Re: What would you buy?
Sorry in advance for the long post but here's my two cents:
I drove a Cayman S today. In fact I tested it twice within an hour, in an effort to compare it to my 997C2.
I drove my 997 for a good two hours before stopping at the dealer, so the feel of transitioning from one car to the other wouldn't be lost or diluted. A beautiful black Cayman fitted with 18's and no options to weigh it down other than heated seats and Bose. I hoped they had one with sport chrono and PASM but since I'm considering PSS9's and perhaps an ECU flash I wanted to try a very basic Cayman as well anyway.
The Cayman's exterior is very masculine indeed. The nose looks more agressive than my Carrera, and the haunches of the rear fenders looked very 'race car-ish' to me. Very Cool. But to be honest I think I still prefer the large hips of my 997's rear fenders. The 997's rear looks a bit larger than the rest of the car proportionally, whereas the Cayman's rear seems shorter than the rest of the car. It's difficult for me to explain, but I wound up preferring the bigger butt of my car. Nonetheless, the Cayman's lines flow extremely well, and that rear hatch is just trick! I think I can put two golf bags in there!
Inside the cockpit the first thing that caught my eye were the vents; not as appealing as the 997, but no big deal; I can get use to them. Just a taste preference that popped a flag when I got in the car. The other item that came to my attention was the lack of a oil temperature gauge. I've come to live by that gauge in my 997. I don't dip into the throttle until oil temps are up no matter what the water temp gauge is telling me. That's one item that should be standard in every P-car as far as I'm concerned.
On to the driving portion of my visit. Being a new car, the salesman asked me to keep the revs under 5200rpms, which is something he didn't need to tell me- I would've kept it under 4500rpms. But since he said 5200rps, I figured what the hec, 5200rpms it is! It took it easy for awhile (trying to make sure oil temps came up- unfortunately no way to know), but was able to take a few bends on the 2-way road we were on. I could tell right after the first corner the Cayman felt better in the turn. A few more corners, and one hairpin turn that I was able to take at about 7/10ths, accelerating hard throughout of the corner. "YESSSS!!!" is what I yelled to my salesguy. "That was guuuud!" A long stretch of straightaway followed, and this is where I had an opportunity to test torque of the car at different speeds and gears.
Off the line I could feel the taller first gear compared to my 997. It's quite a bit of difference. My 997 has quite a bit of grunt in first gear. Funny thing is it reminds my of an old VW beetle's first gear. Engage the clutch off the line, give it firm throttle and "VRAAAP!", immediately grab for second. Nothing near that in the Cayman, it almost felt like I was taking off in second gear. No matter though, this car isn't designed for the "Stoplight Grand Prix". Just something that stood out during my comparison. Acceleration in second gear felt very close to my 997, but in third I could feel quite a bit of difference, and more so in fourth. Rolling the throttle on and off, checking response and torque, etc. the Cayman really feels underpowered in this area. Again, I didn't go past 5200rpm, but even so, I did enough on/off throttling in each gear (1-4) to get a good comparison feel.
The last part of the test drive route took me through a high speed off camber turn, and boy let me tell you, the Cayman handled it like a champ! No hint of any surprise, no complaints, nada. Just beautiful!
After talking numbers and contemplating whether or not I want to trade my C2 for a Cayman, I asked if we could take the Cayman S out again, so we did and repeated the same route, and I took each turn more agressively than the first outing. After returning I told them I needed to think about this and I'd get back to them with a decision.
I hopped back into my 997 and immediately took the same route we just drove twice with the Cayman S. I can tell you without a doubt the 997C2 3.6 is still substantially more powerful everywhere in the rev range. Of course no G-Tech Pro mounted to my windshield, but my butt dyno felt a pretty big difference in every gear. And believe me, I was really hoping to get the opposite feeling. In the turns I was even more aggressive (being that it's my car, no passenger to be responsible for, etc.) and although I could feel the heaviness of the rear fighting the massive amount of mechanical grip generated by the highly evolved suspension of the 911, it wasn't as unstable (at least at that speed) as I anticipated. I will say however, if I pushed much more I might have found myself trying to recover from something so unexpected I probably wouldn't recover. That's where the Cayman really shines in my opinion. If I pushed past my limit in a corner, I feel that the car won't penalise me and I could have a chance at recovery, where with the 911 I might be toast.
To sum up my long ass diatribe, I found the Cayman S just an incredible car. I walked away knowing that it has got to be one of the best handling cars on the market. But to be perfectly honest I'm still deciding if it's enough to lure me away from my 997. As I stated, the I think the Cayman wins in the handling dept hands down. That said, I found my 997C2 no slouch either! It's really just a great testament to Porsche designing such great products. Do we pay through the ass for this emotional therapy? Hell yes, but boooooy it's worth it!
Another concern I have is availability of mods. I don't have a ton of money to do a 3.8 conversion, but mods like intake, full exhaust, racing seats, harness bar, and perhaps an ECU flash are readily available for the 997 (which btw brings me on par with 997S perf) but what can be done with the Cayman S? I haven't seen much out there other than full on conversions which is out of the question. What can I do to the Cayman which won't void warranty and how much power should I be able to expect from those mods? I say this is a pretty large concern for me because I feel the Cayman really does lack in the power department compared to my 997. I'd like to to feel at least on par with my current ride, even if I have to mod it a bit that's fine. I think it is in the power delivery department that would make or break my decision. I really like the torque my 997 puts out in comparison the the Cayman.
All in all a tough decision. But happiness awaits either way. If you are coming from past cars that are not big on horsepower, than the Cayman S will be a great choice. If you are used to having a car with some decent power and torque (realitively speaking) than you might wind up missing that in the Cayman. I personally feel I would when comparing it to the 997.
I'm going to keep an eye out to see what mods come out for the Cayman. Depending on how much hp per dollar, I might wind up converting. But not until then. My 997's still handles pretty damn good.
