987 Gen 2 Cayman vs 987 Gen 2 cayman S
Discussion
Hi Folks,
Need some advice from all you experts regarding the relative merits of the 987 Gen 2 Cayman vs 987 Gen 2 cayman S. First off a disclaimer! I absolutely know I need to test drive both cars myself but in preparation for that I'm interested to hear your thoughts on how the base Gen 2 987 Cayman compares to equivalent Cayman S.
I currently drive a 2009 5.0 Supercharged XKR and to be honest it is not doing it for me. Immensely refined, uber fast and looks the business BUT there is not a great deal of driver involvement and I have now confirmed that I simply can't live without a manual gearbox! I also don't need 510 bhp. I'd rather have 250 to 300 bhp that is useable in a car that has excellent handling and a more back to basics driving feel.
I'm going to take huge beating on the trade in for the Jag and this means that it will be a stretch to get a Gen 2 Cayman S without chucking in a chunk more cash - which I'm not that keen on doing at this point. However the base 2.9l model is within comfortable reach and so for the first time in my life I'm wondering if I'd be happy with the lesser model, or if I'd always wish that I had gone for the bigger engine version with more bragging rights.
A bit of background. I'm really after a car that is FUN to drive. It does not have to have the speed of the Millennium Falcon, but it MUST be a hoot to drive, must have a great engine, must have great feedback from the chassis, must sound good and MUST have a lovely manual gear shift. It also needs to be relative modern and have Bluetooth, nav etc
In my weaker moments I've actually been thinking about selling the Jag and just buying a much cheaper back to basics hot hatch while I decide on the next grown up car, but the wife has got all excited about the Cayman.
Sooooo - is the base Cayman still a stonker of a car, or do I really need to go for the S in order to get my kicks. My intuition says that the base model might actually be a more fun since given that it will need to be driven a bit harder to get the best out of it - but my intuition can be a bit unreliable!
What do I need to know? What re the essential options?
Budget is up to 28k I guess.
Many thanks in advance!
TD
Need some advice from all you experts regarding the relative merits of the 987 Gen 2 Cayman vs 987 Gen 2 cayman S. First off a disclaimer! I absolutely know I need to test drive both cars myself but in preparation for that I'm interested to hear your thoughts on how the base Gen 2 987 Cayman compares to equivalent Cayman S.
I currently drive a 2009 5.0 Supercharged XKR and to be honest it is not doing it for me. Immensely refined, uber fast and looks the business BUT there is not a great deal of driver involvement and I have now confirmed that I simply can't live without a manual gearbox! I also don't need 510 bhp. I'd rather have 250 to 300 bhp that is useable in a car that has excellent handling and a more back to basics driving feel.
I'm going to take huge beating on the trade in for the Jag and this means that it will be a stretch to get a Gen 2 Cayman S without chucking in a chunk more cash - which I'm not that keen on doing at this point. However the base 2.9l model is within comfortable reach and so for the first time in my life I'm wondering if I'd be happy with the lesser model, or if I'd always wish that I had gone for the bigger engine version with more bragging rights.
A bit of background. I'm really after a car that is FUN to drive. It does not have to have the speed of the Millennium Falcon, but it MUST be a hoot to drive, must have a great engine, must have great feedback from the chassis, must sound good and MUST have a lovely manual gear shift. It also needs to be relative modern and have Bluetooth, nav etc
In my weaker moments I've actually been thinking about selling the Jag and just buying a much cheaper back to basics hot hatch while I decide on the next grown up car, but the wife has got all excited about the Cayman.
Sooooo - is the base Cayman still a stonker of a car, or do I really need to go for the S in order to get my kicks. My intuition says that the base model might actually be a more fun since given that it will need to be driven a bit harder to get the best out of it - but my intuition can be a bit unreliable!
What do I need to know? What re the essential options?
Budget is up to 28k I guess.
Many thanks in advance!
TD
Others will be along shortly to give a fuller response.
Ive had my "s" for just over a year. And when it's fully on song it's been a delight. Only a few niggles which have all been sorted under warranty.
I'm sure the 2.9 would of felt exactly the same for in reality the A-B driving that I do. But the standard parts on the s made it just that bit more special for me. Brakes and colour coding etc.
Obviously it will be a minefield with what options and spec you go for. The only thing from experience would be to get a warrantied car. Just as an added protection net.
28k should see you into an 's' if not I personally would save for an extra month and get the 's'
Ive had my "s" for just over a year. And when it's fully on song it's been a delight. Only a few niggles which have all been sorted under warranty.
I'm sure the 2.9 would of felt exactly the same for in reality the A-B driving that I do. But the standard parts on the s made it just that bit more special for me. Brakes and colour coding etc.
Obviously it will be a minefield with what options and spec you go for. The only thing from experience would be to get a warrantied car. Just as an added protection net.
28k should see you into an 's' if not I personally would save for an extra month and get the 's'
I love my 2.9, but I have not driven an S. I actually set out to get an S because I assumed the 2.9 would be too slow. My budget was slightly lower than yours, but enough to get an early gen 2 S, but after looking for ages nothing good was coming up for sale. I only tried the 2.9 because one came up at a great price with warranty so gave it a go and found it suited me perfectly. It’s far from slow (0-100 is about 12s), but does take a bit of working. I enjoy this, coming from peaky Type Rs and Toyota engines and it sounds fantastic at those higher revs. It may be a bit of a shock coming from a torquey motor though, so you may not like this but worth giving a go.
I have a feeling that if I had driven an S, I may have loved that even more. But I didn’t!
I have a feeling that if I had driven an S, I may have loved that even more. But I didn’t!
Thanks Guys,
Useful info and opinions. As said it does look like a CS is in range. In fact I found a rather nice one up for £26k so they are out there if I'm prepared to buy privately after selling the Jag.
Guess it is time for me to get off my backside and try some cars.
As a left field option I'm also going to have a go in the latest Focus ST to see if that might provide enough fun for a lot less cash - albeit in a totally different way. I tried the previous model and found it just too soft and over assisted. Perhaps the newer model has a bit more weight to the controls and is a bit stiffer. We shall see but I suspect a go in a Cayman will kill off all thoughts of the ST or other hot hatches!
TD
Useful info and opinions. As said it does look like a CS is in range. In fact I found a rather nice one up for £26k so they are out there if I'm prepared to buy privately after selling the Jag.
Guess it is time for me to get off my backside and try some cars.
As a left field option I'm also going to have a go in the latest Focus ST to see if that might provide enough fun for a lot less cash - albeit in a totally different way. I tried the previous model and found it just too soft and over assisted. Perhaps the newer model has a bit more weight to the controls and is a bit stiffer. We shall see but I suspect a go in a Cayman will kill off all thoughts of the ST or other hot hatches!
TD
TorqueDirty said:
We shall see but I suspect a go in a Cayman will kill off all thoughts of the ST or other hot hatches!
This 100%...none of those will get anywhere near the feel and driving pleasure of a Cayman, I used to own a Scirocco which I felt was a pretty good handling and driving car the Cayman made it feel like a Polo its on a completely different level...search out a nice one and enjoy. Again thanks guys - good feedback and suggestions.
One thing I'm really struggling with is finding out the equipment specs of the Gen 2 Cayman S. Is there somewhere that lists what the standard kit was and what the options were?
For instance do all Gen 2 caymans come with bluetooth phone connectivity or is this an extra. Also is the Nav worth getting or is it out of date now and stupidly expensive to update?
Lastly did the S variant come with sports exhaust as standard?
Sorry for all the questions - just need to know what comes as standard so that I can filter the adds as appropriate.
Cheers
TD
One thing I'm really struggling with is finding out the equipment specs of the Gen 2 Cayman S. Is there somewhere that lists what the standard kit was and what the options were?
For instance do all Gen 2 caymans come with bluetooth phone connectivity or is this an extra. Also is the Nav worth getting or is it out of date now and stupidly expensive to update?
Lastly did the S variant come with sports exhaust as standard?
Sorry for all the questions - just need to know what comes as standard so that I can filter the adds as appropriate.
Cheers
TD
Edited by TorqueDirty on Saturday 28th May 15:59
I keep looking at Caymans and that is pretty much how I see it. Even though there is a big difference in price from Gen 1 2.7 to Gen 2 S there is a logic that says its not about the outright speed with these cars anyway, save the difference to spend on the house, holidays, track days etc. + its likely that with the lower weight and a fruity exhaust added you may get to experience the things which are unique with these cars more of the time in a slightly purer way. Its a difficult ask though for sure, I have got a bit addicted to mid range grunt recently thanks to a tuned up turbo hot hatch (275 lb/ft, short gearing and 1350 Kg) but I lived happy in the past without that so this is a very personal question. You never ever tire though of a fantastic sounding engine.
The 3.4 weighs around 1350 kgs and has around 275lbf of torque so why not have it all.
The real question is do you want an option filled car with plenty of things to play with or actually want to be entertained by driving it, if its only driving your interested in then a poverty spec car will be the one to go for plus there will be more of these around as most go for all the toys spec.
The real question is do you want an option filled car with plenty of things to play with or actually want to be entertained by driving it, if its only driving your interested in then a poverty spec car will be the one to go for plus there will be more of these around as most go for all the toys spec.
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