RE: Porsche Cayman S

[chris7676]

I asked, as having owned an S1 Elise (now) and a 986 Boxster for a while in the past (this unfortunately not tracked), I would say the Porker was signficantly better balanced, though the Elise feels sharper yet more edgy/snappy. I don't think that means better handling as such

[TOENHEEL]

I have to be honest i have far more confidence in the exige than i ever did in my Boxster, the exige for me feels so planted at speed opposed to the light bobbing front of my boxster and the grip when its dry defies belief in the exige, the exige is a much faster car low down, i remember a guy on here sold his 997 S for an exige s and thought the same. Thats why im so suprised that people compare these 2 cars as they felt completely different to me and imo i know which i prefer, im only 23 so comfort isnt high on my agenda at the minute even though i dont find it at all uncomfortable anyhow.

[shoestring7]

TOENHEEL said:

Thats why im so suprised that people compare these 2 cars

They don't, its just you.

SS7

[paul_k]

370Z has been designed to take this on (and win) at 20K less...

[timCS]

paul_k said:

370Z has been designed to take this on (and win) at 20K less...

It looks like it to. To me this looks like it's trying to copy Porsche a little to much! People moan about the lazy styling at Porsche, what does that say about Nissan??

The GTR had the Porsche Turbo as a benchmark, the 370z has the Cayman S. I'm treading very carefully here but, the Japanese and Chinese will take ANYTHING and copy it. Sometimes, for the better. I had the chance to buy a replica designer watch on holiday. Often they are more reliable than the real thing, I spent the extra cash and knew what I had was genuine.

I'm not ruling out the 370z or GTR as my next car. I'll most likely go for an early 997 Turbo in Basalt Black. mmm

[BigHeartedTone]

The 350z and 370z have their engines in the conventional place and therefore won't feel like a Cayman - will it have the same snickerty gearbox etc etc.

Also isn't the weight distribution in an Elise/Exige (38/62 according to a quick Google) similar (if not more unbalanced) than a modern 911 ? So the Loti have better steering feel and lighter weight, the Cayman better weight distribution and HP. Take your pick. Sound of a flat 6 probably wins it for me tho'

Edited by BigHeartedTone on Thursday 18th December 14:39

[kambites]

shoestring7 said:

kambites said:

Give a Cayman decent steering feel and nicer feeling brakes and it would have been a hard choice for me.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 16th December 16:10

Chris Harris said:

no car for the money has those delicious control weights or power assisted steering that actually provided feel....Steering and damping are very impressive....

How much better do you want?

SS7

I want steering without power assistance - power steering has no place on a sportscar. The only PAS system with reasonable feel that I've driven is the one in the later Esprits and even that falls far short of a good non-assisted setup.

[BigHeartedTone]

Have you driven a Cayman K?

[TOENHEEL]

I found the Porsche steering one of the best for Power assisted although maybe a tad slow. Non assisted is the way forward but badge snobs who buy some Porsches would be put off because it didnt have power steering..

[kambites]

TOENHEEL said:

I found the Porsche steering one of the best for Power assisted although maybe a tad slow. Non assisted is the way forward but badge snobs who buy some Porsches would be put off because it didnt have power steering..

I must admit I don't much like power assisted anything on cars. One of the main reasons I bought an Elise rather than a VX220t was that I didn't want servo'd brakes.

[TOENHEEL]

kambites said:

TOENHEEL said:

I found the Porsche steering one of the best for Power assisted although maybe a tad slow. Non assisted is the way forward but badge snobs who buy some Porsches would be put off because it didnt have power steering..

I must admit I don't much like power assisted anything on cars. One of the main reasons I bought an Elise rather than a VX220t was that I didn't want servo'd brakes.

I agree if you want feeling though maybe the Lotus and the likes are the cars to go for, most people who buy a Cayman etc probably wont go near a track and buy the car because its a "Porsche" they would no doubt frighten themselves silly with non-servo'd brakes.

[shoestring7]

TOENHEEL said:

most people who buy a Cayman etc ........buy the car because its a "Porsche" they would no doubt frighten themselves silly with non-servo'd brakes.

The usual chippy and inane generalisations aside, I wonder how you think Lotus might be engineering ABS/ASC on the Eagle without servoes? O

r does that make it an underengineered status symbol for wannabes and 'real' wheelmen need not apply.

SS7

[kambites]

shoestring7 said:

TOENHEEL said:

most people who buy a Cayman etc ........buy the car because its a "Porsche" they would no doubt frighten themselves silly with non-servo'd brakes.

The usual chippy and inane generalisations aside, I wonder how you think Lotus might be engineering ABS/ASC on the Eagle without servoes?

Or does that make it an underengineered status symbol for wannabes and 'real' wheelmen need not apply.

SS7

The Eagle isn't, and makes no real claim to be, a sportscar. Just like the Cayman, it's a sports/GT hybrid and as such it doesn't really need the ultimate in terms of responsiveness and/or feedback. No-one is saying the Cayman is a bad car, it's clearly a brilliant car. It's just too compromised by its touring credentials to be a real out-and-out sportscar.

To be fair that later Elises all have brake servos and ABS, which is one of the reasons I bought an earlier one.

[TOENHEEL]

shoestring7 said:

TOENHEEL said:

most people who buy a Cayman etc ........buy the car because its a "Porsche" they would no doubt frighten themselves silly with non-servo'd brakes.

The usual chippy and inane generalisations aside, I wonder how you think Lotus might be engineering ABS/ASC on the Eagle without servoes? O

r does that make it an underengineered status symbol for wannabes and 'real' wheelmen need not apply.

SS7

I dont know why you think im being funny, what im saying is that your usual cayman owner wouldnt be to happy without powersteering and servo'd brakes, many people moved from standard sort of road cars into older elises and were frightened by the brakes as it was all down to driver input how quickly the car pulled up. At the end of the day the cayman isnt competing for the same customer as an exige/elise.

[kambites]

TOENHEEL said:

At the end of the day the cayman isnt competing for the same customer as an exige/elise.

Is that really true? The Cayman has a broader market appeal but I doubt there are many Elise owners who didn't even consider a Cayman and/or a Boxster.

[TOENHEEL]

kambites said:

TOENHEEL said:

At the end of the day the cayman isnt competing for the same customer as an exige/elise.

Is that really true? The Cayman has a broader market appeal but I doubt there are many Elise owners who didn't even consider a Cayman and/or a Boxster.

I may of used the wrong words in saying they arent competing for same customer but i think your either a comfort person or you will enjoy the much more raw experience of an elise/exige, many people may think they are similar until they drive both and realise there is a huge difference between the two.

[timCS]

TOENHEEL said:

kambites said:

TOENHEEL said:

most people who buy a Cayman etc probably wont go near a track and buy the car because its a "Porsche" they would no doubt frighten themselves silly with non-servo'd brakes.

Why take a reasonable and interesting discussion and then make an unnecessary comment like this?

Seriously, what type of response were you expecting get from this?

What were your reasons for buying a Porsche? Did you buy it for the badge?

Edited by timCS on Thursday 18th December 20:59

Edited by timCS on Thursday 18th December 21:00

[TOENHEEL]

No i bought my Boxster because i thought as a road going gt/roadster it was best in its class but then i fancied a more raw and even better driving car/experience so i opted for an Exige S. Generally speaking boxster/cayman owners probably wouldnt put up with climbing or falling into an elise/exige every morning unless like me they were young a petrolhead and wanted something evidently more "fun" to drive even if it meant giving up some creature comforts.

Edited by TOENHEEL on Friday 19th December 00:12

Edited by TOENHEEL on Friday 19th December 00:13

[Mclovin]

so what happened since this topic started...have they sold any gen 2 caymans at the more than 50 grand asking price for a specced car when a gtr is similar money....

[Beefmeister]

Mclovin said:

so what happened since this topic started...have they sold any gen 2 caymans at the more than 50 grand asking price for a specced car when a gtr is similar money....

I've seen quite a few Gen2 Caymans on the road.

They're just not rivals in my eyes. Okay they're the same price, but the Cayman S is a lithe, darty little sportscar. Plus a lot of the people who will buy a Cayman just wouldn't even consider a Nissan, no matter how good it is.