RE: Porsche Cayman S

[HAB]

kambites said:

Had I wanted a GT, I would have seriously considered a Cayman...

There's a very good argument to say that the Cayman is as much a sportscar, as it a GT.

Which is why it's the best in its class.

Edited by HAB on Wednesday 10th December 18:11

[kambites]

HAB said:

kambites said:

Had I wanted a GT, I would have seriously considered a Cayman...

There's a very good argument to say that the Cayman is as much a sportscar, as it a GT.

Which is why it's the best in its class.

Agreed. It's possibly the best sportscar/GT hybrid on the market. It is, however, neither the best sportscar nor the best GT.

[HAB]

kambites said:

HAB said:

kambites said:

Had I wanted a GT, I would have seriously considered a Cayman...

There's a very good argument to say that the Cayman is as much a sportscar, as it a GT.

Which is why it's the best in its class.

Agreed. It's possibly the best sportscar/GT hybrid on the market. It is, however, neither the best sportscar nor the best GT.

It's not trying to be, and as far as I can see, nobody's claiming it is?

If you go too far down the sportscar route, you end up with a seriously compromised road car.

Edited by HAB on Wednesday 10th December 18:21

[kambites]

SS7 seemed to be saying so, maybe I misunderstood him though.

I personally am hoping the Evora can comprehensively beat the Cayman at it's own game, but only time will tell that.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 10th December 18:30

[Airbag]

I'd still have an Artega GT over the Cayman, though the Cayman makes a compelling case.

[Panayiotis]

Airbag said:

I'd still have an Artega GT over the Cayman, though the Cayman makes a compelling case.

have you driven one? I really want to try one on for size....very interesting proposition.

[Rafferj]

I owned the last Cayman S for over a year and thought it to be superb, especially on the track where it got a good few outings.

Now, we have an LSD (must have option by the way), 25hp more, and a lighter car ?!?

Sounds superb, and I thought the last one was great. With it being mid-engined, the balance on the track is superb and on the track only the GT3's were milliseconds faster.

For less than £50k, worth a serious look in my opinion !

[Rafferj]

kambites said:

shoestring7 said:

TOENHEEL said:

I think to say theres nothing can touch a cayman this side of a F430 is a bit of a wild opinion, depending on what you want from a car i can think of a few mid engined cars that would batter a Cayman S.

Fire away...

SS7

Well I would (and did) take an Elise over a Cayman.

Oh dear ! More fool you, unless you were buying a car SOLELY for track use.........

[TOENHEEL]

Rafferj said:

I owned the last Cayman S for over a year and thought it to be superb, especially on the track where it got a good few outings.

Now, we have an LSD (must have option by the way), 25hp more, and a lighter car ?!?

Sounds superb, and I thought the last one was great. With it being mid-engined, the balance on the track is superb and on the track only the GT3's were milliseconds faster.

For less than £50k, worth a serious look in my opinion !

Who was driving the GT3's?

[kambites]

Rafferj said:

kambites said:

shoestring7 said:

TOENHEEL said:

I think to say theres nothing can touch a cayman this side of a F430 is a bit of a wild opinion, depending on what you want from a car i can think of a few mid engined cars that would batter a Cayman S.

Fire away...

SS7

Well I would (and did) take an Elise over a Cayman.

Oh dear ! More fool you, unless you were buying a car SOLELY for track use.........

Why on earth would someone buy an Elise as a track car? It's entirely engineered as a road car, it'd make a terrible track machine in comparison to something like a Caterham.

If I was doing more than about 10k a year, a Cayman probably would have made a better buy, but the handling (at least of the one I drove) was so inferior to the Elise, that on the kind of mileage I do, the Cayman wasn't even worth considering.

Edited by kambites on Friday 12th December 16:34

[Davey S2]

kambites said:

Why on earth would someone buy an Elise as a track car? It's entirely engineered as a road car, it'd make a terrible track machine in comparison to something like a Caterham.

Are you having a laugh?

Fit a set of Nitrons & AO48's and the Elise (any variant) makes a fantastic track car.

Go even further and put in a 300bhp Honda supercharged lump and you have something that will be in the same class as the Caterham R500 for a lot less cash.

Add to the fact that its still a fairly practical car you can drive to / from the track in a fair amount of comfort and have enough room for a few nights gear and its pretty much perfect for the track day enthusiast.

[HAB]

Kambites said:

Why on earth would someone buy an Elise as a track car? It's entirely engineered as a road car, it'd make a terrible track machine in comparison to something like a Caterham.

Thats just nonsense, the Elise is a fantastic track car. It's as a road car that it has serious shortcomings. Pretty much anything is 'terrible' compared to a Caterham on the track.

[timCS]

The Cayman would make the better long distance driver. Depends on your needs. I would not rule out an Elise, I really like them. I drive a Cayman s and rate anyone driving an Elise.

You cannot compare a Caterham to either of the above.

[cvegas]

The Artega comes in at over £65K. It is also a very wide car compromising its drivablity.

Panayiotis said:

Airbag said:

I'd still have an Artega GT over the Cayman, though the Cayman makes a compelling case.

have you driven one? I really want to try one on for size....very interesting proposition.

[juansolo]

Well I really like the sound of that. I think everyone should go out and buy one now. Spec a non-hideous steering wheel and LSD and that's it. Then in a year or two's time I'll buy one second hand at a more sensible amount of money.

[kambites]

HAB said:

Kambites said:

Why on earth would someone buy an Elise as a track car? It's entirely engineered as a road car, it'd make a terrible track machine in comparison to something like a Caterham.

Thats just nonsense, the Elise is a fantastic track car. It's as a road car that it has serious shortcomings. Pretty much anything is 'terrible' compared to a Caterham on the track.

Hmm, wasn't particularly impressed with my Elise on the track. On the road though, I've never driven anything that even gets close to it. I haven't really noticed any of its shortcomings on the road, but then I suppose I've never tried to drive it more than a couple of hundred miles in one go.

I'm aware that they can be modified to make them good track cars, but as standard they just aren't set up for it. Maybe it's a matter of personal taste...

Edited by kambites on Sunday 14th December 09:56

[TOENHEEL]

"fantastic engine, sublime handling, powerful brakes, aircon and leather seats as std. It goes 170+mph and does 30mpg & there isn't another mid-engined 2 seater that gets close this side of a Ferrari 430"


Right ok then, Exige S, noble, evora good engine check, sublime handling cayman,boxster not in same league check, powerful brakes-check, air con-check leather seats half check. How often is anyone who owns a Cayman/boxster doing a 170mph???

I have owned a boxster 986 and 987 at the same time 987 actually blew up, the intermediate shaft went, perfectly run in car by my father who is an ex service manager so never over revved and always looked after so the statement of it being a great engine i would like to disagree with. Great cars but please dont compare them to a Ferrari 430 which is in another league all together.

I find my Exige does everything my boxster did but more than twice as good, handling and performance are in a different time zone, yes i sacrificed the more comfortable seats etc but i would never go back i prefer the more involving drive, on the way to the nurburgring i had a quick run with a 997 Carrera S up to silly speeds on the autobahn, i think the driver was a little suprised that to a 100mph i was actually quicker and i kept up after that until i was flat out, throw a couple of bends in and then the Lotus wins again.

Fact is there are far more rewarding cars to drive than Porsche Boxster and Cayman.. 911 for one imho although the new LSD may make a big difference but they will still lack straight line go compared to the 911 for obvious reasons. The one area the Boxster wins for a roadster is its practicality, i managed to fit loads of luggage in my car when i drove to the south of france and monaco. The problem with Lotus is that the only people who criticise them are people who usually havent driven one, if a boxster owner or cayman owner jumped in one im 100% sure if they are "petrolhead" they would agree that they have the biggest grin factor and when it boils down to driving "which cars are for" the boxster and cayman arent in the same running.

[BigHeartedTone]

I don't think you can really compare the Elise/Exige to a Boxster/Cayman. Different agenda for each, all brilliant in there own way. I have driven all four and will probably get one of them, or a 911 soon.


Phil, how did you cope with not seeing out of the back of the Exige S at the ring. This is one thing that really puts me off the car. You get some crazy driving at the Ring. I was there a couple of weeks ago and as I overtook on the left coming towards Bergwerk an Audi estate undertook me, going between me and the car I was overtaking - we were 3 abreast!!!!

[Fittster]

HAB said:

kambites said:

Had I wanted a GT, I would have seriously considered a Cayman...

There's a very good argument to say that the Cayman is as much a sportscar, as it a GT.

Which is why it's the best in its class.

Edited by HAB on Wednesday 10th December 18:11

How are you determining what other cars are in its class?

[TOENHEEL]

BigHeartedTone said:

I don't think you can really compare the Elise/Exige to a Boxster/Cayman. Different agenda for each, all brilliant in there own way. I have driven all four and will probably get one of them, or a 911 soon.


Phil, how did you cope with not seeing out of the back of the Exige S at the ring. This is one thing that really puts me off the car. You get some crazy driving at the Ring. I was there a couple of weeks ago and as I overtook on the left coming towards Bergwerk an Audi estate undertook me, going between me and the car I was overtaking - we were 3 abreast!!!!

I was a little worried when i first bought the car but you soon get comfortable with it, the wing mirrors are pretty good and you can see literally around the back of the car so it isnt to bad.

I think the key with the ring is to use your door mirrors all the time and make sure when you apex a bend than you arent turning into Herr German in a mark2 golf lol. All in all im actually quite suprised how easy you can put up with the Exige as a daily driver although this time of the year im using the van not worth risking it on toyo's.