Do you guys think the Porsche Cayman is worth the $50+K ? Is it truly a "real" Porsche or is it another one of those 911 wannabe's? Share your thots on this .... thanks!

 

Why would you think its not a "real" porsche??

Its like a middle ground between the Boxster and the 911...I personally dont think that the segment it taps into is big enough. If I were porsche I would have put more effort into improving the 911, thus making a good thing even better rather than waste time with releasing the Cayman.

Thats nothing against the car...its great.. more of a strategical thing

 

Not sure if Porsche design this thing totally by themselves or was it outsourced?

No moonroof, even if you wanna pay for it!
No standard Xenon lights.

It has a slight feminine look and feel. Do you guys see it that way?

There're also some complaints from reviewers about visibility in the rear even though there's a large slab of glass in the rear.


For that, I guess you can take a look at the 911 turbo, which is the latest effort in pushing the edge of the 911. And, I don't want to spend that much on a car.

 

5 Speed gearbox , no Limited slip differential are the Caymans true weaknesses , heck even the new Toyota Corolla has a 6 Speed manual gearbox .

Porsche better lift its game .

Michael

 

i honestly dont think its worth the money...actually transaction price is more around 55k for a cayman and 65k for a cayman S... for 55k a 245hp car when the v6 altima and Camery has 270 and 268hp respectively. just seems like a ripoff... Id rather buy a SLK AMG 55, M3 or save some money and get a Vette or Elise

 

So it has a wing that extends at a certain speed. Sort of like, uh, that one Chrysler, whatsitsname.

 

:GETS THE BAN STICK IN THE READY POSITION:

 

I say we preemptivly ban him.


Also, the cayman is more porsche than the 924 was.

 

I always thought that the Boxster is a 924 and the Cayman is a 944. I don't know anything about porsches but it's just a gut feeling.

 

I love the car, I just wish they didn't gimp it by leaving out some basic performance enhancing bits just so it would stay (artificially) "below" the 911. Pretty lame, imo.

 

as detuned as he cayman s may be it still beats a 911 around the nurburgring, and looks even more striking and exotic in person. if i had 70k to throw around a nice black cayman s would be the first thing i get.

 

i mean... from a pure performance standpoint, the S still managed to get better laptime than the 911 on nurburgring. it sure didnt beat the 911 in straightline acceleration... so that should pretty much tell you about its cornering abilities. dont get stuck in the fancy Letter and abbreviations.

Id still rather get a M3 or SLK AMG or the new GT-R though.

 

Yes, the Nurburgring lap time is quite impressive --- it must have been able to make razor sharp turns at higher speeds than the 911.

And, yes, the M3 would be a good compromise with 2 additional seats in the rear and that's more practical for me ... but then again, is anyone looking for practicality if one is looking into a "real" sports car?

The other car to consider is the new 335ci with the twin-turbo. But, again, this car is that much taller than the Cayman and I'm quite certain the center of gravity is not as low as the Cayman.

decisions decisions ....

 

moving to general auto...

 

What's not to love. You get the mid-engine balance and performance of the boxster that everyone raves about in a coupe. I think they did an excellent job of turning the boxster into a coupe. They could have done one of those crappy hard top cobb jobs but they went and designed a proper closed body and frame. The car is supposed to have awsome ridgidity and be razor sharp. I bet for the same money as a decked out 911S you could get some aftermarket shop like RUF to make the cayman a better performing car than the 911.

 

Your gut feeling is wrong. I don't know why you guys are putting the Cayman up on a pedestal compared to the Boxster. A Cayman is little more than a Boxster with a permanent roof.

 

It's a lot more than a boxster with a permanent roof. Different heads, bigger engine, different suspension tuning.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article....rticle_id=2854

 

To me, that's only a little more than a Boxster with a roof Porsche could have called it the Boxster coupe and no one would have argued it's anything but.

 

I think the BoxsterS/CaymanS put up great track numbers. But for the cost, just not worth it, imo.

 

So you've driven them?

 

give me a cayman s with a aftermarket LSD, and I'll hand a 911 its *** on a track, the cayman with a lsd was laping the N-ring faster than a 911 during development. Porsche had to "detune" the cars performance as as to not hurt the 911 image.

 

Not a CaymanS. A close friend has a BoxsterS that I've driven several times extensively. It was very tight in its feel, and felt much more powerful than I expected. But still nothing I'd pay 65K for.

 

ive driven a cayman s, regular boxter, 95 911 turbo, 94 911 carrera ...4... i think it was, as well as a few early 90's carreras.

from a sprots car point of view, the cayman is worth every penny if you can justify paying 70-80K for a 911. the cayman s is no joke bone stock. it drives very neutral and predictable. it gives you all of the advantages of driving a mid engine car with minimal draw backs. most people that have pushed a 911 model will tell you that they need to be driven differently due the weight distrabution. but then again, many will tell you that diven correctly, they have lateral grip then most convetional settups.

 

I like the Cayman. I do hate how Porsche nickels and dimes you for things that should be standard on the car though.

 

Does anyone know a place I can get a comparison of torsional rigidity of cars? I keep hearing it is 'better' or 'best in class' but no measures provided for comparison.

The RX-8 was supposed to have a great chassis for tortional ridgity, but so is the Cayman. Not to mention the Lotus cars.

When I was shopping for a car, the Boxster was high on the list until my spouse said we 'needed' four seats. I am glad I got the 8, but i still use the Boxster, and now the Cayman (as a better analog to the 8) as a benchmark.

I will be happy when my 8 can meet the performance specs of a Cayman. Yeah I know, go ahead and give me some ****... still something to work towards.