RE: Driven: Porsche Cayman S

[DoubleSix]

kambites said:

Can't something be an enthusiast's car and a sports car?

Yes of course. I just dont think they belong in a comparison with a dedicated road car, sports or not.

Anything will feel like a blancmange next to a Caterham or Atom or whatever.

[kambites]

DoubleSix said:

kambites said:

Can't something be an enthusiast's car and a sports car?

Yes of course. I just dont think they belong in a comparison with a dedicated road car, sports or not.

Anything will feel like a blancmange next to a Caterham or Atom or whatever.

But even if you discount things aimed primarily at people who will use them on the track, Elises are squarely aimed at the road and I'd argue that a Cayman is closer to an SLK in spirit than to an Elise, too.

I don't think I'd even use the term "focussed" in isolation to describe the Elise. I guess this is all just a semantic argument really, though.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 19th February 08:58

[Globs]

DoubleSix said:

I guess all cars are a balance of compromises and we just pick those compromises we can best tolerate.

I think this is very true, for instance in the UK buying a fast hardtop sports/GT car is something I'd never consider, because soon after I'd lose my licence and worse - have to pay money to the thieving government as fines.

So for me the Cayman and 911 is a no-no now, but in a Boxster I can put the roof down and enjoy the car at legal speeds again. In essence, the compromise with many modern cars is that they insulate you too much from the road. I think that's why the Elise did well, you could feel the speed and with the top down you could also enjoy the scenery.

[Globs]

barcaospre said:

I am new to the forum and am more than happy to sign off as I feel I am a bystander at a goat /dick dance rodeo! ( you know who you are)

I live in the real world and was looking for advice and guidance I never found.

Goodbye to the anal contributors who never encouraged me to move from the 'A 'real world...(read road world) to the' B' track day world ( every other weekend?) they live in.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

One post every two and a half years, one of which was this??

[RobM77]

I don't see why being good to drive has to just be a feature of track cars. Lotus Evora, Porsche 968, Ferrari 550, Clio 172, Peugeot 205 GTi, Lotus Elan, Integra Type R, Ferrari 355, Lotus Elise, Toyota MR2, Honda NSX, Ford Sport Ka....

[scenario8]

Globs said:

One post every two and a half years, one of which was this??

Parole? Just a (cheeky) guess...

[mnk303]

Love it, Porsche have moved the game on with new Boxster and cayman , fact more and more Porsche 911 buyers are buying these cars, why because they look better, they go 95% as quick but are 40% cheaper. Adore my 981S , can't see anything else touching it on the market.

[RobM77]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I've always got the feeling that Porsche want to move things on from the 911, think of the 928 and 944 for example. The situation is similar with Caterham and the 7 (the Reynard project and the CSR both tried to take things forward). They are both guardians of an icon, but the car market works on image, history etc, rather than engineering. No doubt the marketing and accounting men insist that the 911 remains more powerful and the range topper. I'm not sure whether we can make a viable comparison with Caterham, but they chose not to do this and launched the CSR260. Despite that, the icon remains and the R500 is selling more than ever. Just think if Porsche were to do this too - we'd have a 400bhp+ Cayman GT3...

[RobM77]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Not for the road, no, I completely agree. The GT3's raison d'etre is track days is it not? Having said that though, it'd be nice to a see a stripped out Cayman that offers more involvement and excitement.

Personally, my idea of a perfect Cayman, and in fact a perfect car, is simply the present Cayman S, just with a proper steering rack, the throttle response of the similarly priced BMW M3 or Lotus Evora, and a better driving position.

[Mermaid]

RobM77 said:

Personally, my idea of a perfect Cayman, and in fact a perfect car, is simply the present Cayman S, just with a proper steering rack, the throttle response of the similarly priced BMW M3 or Lotus Evora, and a better driving position.

manual, LSD.

[RobM77]

Mermaid said:

RobM77 said:

Personally, my idea of a perfect Cayman, and in fact a perfect car, is simply the present Cayman S, just with a proper steering rack, the throttle response of the similarly priced BMW M3 or Lotus Evora, and a better driving position.

manual, LSD.

I actually quite like the latest double clutch gearboxes (although I'm no fan of torque converter autos, unless it's on a luxury barge). I'd rather not have an LSD though, for the same reasons that Lotus avoid them. I don't really think an LSD is necessary in a well sorted mid engined car with this sort of power.

Both the above as options perhaps?

I'll quote Kambites again by saying that the Cayman is annoyingly close to perfection!

[Asterix]

With my first gen Cayman S, I stuck a Quaife Diff in - took nearly 2 seconds off the lap time at the Dubai Autodrome as there are a number of slow corners where the inside rear would spin up and traction was greatly improved in a number of other corners.

[RobM77]

I think LSDs can definitely play a role in lowering lap times on a circuit such as that. For a road car though, where for me driving pleasure is paramount and laptimes secondary, I find an LSD too compromising for the car's overall behaviour.

[Asterix]

RobM77 said:

I think LSDs can definitely play a role in lowering lap times on a circuit such as that. For a road car though, where for me driving pleasure is paramount and laptimes secondary, I find an LSD too compromising for the car's overall behaviour.

Fair enough - I like doing lairy slides out of the many U-turns we have here in Dubai which I couldn't do without the diff

[Mermaid]

RobM77 said:

I think LSDs can definitely play a role in lowering lap times on a circuit such as that. For a road car though, where for me driving pleasure is paramount and laptimes secondary, I find an LSD too compromising for the car's overall behaviour.

Even the mighty 911 2GTS does not have LSD as standard, or any of the current 991's AFAIK ( not sure about the C4S)

[RobM77]

Asterix said:

RobM77 said:

I think LSDs can definitely play a role in lowering lap times on a circuit such as that. For a road car though, where for me driving pleasure is paramount and laptimes secondary, I find an LSD too compromising for the car's overall behaviour.

Fair enough - I like doing lairy slides out of the many U-turns we have here in Dubai which I couldn't do without the diff

Are you sure? I frequently get my BMW 320d and Lotus 2-11 into power oversteer coming out of tight turns. The same applied to my Elise, which I played around with on a wet track day once and nearly spun a few times! The only issue without an LSD is maintaining the slide under power for a long period of time in certain situations.

Edited by RobM77 on Thursday 21st February 13:39

[Asterix]

RobM77 said:

Asterix said:

RobM77 said:

I think LSDs can definitely play a role in lowering lap times on a circuit such as that. For a road car though, where for me driving pleasure is paramount and laptimes secondary, I find an LSD too compromising for the car's overall behaviour.

Fair enough - I like doing lairy slides out of the many U-turns we have here in Dubai which I couldn't do without the diff

Are you sure? I frequently get my BMW 320d and Lotus 2-11 into power oversteer coming out of tight turns. The same applied to my Elise, which I played around with on a wet track day once and nearly spun a few times! The only issue without an LSD is maintaining the slide under power for a long period of time in certain situations.

Edited by RobM77 on Thursday 21st February 13:39

If you have momentum, it's not so bad but from a standstill the inside rear often just spun.

[RobM77]

Asterix said:

RobM77 said:

Asterix said:

RobM77 said:

I think LSDs can definitely play a role in lowering lap times on a circuit such as that. For a road car though, where for me driving pleasure is paramount and laptimes secondary, I find an LSD too compromising for the car's overall behaviour.

Fair enough - I like doing lairy slides out of the many U-turns we have here in Dubai which I couldn't do without the diff

Are you sure? I frequently get my BMW 320d and Lotus 2-11 into power oversteer coming out of tight turns. The same applied to my Elise, which I played around with on a wet track day once and nearly spun a few times! The only issue without an LSD is maintaining the slide under power for a long period of time in certain situations.

Edited by RobM77 on Thursday 21st February 13:39

If you have momentum, it's not so bad but from a standstill the inside rear often just spun.

Although I could do spin turns in my Caterham, which had an open diff. I personally just find the need for an LSD pretty marginal, especially in non-competition use. Having said that, I've never actually raced a car with one. I could feel the inside rear starting to lose traction and spin exiting some corners (e.g. Clearways at Brands), but changing the corner radius slightly normally slowed it back down again.

I'd be perfectly happy for it to be an option though

[RichardParker90]

Perhaps this isn't the right place for a comment like this....but given the subject of Monkey's review of the new for 2013 Porsche Cayman S. I've been wondering if a used 06 Cayman S would be able to take a 997.5 GT3 RS f-6 engine? Basically I've been playing around with the idea. Haven't actually done some work to figure out if the dimensions would allow it. BUT. If it does work, this might be the most amazing project ever. Just image the product!

[kambites]

RichardParker90 said:

Perhaps this isn't the right place for a comment like this....but given the subject of Monkey's review of the new for 2013 Porsche Cayman S. I've been wondering if a used 06 Cayman S would be able to take a 997.5 GT3 RS f-6 engine? Basically I've been playing around with the idea. Haven't actually done some work to figure out if the dimensions would allow it. BUT. If it does work, this might be the most amazing project ever. Just image the product!

I don't see why not. As I understand it the 997 and 987 share a subframe, so it should just bolt in. I think it would be a bit pointless without carrying out fairly extensive other modifications, though.