hi,
these are my last two options:
c63 amg 2009
or 2008 cayman s

I have no idea when the 09 cayman s is coming, though i am saving about 8gs off sticker on the 08s as of now, but supposedly big changes for 2009 in porsche...
anyways, I drive daily, and all year long, 70km a day, city traffic fairly often, i like tech toys and nice interiors.

thanks
going for another test drive of cayman s today, had to get a test drive of the c63 here...but can get one mid to end october.
i know this is the cayman segment, but pls try and justify and explain-as i know nothing about p- your responses if possible...thanks again

 

IMO, Cayman S is a more refined car. Whereas the C63 is a pure monster.

In man-speak, Cayman is like a petite brunette, and the C63 is an Euro ****.

I would imagine Cayman will be a more reliable daily driver.

 

except then i am forced to buy the cayman s in manual...cause the current tiptronic is supposed to be horrendous on the cayman s, true?
its just that for the same price as the c63, the cayman s lacks tons of features inside that i need, and its an 08. do you think the ride is more thrilling , everyday on the cayman s?>
gonna go for another test today
thks

 

Well do you want a somewhat pure sports car or a sports sedan? I test drove the C63 AMG not long ago with my dad (He currently has an E55 AMG) We both didn't like it. It's heavy and the brakes did not feel right. Sure it has a lot of power but as far as handling it's totally different. My dad kept his E55. What we both liked was the paddle shifter that was pretty fast.

I know you don't plan on tracking your car once in a while and could use the practicality so for you I think you'd like the C63 more. The interior was very sweet and it has all the gizmos you'd like in that type of car. (By the way they have one in Quebec city in the showroom) For me it would be a Cayman S or a 997.

 

you re quite right, the cabin tech is impressive for what it is
i drove it at low speeds, city traffic, it was ok, didnt open it up though.
there are two in the west island to see.
leaving now to drive the cayman now, last try also going to try m3 with dct just out of curiosity, probably will endup with c63, it has everything...but its no porsche.

 

you need to ask yourself with an honest heart if you want a sports car or a fast autobahn wagon. theres no right or wrong answer to it, its purely personal and different situations require different solutions. which one you lean towards will depend on what you want out of it.

IMHO the line gets blurred these days in many peoples minds with saloons being so powerful. as a result many find it hard to differentiate the cars because paper performance is so close. fundamentaly cars are all the same, they carry you around, go round corners etc etc and so theres already so much overlap that it muddies it for many. i can do almost everything in my 911 that i can do in my navigator and vice versa however they are as different as chalk and cheese and so it is with your comparison. big power saloons certainly feel like a sports car when you are bursting along on the freeway, it will eat miles in comfort and silence however will soon feel like a heavy beast and not in the least sporty when the first corner appears. likewise the cayman will go around like its on rails, it will feel involving however it will be cramped, unable to carry more than one person or anything bigger than a gorcery bag and should there be bad weather it will need left at home.
paper figures and what the car offers in terms of fucntion are in no way correlated though and people lose sight of this when car choosing. i read questions such as this all the time so its not just you in this dilemma.

i think you already answered your own question by saying the c63 has features that you need. if you need these things then its an autobahn eater you need/want. dont try and make the cayman something it isnt.

as for the specifics of the two cars in questions. mercedes are terribly poor in terms of quality these days sadly. they arent what they once were. also try and see how the c63 gets its power down. my experience, albeit limited, of big power modern mercs are that they have stacks of grunt but not alot of it is useable as you cant get it down easily.
the big drawback of the cayman is that its not a 911. its a nice car for sure but its always going to be overshadowed in peoples minds by the king of the porsche family. no matter how much power you get out of it, how fast it gets, how balanced the design is it will never be a 911 and so people will view it as being a budget choice. ask anyone who has a cayman for anything other than a pure track car and deep down they know that when a 911 passes they feel it.

 

I think you answered your question.
Porsche will not have the luxury interior that the C63 has, which seems to be what you are looking for.

 

it really depends on what you need and what you're going for. the c63 is more car for your money, 4drs, back seats.. you're not really deciding on which is a better car. the question here is do you need a 4dr 4-5passenger vehicle, or are you looking for a 2dr 2seater sports car?
right now i'm looking at buying a cayman s since i realize i rarely have passengers, and the rear seats of the 997 are pretty much useless anyway. (sure you can throw some stuff back there, but the cayman has just about as much interior cargo space anyway with the hatchback) </rant>

what i'm trying to say is you simply need to decide whether you need a sedan or a sports car, not which car is better.

 

The more you know about Porsche and its history the more you can appreciate the Boxster and Cayman. The Boxster/Cayman platform is pure Porsche and pure sports car in engineering and performance. They are limited in total HP by Porsche to maintain the price hierarchy, but they share substantial technology and engineering with the upmarket siblings, Carrera and Carrera S. Only the GT3,GT2 and Turbo models continue to use (for now) the dry sump, split case engine design that dates its genesis to the original air cooled flat six. The Cayman is endowed with all the qualities that made Porsche a great sports car marque; an agile and compact sports car totally conntected to the driving experience. It is not a trophy car, muscle car, luxo GT, nor is it instantly recognized by the masses. The power is adequate to allow the chasis to shine and not much more. While the Cayman can perform daily driver duties, the potential limitations and compromises may take a toll over time on your enthusiasm. If you are not buying the car mainly for the driving pleasure it may be best to consider another choice.

 

Both great cars but totally different.

Your personal priorities should dictate the choice. Sports Car vs. Sport Sedan = Big difference.

 

The big drawback of the 911 is that its not a Ferrari.

This argument could go on forever...

I call it "My ***** is bigger than yours" argument.

 

What a load....

Are you always easily swayed by the narrow opinions of others or do you exhibit an original thought from time to time. I'd bet that most Cayman owners have actual spines and purchased the car they wanted.

 

absolutely no original thoughts here, thats dangerous territory im already struggling enough to hold my head up due to a lack of spine and dont want to be loading up the top part any more than i need.

the fact the porsche is not ferrari is one of its big bonuses IMHO but thats for another thread and time.

ive no arguements here over the viability of the boxster/cayman platform, the satisfaction it gives owners and its potential or performance DaveC summarised very nicely above. why anyone chooses a car is a personal choice and we are all entitled to it. how one weights each option is absolutely up to oneself. is economy more valid than potential to attract women for example. absolutely not but each may be the deciding factor in an individuals choice and yet neither are anywhere near any reasoning i make.
obviously we travelled different roads on our paths to our cars as we dont have the same models. i chose a 996 gt3 and didnt even consider a cayman but does it immediately stereotype or invalidate any thought each of us has? id like to think not. i wouldnt change my car for anything available at the moment in the porsche family (or outwith), hopefully you feel the same way about yours. my friends boxster S is still some of the most fun ive ever had in a car, i didnt stop grinning the whole time.

it is however evident that like it or not the 911 has an iconic status that is synonomous with "porsche" for the vast majority of people and this dulls the other models in the eyes of joe public. thats certainly my perception, yours may differ, but a cursory glance around childrens bedroom walls will certainly not yeild many other models of porsche thats for sure and i include the carrera gt in this. does this make it better than them all, than every car porsche has made, than even a GT1, ofcourse not!!
it is one of those rare situations where a model defines the brand rather then the other way around no matter the accuracy of history in tracing the other models or the ignorance that surrounds better cars and elevates it there.
that this is right or wrong is a moot point, its is just what it is. im sure if porsche had their way they would change it as it surely must weigh heavy around their necks at times. that the cayman is a smaller engined, slower and less expensive porsche than a 911 places it in not only below a 911 in the perceived pecking order but also in the actual physical, real world pecking order. thats a fact no matter how brilliant a car it may be.

that the cayman is "crippled" to protect the 911 is irrelevant. what it could be doesnt matter. every 911 could be a gt3 cup car or a hyper tuned 700bhp GT2 if we were to take that to its conclusion. conversations regarding heritage and pedigree in the cayman could be countered by pointing out its made in finland on a sub contract and not in stuttgart by porsche themselves but all of this is a side arguement. its a great car with lots of potential and arguably better suited for racing with its mid engine configuration but its also not a 911 and as i said before, that is porsche for many (incl me) just as ferrari is mid engined v8.

i found my way here after following the OPs original 997 thread incase you wonder if i got lost and ended up here dazed and confused:
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-cayman-s.html

 

I guess you and I hang around a much different group of Cayman owners.

Deep down to you feel lousy when a Ferrari F430 passes your GT3? That's the kind of envy you imply in your post.

If one passes in front of me I just think "cool car".

 

i guess so. ive not talked with any boxster or cayman owners who didnt express a desire to move onto a 911 after or who had wanted one but factors prevented it. these vary considerably and can only be made by the individual involved at the time.
to deny that a 911 is a level up from a cayman, certainly in terms of product placement is however to deny facts.

as for the f430, i dont see the validity of this assumption/comparison though it does perhaps serve to highlight where our difference comes from. if my words were less than clear then i apologise.
i was talking purely in terms of the same brand where a strata is clearly defined. by using just the final sentence of my post is to remove the qualifications or context of this same.

taking in different car brands does for sure turn it into a meaningless pissing contest with no way out. a similar comparison to what is on topic here with cayman and 911 would be gallardo and murcielago. when you start to cross between brands it becomes subjective and the topic lacks clear definition.
put simply, the decision to purchase brand A over brand B is a personal choice issue. the decision to purchase one product of brand A over another from brand A is also a personal choice.
the strata of products manufactured by both brand A or brand B can however be clearly defined and quantified. this strata is completely independent of any choice or any other brand.