After 1 Week & 600 Mi. w/Cayman

<h3>I do hope you don't judge me too harshly for my views, but...<o ></o >[/quote]</h3> As many others in this forum I owned my share of cars, some exciting some not. I dislike when people start writing how excited they are about their new 'baby' going endlessly about how it is truly everything that they had hoped for and more, and they worry about the break dust, 3M films to protect paint, etc. I keep thinking, yes it is a good car (what ever the car is, you'll find this type of ppl at any ofthe forums), but c'mon it is just a car, drive and enjoy it, use its handling and power on the track, etc. Well, guess what? I am about to post a blog just like that! What prick I must be...<o ></o >[/quote] If anything sums up my feelings, it is that I will be driving this car as a daily driver, it is just too good to be left in the garage/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/drive.gifI have not had this much fun driving slow since........ I can't even remember. Put handling a side for a moment. The engine is so smooth, so free-reving that hitting 4000 rpm is just a joy, a game, an addiction. Power band seems so right and appropriate that I am truly not wishing for more, and I amyet to use the remaining 30-40%. I was worried quite a bit about the gearing; on paper it is too tall. But it really is not; a great balance between performance and daily driving. I was worried after my first drive about the long travel of the clutch, but again it is a great balance between performance and daily needs. The car does not snapped your head, but having owned such powerful cars before, neck-breaking exercise really wears off after a short while; even on the track, it is difficult to be smooth with such power. What the Cayman has is 100% usable at nearly every situation, daily traffic or track. What more can I really ask for?<o ></o >[/quote] Handling, well... that is a Porsche specialty, no doubt. I have absolutely no questions in mind that PASM is the way to go. This may change after few track days, but I would not count on it. The car provides a very natural balance between sharp cornering and letting you know how far you are from the limits. The cornering is not like a go-kart, it is absolutely better, you don't want to drive a go-kart, I am sure, on streets, nor have a car that will just snap on you without warning. Cayman gives the right information to you at the right time, and it is very honest about it, no gimmicks, no pretending; compliant to your inputs, obedient like a 'man's best friend', going all the way for you until it has no more to give; and it is ready to sacrifice itself to give it all to you. Never had I a car with such devotion to my commands; I have my new best friend.<o ></o >[/quote] Some things, other than the above, truly surprised me however. The quality of the cabin and overall fit and finish. I just cannot find a fault with the car, but more than that the interior quality and carefully judged sound of the engine caught me off guard. I have known Porsche to be reliable, nearly unbreakable. But that is supposed to be the engine and drivetrain, not the interior ambiance. [/quote]Yes, there are one or two thing I can nit pick on, but honestly, who cares? [/quote]Everything is in the right place, at a quality much higher than I was expecting. [/quote]You don’t want bunch of gadgets in this car, you have few dials in front perfectly place through the nicely match steering wheel; that’s all you need. [/quote]Everything else is a distraction. [/quote]There isn’t a single rattle or clunks, every sounds in there is supposed to be there.<o ></o >[/quote] The sound of the engine is not this hard-core metallic, pistons banging around sound. [/quote]It is the perfect audio of chain-driven, smooth, flat-six. [/quote]It does not explode on you; it feeds you more of it, smoothly, better than the Bose system in the car. [/quote]I have never been satisfied withengine noises before, I thought Cayman'swould really bother me after few drives, ratherit gives me reasons to play withmy right-foot angles.<o ></o >[/quote] What can I say… I will be driving this car every single day, no mileage limits and no prisoners taken; it will be driven. [/quote]600 miles in a week, I am sure to complete my religious break-in process before the first track day at VIR early March; an old friend VIR is,which claimed one of my race cars two years ago;I assure you, it won’t take this one away from me.<o ></o >[/quote] Cheers,[/quote] [/quote] Edited by - FT on 01/27/2006 10:31:37 PM

FT, You've written poetry! Thank you for that review, I'd love to hear more as you go. I test drove a cayman yesterday for the first time. The drive was not long, perhaps 15 mins. Right in the middle, and all the way to the end, I started having those weird feelings that I couldn't express in words. I guess your review is just the right description that one could only formulate after 600 miles! Congratulations...

FT, Between those great pictures when you picked up your C-S and this description I am hard pressed to wait for my custom-colored interior! In a previous post you where critical of the sun visors and steering wheel thickness. Consequently, I have added leather visors and thick sport steering wheel to my option list. Do you still concur??/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/thumbsup.gif/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/dance.gif/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/drive.gifDan

After 350 miles and 10 days I agree with FT. Thios is a car to use. It's been to the grocery store, the dry cleaners, fast counrty roads, city trafficand even been valet parked. It's just fun to drive and I drive it. My first track day will be in April. I can say it does need the sport wheel and the visors are puny. I don't know if leather visors will be any better.

FT, Nice write-up and I have to agree with you at times the obsessing over the break-in procedures or oil spillage possibilites in the trunk seem to overshadow the true greatness of this car and how it demands to be driven. I chalk that up to sheer excitement and don't worry too much about it, especially now that my car is here and like you I can get out and drive. Heck I drove it 3 hours one way for a 90 minute Cayman party and then 3 hours back. As good as the party was (thanks Mitch!) the drive was really the best part!

FT, You hit the nail on the head. This is one fine car. Truly special. Great post.

FT, I wholeheartedly concur with you views on driving the car. Heck, the last timeI purchased a brand new car, I put 5,000 miles on in the first week!!!! (34,000 for the first year....!) There's a part of me /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/crazy.gifthat keeps saying, 'You can't do THAT again....' Yet, there'salsoa part that says, 'GO FOR IT!!!!' /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/beer2.gif <blockquote dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> After all, just like beez recounted for us previously: ' When I got to TMS, I parked, and as I was walking up to where the banquet was being held, the Cayenne was there, unloading its occupants, one of whom I recognized as Peter Porsche, the current family patriarch. I went up and introduced myself and thanked him for producing such a great car as the Porsche turbo, which I enjoy driving so much. He asked if that was me that passed them on the freeway, and when I answered yes, thinking he was going to say something about how dirty the car was, he said back to me, 'good, we like to see them very, very dirty... it means you drive the car... we like them to be driven.' I said thank you and went into the banquet knowing the man who's name is on the cars wants them to be driven like they were meant to be....' /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/drive.gif </blockquote>

Mine just reached 1,001 miles!! And I was going to write some real nice follow-up to the posts here, but instead I'm going to drive my car somemore !!!!! Just can't get enough. They made thsi model toooo good ... LL

I agree with your FT completely if the Cayman is to be a daily driver, but for me and some others it is our toy, our baby andwe can't helpourselves but treat it accordingly. Also for me all the talk of polishes, details, oil drips, tail pipesetc is just plain FUN! That is all it is, FUN and part of the whole experience. There are many kinds of drivers and we will all have our quirks, habits and opinions, all of which are respected here, because we all have that one common denominator, we love the car for whatever reasons. I do thank you for your contribution to this ongoing FUN! Aloha Russ

<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">[/quote]Well I for one do not find that keeping a car clean, polished and well maintained is mutually exclusive with driving it for all its worth. After more than 40 years of sports car ownership I’ve not seen pride of ownership expressed by clean and well cared for cars inconsistent with the pride of ownership of racing my cars on a track or long distance driving in all conditions. In fact I just took hay to the barn in my well waxed truck. I treat all my possession the same way and yes I will strive to keep oil off of my carpet, and coffee off of my seats and make sure when I take the dogs in the truck their feet are clean. To imply you must do one or the other is curious at best. [/quote]How one uses their car is their business. My judgment doesn’t matter. [/quote]If some “dislike” discussions about sharing car care tips or the excitement of a new toy I apologize and perhaps someone can point me to the rules about politically correct postings.

Santa Fe, Don't sweat it, there isn't any politically correct posting rule around here, different strokes for different folks, some will track, some won't, some will polish every day, others won't, it's all about our love for the Cayman, however we choose to express it!

LOL, I knew some would take my post too seriously. Russ and SantaFe -- it was not meant to be a bash of your efforts in enjoying your vehicles in a different manner. One thing I did not post is that I did order over $400 worth of cleaning products, each maticulous selected to be best in their category, wasted over 7 days of researchto pick the lot. If you enjoy driving, you have to enjoy cleaning it as well; otherwise the car will look 5 years old before reaching its 1st birthday. The cleaning part is a given, again, if you really do like driving the car. I thought people are more interested in reading how the car drives and what I think each minute I am touching the steering wheel; rather than how I think I will be cleaning car as soon as we reach 50 deg /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/embaressed_smile.gif Cheers, Edited by - FT on 01/28/2006 4:40:37 PM

<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The judgmental comments by you and K-Man-s raised my ire. I don't drive it any differently than you do and will probalby have more miles at the end of year than most. My feelings are heighten by the fact that you all have Caymans delivered and mine is still somewhere in the Porsche delivery system. Truce.[/quote]

FT, I am sure there are people who are ONLY interested in reading about how the car drives and they will pick the topic that suits them, butthen there are others who want more, and that is where the other topics come in. This place is big enough for all of us! The funny thing is I just spent most of the day cleaning off that cosmoline from the inside of the wheels and then I gave it the Zaino treatment, and I can hardly wait to take that puppy out tonight. I had no problem with your post whatsoever. I know I am rediculous and I can sit back and laugh at myself for it, I am just having fun /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/thumbsup.gif. Aloha Russ Russ

FT - can you share what you found out about the cleaning stuff?? > "One thing I did not post is that I did order over $400 worth of cleaning products, each maticulous selected to be best in their category, wasted over 7 days of research to pick the lot." - Thanks, RedEye Edited by - RedEye on 01/29/2006 01:02:18 AM

Santa Fe, Apologies if my comments above caused any distress, I was just joking around. It was actually your question about filling oil that caused me to look more closely at the filler door and find the rubber fold out piece, so I did appreciate the question. I was only saying that at times people obsess over the little things, and I am certainly one of those people, but that once you get your car, like me, driving will help out! Sorry to hear the car still hasn't arrived yet. Please send me a photo when it does and I will plaster it on the home page!

Share your love for the car. Share your knowledge. Share your tastes. Deep-six your judgments about others. That isthe fun combination for the Cayman Club.

I think maybe once you do actually get the car the subject matter might change a little, but I know before I got mine I wanted to know, hear, read ANYTHING CAYMAN! (still do for that matter) Aloha Russ

After reading your post FT I can concur that I have that ssame experience and feelings. Spent the best 2400 mi driving the Cayman S everywhere!!!!! And completely agree with your insight.