Porsche Cayman S: Spotted
Well if your small, mid-engined Porsche must have six cylinders, this one looks delightful
We'll leave those questions to be answered in due course, and instead today focus on another one: what's the best six-cylinder Cayman you can buy? Because, well, it sounds like quite a fun way to wile away a Monday.
GT4 is the obvious answer, of course, but they do still look jolly expensive at £80K+. At that money you really should be looking at 997 GT3s as well, and that's not really the point of this story. A late GTS is appealing as well, though values of those are now influenced by their enviable status as the last six-cylinder Cayman: this car is for sale at £64,000...
Thing is, of course, there were plenty of very good six-cylinder Caymans before the GTS; though potentially less desirable now, there's an awful lot to recommend the plain old Cayman S. From 2013 - yes, it really was nearly five years ago - the 981 Cayman S had 3.4-litres, 325hp, 273lb ft, a 175mph top speed and a kerbweight on the favourable side of 1,400kg. It was, and remains, a compelling sports car formula.
With it having been around for a few years now, the choice is reasonably broad. You can get it into a 2.7 non-S for less than £30K, but finding an S is actually more difficult - of the 159 post-2013 Caymans for sale, only 71 have the bigger engine; take out the 30-odd GT4s and it's a reasonably small pool of cars.
This one is especially nice. Narrow down your search to just the manual, 3.4-litre 981 Caymans and there are five on the PH classifieds. Why this particular one? White won't be to everyone's taste, but look at the spec: ceramic brakes, a limited-slip diff with torque vectoring, the sports exhaust and sports seats. You won't find many, if any, like it.
It's been a third car - so has just 11,000 miles recorded - serviced only at Porsche and, at £47,500, is more than £15,000 cheaper than that GTS with the same sort of miles. The biggest issue we can see so far is that Carrara White is spelt incorrectly...
What else might you have? People who've not driven a Cayman will say you might still want a 911, with early 991s not far away if you're tempted. An F-Type will do plenty on the drama and theatre front, particularly as a V8, but won't be quite as sharp to drive. And you could buy a newer Alfa 4C if you really want to, though we wouldn't recommend it.
Nope, it really is quite hard to argue against this Cayman. Six cylinders aren't coming back any time soon, manuals don't look to have an especially rosy future and such a driver-focused spec is the icing on the top. It will always be a car in demand if you did come to sell, but why on earth would you want to get rid of it?
PORSCHE CAYMAN S 981
Engine: 3,436cc, 6-cyl
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 325@7,400rpm
Torque (lb ft): 273@4,500rpm
MPG: 35.3
CO2: 206g/km
First registered: 2013
Recorded mileage: 11,000
Yours for: £47,500
See the original advert here.
Also the LSD fitted by Porsche was something like a 900 quid option. If that sounds too good to be true; it was. It had nothing on the LSD's fitted to the GT cars, with a maximum of 22 percent slip ratio under power. A bit of a gimmick, really.
The maximum ratio was higher under braking, but this hinders the car on turn in, inducing understeer.
So LSD's are great, if you intend to go drifting or if you mean to set a lap-time. But, if you do not intend to use the car on track, a car with an open diff is on many occasions the sweeter steer. All IMHO.
Also strictly IMO, if you are looking for a car that plays the hooligan, a car like the BMW 1M is a much more suitable car than any Cayman.
It has a much more capable LSD than the Porsche's OEM item and far superior torque where the Cayman is more of a balanced and delicate precision tool. This from someone who tried both and ended up buying the Porker. No regrets btw, apart from the looks...
At some point you're gonna get beaten off the traffic lights or roundabout by a £20k Golf R and want to end it all.
I wouldn't know where to start so assuming you're being sarcastic although I doubt it.
Yipper, you exceed yourself, day after day - bring on tomorrow !
At some point you're gonna get beaten off the traffic lights or roundabout by a £20k Golf R and want to end it all.
I wouldn't know where to start so assuming you're being sarcastic although I doubt it.
Yipper, you exceed yourself, day after day - bring on tomorrow !
At some point you're gonna get beaten off the traffic lights or roundabout by a £20k Golf R and want to end it all.
Maybe the subtleties of a true drivers car are wasted on you !
The article is about the Cayman, but for me, the Boxster not only offers far better value, but being able to get the roof down really adds to the experience.
We've got a 3.4 manual, with PASM, Sports Chrono & PTV, essentially a GTS without the bodykit/extra £££'s ...
Untitled by Sir_Dave, on Flickr
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff