brillo

Looks aside (i for one like the Cayman, but this is subjective), the cayman has the potential to be one of the best club race cars in History. The platform, engine layout, weight, polar moment of inertia etc...is far superior to the 911. It pisses me off that Porsche would basically neuter the car so that it won't outhandle a 911, which, to handle as well as it does, has to have several computer controled driving aids to keep you out of the weeds. I would swap a boxster LSD into the car immediately.

I could car less about the prestige of the 911, if I wanted prestige, I wouldn't drive a Mazda. The Cayman has the best of all Porsche's technology without the engine hanging off the ***. I could never spend the $90K on 911 to have such a stupid design. This is personal prefer. as I'm more of a purist. Its to bad the marketing folks got seats ahead of the engineers when it went to production.

Maybe in 5 years I can get a good used one for a decent price.

Parmer8

Coxster!!!! I like how he called it.

BlueEyes

Uh, you're completely misinformed. The 911 doesn't need any of the computers to handle as spectacularly as it does. You need only look at the GT3 as an example, or the GT3 RS, or any number of their race cars. Have you ever driven one?

I don't think the Boxster has an LSD either.

BlueEyes

What type of tires was it using?

rotarygod

The 911 isn't a terribly stable car in a corner. When the back end comes out, it really comes out fast. It takes a very good driver to be able to catch it. I've seen many of those go off track in a fast corner where other cars would just drive by. The car just isn't forgiving. I guarantee the Cayman is far more forgiving on the edge. A rear engine layout is more of a tradition with that car. It is not a performance oriented engine location regardless of what the 911 purists may claim.

Personally I think the Boxter and Cayman are both butt ugly pieces of overpriced bavarian engineering. The only 911's I like are either the Carrera S or the Turbo and of course the GT2. The others are ugly too. Don't even get me started about the Cayenne. I feel Porsche is more of a classic namesake now more than anything else. Aside from that they don't have much appeal. They're just trying to bust into the affordable market with their new halfassed attempts. On the other hand, at least they don't take some old existing economy car, add a turbo and stiffer suspension to it and then falsly claim it's a sports car. I guess I do have some respect for them just building a new car instead of adapting something else to fit some market fad. Too bad it's no more appealing and twice the price.

BlueEyes

You don't like the GT3? that's the purist of the current porsche's right there. They're certainly different cars to drive, you don't drive them like you would a typical sports car, but, once you learn to use them, they're fast as hell, and very rewarding to drive. Easily one of my favourite cars to drive is a 911. I don't recall hearing any 911 purists argueing that the engine is in the back to help performance either.

I'd be curious to know how many people that bash the 911 have driven it.

playdoh43

Ive driven a 996! ... well it was around the block once... at 25 mph ... didnt get to feel how the handling feels like.
porches are butt ugly cars though IMO, i have more respect for them now, after seeing the comparison on BMI v26 with GT3 vs F430 vs Gallardo vs NSX R. too bad they are still butt ugly... have you seen the size of that wing on the GT3? and i thought the STI wing was big. I respect them a lot but would never want one. :p

BlueEyes

I love the looks the 911, always have can easily say it's a dream car. Especially in GT3 form.

I was hoping to find a review of the GT3, and low and behold, here is an old Top Gear. Thanks Google Video!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...q=GT3+Top+Gear

Here is another one. The car I pray they bring over here. GT3RS vs 360CS
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...360CS+top+gear

Japan8

Agree with you Blue Eyes (is this a first?!). I love the 911. I miss the air-cooled engine, but the improvements made on the cars since more than make up for that. Looks wise... more sexy than a BMW to me. Not as sexy as a Ferrari, but outside of teh Carrera GT, it's cheaper and has "backseats." ... better gas mileage and generally makes for a better daily driver. Make mine Porsche.

JRichter

Lotus Elise not a pure sports car?

This car is easily one of the best handling cars in the world.

The only purpose of this cars existance is for sport.

open top, 2-seater, 1960 lbs, mid-engine, rwd, 0-60: 4.6 sec, 13.4 sec. at 101.4 mph sec 1/4 mile Skidpad: 0.98g

Lotus in general has an excellent reputation for handling capabilities/ suspension tuning (thats why many other car companies seek their advice in setup).

This is about as pure as you can get:

Ike

Even though you're a noob I totally agree, and those numbers are on the conservative side Calling the Elise not so pure is one of the more assanine things I've seen on this forum.

JRichter

Just because I'm a "noob" on THIS forum doesn't mean I don't know anything about cars or RX-8's for that matter. I didn't join until I bought mine a couple of months ago.

But thanks anyway...

BlueEyes

Don't talk back n00b.

TODreamer

Never liked the look of the 911

and as far as the Cayman goes.... I'd rather have a C6 vette for that kind of coinage.. but thats just me

therm8

The Lotus is so sparse in amenities, and abundant in performance, I often wonder why the hell I should pay that much for one. It's like driving an oversized shifter kart around, and those don't cost $40k+. It is the car that renewed my plans of building my own, one-off car though.

JRichter

Yes mam.

GeorgeH

iTrader: (2)

One can smack-talk the P-cars all you want, but there really isn't any other option IF what you want is a highly nimble, precise and communicative RWD chassis WITH big normally aspirated horespower (save for perhaps the Corvette). BMWs are clinical and boring, US pony cars drive like trucks, and the 350-Z understeers and feels cheap.

Are P-cars overpriced? Absolutely. But they are incredible sports cars. I'll have a (used) Boxster in my garage someday, no doubt about it. But I'd never buy one new.

BTW, EVO magazine (from the UK) just compared a Cayman S to a 993. They specs are nearly identical, and, as they found, so is the performance (not bad for a car with 80,000 miles on the clock). But the Cayman S (with PASM) was in another league in terms of how it handled real-world, camber challenged back roads. The 911 is an aquired taste and requires time behind the wheel to learn, while the Cayman was simply fast and handled everything they threw at it.

I think the Cayman will emerge as the new benchmark for sports cars (big-buck Ferraris, etc. not withstanding). If you like an RX-8 I can't imagine not being thrilled with a Cayman. It's just that $$$ thing getting in the way.