With 8 months left on the truck lease I've decided to start looking into my next vehicle. Being 31 with no desire for kids anytime soon I have been looking into the sport coupe market. My girlfriend of 8 years completely endorses the new car idea (THANK GOD) and I have started the preliminary nosing around.

So....

On Saturday I stopped by the local Porsche dealership and took out a cayman out for test drives. I've never been much of a Porsche guy but my buddy who owns a car repair shop swore to me that I'd love the Cayman S. I've always viewed Porsches as an untouchable class of vehicles based on price (and they still may be based on just how pricey these cars can be if you option them out).

The Cayman I test drove was the S manual with navigation, upgraded package, & Full leather seats (vs. partial).

Maybe it was how long it's been since I've been in a sports car, maybe it was the near perfect day for testing but holy shit this car is a BLAST to drive.

The Good:
Head back acceleration, mid engine really allows you to feel and hear the motor (very very visceral experience). It may not be the fastest porsche but you would not know that sitting in it at 5,000 RPMs.

Handling is crisp and insanely good at high speeds. Car turns like a shoebox lid could not break it around a jughandle. (drives like a Porsche, duh!)

Although subjective, the design & look of the car is very impressive in person


The Bad:

Tiny, not very functional past A to B drives & gathering speeding tickets.

Not as fast as rival market cars, on paper it's 0-60 5.1 seconds but you'd never know it.

Costly, (The obvious one) And the options as per Porsche (how you buy it) makes it go 10k above sticker (so it seems). I had NO IDEA how many options you can put on a Porsche.

 

I haven't driven a CaymanS or non-S yet. But I have no doubt its a sublime right, I have driven countless boxsterS's and regular boxster's(love them) and a small handful of 911's(993, 996, and 997's), I imagine it falls some where between the boxsterS(987) and the CarreraS(997). The downfall's, storage, space and maintenance(when it needs it, it costs more then most cars, however, due to superb engineering it needs very little).

I am also in the Porsche buying market right now, I am looking at 03-04 boxsterS(986) with super low mileage(at or under10k miles). By getting someone's baby, which a low mileage car is, you save a fortune and if its porsche inspected preowned you also get a 6 year 100,000 mile waranty. Just an idea to save an awful lot of money, the first 2-3 years these cars take a big hit. The problem is finding exactly what you want(not a problem with the boxster market) but caymanS's are few and far between right now on the used market.

Having not driven one yet, is the shifter/linkage on the CaymanS as amazing as people have been telling me?

 

I am doing the exact same thing. Guess great minds think alike Hope to have a Boxster S sometime next year...

 

I would get a C6 over a Cayman S any day of the week.

Much cheaper, you can get $5k off all day and night.

No replacement for displacement, more comfortable, and you can get plenty of toys in it that won't bump your MSRP to over $70k.

 

I'd contend (IMO, and based off what I've read, I HAVE NOT test driven both) based on the reviews that I've read, that the Cayman would likely be a more pure and visceral experience. Also the interior of the vette can't quite compare to that of a Cayman.

 

Tick tick tick......is that valve tap? No....it's your wife's biological clock... j/k

Come on JB admit it. you're not having kids?

 

The Cayman is more of a scalpel than a chainsaw, I would still choose a Vette Z51 over it.

Interior wise, the Cayman is obviously more refined......but considering what it costs it should be.

 

i know its ridiculous! you can probably equal the msrp with just options on an Porsche...

 

We haven't decided yet... but we probably will eventually. Just remember my wife is only 27... so her clock is ticking, but it's not really ticking that loudly

 

I was just tooling around on Porsche's website and managed to option out a Boxster S to a tune of 81k. Although I like the fact that the car is very customizable, I think that some of the stuff should either be A. Standard, or B. Options shouldn't cost as much. For crying out loud, they charge a healthy $3050 for metallic paint - but Lapis Blue Metallic might just be worth it