I'm new here and have been a DIE HARD vette fan for ever and ever.....just sold my 06 convertible and have had 6 others prior to that...I've decided to buy a CaymanS now....love the look and what i've read about them. Are there any former vette owners that can tell me their opinions of this car. Is the lesser horse power very noticeable? I want a TIP...this is a must. I look foward to finding one about a year old, with low mileage. Any advice on favorite options or anything? All comments appreciated...thanks, April

 

Welcome. Just sold my 04 Vette Commemorative to buy a C4 Cabriolet. Before that, 86 pacecar, 90 430HP vert, 95 pacecar, 98 pacecar, 01 462HP, 04 Comm was 594HP actual C5R engine (not the knockoffs everyone sells). All ragtop, all pacecars were Festival 500 cars from the fleet at Indianapolis. I was ready to order # 7, an orange pacecar (wasn't sold on the color), then said "why". Everything will be the same except maybe one or two radio buttons. Let's try something different. So I got an 02 Carrera 4 convertible. Horspower....... Stepping from almost 600 to 320HP, there was a big difference. It's been a long time since I drove a 350 HP Vette but I think even the stock 350HP Vette feels much torquier. You'll wind up driving the Cayman like an F1 car to get it to do anything from a traffic light. But.....throw it around some turns and you'll see a BIG difference. The Corvette can't do what these things do. I love blasting around low speed turns at near full throttle (mine's 4WD). It's like the car turned but your eyes are still going the other way. Verrrry cool. Sorry I have zero experience with the Cayman but.... it's Porsche, it's mid-engined, it's got to handle. If only you could get a can opener to that pesky roof...... Like I've said "The Vette is a sledgehammer but the Porsche is a nail gun."

 

Welcome!

Yes, you will definately notice the power difference, or more precisely and most often, the 33% drop in low end torque available. On the other hand the Cayman is a fine car. Rather than repeat myself, I'll just point youto this recent posting comparing the Carrera to the Corvette:

https://www.germanautoforums.com/m_13332/tm.htm

most of what I say about the Carrera will apply to the Cayman -- I've driven a new S model back to back withmy Porsche and they feel about the same -- the Cayman is a bit crisper on turn in but feels slightly less powerful, and about as roomy as long as you don't look for the back seat.

 

Horsey girl,
Don't compare a Cayman w/ a vette, if your into horsepower. I wouln't consider a Cayman or its lil brother/sister Boxster a real Porsche, theirweek.Compare w/ 911! By the way no girls allowed. Go back to Vette's. Porsman5 out! [sm=nothatway.gif]

 

Hi, Horsepower girl, life is short, try something else for once. HP is not everything. Check out this post with some Cayman S video link.

https://www.germanautoforums.com/m_15362/tm.htm

 

I added a 911 Cabriolet to my 07 Corvette Z06. Can't begin to compare 320 hp against 505 in the Z but the handling in the Porsche may be better. I still enjoy them both, especially when the top is down on the 911.

 

I owned both, too. The 'vette has a great engine but the rest of the car is "body by Fisher Price" not body by Fisher: it was not well built, period. GM claims a double wishbone suspension but the trick of using the transverse spring as a suspension arm changes the geometry slightly so it is not linear and balanced as it would be with real doubel wishbone, but could corner very fast if you manhandled it - it was not subtle.
The Carrera was light, and yet very well built. I did not think it handled that well - put bit sticky rubber on anything low and it will corner at hi-Gs, but the struts up front limit real handling and I found it very non-linear in transitions and braking in tight corners. Still, it was very durable and screwed together well. They lack of low end torque actually makes using a gearbox more fun (and necessary).
To see the difference in handling, drive one of the Carrera GT2s (they have real double wisbone wishbone on all fur corners, or an Aston Vantage, which has double wishbone on all four corners, back to back with a standard Carrera or Carrera S.