RE: Jaguar F-Type 2.0 vs. Porsche 718 Cayman

[911xx]

4 cylinders... no thanks

[chelme]

Personally, it comes down to how the car makes me feel.

The Jaguar is prettier, and has a more pleasant engine note. I imagine it would be fun to drive on the limit, because from the reviews, it seems to be a car quite able to make the driver feel good at the limits of its adhesion, without one having to push it to over - steer antics.

The Porsche on the hand is supremely capable and draws a great deal of admiration for its ability. On roads however this talent isn't as exploitable because it is so good, and because of its long gearing. And then you have the four pot boxer which seems to be, without a doubt, a 'disappointment'.

I sense that the feel good factor in the Jaguar is greater, BECAUSE it is not perfect. It elicits an emotional attachment which the Porsche cannot quite meet, so for me if I had the choose between the two, it would be the Jaguar.

Having said this, ultimately for me, I would rather an Abarth 124 Spider because you get so much fun from driving something like this, even at road legal speeds, because it has a delightful 1.4 four pot you can extend and an able chassis and suspension set up. It is also 20-30k more affordable than either of these...

Respect for anyone who chooses one over the other, because we are all different, however for me, neither of these are worth 50k not only because they have four pot engines, but because the four pots they have are simply not 'great' examples of the configuration.

Edited by chelme on Monday 21st August 21:39

Edited by chelme on Monday 21st August 21:40

[iSore]

But the Cayman is 42 grand, not 50. A BMW 440i - a lovely thing with a 4 cyl turbo - is 38 grand*. In the great scheme of things, the Cayman is not expensive.

What are the relevant PCP figures for these?

• Before the usual discount.

[chelme]

Albeit it is 42k in the most basic form, it still is not worth it for me, because it just isn't 'special' enough in that it fails to draw on the heart strings -I imagine I would only be disappointed with it over time because of the 4pot boxer, sounding gruff, dull and unhappy.

The Porsche is great but it just seems too serious, without countering this dull approach with a serious engine!

[chelme]

iSore said:

But the Cayman is 42 grand, not 50. A BMW 440i - a lovely thing with a 4 cyl turbo - is 38 grand*. In the great scheme of things, the Cayman is not expensive.

What are the relevant PCP figures for these?

• Before the usual discount.

I thought the 440i had a 3.5 litre straight six turbo. I may be wrong -check it out.

[MellowshipSlinky]

paralla said:

In my mind Jaguars are old mens cars and Porsches arent.

Jag's in the golf club car park, shall we shag now or shall we shag later?

Not ever having driven a Jaguar I have no idea if there's anything to this thought process but at 45 I still consider myself far too young to be driving a Jaguar of any kind.

Offering a manual transmission in your affordable sports coupe might help dispel the stereotype.

I'm only 3 years older than you, my last 5 cars were a 911 turbo, Boxster Spyder and 3 Exiges ( the last / being the V6 variants)
Just gone and bought a V8 F-Type.
I don't feel old at all.
In fact my wife and kids keep telling me to grow up

[F1GTRUeno]

TameRacingDriver said:

Particularly with the knowledge that less than £30K would buy me a brand new 3.7 litre V6 Sports coupe instead, just with the wrong badge (Nissan 370Z). Before anyone bothers commenting on tax or fuel economy, I doubt that would be a concern to anyone able to fork out over £50K on a car...

And anyone able to fork out over £50k for a car isn't gonna be thinking about a Nissan exactly because of the badge.

Comparing an F-Type with a 370Z or with FWD hatchbacks or anything lesser is just pointless. Unless you're directly in the decision making process with what to do with the money and lifestyle you'd have (okay, you're not exactly wiping your arse with £50 notes but you'd still have a different lifestyle to someone considering a Focus ST or whatever) then it's utterly redundant trying to equate them.

A 2.0 four cylinder F-Type is still an F-Type, you might not get the sound and of course that's a major thing in buying sports cars but everything else is still there and it'll still feel very special indeed.

[Rawwr]

Yipper said:

Good review.

The biggest problem with buying a cheap Porker or Jag is that you're gonna get beat at some point by a Golf R or Audi S3 on a lease and then you'll be left with horrific buyer's remorse.

Look, everyone! Yipper's talking again.

[900T-R]

Feeling rather ambivalent on this pair.

Is 300 bhp enough in a smallish sports/GT car? Yes - and then some.

The problem is, it's 300 bhp from a heavily boosted four cylinder engine; it's never going to feel like 300 bhp from a naturally aspirated straight six or old school V8 (even when they would probably be not as fast on a give or take road, but that's besides the point) - thank you NEDC...

To be honest at least for the Porsche, if there were a 200 bhp option I'd probably take it, the extra 100 bhp doesn't mean anything to me if it doesn't come with any more charisma...

[RobGT81]

F1GTRUeno said:

but everything else is still there and it'll still feel very special indeed.

Apart from the looks, what's very special about an F-Type? The interior is dull and still full of Freelander switches and Disco Sport touchscreen. The suspension is rock solid and it doesn't ride down average roads very well.

[Paddy78]

diehardbenzfan said:

Paddy78 said:

Something to do with the fact that you can do 70mph in 2nd... Kind of rendering all other gears useless if revving out at legal speeds. You get to do one gear change and then stay in 2nd for the rest of your drive out in the country. £1500 fixes that with a diff and final drive, but would also probably ruin you fuel economy.

I have never driven a Porsche or been in one on my life so correct me if I'm wrong but as it's turbo charged, surely you wouldn't need to hit the redline in second as you would in the 2.7. E.g change up to third earlier and the the torque that comes early in the rev range carries it through third?

Edited by diehardbenzfan on Monday 21st August 17:26

Yes, of course you are correct. That is how you would drive it as there are usually diminishing power returns for revving out a turbo car. Even so, you're now in 3rd gear at probably 4000rpm with 3 more cogs that you aren't going to go near if you don't want a ban.

[J4CKO]

900T-R said:

Feeling rather ambivalent on this pair.

Is 300 bhp enough in a smallish sports/GT car? Yes - and then some.

The problem is, it's 300 bhp from a heavily boosted four cylinder engine; it's never going to feel like 300 bhp from a naturally aspirated straight six or old school V8 (even when they would probably be not as fast on a give or take road, but that's besides the point) - thank you NEDC...

To be honest at least for the Porsche, if there were a 200 bhp option I'd probably take it, the extra 100 bhp doesn't mean anything to me if it doesn't come with any more charisma...

I had a 350Z, 296 bhp, I bet these two are better than that was, I liked it but it always felt a bit like it needed something, 268 lb/ft at 4800 vs 295 lb/ft at 1500 rpm in the Jag, it wouldn't sound as good obviously, but I expect that 90 percent of the time its just a nicer drive, I like N/A engines but they have to have huge capacity and loads of power not to feel a bit aneamic low down after getting used to turbos, or they work better in something light, but the 350Z was 1600 kilos, at 1200/1300 it would have been a superb thing, as it was it was alright but either needed more grunt or less weight.

[iSore]

chelme said:

I thought the 440i had a 3.5 litre straight six turbo. I may be wrong -check it out.

You're quite right, I meant 430i.

[iSore]

900T-R said:

Feeling rather ambivalent on this pair.

Is 300 bhp enough in a smallish sports/GT car? Yes - and then some.

The problem is, it's 300 bhp from a heavily boosted four cylinder engine; it's never going to feel like 300 bhp from a naturally aspirated straight six or old school V8 (even when they would probably be not as fast on a give or take road, but that's besides the point) - thank you NEDC...

To be honest at least for the Porsche, if there were a 200 bhp option I'd probably take it, the extra 100 bhp doesn't mean anything to me if it doesn't come with any more charisma...

Disagree - the 240 bhp turbo four in the 3/4 Series with the eight speed auto has a fair bit of wallop and torque. The ears tell you it's not a six, but the grunt says otherwise.

[shalmaneser]

ZX10R NIN said:

ITP said:

I think the best option would be a 6cyl manual cayman of the previous gen but with a shorter final drive to lower the gearing 25% or so.
Does anyone offer this as an aftermarket mod?

Yes just buy a Quaife diff with a lower final drive & that would do what you want to the gearing.

Can Quaife actually supply crown and pinion gears for the Caymen?

[anonymous-user]

Two things,

• Base 918 with PDK is a quick car for the money. That 7-speed auto will keep the engine on the boil if you want to press on. Much quicker than the former 6-pot base car.

• Shortening the final drive by 25% in a manual one of these would IMO make the car utterly horrible to drive. It would move the gears even closer together and reduce the speed range of each gear.

[Ray_Aber]

F1GTRUeno said:

TameRacingDriver said:

Particularly with the knowledge that less than £30K would buy me a brand new 3.7 litre V6 Sports coupe instead, just with the wrong badge (Nissan 370Z). Before anyone bothers commenting on tax or fuel economy, I doubt that would be a concern to anyone able to fork out over £50K on a car...

And anyone able to fork out over £50k for a car isn't gonna be thinking about a Nissan exactly because of the badge.

Maybe not a 370Z, but many would consider a slightly used GT-R. Depends how much of a badge snob they are. For me it's product, not badge.

[Alex_225]

For some reason in my mind the Cayman just seems more acceptable with a 2.0 turbo than the F-Type. Probably just nonsense really but the Jag seems to appeal more with the bigger engine, almost like a muscle car.

The Porsche seems more to be about being nimble and lightweight so a 2.0 turbo seems to work, even if it's lost a bit of character for it.

[KevinCamaroSS]

BenjiS said:

KevinCamaroSS said:

Of course neither car would stack up against a V8 Mustang (or even the 2.3 ecoboost) if looking at price and specification.

That's a bit like saying a Jaguar XF wouldn't stack up against a Mondeo if looking at price and specification.

It's completely true, but the person looking at an XF isn't likely to be looking at a Mondeo.

A Mustang is a 2+2 RWD GT coupe, exactly the same as an F-Type or Cayman (except for the two tiny seats in the back) and as such is a direct competitor. Price point is different, but I would include it as the same category of car, and probably rarer than the Jag or Porsche.

[The Surveyor]

Ray_Aber said:

Maybe not a 370Z, but many would consider a slightly used GT-R. Depends how much of a badge snob they are. For me it's product, not badge.

A 'slightly used GT-R' for £50k will be at least 5 years old, nobody thinking of a new 4-pot Jaguar would ever look at a old Nissan as an option. It's nothing to do with badge snobbery, it's just a totally different proposition.

If you suggested the option of a used V6 F-Type rather than a new 2.0, then I'd agree.