Hey all!

I'm just starting to dig into researching Cayman R's. What options are the must haves in your opinion?

Btw, any peridot green examples out there for sale?

 

Btw, Here's the option list for those who are interested:

http://www.armandosauto.com/images/caymanr.pdf

 

What options are a must have are for you to decide.

If you are buying the car and wish to maximize its performance any option that adds weight would be eliminated or if if not but instead chosen done with lots of consideration.

So you'd want the lightest drivetrain -- manual, and not PDK -- PCCB brakes. The lightest wheels/tires.

As few interior options as possible.

A real bare bones car. Unfortunately this can make the car rather uncomfortable at any time other than I guess on the track.

(A dealer offered me an R a while back. It was an attractive car and I was tempted. However, it had no A/C. The car was special ordered but the buyer backed out. The dealer let him "get away" with this as he instead ordered something else, more expensive. I was tempted at first -- the car I'm sure could have been had at a nice discount -- but no A/C killed it for me. No A/C? No thanks.)

I purchase my cars with the intent to use them as a daily driver. Well, I have a daily driver -- my Boxster -- but I alternate between it and my Turbo for work commute. The Boxster gets the call for errand running in town and such though.

So my options would be geared towards making the car a nice daily driver.

In no particular order, I like auto climate control, auto-dimming mirrors with rain sensing to control the wipers, a rear window wiper. These are pretty much must-have options for me.

PDK or manual? I'd for sure test drive a PDK just to see what its like before I made up mind. I could live with a manual though. Both of my cars are manuals and both have given exceptional clutch life and transmission life. I know and trust manuals to just work and work and work with reasonable care and treatment.

A real LSD if available.

PCCB's? You betcha. 21st century brakes for a 21st century car.

I would stick with the stock/factory wheel/tire size. Since I drive quite a bit I don't want to go big and expensive on tires.

I'd probably get Sports Chrono but when I had my 2008 Cayman S 6-speed I didn't particularly like the Sports Chrono feature but the car came with it. Sports Chrono would be more a carrot to a buyer should I decide to sell the car although I most of the time keep my cars a long long time.

For exterior colors I prefer the factory no cost colors, though I'm partial to bright cars. The Cayman S was speed yellow with a black leather interior. (But no all my cars are bright colored cars: The Boxster is lapis blue, the Turbo arctic silver. But my 2006 GT was Torrid Red with Red Hot Leather interior.)

What else? Oh, bi-xenon lights. The Boxster standard headlights are ok but the Turbo with its bi-xenon headlights really shine (pardon) out in the dark away from the city/suburban lights.

Basic radio/stereo for me. I don't care for NAVI or any fancy smacy phone or Blue Tooth communication stuff either.

The OBC is now standard I think as is cruise control but if not I'd check these option boxes.

Black leather interior probably with that Alcantara steering wheel, gear leve, and roof liner covering. Anything to make the interior more posh. I spend a lot of time in my cars and like to be comfortable and feel like I'm sitting in something special.

 

Good call, nice post Macster. I plan on keeping my manual turbo, so I'm actually looking for a PDK R to boot around town in, a fun daily driver. Peridot is a must.

AC and cupholders - yes!

LSD sounds like an important option, and if the R is anything like the 997 Turbo, i'm guessing sport chrono is a must.

Things I'm still not 100% sure on:

1. Is there any aesthetic differences between the halogen and Bi-xenon lights, or do they look identical but just function different?

2. Did the GT2 Bucket seats come standard with the car for free? If so it looks like many people opted out for sport seats?

 

Aesthetic differences I can't say. I've never seen a modern 911/Boxster/Cayman with ugly headlights regardless of the type.

So my preference would be to pick the headlight that puts out the best light. Xenon is my choice based on my experience with my Turbo vs. my Boxster.

Just out of curiosity I did some research and halogen lights require more energy, generate more heat, put out less lumens per watt than xenon. Halogen bulb life is shorter than xenon, too: 2000 hours vs. 10000 hours.

Based on the above info then a xenon headlight would have to be pretty ugly I guess to chose halogen over xenon.

Seat choice is very personal. Part of this depends upon how you will use the car. On the track you want a lightweight set that keeps you in place without you having to work much to keep yourself in place. Also and this is important the seat wants to be compatible with whatever safety equipment you want to use or are required to have installed.

On the street comfort and adjustability (which in some ways helps one obtain a comfortable seating position) is important. My usage involves work commute which can have me in the car sometimes an hour in the morning and an hour at night. In the morning I want to arrive relaxed. In the evening I'm tired and want a comfortable seat so at least the drive home doesn't exact an added toll on me.

At other times -- road trips! -- my car usage can involve sometimes driving hundreds of miles per day. So many miles and so many fill ups that my credit card company starts denying me purchases at the pump. That happens when one uses the card in 3 different states in one day. Especially western states where the states are 300+ miles wide.

With both of my cars I can drive easily 10, 12, 14, even more hours in a day (a long day) -- though not recently (getting older I guess) -- and get out at the end of the day tired but not stiff or in any other way negatively affected by the seat. No stiff back, sore neck, numb butt, etc. Really what drives me off the road is not the seat but my eyes. They get tired and then it is time to stop for the night.

About all I can advise then is at least sit in an example of each seat and try to imagine sitting in it an hour or 12, unless your usage will never require that much seat time. Ever.

Oh, both of my cars have cup holders, but I very very seldom ever use a cup holder and my passengers are similarly restricted to not using any cup holder. I rarely as in hardly ever have a drink, a cup of coffee, soda (I seldom ever even drink soda) in my car and the same goes for any passengers. (I never eat in my cars either, other than on a long trip I may have a can of nuts from which I have snack on to keep me from getting and having to stop and eat.) I often carry bottled water with me -- especially on long trips -- but if I am not drinking water I keep the bottle tightly capped and upright in the passenger seat.

In my cars the cupholder is over the stereo/CD player and a very expensive LCD that is the auto climate control panel. A spilled drink would ruin both the stereo and A/C control panel and this would likely cost me a small fortune to have fixed.