy. Putting better light bulbs into a non-Xenon car isn't tricky. Fitting reversing sensors isn't that hard. A full new sound system is a faff. A leather interior/PASM/Sport Chrono are pretty much impossible. 

Work out what you can't live without and can't retrofit. Then buy the best car you can find for the money with those bits on. Then retrofit the bits you are missing. 

[Scottland]

Thanks all. Just to maybe clarify my position - I just want to see which options were available so I can differentiate when looking through cars. This will be my first Boxster/Porsche so I'm not that familiar with the equipment levels etc. I'm still also getting my head around the various engine differences with IMS, Bore Score etc all popping up in searches.

I'm in no rush, plus with lockdown still in effect (mostly at least) I won't be going out to look at anything in the near future - just leaves me with plenty of time to do research and hit the refresh button on all the for sale sites!

 

Thanks again

[Gdaybruce]

My car has the heated sports seats which I use and enjoy but that's about it for extras. Given the choice, I would go for cruise control and parking sensors - I find it surprisingly difficult to judge where the back end is when reversing. Better headlights as well.

All these things are non-essential and can be retro fitted if required so I wouldn't let the lack of them put you off if you find what is otherwise the right car I didn't!

[Menoporsche]

Cruise and rear sensors are easy retrofit. Changing the wheels the easiest of all!

[Mattman42]

2 hours ago, Menoporsche said:

For me buying again, I'd want xenons for night driving, heated seats for top down winter driving (awesome), probably some upgraded sound package but I never use mine... I don't care about full leather, that some here rave about, nor climate control in my second car where the roof is always down.  I do really appreciate the PSE being switchable, so I can be calm/hooligan as required; the non-switchable sound was available from Carnewal for years, but I believe now there are other switchable solutions on the market. Gradually decent bulbs that don't mess with CANBUS are also coming out.

You forget to mention you also live outside the UK where you can have the roof down a lot more than we can over here with our changeable weather!

Thats why us proper brits need climate!

Noisy exhaust is a good shout - the standard one is sufficient, but more noise is always welcome. 

[Menoporsche]

I have manual aircon which keeps me perfectly comfortable, my climate control is to blip the window open for a bit!  I don't need climate in my toy car but can appreciate that those on a 45min commute daily would want it. 

[Ninesomething]

Heated seats gotta be the big one. Have you seen the price of a replacement xenon bulb? Upgraded bulbs will do the job. The latest LED bulbs work fine and are as good if not better than xenons. Thought I 'needed' everything when I was looking. Turns out I don't - the standard car has almost everything I need. Oh - 18s.

[headless]

Never had heated seats and would never go out to buy one with them, more important to me spec wise is a bigger engine, so I went for the 3.2S and PASM, it really is awesome the way it handles in corners, I like music but to be honest I also love the sound of that flat 6 a few inches from my ears and had the gundo hack done on the exhaust for under £300, makes a great noise now when you boot it but still quiet when going steady!!

if you go for a 3.2 go for one after 2005, they have the better IMS bearing and no bore score issues, that's on the 3.4's.

Of course go for condition and service history just like any car!!

Good luck and I hope you get what you want, they are belting cars!!!!

[Scottland]

4 hours ago, JonSta said:

Heated seats gotta be the big one. Have you seen the price of a replacement xenon bulb? Upgraded bulbs will do the job. The latest LED bulbs work fine and are as good if not better than xenons. Thought I 'needed' everything when I was looking. Turns out I don't - the standard car has almost everything I need. Oh - 18s.

Xenon's I'd definitely rather have, nothing worse than bad headlights - even with good bulbs halogens don't really cut it for me  

Plus I'm somewhat rural so small, narrow, winding roads in the dark means the more light the better!

1 hour ago, headless said:

Never had heated seats and would never go out to buy one with them, more important to me spec wise is a bigger engine, so I went for the 3.2S and PASM, it really is awesome the way it handles in corners, I like music but to be honest I also love the sound of that flat 6 a few inches from my ears and had the gundo hack done on the exhaust for under £300, makes a great noise now when you boot it but still quiet when going steady!!

if you go for a 3.2 go for one after 2005, they have the better IMS bearing and no bore score issues, that's on the 3.4's.

Of course go for condition and service history just like any car!!

Good luck and I hope you get what you want, they are belting cars!!!!

 

With PASM, is the 'sport' mode is it firmer/better than the normal suspension? Or is non-sport just softer?

[Menoporsche]

If you want PASM, look if it’s been replaced already. Apparently close to a grand a corner, and a 987.1 is approaching 15 years old. 

[zcacogp]

I think that non-Sport on PASM is slightly softer than standard and Sport is quite a lot stiffer. However the PASM system is dynamic; it senses the forces on the car and stiffens accordingly. The Sport button changes the range within which it stiffens. 

A grand a corner is a lot more expensive than I have seen quoted, unless you are including all suspension parts and labour as well. I think the four struts come in at around £1300-1500, which is more expensive than the standard ones. 

[Menoporsche]

Thanks I’ll try to revise for future! 

[Scottland]

32 minutes ago, zcacogp said:

I think that non-Sport on PASM is slightly softer than standard and Sport is quite a lot stiffer. However the PASM system is dynamic; it senses the forces on the car and stiffens accordingly. The Sport button changes the range within which it stiffens. 

A grand a corner is a lot more expensive than I have seen quoted, unless you are including all suspension parts and labour as well. I think the four struts come in at around £1300-1500, which is more expensive than the standard ones. 

That's not so bad actually, much better than a grand a corner!

[zcacogp]

A bit of googling comes up with Design 911, showing the fronts at £488.30 each and the rears at £244.15 each. Both Bilstein B4. £1465 in total, probably plus postage and maybe VAT. 

https://www.design911.co.uk/fu/pt385_391_-cma81-cmo121/Porsche/Cayman-987C---981C/Shock-Absorbers-Rear/

Standard Bilsteins (not B4) here are a little cheaper: 

https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/uk/porsche/987-boxster/suspension.html?type_of_part=827 

Non-PASM items are cheaper but not by a whole load. 

 

ETA: I have PASM on my 987 Cayman. It wasn't something I looked out for when I bought the car and I was concerned about the costs of the parts but having driven the car with it on then I would probably seek it out if I bought another 987. (Mind you, I always have been a ride and handling junkie and others will value it less.) 

[headless]

On 5/11/2020 at 8:27 PM, Scottland said:

Xenon's I'd definitely rather have, nothing worse than bad headlights - even with good bulbs halogens don't really cut it for me  

Plus I'm somewhat rural so small, narrow, winding roads in the dark means the more light the better!

 

With PASM, is the 'sport' mode is it firmer/better than the normal suspension? Or is non-sport just softer?

PASM is always on, so it's active all the time, I have a handbook that explains in normal mode the suspension goes stiffer and softer than the standard suspension, but in sport it is a lot stiffer, I have tried it on the road in sport and it rattles your filling, I presume it's for track use as tracks are like a billiard table...mostly!!!

[Scottland]

1 hour ago, headless said:

PASM is always on, so it's active all the time, I have a handbook that explains in normal mode the suspension goes stiffer and softer than the standard suspension, but in sport it is a lot stiffer, I have tried it on the road in sport and it rattles your filling, I presume it's for track use as tracks are like a billiard table...mostly!!!

Thanks. Works differently to the BMW sport suspension I've had in the past which was on or off. Off on that was a bit more compliant than the normal suspension and on was firmer. I don't think I'd be too bothered either way, if anything without PASM would potentially give me a better set of options should I need to refresh or replace the suspension. 

[zcacogp]

The PASM system has an 'on/off' button on the dashboard (I think it's marked 'Sport' or something daft like that) but it's on all the time. The system constantly monitors the movement of the car and adjusts the dampers to suit, but the parameters of adjustment available to the system increase when it's in 'Sport' mode. It will stiffen up if you get energetic with it in 'Normal' mode but it will stiffen up a whole load more in 'Sport' mode. 

It is quite harsh in 'Sport' mode but on a good road it does keep things quite a lot flatter and faster. Think of it as being all the options you'd have available when refreshing your suspension in the same place, switchable from the dashboard! 

[Takahashi]

when i was looking for mine, only 2 in the county had the 'right' spec. however 1 was in black, which i dont think shows the curves as much as the GT Silver one i ended up with. If i couldnt get the GT car, I would have waited for the right one. As a guide, mine has Sport Chrono, PASM, 19 way headted seats, extended leather, nav and phone, GT Silver paint, lowish miles, lobster claws, xenons, etc. etc.