The base 911 is so slow that it doesn't matter if a cayman can out-accelerate it. I mean there are several family sedans that can also outperform a Carrera 2 in a straight line. People aren't buying it for its straight line speed.

 

That goes both ways though. The Cayman looks like an actual sports car, something that will cut through corners and handle like its on rails. The 911 looks feminine. Unless its tarted up with stickers and spoilers (GT3, GT2, RS models), it looks out of proportion.

Clearly the looks are subjective. I think there are some really bizarre justifications people will come up with in order to like what they like. In most cases with high end products, it's not even what they like, it's what society thinks is nice.

 

You do realize, outside the Porsche world, the 911 is an ugly car right? Just read any youtube videos on 911 vs other brand. A lot of comments about "I don't understand why anyone wants an overpriced VW beetle." Are you part of other car forums besides Porsche? Do you have any friends? I was one of them before I was able to drive a 964, a Porsche handles unlike anything I've driven. I picked handling over looks, it's only after I've own one that I started to appreciate the looks.

You brought a 911 b/c you felt like it looks timeless and classy so you did buy a car b/c of it's looks. Looks are subjective like you said, not everyone likes that timeless looks, some people like the car to look a little more modern like the 981.

How else am I going to illustrate myself? That is how a stock Cayman GTS looks and that is how a stock 991 looks.

Here is a stock Cayman S

 

As I said this is a highly subjective issue. And I'm not about to debate if the 911 is attractive or not.. I certainly do and my experience that most performance car enthusiasts of all types believe this to be the case.. But there are many cultures, age groups, and cross sections that influence this. Then again many people think modern corvettes are attractive and I personally find them cheesy and cheap looking as I do the majority of cars on the market.

But I would tend to snicker at the assertion that 911's are considered ugly outside of the porsche world. My own lifetime experience is drastically different than that so you run in a different circle of influence than I.. On a daily basis people I come across absolutely drool over it. In general that has been the case for any generation 911 I've owned. And that has never occurred with any other car that I have owned other than maybe a 69 Camero (which is also in my category of timeless and beautiful cars). . That is an anecdotal view I realize, but as much validity as the assertion that everyone outside of porsche believes the 911 is ugly.

Again arguing over attractiveness is a very personal thing. There are definitely "trendy" things and the reference point for that is "modern" in your mind then I suppose.. Personally most of the "modern" car designs like prius, vettes or many mercedes are .. how can I say.. cheesy and short lived in terms of affinity. Most of these car designs will be forgotten and look very dated in 10 years. But it is a subject that it is a waste of time to argue such things with people that have different tastes.


As for the Caymen.. I do think it is a very attractive car as is the boxster. So much so as I mentioned I had intended to buy one. And I find your comments especially amusing because I have found that laymen tend to confuse the caymen for a 911 quite often.. Lets put it this way they both look like porsches...

 

Could Porsche make the Cayman faster, better looking .... than the 911? Sure, but they aren't going to so it is pointless to debate. Is the base 911 slow, here is the latest Road and Track comparison. Note that the base is considerably faster than the Cayman S in this test on the "Leaderboard". http://www.porscheboost.com/content....urb-weight-etc

 

A Cayman S looks like a Cayman S. Second best looking mid engine Porsche made.

 

I meant, Wouldn't it have been a better comparison to pit the cayman gts pic against a 991 gts pic instead of a stock 991 ?

Anyhow, like you said, to each his own taste. Let's agree to disagree on this subjective matter.

 

Third. Boxter top down is definitely second.

 

That does not look better than my old 997.2 or my current 2015 C4S. IMHO.
As someone mentioned you are comparing a GTS to a stock 991.

 

Just get both. Ill use my red c4s as the daily driver and Cayman GT4 in a year or so for the track

 

This simply isn't true.

Not only is the C2's 4.8 0-60 incredibly quick, but none of the Caymans can out-accelerate it.

From the Porsche website:

991 C2 4.8 0-60

Cayman GTS 4.9 0-60

Cayman S 5.0 0-60

Cayman 5.7 0-60

 

C2 is actually is actually a little better @ 4.6 it's the C2 cab that is 4.8

 

These are not the 0-60 times that I find on the Porsche web site. I find the following 0-60 times for Manual / PDK / PDK (Sport +)

991 C2: 4.6/4.4/4.2
Cayman S: 4.7/4.6/4.4
Cayman GTS 4.6/4.5/ (Time for Sport + not Listed

 

I can guarantee you this, 95% of you (including myself) could lose a traffic light drag race against a car that's 0.5 - 0.8 seconds slower than ours due to a number of factors. The major one of these factors being driver error, so at the end of it what does it matter?

We buy these cars because they are a perfect cocktail of performance, beauty and luxury.

If all that matters is drag racing and track times there are much cheaper and better options out there.

I say let the cayman be faster than the 911, its the poorest selling of the porsche line and increasing its acceleration isn't going to stop me from buying the car ive drooled over since i was a kid, again.

 

You could replace base with C2S in that sentence just as well. Are there people actually buying NA-engined Porsches for raw 0-60? I mean, they're quick, but the overall package is more about the handling, feel, looks, etc.

In terms of looks mentioned above: I like the Cayman, it's a nice car - but I bought a 911, the 991's are just beautiful*.

* I just checked Wikipedia to confirm - that's fact, not opinion.