Hi Guys!

I'm not a regualr here, as my P-car experience so far has been restricted to my 98 993 and the wife's 05 Cayenna S. The reason I am here is to request opinions pertaing to using a Cayman R as a daily driver...

Right now I have an Audi S4 on order... But, the process has been horrible, and by the time the car finally comes in it will have been over a year since I first put $$ down to order the car I wanted. The S4 is a beast, with lots of upgrades becoming available, and I think I would enjoy it. But, the whole process has pretty much soured me on the Audi brand.

I previously drove an 06 Jetta GLI (2.0 Turbo, 6-speed manual) a a daily driver. I drive about 40 miles each way to work, so putting 100 miles a day on a car is not all that uncommon for me. I sold the Jetta with 75k miles oon it last December when I thought the S4 was going to be received within 30 days... Since then I have been driving my 08 GMC pickup...

So... Now I am considering a Cayman R... Something about the car just gets my motor running, if you know what I mean. The Cayman would not replace my 98 C2S... I'm keeping that one! I do maybe 2 or 3 DEs a year, and the Cayman might well be used in that role from time to time... My concerns are with the practicality of driving a Cayman every day, putting close to 20k per year on the car. I know maintenance costs will be high, but probably not that much higher than on the Audi. The real delimma I suppose is do I buy a $70k car knowing that in 5 years it will have 100k on it and be worth 1/4 what I paid for it?

Just wondering how many of you Cayman owners drive you cars for daily transportation? All comments are welcome!

Thanks!

 

I am not a cayman owner, however I do love the cayman R. I have a Boxster and I too use it for daily driving on and off for months at a time. Of all P-cars besides the panamera (which if it interests you I have heard from many BMW M and 7 series owners is the best large sport sedan on the market) and the cayenne the boxster/cayman family is a great daily. It has more than enough room for transporting cargo. the Cayman being even more practical as it is a coupe. The only downside I see is that if u need to fit more passengers. and possibly giving up some comfort in the suspension for performance.

 

I DD my Cayman, just got it 6 weeks ago. I ended up with the S instead of an R. I got PASM, which is more compliant on marginal roads than the fixed suspension on the R and has a little more ground clearance. I also wanted ventilated seats, which aren't available on the R. The weight savings in the R didn't make much difference to me, especially since i added in the radio, A/C and PDK.
So far I'm enjoying it for daily use. My last car was a 335i with sport suspension and my Cayman rides better with the normal setting of PASM and is considerably stiffer in sport mode. There is a surprising amount of room between the two trunks.

 

I just bought a Cayman R. It will be delivered next week. I bought it as a weekend toy and for overall track use.. I probably won't use it as a daily driver unless I really fall in love with it.
My dd is an 07 BMW ALPINA B7 and this car is bad ***... Kinda hard to replace it.. 500HP supercharged.. I'll post some pics when I get it..
The reason I bought the R was my deal for a gt3 fell through and it just made $$ sense for me to get this and get on the track asap.. Although I've driven the spyder at the Porsch driving school I still lay awake at night thinking about that car.. I wish my wife was into driving cause I would buy that for her in a second.. That car was awesome and had everyone talking over dinner that night.. GL

 

I drive a 2010 Base Cayman 2.9L with JRZ RS1 coilovers, TPC drop links, TPC Toe Links and TPC sway bars in the Metro washington D.C area, I do medical sales for a living. I can drive 40 to 150 miles a day depending on my calls. I believe an "R" will be more forgiving than my car because it is not as low to the ground, does not have drop links, toe links or stiff sway bars like my car. To answer your question, yes I think you can definitely use an "R" as a daily driver in my opinion.

dave-t

 

do it!

 

I have been daily driving my R for the past 2 months now and have been loving every minute of it. I do have the sport buckets and other than having to crawl into the car and climb out of it I can't think of any other negatives. Yes, really bad roads can lead to a choppy ride but they have to be pretty pot-holed. Even then the suspension does not crash over them nor does it scuttle around...it is just a firm, balanced, controlled ride. I get into my wife's 328i and the car feels soft and wallowey with a somewhat numb steering feedback.

 

please report back when you get it.
will you be taking it to sebring?
there are a few guys here who frequent the place in gt3's and would be interesting to get some comparisons.

 

I have had every(good) Audi ever built up to and including a 1986 Sport Quattro(homologation car). I have a 2001 RS4 in the drive next to my 2012 CaymanR. I am sorry but I have to say that the new S4 looks like my mom's car and she is 78.
I just sold a 2009 Jetta TDI Sportwagen to get the CaymanR, it was our dogmobile.
Get the CaymanR, it is the $hit!
I just hit 2000 miles in three weeks and this car is a mid engined GT3!
I drive it every day and LOVE it. It is silly how hard it sticks.
I ordered a set of 19" Hoosier R6's yesterday for the car(HDPE instructor )

I should say that I am a huge car critic. I redo a car as soon as I get it, suspension, brakes, etc. The CaymanR is SPOT ON when it comes to how Porsche set it up. It is such a competent weekend track car/canyon carver. I go out driving almost every morning and usually find myself laughing out loud in the car when hitting corners just right nearly every time. It just feels so RIGHT and neutral.
Forget about the 4 door and go for it!

 

porschepro,

Did you get the sport seats or the regular ones? I'm a bit afraid of daily driving with the sport seats, but I do like the idea of tracking with them!

I'm still on the fence, but you guys all do make good arguments...

 

My car has the non power Sport Seats, not the more severe Carbon Backed Sport Seats. The basic Sport Seats are GREAT, AND my wife can ride in the car(heading for Lake Tahoe this weekend). Her butt is WAY too big to fit in the Carbon Seats(I will have to admit that I like it that way though).I do like the Carbon Backed Sport Seats but if you want a real Race Seat you can go get a real one for about $1,100 installed. The other thing is that you can install the race seat for HPDE's and then take it out when you come home. If you ever have driven a car hard while sitting in a real race seat(with harnesses of course) you will do it no other way. Although I really do love them there are two problems with the carbon seats, they are way too severe for most occasional passengers and they are not even close to being as severe as you need a real race seat to be. The fact that they bend in the middle will tell you they can't give you the kind of structural support that a real race seat gives.

 

PorschePro is "Spot On!" Yes you can drive this as a daily driver... I have the basic sports seats as well, and im glad i have them for now... I was gonna put the carbon's in but ill wait till after a few track days..
I went through all the scenario's in my head and tortured myself on what car to choose. Good Luck with that, from what color, to what option, pdk vs manual, oh man what good probelms to have... lol ..
Get the Cayman R and you will never look back... get the sports exhaust, and who cares how much the car cost... its worth every penny.. ive always adopted the motto 'Live life! Like each day! Could be your last!!!' my dad always told me "Everything in Moderation Son" i still dont know what he meant!! LOL.... with me it was all or nothing!
Get The Cayman R!!! it might be the best mistake you ever make...

 

GREAT stuff! I coud not have said it better myself.
This morning I was up at 4:30 and into the hills I went. This is like owning a sport bike but better! A few days ago my wife says, "what should I do if you ever get killed in the car?" I told her to throw a party!
My best month selling Porsche in 10years as well, cool!

 

The upside to getting the factory sport buckets (carbon seats) is that they have seat airbags. Putting an aftermarket seat in and out of the car will trigger your airbag light. Which might not be an issue if you have a durametric or similar to reset it.

 

I should add that while the Cayman R will make a good daily driver, you might want to consider a Cayman S instead. Especially if you're not getting the sport buckets. You'd be giving up 10hp and carrying an just 33 extra lbs around (in the form of steel doors, assuming that you'll be adding A/C, radio and choose the sport seats). Using the money that you save by not getting an R, you can get PASM and have a car that's both GT car soft as well as track stiff.