One of my buddies just sent me this. Entertaining, as usual. I keep in mind JC has a real hate on for Porsche. But, I never noticed how perfectly it fits between the 911 and boxster. Don't like that.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...165&q=top+gear

 

He makes some great comment. I thought of buying one of these until found out it is a $60K sports car without a limited slip differential!!!

 

Yeah. It has PASM, which is basically a computer controlled LSD. I don't think the one they tested had it though. I would still rather a LSD than PASM.

 

Cayman S is a badass car--but for $60K I'd get a preowned 911 or a new Corvette--that'd I'd trade in on a 911 down the line.

 

Cayman S, with a 3.6 L or even GT3 engine swap, will be some official ****.

 

That would be sweet but how much???$$$???

 

A lot. GT3 swap is a pipe dream. Those motors are 30k+ by themselves. The key with these swaps is to buy them used. You can get a 1999-2001 boxster with a 3.4L engine swaped from a Carrera pushing 300-350 hp at the crank for around 30k.

 

what engine will the club sport have?

 

I don't know. I haven't heard anything official about the clubsport. At this point, I am skeptical that it will happen at all.

 

Considering that this chassis is stronger then the current 911. What the hell is porsche waiting for? I'd be all over a turbo cayman.

 

I looked up PASM which stands for Porsche Active Suspension Management on Porsche's website.

http://www.porsche.com/usa/models/ca...s/?gtabindex=3

PASM just manages suspension and has nothing to do with managing power to the wheels.

So $60K for a sports car with no LSD (and no option for one) is disturbing.

 

You're right. I meant PSM. Porsche stability management.

 

That's the problem. They don't want people all over it, they want you all over the 911.

 

Now you made me go look up PSM :-) This strongly resembles the DSC in the RX and many other cars and I like you would much rather have an LSD to go along with it.

 

The 911 is the flagship car and to make a turbo Cayman would violate their lineup. It would be like Mazda making a Turbo charged high performance Mazda 6. Oh wait....

 

Well, that's mine, and most people thinking too. But Porsche likes to claim their PSM works like an LSD. It's a bit more advanced that Mazdas DSC

 

the cayman paced nurburgring faster than the 911's record of 8min15s mainly due to it being more balanced MR layout vs the traditional RR layout on the 911. Its a car for the motorsport purists and a better sports car. Id take it over a 911 anyday.

 

The Lotus Elise doesn't come standard with a LSD, either, and there wasn't even an option for one until the end of MY2005. Even then, I believe that the option is a US-only feature for the Elise (though I could be wrong on that). Just because a car doesn't have a LSD doesn't mean that it's automatically a sub-par sports car. The total package is far more important than any single component when it comes to the total driving experience, which is something that the Cayman reportedly does very well.

 

Never said that either car was sub-par but it seems to no take advantage of simple physic which could improve the car. Both the Elise and the Cayman whip the snot out of the RX but also one is double the price the other is 50% more. Yet niether is quite the best they can be being a pure sports care (in other words not so pure).

 

what, to you, qualifies as a pure sports car if the elise, to you, is not so pure?

 

Prettymuch what I expected... Can I say I told you so now?

 

Ok, a STI did it in 7min 59 last year... Does that make the STI a better sportscar than both of them? I don't think their times have any bearing on which is better, I'll take the 911 thank you.

 

actually i would take a sti over a caman just because of the cost difference. im not the porche kinda guy anyways, more of a vett guy. cayman is still a better sports car IMO just because of the better handling and the MR layout.

 

btw stock sti? i have a hard time believing a stock sti can be faster than a stock 911. if thats the case then im very impressed

 

IIRC, a Spec C variant ran the 'Ring in 8:0x within the last couple years, so I wouldn't be overly surprised if one of the newer ones managed to take a few seconds off that time.

Besides that, I think that the 997 Carerra S can crack the 8:00 barrier, so the Cayman is still a bit behind its bigger brother performance wise. I could just imagine one of those cars with a GT3 engine, though I bet that one would be quite the 911 killer.