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<h2 class="Headline">2006 Porsche Cayman S</h2>
<h5 class="Red">Doing the Gator: Porsche's Cayman S nips at the heels of the 911</h5>
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ROGER HART
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<div class="Date"><span class="FieldLabel">Published Date: [/quote]10/24/05</div>
<p class="Body">2006 PORSCHE CAYMAN S
ON SALE: January
BASE PRICE: $58,900
POWERTRAIN: 3.4-liter, 295-hp, 251-lb-ft H6; rwd, six-speed manual
CURB WEIGHT: 3152 lbs
0 TO 60 MPH: 5.1 seconds (mfr.)
<p class="Body">We heard Porsche say the two-seat hardtop Cayman S won’t eat into sales of its flagship 911, but we don’t believe it. Not for a minute—not having just climbed out from behind the wheel of the Cayman S after flogging it through some of the tightest twisties in Italy. The car places high on our “best drives ever” list.
<p class="Body">“Cayman S stands out from Boxster and 911,” says Anton Hunger, Porsche AG’s public relations chief. “911 buyers are 911 buyers, and we are confident the cannibalization rate will be quite low. Maybe 3 percent. We are confident Boxster drivers will move up to the Cayman S.” Okay, we buy the part about Boxster drivers moving up—the car is slotted between the Boxster S and 911 Carrera both in performance and price—but if potential 911 buyers drive a Cayman S, we wonder about 911 sales. Cayman S is more Boxster—sharing 40 percent of its parts—than 911, but Cayman S could be described as being more driver-oriented.
<p class="Body">No question, the 911 Carrera is a sports car icon and something to be coveted. But it costs $13,000 more than the Cayman S, and from a performance standpoint is only marginally quicker (0.3 second quicker 0 to 60 mph). Unless you need those two tiny rear seats—and have to be 0.3 second quicker—we suggest opting for the Cayman S and pocketing the savings. With the Cayman’s hardtop and hatchback, you get nine cubic feet more storage space than in a Boxster and only slightly less than in a 911.
<p class="Body">The mid-engined car is wonderfully balanced, with a 45/55 front/rear weight ratio, and a responsive, torquey 3.4-liter flat-six. Maximum torque is available from 4400 to 6000 rpm, and that allowed us to keep the car in second and third gear for much of our test run through Tuscany. The brakes are typically magnificent, and our test model didn’t even have the optional ceramic rotors or monster 19-inch rubber.
<p class="Body">Besides superior handling, one benefit of the mid-engine layout is the delightful noises that resound in the cockpit. The exhaust note combining with the mechanical song taking place right behind your ears makes for a wonderful aural experience, greatly adding to the driving thrills.
<div class="Body">Porsche test pilot and former World Rally champ Walter Röhrl said Cayman S is just four seconds slower than a 911 around the eight-plus-mile-long Nord-schleife (though Röhrl told us last May the Cayman S was actually four seconds faster than 911), with the Cayman S making up for a 30-hp deficit with its superb handling. “Simple, straightforward, great to drive,” Röhrl said. We couldn’t agree more.</div>
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<div class="Body">Available at:
http://www.autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=103411
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Edited by - mpollard on 10/28/2005 2:22:40 PM
The next few month's waiting for this car will be going by slowly....
Can't wait to drive this thing!!!
Porsche's PR department is sure doing a bang up job of keeping all the journalists 'on message'. If the Cayman is only half as advertised it will be great. I suspect it will be the real deal. How are we going to entertain ourselves until deliveries start being made?
Full Text online:
http://www.autoweek.com/article.cms?articleId=103411
So Autoweek think the CaymanS will eat into 911 sales and state:
'...911 Carrera is a sports car icon...but it costs $13,000 more than the Cayman S'
When were talking about the money these cars costI dont feel $13,000 is really a great deal of difference, there will be people prepared to pay the extra for the kudos of the godfather. On the flipside, the 911 (996) has been a great seller for Porsche - appealing to a wider audience than the earlier models. What about people who want a bit of exclusivity and are put off by this? Maybe having another model line like the Cayman will take away a few 997 sales, but sometimes people who spend big money on these cars want something a little more exclusive?
i konw the 911 is an icon but imo the cayman looks better. and i think at this level of money (60 or 70k) the difference between the cars is an opinion.
Sometimes I feel that porsche fully invests in the 911 and allows the other vehicles on the lower end of the hierarchy (e.g. boxster s and cayman s) to have a sample of the 911's engineering. Variocam plus was finally added to the cayman and boxster as standard.
Other features are still optional: sport chrono, pasm, 19' wheels, larger brakes (including PCCB's). These things come standard on a 997S and if we want to try these things out on a cayman s, we have to pay to have them added. What's even more disappointing is that these options don't have the same impact on these vehicles. The guys at rennteam sampled sport chrono on a 911 and on a boxster s, and mentioned that it made a difference in the 911, but no signficant difference in the boxster. I hope the same isn't true for the cayman.
After the boxster saved porsche from going under, the guys at porsche started endowing it with more power (remember it started w/ a 2.5 liter engine with barely 200hp). Heck, the boxster and 911 even shared the same headlights in the beginning.
When the new 987s came out, tons of reviews compared it to the 911 (just like our beloved cayman s). One review kind of stuck with me because it stated that the boxster has a different soul than the 911, and that they were the same but different. One was born a natural athlete while the other had to work over 40 years to get its muscle. At the end of the review, it was apparent how porsche views the boxster: definitely as a little bro and below the 911.
I'm scared they'll do this to the cayman s as well, which is why I don't mind waiting a couple of years before I buy a used one and modify it to super-911S performance. Hopefully it won't cost more than a 911S, but by then, Porsche will probably make the x51 kit standard on the regular 911!
