993
I have read a lot of articles on that car. I am sure I got the idea, from one of the rags. However I do feel it makes sense. I spoke with a P sales rep on the phone about the possibility of a Cayman RS. She replied that it would encroach on the 997. P does not want to push the Cayman too far. The idea of a Cayman RS, will probably not get very far with P.
All the suggestions to buy a used Boxster and mod the piss out of it applies to the Cayman S in 5 years time. However the biggest differnce is the cayman is designed with 1.5X the rigidity (and slightly lighter) of the Boxster so it will be superior (mod for mod) in any performance contest. The suspension and chassis all interact to give the more rigid design the edge in handling and braking.
I'd choose the Cayman S. It may be a little slower than the 997 in a straightline, but the Cayman's handling is supposedly better balanced - more front end bite than the 997. The Cayman S should be a seriously quick track car. It has lapped the Nordschleife in 8:11.
I bet they love you at designer clothing stores. Your the one with sucker stamped on his forehead. No offense of course. Just because it's more expensive does not make it better. The two cars are virtually equal in acceleration(Cayman S and base 911). The real difference is the Cayman is a mid engine car that is far better balanced with a fresher newer design. I can afford it and I would buy the Cayman. Now if you are stepping up to a 911S or the GT3 that's a different story.
Midengine is and always has been superior to rear engine in terms of handling limits. When Porsche stopped competing in GT2 (final LeMans in 1990's) with their 911 Turbos due to their formula being rendered uncompetitive (too much air restrictors rob power) versus the Vipers, they turned to GT1 which was essentially mid-engined (rear of car was extended) and eventually built the Carrera GT for street. The old 914-6 versus 1970's 911 is the same situation here. Porsche wants to keep 911 up-market so the Cayman and Boxster will always have a less powerful engine (and will never see competition in the same class as the 997's). But one doesn't always get what one pays for in terms of performance /$ when it comes to cars. Lot's of overpriced poorly designed (technically but highly esthetic) sportscar out there to buy with price being the "status commodity" which true enthusiasts spurn.
My vote goes to the Cayman. I have owned 7 911's in the past including two that became track/race cars; I'll always have a "soft soft" for them i.e. nostalgia. However, after owning/driving mid-engine street cars and race cars as well, I'm a much bigger advocate of mid-engine cars. I think it is interesting that there seems to remain a significant Porsche enthusiast group who thinks the rear-engined 911 is Porsche and do not consider others necessarily as "real" Porsches. In fact, as a lot of you may know, the first Porsche (Serial 001) is mid-engined. Also, the most successful racing Porsches are mid-engined (917, 956, 962, etc). Anyway, I'm just glad that Porsche's current top of the line street production model is mid-engine (Carrera GT). I hope the trend towards mid-engine models continue for two of my favorite marques - Porsche and Ferrari.
997 or Cayman? Having finally driven a Cayman, my answer, regrettably, is neither. The 911 has become too much of a GT for my taste and the Cayman test drive was nothing remarkable. Maybe the engine was still too tight or I was just expecting too much after all the hype. And it felt cheaply put together. For example, the headlamps were installed with huge gaps below the front edges, the rear carpeting was poorly installed, preventing the oil filler access cover from opening fully, and the doors closed with an odd not-quite-sure-they're-really-closed clunk.
That's to bad--I was thinking about getting a Cayman, in a year or two, as a track day car/daily driver. I haven't driven the 997, but when I drove the 996 I was oddly unmoved--not slaming the car or anything, I just wasn't motivated to lay out the coin for it. I looked at the new Cayman (a PCNA car)--the fit/finish looked very good to me (much better than Boxsters of several years ago) but the proof is in the driving, which I haven't done yet. And I think Porsche is smoking some really good weed with regards to pricing--the PCNA car at the local dealer had a sticker of 75K+.
