---
title: 'The Last Real Porsche You Can Still Afford'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=XxmC4Ovi6G4'
video_id: 'XxmC4Ovi6G4'
date: 2026-08-03
duration_sec: 554
---

# The Last Real Porsche You Can Still Afford

> Source: [The Last Real Porsche You Can Still Afford](https://youtube.com/watch?v=XxmC4Ovi6G4)

## Summary

The video argues that the 987.2 Porsche Cayman is the last genuinely affordable real Porsche, offering a mid-engine, naturally aspirated driving experience at a fraction of the cost of other Porsches. It explains why this generation remains undervalued, highlighting its reliable engine, hydraulic steering, and balanced chassis, and positions it as a smart buy before prices inevitably rise.

### Key Points

- **Cheapest entry into Porsche ownership** [00:01] — The 987.2 Cayman is presented as the cheapest way into real Porsche ownership, with prices in the high teens to low 30s for base models and mid 30s to 40s for the S, based on verified sales from classic.com.
- **Porsche fixed the scary part in 2009** [01:09] — The 987.2 got a new engine architecture without the intermediate shaft (IMS) bearing that plagued earlier engines, eliminating the main reliability concern and justifying a premium over earlier cars.
- **Awkward middle ground keeps prices low** [01:49] — The car is too new to be a classic and too old to be modern, lacking Instagram flex appeal, so it misses the typical price-driving incentives, creating a gap between reputation and reality where smart money shops.
- **Owners hold, not flip** [02:17] — Owners tend to keep and maintain these cars for years rather than trading up, reducing supply and setting the stage for future price appreciation.
- **Mid-engine layout is the secret** [03:34] — The engine sits ahead of the rear axle, giving balanced weight distribution and natural rotation, reducing reliance on electronics and making the car feel intuitive and smooth.
- **Hydraulic steering is irreplaceable** [04:02] — The 987.2 has hydraulic steering, which provides direct road feel that later electric steering lacks, making it the last generation that 'talks' to the driver.
- **Naturally aspirated flat-six engine** [04:30] — The base car makes 265 hp, the S 321 hp, with no turbo lag, rewarding high revs and providing linear power delivery that is engaging without being reckless.
- **Cayman R is the ultimate variant** [05:13] — Built only in 2011-2012, the Cayman R has 10 more hp than the S, is 121 lb lighter, and fewer than 2,000 were made, making it the closest to a factory race car.
- **Boringly dependable daily driver** [05:42] — Owners describe it as solid and dependable, with good visibility and ergonomics, making it usable daily, contrary to the typical used Porsche reputation.
- **Bore scoring myth debunked** [06:23] — Bore scoring is real but often caused by short trips, cold starts, and neglect, not inherent design flaws; properly driven and maintained engines are reliable.
- **Manual gearbox is the ideal spec** [07:02] — The manual transmission is slower on paper but offers engagement and feel, making it the correct choice for a car built around driver involvement.
- **Timeless looks without attention** [07:32] — The Cayman's silhouette resembles more expensive Porsches, reading as far more expensive than its price tag, with a rising spoiler at speed.
- **Boxster alternative** [07:58] — The 987.2 Boxster shares the same platform and steering with a slight power deficit, offering open-top driving for similar money, though the Cayman is sharper.
- **The window before prices rise** [08:25] — The car is in the early phase of appreciation: enthusiasts buy quietly, supply dwindles, then everyone notices. Now is the time to buy before the math catches up.

### Conclusion

The 987.2 Cayman is a rare combination of reliability, driving purity, and affordability, making it the most underappreciated Porsche currently on the market. Buy now before the market corrects its undervaluation.

## Transcript

quick, this is the cheapest way into Porsche ownership, like real ownership. Yes, the 987.2 Cayman is the last car Porsche accidentally made way too good and it's still selling for the price of a loaded
tell you exactly why this specific Porsche with its specific engine with entry point into real sports car ownership that currently exists. No
asterisks, no for the money, the actual answer. Like, subscribe so we can hit 2 mil by the end of the year and let's go. Let's start with a number that should not be true. A base 987.2 Cayman with a 6-speed manual is trading for high teens
to low 30s depending on mileage and condition. The S with the bigger engine sits a notch above that. Mid 30s to 40s for a clean one. Real transactions of verified sales from classic.com, no eBay fantasy pricing and they should not
exist. Every car around it has already moved. Air-cooled 911s gone into another tax bracket. 997 manuals climbing every single year. The next generation of the single year. The next generation of the 981 holding firm above it and the 987.2
just sits there in this used car listing like nobody told it what it actually was and here is why. Porsche fixed the scary part in 2009. The old engines use something called an intermediate shaft to drive the camshafts and the shaft's
bearing was famous for failing and taking the whole engine with it. The 987.2 got a completely new engine architecture. No intermediate shaft, no bearing to fail. That single design change is why this generation trades at
a real premium over the earlier cars and it's also why the horror stories you've read online mostly belong to the Porsche that isn't this one. Part of the pricing gap, well, it's timing. This car lives in an awkward middle ground. Too new to
be treated like a classic, too old to be anyone's idea of the latest thing. Not flashy enough to get flexed on Instagram. Every incentive that normally drives a car's price up is missing here, and none of that has anything to do with
how good the car actually is. That gap between reputation and reality is exactly where the smart money always shops. The other part is that the people don't see a wave of these hitting the markets from owners cashing out. You see
owners keeping them for years, maintaining them properly, upgrading the small stuff instead of trading up. That's not how people treat a car they treat a car that they're genuinely attached to. And a market where the good
examples keep getting held back instead of flipped is a market that's quietly running out of supply before the demand catches up to notice. That is the persona of this car in one line. It's the Porsche that got the scary
reputation fixed and never got the memo that it should cost more for it. And one of these without spending 3 weeks refreshing 11 different website. It pulls every listing on the market into one search. And the link is pinned in
the first comment. Use it before you use anything else. Hey guys, real quick, the giveaway for the Shelby and Supra in the $100,000 has ended, and well, the winners are being picked right now. But, we're coming back bigger and better and
better. So, click the link in the pinned first comment because, like Rocky who won the GT-R, like Greg who won the 100K, you can sign up to be notified and get 100 free entries once it goes live. So, click the link down below, go put in
your email, and I can't wait to show you what we have cooking. All right, back to the show. Okay, now let's talk about why it drives the way that it does because this is the part that actually matters. The engine, it sits behind you. Yes,
ahead of the rear axle. Mid-engine layout. That is the entire secret. instead of hanging off the nose or the tail means that car rotates the way physics wants it to, not the way a computer has to correct for. It's the
smoother when the weight sits in the middle of the string instead of on one end. You don't need traction control working overtime to save you. The chassis is already balanced before electronics get involved. Then there is
the steering, and this is the thing you cannot get anymore at any price with Porsche. Hydraulic, no electric, actual fluid pressure translating what the front tires are doing directly into your hands, and it feels so good, brother.
corner. You feel the road surface change. The wheel isn't just pointing generation right after this one switched to electric steering, and the cars got faster and sharper on paper and quieter into your hands. This is the last one
that still talks to you religiously. Now, the engine matches that honestly. Naturally aspirated flat-six, no turbo, no lag, no torque spike waiting for you to surprise you. The base car makes 265 horses out of the 296. The S bumps that
to 321 with direct injected added on. Neither number sounds huge this year, everything the engine has without breaking laws or breaking your neck. You live in the upper half of the rev range because the car actually rewards you for
being there instead of already doing felony speeds by second gear. If the standard car isn't enough, Porsche built exactly one nastier version of this chassis, the Cayman R, built for 2011 and 2012 only. Same 3.4 L engine as the
S with 10 more horsepower, but 121 lb lighter thanks to aluminum doors, air conditioning and a radio. Fewer than 2,000 were ever built, and it's the closest thing to a factory race car that platform ever got, and it trades at real
you find a clean manual R for the same money as a nice S, you buy the R and you other half of why this car works as a daily reality and not just a weekend toy. Owners describe this generation the
same way over and over, solid, boringly dependable for a Porsche. You're not going to do a startup ritual and pray. You're going to turn the key and you're going to go to work or hit that back road. That's not the reputation people
assume a used Porsche comes with and that [snorts] gap between the reputation and the reality is exactly why the pricing hasn't caught up yet. It's also just usable in a way that low wide modern performance cars aren't. It has
good visibility, sensible ergonomics, a cabin from an era when a button did one throwing an error at you on a cold morning. You climb in and drive instead Let's kill the other myth while we're here because it comes up every single
time this car is get mentioned. Bore scoring. It's a real thing that can enough time. It's exactly what happened to my 996 C4S and it's also a real thing that can happen to basically any engine
over a long enough time. That's called wear. The pattern behind the actual failures is almost always the same. Short trips, cold starts, long stretches sitting inside or running. An engine that gets driven properly and maintained
to worry about. The car that sits in a garage all winter and gets babied for 800 mi a year is the one that earns a bad reputation through neglect and >> And the manual gearbox isn't a nostalgia
car. This chassis was tuned around a driver making decisions, choosing the feeling the clutch bite instead of watching a paddle do the thinking for quicker in a straight line and easier to live with in traffic and it will never
once make you feel like it did something. The manual is slower on paper and on a [music] car built around feel instead of lap times, that's not a compromise, that's the correct spec, dare I say ideal spec. And it looks the
part without begging for attention. Long hood, tight cabin, the spoiler that rises out of the decklid at speed like a car that is announcing itself. People compare the silhouette to Porsche's much more expensive halo cars and they're not
exaggerating by much. It reads as far more expensive than the numbers on the title. Now, if you genuinely cannot live without a convertible, the 987.2 Boxster shares this exact platform, this exact steering and nearly this exact [music]
engine minus a small horsepower deficit and some rear end rigidity. Same recipe, open top, similar money. It's not a downgrade, it's a different answer to a stiffer chassis and the car that was built to be driven hard without a fabric
roof between you and the elements, the Cayman is the sharper tool. Now, cars they're bad. They stay cheap because nobody's told them the story yet. First, the enthusiasts quietly buy them, then the good ones stop showing up for sale,
then everybody else notices at once and acts like they knew the whole time. Right now, today, this car is still sitting in that first window, the window where the math hasn't caught up to the experience. So, I'm now looking for a
987.2 Cayman or Boxster because I like the open-air going topless feel. Let me know, is this the most underappreciated Porsche out there right now in the Ideal. Like, subscribe so we hit 2 mil by the end of the year. Check out some
of these Ideal vids over here and promise me one thing, keep living the ideal lifestyle. >> [music]