Are the mods really worth it?

I was reading the mods offered by 9ff, particularly the one which drops the 420 HP motor in your car. Basically, for $50,000+ you can cut your 0-60 time by 4 tenths of a second. Instead of 4.8 seconds, which Road&Track says the car is capable of, you can have 4.4 seconds. $50,000 to know I can easily dust the Z4M? Humm, let me think about that. Maybe I'll wait a few years and see how Porsche evolution effects the Cayman S. What do my fellow Caymanites think?

The first question is 'Why do I need this'. I cannot think of a reason for me. The second question is 'What else can I do with that amount of money'. I can think of a lot of other fun things and some not so fun to do with $50,000. To me it makes more sense to put the $$ toward the next generation Cayman or some other toy. The whole 'mod' thing is a bit amusing to me in that people love to personalize their cars without true consideration of the actual benefits other than ego/bragging ones. I'm not immune. My Ultimate pedals will never normally be seen by anyone but me and won't subtract a tenth of a second from my autocross times...

It is not very cost effective, as you pointed out. Also, the car is pretty amazing already and I'd be concerned that a 40% increase in HP would completely disrupt......everything (dynamics, chasis, brakes, suspension, handling, etc, etc).... A few more HP is one thing but I think 9ff is a bit over the top on everything they do. Paul

For that money I would consider the new GT3. I would consider the supercharger that is made for the Boxter if they make it fit the Cayman.

Mods are a bit of fun and a diversion. I'm more inclined to mod my Ducati than the Cayman, its less expensive, and bikes are so elemental, you get the benefits/affects surely and immediately. I know guys with Ferarris who have put in the tubis, bypassed the catalytic converter, and say they wouldn't do it again (the fumes when in the drive way, and when in slower traffic or at a light, and damn it its bad for the environment!). If it for track, then sure these things make a marginal impact. Anyways, my view is I'll do modest mods (maybe exhaust & intake, and some aesthetics - something on the rear to give it more weight), but nothing major. If I wanted 400bhp and 0-60 in 4.5, I would have bought a different car.

All of you make perfect sense to me! Tony

I'll wait for the evolution thank you.

i love modding my cars, but for 50K....i would drive my cayman for a year or two and then when they make improvements....maybe like a cayman S turbo!....i would sell my cayman, and use the 50K and what i got for my cayman to get the new car....hmmmm....that sounds good. that being said, im probably gonna drop at least 4-5 grand in an aftermarket exhaust or power kit. probably speedart.

This is a great forum...yup, I'll probably do an exhaust - full deal - headers, cats and muffler just...because the engineer in me sees the inherant efficiency of a free flow exhaust. And it sounds great. Otherwise - we have a great car. If I wanted something else - I'd have bought it. I sold an RS6 to get the Cayman. It was much 'quicker' but had no soul. I liked that car. I LOVE this car.

The exhaust and header sounds like an attractive modification. The problem is making sure that h.p. is not lost with a non-factory system. A lot of the after market stuff advertises h.p gains but users find out that they actually hurt performance. There needs to be an independant testing service for Porsche mods. Hmmm. I guess we are it..

I can see doing the minor mods. You're just putting a little icing on the cake. From reading other topics it seems that many of us do not look forward to seeing the minor increases in horsepower that Porsche is bound to make to the Cayman S. However, until they make a significant change such as a larger displacement engine, the minor increases probably won't make the Cayman S significantly faster than the 2006 modelthat so many of us are currently enjoying. That is my guess, for what it's worth.

With the 50K I would just buy a new Z4M Coupe to go next to the Cayman.

KaiserSozay, I couldn't agree with you more. A simple mod like the De-snork that might gain a few HP is worth a try. But; and somebody said this before in another thread, 50k for 420 horses might be worthwhile on the track where you need every advantage you can get, but on the street it's useless and an awful waste of money better spent elsewhere. I enjoy cycling and there is a good analogy there. Today you can spend 3 to 4 thousand dollars to by a bike frame that is just one pound lighter than an excellent bike that costs maybe $1500. One pound would make a difference if you compete at the level that Lance Armstrong did, but for the rest of us it is just vanity and bragging rights. Tony

This is an easy question...of course not!!! (unless you have the cash). I mean, who mods a ferrari, lambo or carrera gt? people with money! That said, I have to admit that well engineered tuner cars blow away the factory rubbish. There are a bunch of compromises made by carmakers to meet the desires of regulatory boards that i dont care about, limitations on pedestrian safety preclude euro height suspensions - so we get cars on stilts good? (no). Sound ordnances - we get snorked intakes. There's an unfortunate thing that happens when volumes are low - the price goes up!! Designing and producing a limited run of higher than OEM quality parts really drives up costs. Luckily, it doesnt matter to the ppl who wind up doing stuff like this. Admittedly few do, cost, hassle, indecision - these things get in the way. However as somebody who has actually driven an old boxster given a lease on life by grafting a 3.6L engine into it - I can say that its UNDOUBTEDLY better than any stock boxster or cayman. I dont own a cayman yet, but i test drove one. Nice car and all - but SLOW. I know that HP isnt everything, but once you get used to being fast - getting rolled on by High HP jap sedans is no fun. 0-60 is such a useless indicator of anything. I guess it used to mean something when a 7sec 0-60 was "fast". But these days, with so many sub 5 second cars...but virtually no sub 3sec ones - its clear that either all the cars in this range perform the same, or we need a new "yardstick". All I need to do is just imaging the thrust and speed of a 996TT on full launch...without 500lbs. Thats basically what you're looking at. 420HP and 3000lbs - who wouldnt want that? Now, if i had some more $$$$ besides what's in my right pants pocket i could better tell you whether its worth it to me. However, that doesnt get in the way of me appreciating the engineering feat that has been pulled off.

My fourth Porsche was my 'mod' Porsche when I was 36. It was a brand spanking new 1980 911and of course it had to be black. I went for a so called performance ECU, lowered it, tinted the windows, added an after market exhaust, strut braces, bigger wheels and tires and some other stuff. I succeeded in turning a sweet riding and handling 911 into a rough riding, hard to see out of, frontend dragging, slower and noisier piece of nothing. Everything but the wheels/tires and exhaust (removed itafter a year of waking everyonewhere I lived up at 5 a.m.)came off within six months. Not a total waste of money because I learned to be careful messing with perfection. Since then my vehicle modifications have been limited to American V-8's but not the four Porsches that followed.

sorry to hear - but as I said,the distinction between "modding" and engineering should be made. It amazes me that people buy cheap parts for porsches...Ruf, Brabus and 9ff certainly aint cheap, but then these guys DO have manufacturer's licenses. THAT has to mean something. For certain - you do get what you pay for. If I had the cash to choose between a Porsche turbo and a RUF Rt12...I would take the ruf 11/10 times. THAT is engineering - not modding.

There's more to Mods than 0-60 times,it's mainly due to traction that mods don't have much affect on 0-60 times, but just because that is dramatical different doesn't mean it's not worth doing. There's so much more to the Caymans performance than the sprint in the first two gears. What about 0-125 or 0-150 times, you can bet those two figures will be very much improved with the right tuning. Looking only at 0-60 times is so short sighted

I agree with the general tone of just about all that's been said here - in terms of modifications of an already pretty darn fine car, I'm in the 'what are you trying to accomplish' camp. I'd like to clarify one thing... I believe that the beginning premise is slightly off, kind of an apples-to-oranges thing: The R&T time of 4.8 seconds was a 0-60 mph time, whereas the 9ff time of 4.4 seconds is a 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) time. A 3,000 pound car w/420 hp would be in the 3.7-3.8 seconds 0-60 mph range. So, $50k gets you a full second or so 0-60 mph. I doubt that will change anyone's opinions posted above. brad

You took the words right out of my mouth! ~C.J.

honestly you dont need more hp in this car. spend the money and go to high perf driving schools. you be amazed that cayman can blow by turbos and GT3 if they aren't driven well.

I just got back from a short in-town trip. When I had the chance, I did a 0-60 run in my stock, un-desnorked, beautiful CS. You are correct, I don't need anymore horsepower! Tony

Mooty, I concur! Think we get too wrapped up in the numbers and forget that more than anything else it's the skill, reaction times and fitness of the peanut behind the wheel. 'spend the money and go to high perf driving schools. you be amazed that cayman can blow by turbos and GT3 if they aren't driven well.' Steve Edited by - Papa in Austin on 06/15/2006 9:08:11 PM

I'm sorry I don't agree with I''ve got enough power camp', the Cayman would be miles better to drive with 350BHP. The chassis is too well balanced and it makes the Cayman seem a bit slow imo. Driver trainning is ok, but it doesn't do you any good on the longer striaghts, that's when you need more power. The Cayman won't 'blow away Turbos' in a straight line and or any road without turns. Which seems to bethe common type of road near me.

PP et al: What possible use (other than to guzzle gas) would a 350 HP engine be in the real (not the race track) world? You can only go 35 MPH to get groceries, 55 MPH to the golf course, and 75 MPH to go over the river and through the woods on the Interstate to Grandma's house. As for 'blowing away turbos,' there probably aren't 2 of them within 50 miles of me, racing on winding roads sounds like a recipe for disaster, and look what happened to that idiot in the Enzo in Malibu (who was lucky to escape alive and luckier still that he didn't blow up a whole house/schoolbus/yard full of people). If you want to make your car into a 350 HP/$125,000 item to chase turbocharged phantoms, go ahead; most of the rest of uscan get along nicely with 245 or 295 HP and can barely afford $70,000 to get us where we're going. Manufacturers can only go so far in diversifying their product lines to try to satisfy both you and me; I guess that's why there are aftermarket tuners around.

Fredyy thanks for the laugh. Maybe you'd better be off with a Yugo or something that doesn't go over 75 MPH. Come on, as if most of us don't break the speed limit every single day on the road, get off your high horse dude. Edited by - Porcheplayer on 06/16/2006 1:52:43 PM

Dear Mr. Porscheplayer, I think Fredyy was just stating an honest opinion in his last post - an opinion that I for one, don't think calls for the derision you've seen fit to dish up here. One thing that makes this board a cut above the rest out there is the general lack of personal attacks within the forums and the mutual respect the members seem to have for one another. Your last post shows none of those traits. Maybe most of us do break the speed limit everyday, maybe you do too, but that doesn't necessarily mean Fredyy does or necessarily wants to - whether he's driving the Cayman he wants to buy or the Yugo you'd rather see him driving. I'm afraid it's you who might take look around from on high, put your foot in the stirrup and dismount from the very tall equine... dude. brad