Need BMW regulars' information: BMW Z4 Coupe 3.0Si

[foxfrc5]

Originally Posted by caySman

Any idea on the depreciation of a Cayman Manual 6speed PASM white with black interior?

Cayman = niche model
Manual = niche model
White = niche model

As with many things in life, it will depend on whether you can find the right buyer who values these qualities and is willing to pay sensible bucks. My two cents is that if you're really worried about depreciation, it would be better to get a tiptronic in grey, silver or black -- which are the proven strong sellers in terms of used Porsches in Singapore.

I must say I like your combination though :-)

[TripleM]

Any idea on the depreciation of a Cayman Manual 6speed PASM white with black interior?

Increasingly, younger generations are more appreciative of manual cars and in the context of high end perf luxury...It's got to be Porsche..so u will find niche buyer w/o much of difficulty I reckon.

Having said that, 20pct depre in the first year is expected regardless. These are the words that came outta SA sales person.

[louis]

Originally Posted by TripleM

Increasingly, younger generations are more appreciative of manual cars and in the context of high end perf luxury...It's got to be Porsche..so u will find niche buyer w/o much of difficulty I reckon.

i agree. CaySman, i'm a stick shift addict now, if the price is within my means, i'll give your baby a new home when the time comes.

[R33Devil]

I started looking at cars recently again as I decided I should reduce the number of cars and bump the overall age of decade old metals into more youthful things.

The Cayman S and the Z4 3.0 is on top of my list if I would want to get a brand new car.

I have good memories of the Cayman S, I think getting back into one again is a good idea. This time will engage in the PSAM option, sport shifter and Xennon. Carrera White with black interior.

The Z4 Coupe is attractive in terms of its pricing. GC over at PML showed me the price list which listed it at 208. I think the car is a steal for that price. It would be also a white one with little options. Save the money for AC styling

I hear alot of others who are extremely tempted to get into similar cars, however, most of them are tempted to go tip/gaytronic. Thus....the market speaks...

But I still maintain, go with your heart. Its just nicer to have a look you look forward to driving and keep the anguist for the heartbreaking moment when you try to sell it. Although it might not happen....

[foxfrc5]

The recent proliferation of manual-only cars like the RS4 and new GT3 is encouraging. Let's hope there will be more manual Porkers going forward.

A white Cayman S with a black interior sounds great. Just make sure the alloys have black centres... :-)

[centurion]

Originally Posted by R33Devil

I started looking at cars recently again as I decided I should reduce the number of cars and bump the overall age of decade old metals into more youthful things.

The Cayman S and the Z4 3.0 is on top of my list if I would want to get a brand new car.

I have good memories of the Cayman S, I think getting back into one again is a good idea. This time will engage in the PSAM option, sport shifter and Xennon. Carrera White with black interior.

The Z4 Coupe is attractive in terms of its pricing. GC over at PML showed me the price list which listed it at 208. I think the car is a steal for that price. It would be also a white one with little options. Save the money for AC styling

I hear alot of others who are extremely tempted to get into similar cars, however, most of them are tempted to go tip/gaytronic. Thus....the market speaks...

But I still maintain, go with your heart. Its just nicer to have a look you look forward to driving and keep the anguist for the heartbreaking moment when you try to sell it. Although it might not happen....

If you are going to spend amost a quarter million bucks, there better be no compromises. I would say that the Z4 3.0 SI is a worse compromise than the both the Cayman and Cayman S. The engine is sweet, but that's about it. The visibility is poor, much poorer than what it can be. I could hardly reverse park it! I had to open the driver's side door, hang my head out and reverse park this way. The chassis is better than any BMW I've driven, but it still pales in comparison to the Cayman.

The Cayman 2.7 is another good option. What I said before, is that the smaller engine let's me drive neater. Seems to be some BS justification just because I don't have the money to buy an S, right? Surprisingly, Chris Harris in the latest GT Porsche issue had something to say to support me too. Paraphrased, he stated that he preferred the 2.7 because the smaller engine has lighter internals and it is more revvy. And it allows him to max out the engine much more often than the 3.4 S, and enjoy the induction. Best of all, he states the 2.7 needs hard work at the gearbox to maximize the engine's potential, and that's not a minus, because the cog shifting is what he bought the car for after all. Well, so there. This guy has an RS replica, and access to the whole spectrum of porsches from the 356 to the GT3, and he chooses a Cayman 2.7 when he has to spend his own money, there must be something in it.
But what I say won't illustrate to you as clearly as you'd try for yourself. Go and test both back to back.

By the way I have quite confirmed that I will go for the Cayman 2.7 Manual 6 PASM manual SPEED YELLOW. I was thinking, yellow is a more special color than Carrera White, and if it hurts too much I'll just strip respray it with better paint than Porsche can supply. It looks better in yellow to me, and the initial reason why I chose white was to be `low profile' but ... a Cayman in whatever color is not low profile, so what the heck, go for the nicer color.

Any serious objections?

Another issue is now, whether to take the Stuttgart or the PI car. The car is EXACTLY THE SAME. Warranty is by both Porsche International warranty by Stuttgart AND ALSO PI's warranty (Vincar) through 3rd party Porsche warranty. Price difference is S$20K. OMV for PI car is higher of course, and depreciation is S$2K less a year in theory. I'm intending to keep this car long time.

Any insights and comments? I'll make the deal today if possible.

[TripleM]

For such small difference, might as well stick with Stuttgart and get the royal treatment unless you really dont bother going back to them then PI all the way and go to outside shops for service n repairs.

[centurion]

Some weird reasons on getting a Cayman now... besides the normal reasons of how desirable, driveable the car is ...

1) The Cayman is fast getting recognition among porkiephiles that it is the greatest handling car Porsche ever made. The lines are growing and the stupid queue is until September now. And there are NO MORE factories to make it if you discount Karmann, whose track record for the CLK, SLK, is not exactly great.

2) Porsche will announce their DI engines in 2008 second half, and as you know, all Porsche's new engines go through a 3 year period of finetuning and bugfix. Porsche is a small company, and they don't do serious exhaustive testing to the extent of the big guys. For example, Porsche just spent 1.3 billion DM on the 911 997 and that development cost is shared with the Cayman and Boxster 2. In contrast, the C-Class had 4B DM in development costs. Not considering the volumes at all, this is a big difference in dev costs, and testing is paramount. The new DI engines WILL give crappy trouble, and I don't want to be Porsche's beta tester.

3) The age old gentlemens' agreement that Merc and BMW will not touch Porsche is now KAPUT because of global performance pressure. So Audi has made the R8 to compete against the 911, BMW is readying a similar M-car based on the 6-series to compete against that, and Merc will follow suit. This will have only 1 sure effect - it will force Porsche to cut costs. And there goes the last volume manufacturer in the world who has retained quality at huge cost. The Cayman and 997 will probably be one of the last cars to have Porsche's bulletproof quality, just like the old series SL was the last Merc to have tank like build quality.

4) The hankering after cleaner emissions is getting quite serious. The Cayenne will have a hybrid soon, and that speaks volumes that even Porsche is getting on the green bandwagon. The regenerative braking mechanism of hybrids will give a really horrible feel upon transition between regenerative and hydraulic braking, and I don't want that. I don't want a Hybrid Porsche. But legislation may well force it on us in the long run, making the current available models as one of the models of a brief golden age of automobiles.

Stupid reasons but I considered them too...

[axl]

I dunt think a Speed Yellow Cayman looks nice... white might be better, but that's just me. Good luck and enjoy the car dood!

[centurion]

Cayman yellow and Cayman White.