I went to the dealer to take a look at the cayman S today. They had several of them to take out. I took out the one without the PASM or Sports Crono but it had the 19in wheels. Anyways I gave it a nice excerise and made some conclusions about the car......

First off I noticed that the clutch was a little light for my liking, but then again I am used to mostly track porsches which do not have stock clutches. Although I will say that the gearbox overall felt very nice. The salesman asked me if I would like to go on the highway or some twisties and I quickly replied twisties. Dirving to the area where I ended up pushing the car I noticed that the steering response is what I loved the most about the car. My daily driver is an S2000 and I felt that the Cayman S was superior in steering feel and actually felt more nimble than the S2000. The only other car to feel this way to me was the Lotus Elise I drove a while back. Anyways, we get to the twisties and I let her rip. This was about as hard as you could push the car safely without a track and I was pretty impressed. I have driven everything from 964s to 993's, 996 Turbos/GT3s and a variety of other 911s on the track and I thought the cayman S was right there if not nicer in the twisties(mind you most of them again had suspension upgrades). It does not have the sheer thurst of a GT3, Turbo or even that of a 997S, but its balance exudes a level of confidence that most other cars do not at the limit. I got the back end to step out of line once of twice but felt that the car was very easy to predict. I was going to turn around and try it again but we came upon a police officer who followed us for a couple blocks.

My conclusion is that although the cayman S in my opinion lacks the heart and soul of the 911s up to the 993 and the GT3, it definitely makes for a very nice package. I would be surprised if it was much faster than a 993 C2( i would say pretty close), but def not up to the 997S. When it comes to brakes and suspension I loved it and I think that with some little modifications this car could make for a safe and fun track car. I think porsche should discontinue the 997 3.6 and keep the S version. I think that the cayman will hurt the sales of the 3.6, but the S still gives you a lot more car. I will expand further on details if anyone wants them.

 

That was an awesome writeup. Thanks. It is the first objective, comparative driving view that I've read of the Cayman. It sounds like you both know how to drive the cars as well as give an objective view of them.

 

Thanks! I have driven several porsches on the track and when test driving different cars I always find myself measuring them against those better P-cars and thats exactly what I tried to do on this test drive. I knew it would not have the power of a Turbo, GT3, or even a 997S but I also knew that porsche never meant for that to happen. So I took the cayman S as what it was supposed to be and from there judged it. I am actually going to drive another one this week(i think this one has PASM) and I will describe the difference between non-PASM and PASM versions.