I took the Mrs's Cayman out for a rip today.

I don't drive it very often, but every time I get behind her wheel, I'm reminded that if I didn't own a 911 , I would swear that the Cayman is the finest sports car in the world!

I bet if you drove it more - - you'd come to realize it is actually a better sports-car than the 911 - a more driver involved, neutral handling, easy toss-ability due to the mid-engine design (not having a huge lump of metal hanging out past the rear axle..)

Maybe one of the 718 's with more horsepower, sure. But man, compared to my wife's 987, my 911 is just so much faster. And the "butt dyno" really shows this. When I hit the gas on my C2S and watch the speedometer needle rip around the dial, man that's just sexy!

If I was doing HPDE days, sure - long gearing and a car being stupidly quick would take top priority for me. In my 981 Outlaw (3.8L 991.1S), I indeed hit "go-to-jail" speeds really quickly and I can't regularly take advantage of higher gears on the street. It's insane. Meanwhile, it's in "pull-me-over-yellow," is kind of a show car at this point, and I can't afford an insurance premium bump. Hence, I find that my 2.9L is much more fun here in congested Boston -- and that's year-round fun on the twisties. Many 99X guys crave speed and will pay the premium; in contrast a lot of 98X guys are about the handling, affordability, and being able to wring out the high-revs on the street. No wrong answers here; just preferences I guess and the "better car" is the one that suits one's needs and desires best.

Lots of cars can go fast in a straight line. In fact, many can make an average 911 look pathetically slow in a straight line. The magic of our midengined rides is the handling. They beat out just about any reasonably priced car in the handling department. Straight line speed can be intoxicating. So can a great handling car.

My 987.1 S with a 3.8 FSI and wavelock diff suits me perfectly. Handling/Butt Dyno!

Here we go again, the old 911 vs Boxster/Cayman .... surely we all know the pros and cons by now, and the futility of trying to counter subjective opinions and perceptions based on each person's ownership priorities. You prefer your 911 - great, enjoy it. It might not be what I'm looking for in my own driving experience but I'm not going to try to convince you that my Boxster is better than your 911 .

You seem to think I'm disparaging the Cayman . Re-read my post, nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, it's just the opposite, I'm singing the Cayman 's praises! I absolutely love that car!

@theblooms - I'm afraid that although you praised the Cayman in your initial post quoted here, yes -- it clearly read as a backhanded slam that the Cayman is second best to the (your) 911. Carefully re-reading your original post a few times, I think it's pretty safe to say that everyone else in this thread so far also picked up on this and unsurprisingly responded in kind. Don't worry - Surely your intentions were good, and you didn't violate any rules here on P9. However, the vibes your comment gave off were akin to any given sports bar here in Boston... where one would surely raise eyebrows if someone said how really great the Red Sox are, while qualifying your statement as a second-best team to the NYY. <Cue record scratch and music stopping, with the room going dead silent.> Especially with P9 having been founded specifically as a 98X supportive community (in the face of significant 99X snobbery), as a newer member here - maybe you didn't realize that your comment would provoke some sort of response? Alternate scenario - let's adapt your statement as posted on a Harley Davidson forum: I don't ride it very often, but every time I hop on the bike, I'm reminded that if I didn't own a Honda, I would swear that a Harley is the finest motorcycle in the world! ​ Anyhow, just my two cents. For years, I've threatened to write some sort of Food Biker / Knife & Steel article to spotlight this 98X/99X controversy that would surely get me stoned to death (or at least heavily ostracized). We'll see if I get around to it when life settles down. As I personally own and enjoy both engines, I appreciate both for what they offer in the fun department. One of the reasons I chose to become a Porsche moderator was to build (and maintain) bridges in our P-car community. Modern culture is already divided by countless artificial controversies, "what's better," winning, and ultimately - tribalism -- which are driven by ratings, likes, and ultimately -- power and profit. Thankfully, I find P9 to generally be a respite from such where we can enjoy individual cars together as one. I hope all this makes sense. Cheers and enjoy both platforms.

A cheeky tune, sport headers and exhaust gave my 987.2 Cayman S a better power to weight ratio than the stock 997.2 Carrera S... so that's always an option!

I asked her if she wanted any mods, and she said a resounding "No!". She didn't even want me to mess with the radio. Well, it was the standard radio which sounded like hot garbage, so that wasn't happening! I installed a Kenwood head unit, Kicker amp, Focal component speakers, and a Skar subwoofer.