Porsche Cayman

[Cost Captain]

Wondering what people's opinions are on them? Well needed car to fill a void between the boxster and 911 or just the marketting men filling a void?

someone at work's dad has one and says that even though he wanted a 911 but couldn't afford one, the cayman is sufficiently better than the boxster to justify it's existance....

[cuprabob]

I really like them and do think hey have a place in the range.

One thing that does disappoint me though is that it's more expensive than the Boxster. The majority of other manufacturers price the roadster / converible cars higher. When it was announced I had an expectation that Porsche would follow suit.

Owners often are labelled as 911 wanabees which I think is quite unfair as that could be said of any car e.g. "got a TT, could you not afford a R8?"

I'd have one in an instant

Edited by cuprabob on Monday 10th January 22:38

[C2james]

i think its slightly to fill a void because when clarkson drove it he said if it had more power, a limited slip diff and a couple of tweeks it would be better than a 911, but they cant do that because it would make it better than their flagship car.

[mxspyder]

I was lucky enough to visit the Porsche centre at Silverstone and drive every Porsche model - The Cayman S was a real treat. The interior was a nice place to be and it felt really light on its feet. If I could, I would have one!

[Pistom]

I never understood how they could make a new mid engined car cheaper than an old rear engined one.

Ignore the can't afford a 911 jibes. Theyr the ones who say MX5s are for hairdressers.

[jackliebling]

I have a Cayman 2.9 and I LOVE it. It's plenty fast enough, the steering is extraordinary, I average 30mpg and I like the exclusivity. The interior is practically the same as the 911 and feels bullet-proof.

Mine is an unusual colour, Nordic Gold (which looks like metallic orange), I think it helps the cars looks. Not sure about it in the ubiquitous Porsche black and grey... Quite dull to look at.

It is also very practical, good storage space, front, middle and back.

Without hesitation, GET ONE and enjoy one of the finest drives one the road.

J

[baz1985]

Ran one as my weekend car alongside my A3. Pretty disappointed really.........

[useyourdellusion]

baz1985 said:

Ran one as my weekend car alongside my A3. Pretty disappointed really.........

Why?

[sidicks]

Porsche quality and excellent mid-engined handling combined with good looks.

What's not to like?
:-)
Sidicks

[Sbloxxy]

I was lucky enough to have a Cayman on an extended test drive, so me and my wife made the most of it and went out for a decent drive and a good lunch. It turned out to be a warm day and all I could think of was that if I had been in my Boxster, I would have had the roof down by now.
Quicker than my Boxster (a 3.2S) but not by much, nice build quality and generally a wonderful car but didn't feel that it offered much that my Boxster didn't already have. Nice drive but the whole episode made me realise that I simply wanted another Boxster.
Wouldn't argue with anyone who decided in favour of a Cayman though.

Edited by Sbloxxy on Monday 10th January 23:01

[al1991]

I think they're fantastic, would love the opportunity to drive one.

[Pistom]

baz1985 said:

Ran one as my weekend car alongside my A3. Pretty disappointed really.........

Depends on what you expect. I imagine it's not exciting at slow speeds and not good as a weekend car - more like a daily driver. By that i mean it is too sterile for a weekend car. It just does everything well.

I guess you were doing loads of weekday miles hence the A3.

[sidicks]

Pistom said:

By that i mean it is too sterile for a weekend car.

On what do you base that comment? It is regarded as an excellent handling, fun car to drive.

Pistom said:

It just does everything well.

I think you'll find that is actually a good thing.....

Sidicks

[edo]

I owned a Cayman S, and have also owned a 997 S. The Cayman was more nimble and great on the track.

[excel monkey]

Leggy 2007 Caymans are down to £16-17k in the PH classifieds, and normal-mileage cars are below £20k. Seems like good value to me.

[LuS1fer]

I'm sure they're great cars but I'm not a fan of the styling particularly. I also think they should have just called it the Boxster Coupe and be done with it as I think that confuses people as it's plainly the same car essentially.

[baz1985]

useyourdellusion said:

baz1985 said:

Ran one as my weekend car alongside my A3. Pretty disappointed really.........

Why?

Brakes didn't inspire much confidence (they are smaller than an A3 3.2/S3), too many oil leaks, lack of LSD affected traction on slow speed corners....

[matc]

I had a Cayman S as a second car, it had pretty much every option from the factory which IMO made it a bit too practical to be just a weekend toy. It was very well put together and you felt as though I could drive it really hard every-time I took it out without the need to worry about anything breaking.

Compared to its replacement (F360 Spider) it lacked a bit of soul and didn't excite me enough to get me out of bed at 5am on a Sunday just to go for a decent drive, something I did almost every weekend in the Ferrari.

So in summary I would say it's a fantastic car, superb handling, makes a great noise, but it's probably not special enough to use exclusively as a second car. FWIW I would say a 911 Carrera S would probably leave me feeling exactly the same, a weekend car needs to be a bit more hardcore!

[markmullen]

Cayman is so under-rated.

Extremely well balanced, quick, well built, nice cockpit, great handling.

You will get people making out you couldn't afford a 911, generally they do so from bus stops, who cares?

Every one I've had I've enjoyed.

[TOENHEEL]

Great cars, get a 3.4 S though! The others will feel pretty underpowered after a while and leave you feeling a tad frustrated that hot hatches can keep up. Thats speaking from experience of owning a couple of Boxsters.