Porsche brilliance
 

Just came from a test in a Cayman S. Great sports car, plenty of power given its weight and perfect neutral handling. i also love the ability to switch between sports and normal suspensions- i will always get this option in the future.

Before the test, I was wondering a bit about where the Cayman fits into the porsche lineup.1)Is it a coupe version of the boxster? Then why does it cost more? 2) is it a cut-price carrera? then if it's so good, won't porsche cannibalize its own sales?

Now it starts to make a bit more sense to me. The Cayman has been presented by Porsche as a more "pure" sports car than the boxster, and counter to any claims that the boxster is too soft. You want a sunroof? Sorry, the that would compromise the rigidity of the shell too much, not available. Decide- do you want to drive, or get a suntan.

It's also more different than it looks compared to the 997 due to the engine layout. Also as someone pointed out, the 997 is more a GT than sports car- kind of hard for me to get used to having grown up with the image of the 928 as porsche's answer to the GT question- but now I agree. Throw in the signifcant price difference, and it's unlikely that Porsche will lose too many 997 sales to the cayman.

Unless you will track the car, the boxster S kind of makes more sense. 1. it's cheaper. 2. basically has anequal amount ofstorage space. 3. the option to go top-down. look, the cayman is brilliant, i admit looks better, and i think anyone buying one will enjoy it immensely, but what's really clever is how porsche identified a not-very-apparent niche in the market, and are now successfully selling a coupe version of a convertible for more money on mostly justlooks and image.

RE: Porsche brilliance
 

Hi, Jonny, I own a Boxster S, one of reason is I really need the room, the two trunk spaces, because I bring along a lot of stuff when I leave home. 911 has only one front trunk, it is just not going to work for me. So, if I buy a 2 seats sport car, I might as well get the one that can do the top down. I drop my top about 4 times this week already, nice to cruise back home after work with the top down, (80 degree inHawaii) Cayman's has good storage spacetoo. I almost got the Cayman instead of the Boxster S.

RE: Porsche brilliance
 

But in Hawaii, a convertible is a must-have, and i agree, the mid-engined boxster makes WAY more sense in hawaii than a 911-cabrio, unless you want to put your dog or something back there.