Bought a new Cayman GTS
 

About six weeks ago I drove a 2008 Cayman S and came away with mixed emotions. Parts of the car I liked, parts I didn't like. The power was great, but the suspension was soft, the shifter sucked, and there were still potential issues with the motor. I had at the time convinced myself my Cayman itched was scratched, but I still wondered what a new one was like. I played with the configurator for weeks and read/watched video reviews of the car and the more I saw and heard, the more I liked.

This Wednesday I went into a local Atlanta dealer and drove a 2015 Cayman S 6MT and came away absolutely flabberghasted with how good it was. Everything about the car felt miles ahead of the 2008 that I drove. Looks, fit and finish, and the overall feel of the inside of the car were vastly better. The interior felt very small and tight - more like you had crawled into a cockpit instead of sitting in a car. This is one sensation I don't remember the 2008 model having and one of the things I love about the S2000. The car only had 13 miles on it, so I couldn't take it to redline, but it felt far more muscular than the 08 I drove under 4000 rpms. The shifter was also massively better than the one in the 2008 - which was comparatively loose and vague (and quite honestly a serious letdown). The new car's shifter's throws were longer than that of the S2000, but the engagement was very mechanical and positive. Its something I would genuinely enjoy shifting gears in - even after owning an S2000.

Handling wise I was stunned at just how solid the car felt. The entire thing felt incredibly rigid, well isolated, and completely stable through corners. Driving the S2000 back to back and it is comparatively loud, harsh, and flexy. The sound that came from the Cayman's Sports exhaust was pretty awesome too. It was loud and aggressive on-throttle, then when you left off you heard a series of crackles, burbles, and pops like I've never heard while driving a car. You can push a button on the center console, and a series of flaps close in the exhaust system, quieting the whole thing down when you're on long trips. Even with the sports exhaust engaged, there is surprisingly no drone at all in the cabin. A system like this really puts to shame every aftermarket exhaust i've ever heard. It's all of the goodness with none of the compromise.

After some soul searching and a talk with the wife, I pulled the trigger on a new, custom order Cayman S yesterday. After weeks of combing through the options list and doing a ton of research, these are the options I settled on:


- Guards Red exterior, standard black leather interior
- Porsche Torque Vectoring (includes a mechanical LSD and brakes the inside wheel on hard corners)
- Manual transmission
- Sport Suspension (20mm lower than stock and the most aggressive suspension available on either the S or GTS)
- Sport Exhaust System
- Sport Seats Plus
- 20" Carrera S wheels with colored crests
- Convenience package with heated and cooled seats
- Bose surround sound stereo



April 28th Edit: Cayman GTS coming on Friday. More updates and pics soon!

Congrats. The Cayman is definitely a sweet ride and you will enjoy it.

I do have to throw out the obligatory "you'll be back" comment, just to have it said early in the thread. :)

Stunning. Nicely done on options.

Did you drive the GTS? Thoughts comparing to CS?

Did the gt4 make your short list? Thoughts on its disqualification?

Enjoy it!!

Yes, I drove both an S and a GTS. Quite honestly, you won't notice much of a difference between the two cars on a test drive. You'd have to be wringing the cars pretty hard for any real difference in driving dynamics to show. The GTS is specced to have 15 more horsepower, but this is almost all in the upper rev range, which I didn't really get into with the test drive (not my car + public, congested roads, plus cops). The GTS has some visual cues that the S doesn't have as well as a bunch of alcantara all over the interior (that you pay big bucks for).

The S I drove had the standard suspension and the GTS had the sport suspension. The sport suspension is purportedly rather harsh with the 20" wheels, but I can confirm this is absolutely not the case. I found it still rather comfortable for a sports car and substantially more comfortable than my S2000 on the Ohlins suspension. Comfort aside, there very little body roll on the sport suspension. You have maybe 1-2 fingers of clearance between the tire and the fender and even on hard cornering, there is no rubbing. So it's both very firm and reasonably comfortable.

I talked to one of the dealers about the GT4 and they basically said "We've got 10 people in line to buy this car and we might get two of them if we're lucky".

Basically they are either going to go to Porsche VIPs, or people willing to pay wayyyy over MSRP for one. I am neither of these so that immediately ruled me out :)

Congrats! I'm envious and a good 3 years away from looking at one. Hopefully by then the demand for the GT4's won't be as feverish. It may as well be a money print for Porsche though I wonder about sustained demand. It's priced so well, I'd argue it'll be a perennial good seller. The value (if you can call cars in this price range value) is incredible. I wonder why Porsche doesn't make more, unmet demand = less revenue.

A part of me wishes the new NSX was this and I wonder if Acura notices the GT4 buzz.

Here is some ear-candy from the new Cayman S with the Porsche Sports Exhaust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0233RhIhTg

Congrats, Porsche does make a nice car. I plan on buying a 911 one of these days.

Awesome. Congrats!

Great car, good call on the LSD. Congrats!

congrats! Next time tho try to get a 5-7% off msrp.