New Cayman - Thoughts after 5 days
Discussion
Ok, so this is possibly a little premature, but after 650 miles and 5 days, I have some thoughts of my new toy that I thought I'd share 
What I like
It would be too much to list about what I like about it, but here are a few:
Build quality - absolutely outstanding. The whole thing has such a feel of being well made, solid and of very high quality. I even like shutting the door!
Looks - Bloody hell, I think its the best looking car ever. REALLY! I am very well likely to be biased, but it is an utterly gorgeous shape and I love those rear haunches
Speed - its not that the engine is overly powerful, but its so very very fast... due to its exceptional capabilities. The car feels like its a much, much faster car with a smaller engine! To elaborate, think of a standard Ford Focus with a 1800cc engine. Now, put a 600cc engine in it and drive - *that's* the kind of thing I mean... that the car feels like its soooo much more capable than the engine in it. It has 295bhp, but I think with 395bhp it'd still be looking around saying "bovvered?"
Now this is NOT to say it feels like a 600cc Focus (!) or that its slow, because its not. Its a very very quick car. Both acceleration and top speed are easily measurable (and comparable), but the real speed is over the twisties - it just floats, like its a straightroad. Amazing.
PASM - That's Porsche Active Suspension Management, an option costing £1,030. This is the best option they do (IMO!). The sales blurb says the car is lower by 10mm, and you get a button to change between "On" and "Off". My girlfriend says its the "boys button" - when on, the car is rock solid, like its suspension has (almost) been removed. I LOVE it like that... she hates it. When off, the car is much softer and wallowy, riding bumps and cambers like a big, luxury Audi. The ability to change between the 2 at a touch of a button is excellent - 2 cars in one!
Wheels - great, just right
Colour - Atlas Grey. Looks black from a distance, light grey closer, absolutely gorgeous all over!
Stereo - BOSE powered. Bit loud, but then you can turn it down!
Little bits - messages on the dash, doors locking, seat movement, light operation, lots of "little bits".
Headlights - I got the Bi-Xeons and they're rather good. The other day I got a call from the CAA asking me to turn them off as it was disturbing the pilots!
EVERYTHING!!
What I don't like as much / could be better
Gearbox - the S2000 had a better gearbox. Shorter shifts, more precise, preferred the ratios. This one's a bit flappy.
Brakes - good.... but the ones in the S2000 were more positive and stopped quicker. Not tried these at monster speeds though, to I'll have to come back on that one.
And there we go - some brief thoughts. Hopefully some of you will be vaugely interested. Which is good because I've bored everyone around me to death!
>> Edited by pikey on Thursday 9th March 08:45
What I like
It would be too much to list about what I like about it, but here are a few:
Build quality - absolutely outstanding. The whole thing has such a feel of being well made, solid and of very high quality. I even like shutting the door!
Looks - Bloody hell, I think its the best looking car ever. REALLY! I am very well likely to be biased, but it is an utterly gorgeous shape and I love those rear haunches
Speed - its not that the engine is overly powerful, but its so very very fast... due to its exceptional capabilities. The car feels like its a much, much faster car with a smaller engine! To elaborate, think of a standard Ford Focus with a 1800cc engine. Now, put a 600cc engine in it and drive - *that's* the kind of thing I mean... that the car feels like its soooo much more capable than the engine in it. It has 295bhp, but I think with 395bhp it'd still be looking around saying "bovvered?"
Now this is NOT to say it feels like a 600cc Focus (!) or that its slow, because its not. Its a very very quick car. Both acceleration and top speed are easily measurable (and comparable), but the real speed is over the twisties - it just floats, like its a straightroad. Amazing.
PASM - That's Porsche Active Suspension Management, an option costing £1,030. This is the best option they do (IMO!). The sales blurb says the car is lower by 10mm, and you get a button to change between "On" and "Off". My girlfriend says its the "boys button" - when on, the car is rock solid, like its suspension has (almost) been removed. I LOVE it like that... she hates it. When off, the car is much softer and wallowy, riding bumps and cambers like a big, luxury Audi. The ability to change between the 2 at a touch of a button is excellent - 2 cars in one!
Wheels - great, just right
Colour - Atlas Grey. Looks black from a distance, light grey closer, absolutely gorgeous all over!
Stereo - BOSE powered. Bit loud, but then you can turn it down!
Little bits - messages on the dash, doors locking, seat movement, light operation, lots of "little bits".
Headlights - I got the Bi-Xeons and they're rather good. The other day I got a call from the CAA asking me to turn them off as it was disturbing the pilots!
EVERYTHING!!
What I don't like as much / could be better
Gearbox - the S2000 had a better gearbox. Shorter shifts, more precise, preferred the ratios. This one's a bit flappy.
Brakes - good.... but the ones in the S2000 were more positive and stopped quicker. Not tried these at monster speeds though, to I'll have to come back on that one.
And there we go - some brief thoughts. Hopefully some of you will be vaugely interested. Which is good because I've bored everyone around me to death!
>> Edited by pikey on Thursday 9th March 08:45
Biscuits
jeremyc said:
It shouldn' take too much to bolt one of these on Pikey.
Hi JC!
I've made a decision not to "tinker" with it whilst under warranty. One of the reasons to buy brand new are that any problems are 100% someone elses! Tinkering is likely to invalidate or confuse the warranty (and perhaps insurance) situation.
It is VERY fast anyway, plenty fast enough for me, but if I wanted to go faster I would be better off spending any money on mods & tinkering on advanced driving sessions! I'm quite sure there's a lot of scope for my driving skills to be improved
Never have been a fan of tinkering. Not only for the warranty reason but also that I am not the expert... and the manufacturer is. And of course its easy to find someone to sell something to you who will claim to be an expert!
I remember driving my Civic Type R at the Ring (I know it ~200 laps well), passing an awful lot of more expensive machinery and people coming up afterwards asking about the mods on it. All I did was put petrol in & have it serviced!!
Driving skill - the cheap way to go faster
) Pikey
pikey said:
PASM - That's Porsche Active Suspension Management, an option costing £1,030. This is the best option they do (IMO!). The sales blurb says the car is lower by 10mm, and you get a button to change between "On" and "Off". My girlfriend says its the "boys button" - when on, the car is rock solid, like its suspension has (almost) been removed. I LOVE it like that... she hates it. When off, the car is much softer and wallowy, riding bumps and cambers like a big, luxury Audi. The ability to change between the 2 at a touch of a button is excellent - 2 cars in one!
>> Edited by pikey on Thursday 9th March 08:45
Thanks for that particular part Pikey, I was thinking about putting it on my order but didn't have any references on it. Everyone goes on about the button being on but no-one I've seen has mentioned what the ride is like with it off. Thats me convinced.
Glad to see the rest of the experience is everything you could have wanted!
Mikeyboy
mikeyboy said:
Thanks for that particular part Pikey, I was thinking about putting it on my order but didn't have any references on it. Everyone goes on about the button being on but no-one I've seen has mentioned what the ride is like with it off. Thats me convinced.
You're welcome!
It really does feel like 2 cars. I may get shot for this comparison, but as a basic thought :
ON - think GT2 uncomfortable, bone jarring ride
OFF - think big, luxury Audi
Without PASM you get something in the middle.
For some more tips... if you do get PASM (which I think everyone should!) and like hairing round corners, the sports seats (upgrade option) provide really good lateral support to pin you in.
Cheers
Ben
Surprised about the brake comments. Is it just a case of you adjusting to the lack of overservo-ing that so many manufacturers indulge in?
On the power front, there is an Interesting article in this months excellence reviewing a Boxster with a mildly tuned 3.8l 997S engine in it. They like it, although it's not quite the home run I expected. It has a few problems putting the power down (not having the 911s weight over the rear wheels for traction), although they think some of that might be sorted by an LSD. The same company are now working on a Cayman with the same plant.
Anyway, glad you are enjoying it. When is it's first track outing?
DanH said:
Surprised about the brake comments. Is it just a case of you adjusting to the lack of overservo-ing that so many manufacturers indulge in?
^^^ I think Dan may be right about that. you may well need to recalibrate your braking leg and push a bit harder
s2000's have always had fantastic gearboxes.
Glad your enjoying your new toy. I have to say I think they look fantastic. love to give one a try.
DanH said:
Surprised about the brake comments. Is it just a case of you adjusting to the lack of overservo-ing that so many manufacturers indulge in?
Possibly. Not thought of it being that.
I do find that I can get it to lock up / ABS kick in very easy.
In the S2k the brake pedal would be very firm and decelerate rapidly before locking/ABS.
Maybe I do need to adjust to overservo-ing.
Also the S2Ks brakes worked most impressively under load & speed, which I haven't tried the Cayman's on. Of particular note is coming into Armberg where i push it a little due to the reassuring kitty litter (not that it would help much head on!), and the brakes are extremely impressive. Same corner, same speed in the Cayman should give me a better feeling for my opinion!
pikey said:
Surprised about the brake comments. Is it just a case of you adjusting to the lack of overservo-ing that so many manufacturers indulge in?
Possibly. Not thought of it being that.
I do find that I can get it to lock up / ABS kick in very easy.
In the S2k the brake pedal would be very firm and decelerate rapidly before locking/ABS.
Maybe I do need to adjust to overservo-ing.
Also the S2Ks brakes worked most impressively under load & speed, which I haven't tried the Cayman's on. Of particular note is coming into Armberg where i push it a little due to the reassuring kitty litter (not that it would help much head on!), and the brakes are extremely impressive. Same corner, same speed in the Cayman should give me a better feeling for my opinion!
Porsche brakes are the opposite of over-servo'd (in my experience). i.e. they need a good shove to work, although obviously you need to apply them smoothly to transfer weight to the front which allows more pressure to be applied before lockup.
Most cars these days don't require much finesse with the brake pedal and lack any progressive control. Handy for numpties, but poor if you are trying to threshold brake effectively or want to heal and toe.
pocty said:
Hi Pikey,
Get the short shifter its a must, makes a hell of a difference also as its a
porsche part it wont invalidate the warranty.
Oh by the way it is black...;-)
philo
Can I have it retro fitted then?
Didn't know that - thanks, I'll make enquiries.
Oh, and it *IS NOT* black.... if you look closely
Is more obvious in the light. This pic shows it well (PS. superb colour whatever it is!!)
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