Just test driven a new Cayman S - brief thoughts.

[Trev450]

Comparing the new Cayman S to my gen 1 version, my initial impressions were that of a much more refined vehicle that has moved a lot closer to the 911.

Yes its faster but given the increased quality of interior and ride, doesn't actually feel much quicker. I truthfully didn't notice much if any difference between the feel from the steering, but it could be more revealing closer to the limit - but not something I personally explore on public roads. The version I drove was a PDK which wouldn't be my choice, but in sport plus mode it certainly fires through the gears like a proper track car.

Overall, a much more complete car that has raised the game considerably. Whether its worth an additional £40k on top of mine for a reasonable specced one I have yet to decide.

[Actus Reus]

Thanks for that - very interested to read your comments given that we have almost identical cars at the moment (from memory, though yours has the wrong colour wheels ). My impressions of the 981 Box I had for a weekend were very similar to your impressions of the new Cayman. It's a very VERY complete car, but given mine is just for fun, is it worth the money to change? For me I'm thinking more and more that I'll be looking at GT3s, or, perhaps, Spyders/Cayman R - cheaper and perhaps offer that little bit more focus...

[cay]

I felt the same after borrowing a 981 Boxster with PDK for a couple of days.

Definitely more refined and a better quality interior but it felt less raw and direct to me.

I'm also not a fan of PDK, as an automatic it is fantastic but I still didn't feel connected to the driving experience.

Steering was fine and it certainly had lots of grip.

Probably a bad sign that the feature which impressed me the most was the vehicle status display on the dashboard ( oil temp, oil pressure etc ).

Still waiting to try a manual Cayman S.

Cayman R could be the way to go, but there seem to be very few manual cars with a decent spec for sale.

[SFO]

981 Cayman (or S), manual gearbox, -20mm sports suspension and 19" wheels is the way to go

[juansolo]

Same opinion I had of it

[Trev450]

juansolo said:

Same opinion I had of it

Thanks for that, it makes for an informed read. I was interested to note your comments regarding the over-servoed brakes as I felt exactly the same about them but omitted to mention it in my brief summary.

[Trev450]

Actus Reus said:

Thanks for that - very interested to read your comments given that we have almost identical cars at the moment (from memory, though yours has the wrong colour wheels ).

The only colour to have with white - imo of course.

Edited by Trev450 on Wednesday 1st May 17:16

[Klippie]

cay said:

Probably a bad sign that the feature which impressed me the most was the vehicle status display on the dashboard ( oil temp, oil pressure )

Ditto...my thoughts exactly, I recently had a loaner Boxster S PDK and I was glad to get my manual CS back again.

Mechanically the PDK is a wonderful thing but I couldn't live with one every day I would soon be bored with my car, not enough involvement I'am afraid.

[SD and P]

Klippie said:

Ditto...my thoughts exactly, I recently had a loaner Boxster S PDK and I was glad to get my manual CS back again.

Mechanically the PDK is a wonderful thing but I couldn't live with one every day I would soon be bored with my car, not enough involvement I'am afraid.

+1
Had a 981 Boxster PDK loaner for two days when my Cayman S went in for service - PDK just didn't feel as involving although technically it is very impressive. The other big surprise was what a revelation going back to hydraulic steering was when jumping back into my car, it felt alive and communicative.

[Klippie]

I'd hate to be in the position of wanting to order a new 991 GT3 and no manual being available those guys must be having some deep thoughts.

[SonnyM]

Klippie said:

I'd hate to be in the position of wanting to order a new 991 GT3 and no manual being available those guys must be having some deep thoughts.

The GT3 is different because you can still change gear with the stick if you want to, which you cannot do in other PDK models, yet.

[FastEddie83]

SonnyM said:

The GT3 is different because you can still change gear with the stick if you want to, which you cannot do in other PDK models, yet.

Not true I'm afraid. On other PDK's you can change manually with the stick or with the paddles. The only difference with the GT3 is that pulling the stick back goes up a gear rather than a downshift like normal PDK.