[Flieger]

Originally Posted by s_wilwerding

The pre-2009 Caymans did have some issues (IMS, etc.), though most can be cured. I frequent a lot of Boxster/Cayman boards, and I have not seen much talk about piston issues, so my guess it that that is getting overblown. The IMS can be fixed with an aftermarket upgrade (which I did to my 3.4). If you take some steps, you can make older Caymans pretty reliable (as many have pointed out, I'm not sure there are a lot of car brands out there that NEVER have issues).

As for post-2009 Caymans with DFI (and no IMS), the only issues I've heard of so far are some reports of high pressure fuel pump issues, which are not catastrophic and pretty easy to fix. I have yet to hear of one of the new engines failing catastrophically - keep in mind that the Cayman, Boxster, 911, Turbo, GT3, etc. are all variants of the same engine, so they were built pretty robustly.

As for the general theme of this thread, keep in mind that it only takes one dissatisfied owner to make a big stink and blow the problem out of proportion - you don't hear from the thousands and thousands of owners who have no issues.

Until the DFI engine came out, the Turbo, GT3, and GT2 continued to use the GT1 derived engine which was based on the basic architechture of the Mezger air cooled engine but adapted to water cooling. That is why a GT3 crank fits an SC. Then the Turbo got the DFI engine and the GT3 and GT2 were the only ones with the Mezger motor. Now with the GT3RS 4.0 it looks like the Mezger motor will be resigned to Cup cars only until they finally phase in a new engine in that to make it more consistent with the road car.