RE: Porsche Cayman S
Discussion
Its only on track not seeing out the back would be problem I imagine. 
timCS said:
How do the Nurnberg track times compare for the Cayman S and Exige?
Wonder what the new Cayman S will achieve?
Nurburgring isnt the best track for the exige though as it doesnt have the biggest top end, take the top gear track for example or other twisty circuits and it hammers a 911 nevermind cayman.Wonder what the new Cayman S will achieve?
Porsche GT3 RS 1.22.3
Lotus Exige S 1.25.1
Porsche Cayman 1.26.2
Porsche 911 Carrera 2S 1.26.2
Porsche 911 GT3 1.27.2
Porsche 911 Carrera S 1.28.9
Porsche 911 Turbo 1.31.0
Hockenheim Short EXIGE S 1:14.8 Cayman S 1:15.5
Bedford Autodrome West Circuit (pre 06/2008) EXIGE S 1:22.40 Cayman S 1:26.85
Oschersleben EXIGE S 1:45.79 Cayman S 1:47.90
Zolder EXIGE S 1:47.87 Cayman S 1:52.82
Croft EXIGE S 1:39.1 Cayman S 1:41.4
Oulton Park (Full Circuit) EXIGE S 2:02.70 Cayman S 2:02.05
Edited by TOENHEEL on Tuesday 16th December 14:30
Edited by TOENHEEL on Tuesday 16th December 14:32
TOENHEEL said:
timCS said:
How do the Nurnberg track times compare for the Cayman S and Exige?
Wonder what the new Cayman S will achieve?
Nurburgring isnt the best track for the exige though as it doesnt have the biggest top end, take the top gear track for example or other twisty circuits and it hammers a 911 nevermind cayman.Wonder what the new Cayman S will achieve?
Porsche GT3 RS 1.22.3
Lotus Exige S 1.25.1
Porsche Cayman 1.26.2
Porsche 911 Carrera 2S 1.26.2
Porsche 911 GT3 1.27.2
Porsche 911 Carrera S 1.28.9
Porsche 911 Turbo 1.31.0
Hockenheim Short EXIGE S 1:14.8 Cayman S 1:15.5
Bedford Autodrome West Circuit (pre 06/2008) EXIGE S 1:22.40 Cayman S 1:26.85
Oschersleben EXIGE S 1:45.79 Cayman S 1:47.90
Zolder EXIGE S 1:47.87 Cayman S 1:52.82
Croft EXIGE S 1:39.1 Cayman S 1:41.4
Oulton Park (Full Circuit) EXIGE S 2:02.70 Cayman S 2:02.05
Edited by TOENHEEL on Tuesday 16th December 14:30
Edited by TOENHEEL on Tuesday 16th December 14:32
SS7
Times vary i guess depending on whos driving with those lap times, i know speaking from experience of owning a boxster and driving a cayman that they dont come close to the Exige for cornering or straight line speed up to i would say 120ish on the autobahn of course..:-)
A track with decent straights would allow the cayman s to gain a little if you were well into 3 figures. Most exige owners will tell you that from low speed up to 120ish not much will keep up but then the bigger engined cars keep pulling, my experience of owning both cars is that the Exige is fast where its important and has superb handling, the boxster/cayman were great handling for a "gt" road car but the biggest plus of top end speed can rarely be used.
A track with decent straights would allow the cayman s to gain a little if you were well into 3 figures. Most exige owners will tell you that from low speed up to 120ish not much will keep up but then the bigger engined cars keep pulling, my experience of owning both cars is that the Exige is fast where its important and has superb handling, the boxster/cayman were great handling for a "gt" road car but the biggest plus of top end speed can rarely be used.
Edited by TOENHEEL on Tuesday 16th December 14:46
TOENHEEL said:
i know speaking from experience of owning a boxster and driving a cayman that they dont come close to the Exige for cornering or straight line speed up to i would say 120ish on the autobahn of course
The 'Ring times for the Exige S & Cayman S would suggest that you've got it the wrong way round. The Cayman S is the quicker car on the 'Ring by a surprisingly big margin. And the 'Ring is still the best indicator we have of determining a cars point to point ability on the road.HAB said:
TOENHEEL said:
i know speaking from experience of owning a boxster and driving a cayman that they dont come close to the Exige for cornering or straight line speed up to i would say 120ish on the autobahn of course
The 'Ring times for the Exige S & Cayman S would suggest that you've got it the wrong way round. The Cayman S is the quicker car on the 'Ring by a surprisingly big margin. And the 'Ring is still the best indicator we have of determining a cars point to point ability on the road.Edited by TOENHEEL on Tuesday 16th December 14:59
Another thing to add is that im by no menas knocking the Cayman S as a previous porsche owner i always said the Cayman/boxster with LSD and more power would make more sense to buy over the 911 however having owned the Porsches and driving other variants i know that its madness to compare them to the Exige for handling. Another thing is that most people seem to take far to much notice of nurburgring times usually people who havent actually been. I cant actually remember Lotus ever making publicity about the Exige S going round the ring, who was driving? give the car to walter rohrl or another "ringmeister" and lest see what the Lotus is capable of.
TOENHEEL said:
Have you been around the nurburgring?
Yes I've been going to the 'Ring for years. And I know from experience that a quick car there, is a pretty good indicator of what's a quick car on British B roads. The Nurburgring has fast sections, of course. But you'll know yourself that a good proportion of it is 2nd/3rd gear stuff, where handling balance (especially under braking) is everything. It's wrong to paint the N'Ring as a high horsepower circuit only. Edited by HAB on Tuesday 16th December 15:10
HAB said:
Yes I've been going to the 'Ring for years. And I know from experience that a quick car there, is a pretty good indicator of what's a quick car on British B roads. The Nurburgring has fast sections, of course. But you'll know yourself that a good proportion of it is 2nd/3rd gear stuff, where handling balance (especially under braking) is everything. It's wrong to paint the N'Ring as a high horsepower circuit.
There is a lot of 2nd and 3rd gear stuff yes this is where the exige is quicker than the Cayman though also the caymans carrying over 400kg extra baggage when braking hard and cornering thats a lot of extra weight, if you get a really good driver in the Cayman S who doesnt let up and keeps the car on the boil im not suprised it goes around that quick. In the exige though if a driver isnt as good and he loses some momentum its a lot harder to build back up over 100mph in the exige on the ring, who drove the exige for sport auto? also get the same driver on the same track then theres a fair comparison. To be honest theres always been a little controvesy over the exige s time as it seems well of the boil?chris7676 said:
How is the Elise/Exige a better handling car than the Cayman? What do you actually mean by that?
Lighter for a start by a hell of a lot around 400kg you can feel the difference if you drove both cars back to back and pushed hard into bends, has a 100lb of downforce at 100mph from rear spoiler and front splitter, sticky a048 yoko or toyo tyres, and obviously by the lap times above on a twisty enough track is quicker than the cayman s. Both the 986 and 987 boxsters we owned felt light on the front end at speed nowhere near as planted as the Lotus for obvious reasons. For example how many people who have drove the Cayman suggest its as good at handling/cornering as an Exige? my porsche wasnt anywhere near as communcative as it and certainly didnt warn me as much when i was being a bit silly?? It isnt rocket science that an exige out handles a cayman ffs, unless of course your suggesting that a cayman is better in which case i would leave this thread as its getting a bit silly now comparing it with F430 ferraris etc.
Edited by TOENHEEL on Tuesday 16th December 15:59
Edited by TOENHEEL on Tuesday 16th December 16:10
chris7676 said:
How is the Elise/Exige a better handling car than the Cayman? What do you actually mean by that?
I'm not sure I'd say it's a better handling car per se. The Cayman feels better balanced and slightly more stable, it certainly feels friendlier on the limit (although it's not as good at telling you where the limits are); the Elise/Exige feels more responsive, has better weighted controls with, and for me this is the crucial bit, vastly better feedback. It also feels faster, more because it's so low to the ground than because it actually is.
Give a Cayman decent steering feel and nicer feeling brakes and it would have been a hard choice for me. The problem is, in order to do that, you'd probably have to make it much lighter - you'd just end up with an Elise. The Cayman does it's sportscar/GT hybrid role very well, it's unreasonable to expect it to match an Elise as a sportscar because the Elise doesn't try to do anything else.
Edited by kambites on Tuesday 16th December 16:10
TOENHEEL said:
HAB said:
Yes I've been going to the 'Ring for years. And I know from experience that a quick car there, is a pretty good indicator of what's a quick car on British B roads. The Nurburgring has fast sections, of course. But you'll know yourself that a good proportion of it is 2nd/3rd gear stuff, where handling balance (especially under braking) is everything. It's wrong to paint the N'Ring as a high horsepower circuit.
There is a lot of 2nd and 3rd gear stuff yes this is where the exige is quicker than the Cayman though also the caymans carrying over 400kg extra baggage when braking hard and cornering thats a lot of extra weight, if you get a really good driver in the Cayman S who doesnt let up and keeps the car on the boil im not suprised it goes around that quick. In the exige though if a driver isnt as good and he loses some momentum its a lot harder to build back up over 100mph in the exige on the ring, who drove the exige for sport auto? also get the same driver on the same track then theres a fair comparison. To be honest theres always been a little controvesy over the exige s time as it seems well of the boil?I would agree though sub 250 bhp cars are going to be disadvantaged at the 'ring due to the long up hill sections such as Kesselchen.
I have to admit to being one the people who just looked at the cayman/boxster as a poor mans attempt to impress the neighbours that he has a 'Porsche'... its not that I ever thought they were bad cars (my dad used to have a 2.7 Boxster and it was a joy to drive) in fact I'd go as far as saying that in my limited knowledge they are noticably better than similary priced rivals... its just that I was always a bit put off by the way Porsche had designed them to echo the looks of the 911. The majority of non-PH public would be hard pressed to pick out a 997 when looked at head-on next to either a cayman or boxster... and there was the reason I disliked them so much... why not give them their own individual style (i.e 928/944) that they so richly deserved... I always felt that the Cayman/Boxster's styling was piggy backing on the success of the 911... Would people have bought it if it didn't look almost identicle to a 996/997? (to most of the people on here, proberly yes, as we're car nuts... but what about the majority?)
But in the most ironic of circumstances I find myself contemplating with the idea of buying a £35,000ish sports car that is safe / reliable and practical for everyday use some point in spring '09... and I have been playing around with colour / spec combinations of a Cayman on Porsche's website.
....but please dont tell anyone, I feel I would have to eat alot of humble pie.
But in the most ironic of circumstances I find myself contemplating with the idea of buying a £35,000ish sports car that is safe / reliable and practical for everyday use some point in spring '09... and I have been playing around with colour / spec combinations of a Cayman on Porsche's website.
....but please dont tell anyone, I feel I would have to eat alot of humble pie.
shoestring7 said:
TOENHEEL said:
Another thing is that most people seem to take far to much notice of nurburgring
They do, but we have all learned to take no notice of ignorant sh*te posted on here.SS7
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
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
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