Topping out a CaymanS
Discussion
Last week I was in Germany and experienced some of their wonderful Autobahns. Actually, 580 miles of them in one day 
Must say I was disappointed with the performance of the Cayman at these high speeds. I found it was very happy at 130, would cruise at 150 and although it would reach 170 it would do it with a wheeze and felt very light.. ie. as if it wanted to take off.
I have previously driven these high speeds in a TVR Cerbera and that felt stable at 170 (it also had monstrously more power, but that's another story).
Power aside, are my expectations of high speed stability too high? I expected it to be far more stable than a Cerbera, but it was a little scary.
Please note that this is pointless and does not make a difference to how much I like the car - doing 170mph with ease is not one of my priorities for a vehicle! This is merely a point for PH discussion
Cheers
Ben
Must say I was disappointed with the performance of the Cayman at these high speeds. I found it was very happy at 130, would cruise at 150 and although it would reach 170 it would do it with a wheeze and felt very light.. ie. as if it wanted to take off.
I have previously driven these high speeds in a TVR Cerbera and that felt stable at 170 (it also had monstrously more power, but that's another story).
Power aside, are my expectations of high speed stability too high? I expected it to be far more stable than a Cerbera, but it was a little scary.
Please note that this is pointless and does not make a difference to how much I like the car - doing 170mph with ease is not one of my priorities for a vehicle! This is merely a point for PH discussion
Cheers
Ben
Pikey - for what it is worth - I would have thought your Cayman to be stable at Speed as well - Does your model have the PASM - Porsche Active Suspension option?
On the rare occasions that I have driven at those speeds in Germany I have found my previous 996 and my friends Boxster S to be pretty much planted and stable when exploring the upper end of their performance.
I have not tried this yet in my 997 S - For me the Jury is still out on the PASM and high speed stability... I have yet to take my 997 S overseas.
It would be most un-porsche like for them to build a car that did not feel planted at high speed - Hopefully someone else will come along and have something more useful to add.
On the rare occasions that I have driven at those speeds in Germany I have found my previous 996 and my friends Boxster S to be pretty much planted and stable when exploring the upper end of their performance.
I have not tried this yet in my 997 S - For me the Jury is still out on the PASM and high speed stability... I have yet to take my 997 S overseas.
It would be most un-porsche like for them to build a car that did not feel planted at high speed - Hopefully someone else will come along and have something more useful to add.
Yes it does have PASM and I tried it on sports and normal. (Was better on Sports).
A possible point of note is that the car was loaded. 2 occupants, front and rear boots contained luggage.
PS. On an unrelated, related note, I once did 145mph (as per GPS) in a Civic Type R - as much of an ugly brick of an aerodynamic pig it was, felt more stable. (3 occupants, lots of luggage)
A possible point of note is that the car was loaded. 2 occupants, front and rear boots contained luggage.
PS. On an unrelated, related note, I once did 145mph (as per GPS) in a Civic Type R - as much of an ugly brick of an aerodynamic pig it was, felt more stable. (3 occupants, lots of luggage)
pikey said:
Yes it does have PASM and I tried it on sports and normal. (Was better on Sports).
A possible point of note is that the car was loaded. 2 occupants, front and rear boots contained luggage.
PS. On an unrelated, related note, I once did 145mph (as per GPS) in a Civic Type R - as much of an ugly brick of an aerodynamic pig it was, felt more stable. (3 occupants, lots of luggage)
A possible point of note is that the car was loaded. 2 occupants, front and rear boots contained luggage.
PS. On an unrelated, related note, I once did 145mph (as per GPS) in a Civic Type R - as much of an ugly brick of an aerodynamic pig it was, felt more stable. (3 occupants, lots of luggage)
Pikey - Interesting - As I mentioned earlier, I am into my fourth 911 now, lately a 997 S. I changed from a 996 TT X50 and I drove that overseas a fair bit. It was completely stable, unlike the driver behind the wheel...
The reason I mentioned the PASM is that I have found the front-end of my 997 S to feel a bit floaty, something I never noticed in any of the previous 996 models I have owned. I have yet to put the 997 S to the high-speed test of the autobahn as I have not been to Germany in it yet.
Anyone else got anything to say about the PASM and high-speed runs???
Sounds strange
Was going to say that you shold check your tyre pressures. In any case you should do this as a safety precaution before doing speed runs esp on public roads.
I used to live next to the A31 in Germany and so have maxed out a lot of cars there. Most recenly my 997C2S up to an indicated 178mph (still had some to go but ran out of road..!!). Didn't try it of course but felt like I could've taken my hands off the wheel it was that stable. PASM on felt superbly tight and stable.
Was going to say that you shold check your tyre pressures. In any case you should do this as a safety precaution before doing speed runs esp on public roads.
I used to live next to the A31 in Germany and so have maxed out a lot of cars there. Most recenly my 997C2S up to an indicated 178mph (still had some to go but ran out of road..!!). Didn't try it of course but felt like I could've taken my hands off the wheel it was that stable. PASM on felt superbly tight and stable.
pikey said:
I have previously driven these high speeds in a TVR Cerbera and that felt stable at 170 (it also had monstrously more power, but that's another story).
I seem to recall TVR speedos have a reputation for overeading somewhat, perhaps the "170" shown was, how can I put this ? a bit on the optimistic side ?
I find stabilty towards the top end of my 2004 X51 996 varies quite a lot. Last time i was in Germany, it was pulling suprisingly hard at 175 (GPS) with two of us plus luggage and felt very stable.
This morning on the way to work, however, it didn't feel as "strong" or planted at 165 than it usually does. I was trying Tesco 99 which, incidently, felt awesome from 30 to 120.... Any other opinions on this juice?
Though obvious, i think the wind conditions can affect how a car feels quite a lot - especially at good speeds. Just a thought...
This morning on the way to work, however, it didn't feel as "strong" or planted at 165 than it usually does. I was trying Tesco 99 which, incidently, felt awesome from 30 to 120.... Any other opinions on this juice?
Though obvious, i think the wind conditions can affect how a car feels quite a lot - especially at good speeds. Just a thought...
Interesting thread. I've had mine up to 151 on the speedo (private road of course 
) and it felt rock solid. I also had the car up to 135 at the end of the long straight on the Bedford GT circuit and when braked hard it was totally controlled and allowed me to get the left/right flick spot on every time. My car is on the original Sport Pilots and I check tyre pressures every weekend, or before a long drive, as have been caught out that way before 
I'd be a little unhappy if the car felt loose when at it's v-max point but I guess I'll have to wait a little longer to get the opportunity to find out. Having said that I agree with Ben about the car overall as I bought it for it's handling at real world speeds rather than for it's top speed.
Yex
) and it felt rock solid. I also had the car up to 135 at the end of the long straight on the Bedford GT circuit and when braked hard it was totally controlled and allowed me to get the left/right flick spot on every time. My car is on the original Sport Pilots and I check tyre pressures every weekend, or before a long drive, as have been caught out that way before I'd be a little unhappy if the car felt loose when at it's v-max point but I guess I'll have to wait a little longer to get the opportunity to find out. Having said that I agree with Ben about the car overall as I bought it for it's handling at real world speeds rather than for it's top speed.
Yex
These cars are very sensitive to cross winds thats why sometimes my 996 Turbo feels planted at at +180mph and sometimes it doesn't but I'm 90% sure your problem is related to wheel alignment, specifically the Toe is out of tolerance or on the edge, check your alignment and make sure its not windy and you should be fine.
pikey said:
Last week I was in Germany and experienced some of their wonderful Autobahns. Actually, 580 miles of them in one day
Must say I was disappointed with the performance of the Cayman at these high speeds. I found it was very happy at 130, would cruise at 150 and although it would reach 170 it would do it with a wheeze and felt very light.. ie. as if it wanted to take off.
I have previously driven these high speeds in a TVR Cerbera and that felt stable at 170 (it also had monstrously more power, but that's another story).
Power aside, are my expectations of high speed stability too high? I expected it to be far more stable than a Cerbera, but it was a little scary.
Please note that this is pointless and does not make a difference to how much I like the car - doing 170mph with ease is not one of my priorities for a vehicle! This is merely a point for PH discussion
Cheers
Ben
Cruise at 150 mph?..you sure? Must say I was disappointed with the performance of the Cayman at these high speeds. I found it was very happy at 130, would cruise at 150 and although it would reach 170 it would do it with a wheeze and felt very light.. ie. as if it wanted to take off.
I have previously driven these high speeds in a TVR Cerbera and that felt stable at 170 (it also had monstrously more power, but that's another story).
Power aside, are my expectations of high speed stability too high? I expected it to be far more stable than a Cerbera, but it was a little scary.
Please note that this is pointless and does not make a difference to how much I like the car - doing 170mph with ease is not one of my priorities for a vehicle! This is merely a point for PH discussion
Cheers
Ben
slippydiff said:
I seem to recall TVR speedos have a reputation for overeading somewhat, perhaps the "170" shown was, how can I put this ? a bit on the optimistic side ?
Absolutely not on the one I had. I always had a Garmin Pilot III on the dash for European navigation (pre TomTom days). The car I had was equipped with a stunningly accurate speedo - far more so than the Cayman (although I expect the Cayman is out by a purposely calculated amount!). Also... (just remembering here) a friend of mine had a Cerb that was as accurate. I have a "testing" pic here
kayc said:
Cruise at 150 mph?..you sure?
It depends on your definition of "cruising". In that context I was comparing it to 170. In other words, it would get to 170 at a push, but would stay at 150 without pushing. However I also said it's "happy" at 130, so maybe that would be "cruising" for you? By "happy" I meant it's quiet you could drop down and get a nice push of acceleration. By "cruising" I meant that it will (and did) stay at 150 as long as you ask it, but is louder and you can't increase the speed as easily. As for 170... it didn't feel like it would stay there.
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