Porsche answered the prayers of its long-suffering enthusiast base today by introducing a low-cost, low-content, no-frills Cayman to finally bring value and performance to its model line.
Ha! Made you look! Just kidding!
The last Porsches to truly offer more for less were the 968 Club Sport, which wasn’t sold in the United States, and the 964 RS America, which wasn’t purchased in the United States, at least not in any volume. The people who brought you those great cars are long gone. We’re in the new era of Porsche now, and therefore it comes as no surprise that the “stripper” Porsche now costs more than repeatedly sleeping with a stripper named Porsche.
Your $66,300 will get you a Cayman with 121 fewer pounds of frills and frippery. There’s some aluminum in the interior and the lightweight doors from the GT3 make an appearance. The 3.4 new-gen waterboxer puts out 330 horsepower, and you get the same 19-inch wheels and limited-slip diff found in the new Boxster Spyder. It’s dropped three-quarters of an inch and you have the choice of six-speed manual or seven-speed PDK.
When I consider the fact that my 2004 Boxster S Anniversary cost $61,500 six years ago, this Cayman seems like a decent enough deal. When I think about how much the car probably costs to build, I get sick to my stomach. And when I remember that the Corvette Z06 rings the cash register at $74,285 and will absolutely violate the little pseudo-alligator around most road courses… well, at least you get a retro side-stripe for your money!
We can add another feat to Porsche’s long history of achievements. They have accomplished the seemingly impossible: making an all-performance mostly-sportscar manufacturer utterly boring.
I may be the only one in America that likes a painted metal interior in a sports car. It seems to give the car a greater sense of purpose: “No need for soft plactics here this car is purpose built.” I believe some early Boxsters had this feature as well. (I am assuming the green in the interior shots in painted unibody.)
Nope, I’m with you. It gives a sense of occasion to something that might make one snore otherwise.
Are you kidding? I LOVED the mostly metal interior on my old mopars. I am not there to take a nap, I am there to drive the damn thing.
In the 1970s, I had a B cabriolet and then later a C, both of which had painted dash areas along with beautiful gauges and a padded area only along the top. It looked splendid with its perfect mirror-like paint job. I’d so much prefer to see that than today’s omnipresent wood (some purportedly real but made to look erzatz nonetheless), or plastic painted silver, or thin strips of aluminum that still must cost next-to-nothing, or carbon fiber (real or not, what’s the diff?), or leather (perhaps the worst offender of all because of the vulgarity of it). My “C” was red inside and out, and with black leather seats of a grade rarely seen today, it was my idea of real elegance. And would I be mistaken to recall that the floor was covered in rubber rather than carpet? Makes much more sense. And if there was something shiny inside or out, it was real metal that was triple chrome plated or engine turned, not a ten cent piece of plastic encased in a Chinese lead finish. I will admit that the heater was worthless and there was a slight problem with rust. Still…
We’re in the new era of Porsche now, and therefore it comes as no surprise that the “stripper” Porsche now costs more than repeatedly sleeping with a stripper named Porsche.
Jack, you slay me. That is simultaneously frickin hilarious and soul-suckingly sad because of the truth it conveys.
“When I think about how much the car probably costs to build, I get sick to my stomach. And when I remember that the Corvette Z06 rings the cash register at $74,285″
I fail to see what is so sickening about a company generating enough earnings to actually sustain itself. Unlike the Corvette maker, which would be dead and gone without the US taxpayer.
Vega, I’m with you. Porsche wouldn’t charge what they charge except for the fact that people keep paying it. If I’m Porsche, I’ll keep on keeping on… sucking my customers dry. But let’s not kid ourselves here. This isn’t about ‘sustaining itself’. Last time I heard, Porsche is the most profitable car company in the world.
Buying and owning a Porsche is quite similar to buying Super Bowl tickets. Prohibitively expensive and the tickets are only part of the cost (transportation to the game, meals, booze, etc.).
Us commoners would love a Porsche, but not the $150 – $200 oil changes and other nonsense that the wealthy or working rich are okay paying.
I should love this car. It’s the right size, the right weight, and the engine is in the right spot. It’s got just enough room for a weekend getaway, and it looks pretty good.
I just can’t get over Porsche’s absolute disdain for its owners in its pricing and options model. This is pitiful. Hand over 10 lousy horsepower when we all know there’s real power just sitting on the shelf? Charge over $5K for a couple of deleted options? The dentists and/or fools who lap up everything Porsche gives them can buy this. I don’t think I will.
Oh, and while the Corvette may be the favorite punching bag for its wretched interior, I would note that the Cayman/Boxster is not much better. The quality of the switchgear and the dash is certainly not what belongs in a $65K+ car.
And when I remember that the Corvette Z06 rings the cash register at $74,285 and will absolutely violate the little pseudo-alligator around most road courses… well, at least you get a retro side-stripe for your money!
Easy to say. but what will sell this Cayman is the fact that the Corvette can’t outrun its own stigma, deserved or not. Me personally I can’t see myself in a ‘vette, but I can see myself in this.
The Spyder is only 176 pounds lighter than the Boxster, and this R is only 121 pounds lighter than the Cayman. For whatever reason, that just doesn’t strike me as significant weight savings. Especially when going the other way, Scion can add 600 pounds to the xB without batting an eyelid.
Meanwhile, the Gallardo Superleggera is 505 lbs lighter than the standard Gallardo.
That’s because the Spyder had an electric convertible roof to drop. The Cayman didn’t.
In both cases, Porsche mostly only eliminated items that cost them money – while charging suckers even more money for the privilege of being suckered. It really is a brilliant business model and demographic they’ve got going.
“the Corvette Z06 rings the cash register at $74,285 and will absolutely violate the little pseudo-alligator around most road courses”
Perhaps, but at the end of the day it’s still a car with a truck engine and tank treads for wheels.
Of course, Porsche hasn’t made anything to be proud of for a few decades, either.
Say what you want about the Corvette, but calling the LS motor a truck engine is flat-out wrong.
The LS motor gets more power by size *and* weight than any motor from Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, Lamborghini, and, well, just about any other car company I can think of. I think the Lexus V10 might have it beaten for specific output – on a $500K LFA. The LS is also more durable than motors from any of the above companies, and replacement cost will be a fraction of what they would cost to even rebuild.
And the LS7 is a 7 liter motor with a 7000 RPM redline – with pushrods. Say what you want, but there is a reason that any supercar without a bespoke motor uses an LS, and why the LS is better than most of the bespoke motors one can name. I’m not an American car fan, but any automotive fan should show a little respect where it’s due.
Even if imag hadn’t dropped a big old Fact Bomb on your pooh-poohing, given that the point was that the Vette would deliver an NC17-grade ass-whooping to the P-car, it seems evident that “a truck motor” and “tank treads” must be precisely what is required when you actually know how to drive around corners not marked by cones.
‘Perhaps, but at the end of the day it’s still a car with a truck engine and tank treads for wheels.’
Oh please, it’s got probably the most sophisticated OHV engine ever built, with an astonishing power to weight ratio. And it’s got huge wheels to keep it stuck to the road because it goes like hell.
Why all the hate on the ‘vette or my car, the Cayman S? I drive mine daily and it puts a smile on my face. If I had a ‘vette in my garage, and I might someday, I’m sure it also would put a smile on my face. The LS engines are great, low weight, low CG, high performance, high mileage if you don’t get crazy all the time. Don’t like the seats stuffed/upholstered in stale Dunkin Donuts blueberry muffins? Just factor replacing them into the cost.
The only way a Cayman is boring is when you’re not driving it. You’d feel the same, unless you drive like Baruth. I don’t; I like the level of my insurance premium where it is, thanks. Want a car for serious track days or DE – buy a GT3 or GT3-RS – revs like an S2000 but way better power to weight ratio. Also built the old fashioned, expensive, way, the way that makes it too expensive for me to afford. My 1991 911C4 was the model (964) that along with the 928 damn near drove Porsche out of business. All the ‘whoring out’ – sedans, SUVs, sports cars built to a price point, make it possible to build cars like the GT3s or GT2s. Oh, and regarding interior ‘appointments’, take a good look at Porsches from the good old days. Pretty crude. I used to carry a pair of window lift switches that I could pop in to replace the failed ones, which I could sometimes get working again – and carry to replace the failed ones….
The 964 RS decontented Porsche has done well long term for owners; it sells at a premium to similar 964s. I doubt anyone bought them as an investment, though.
Porsche is like a guy with one foot on the (hand-built, price secondary) dock and the other on the (mass produced) boat. They could still end up in the drink.
edit – Just checked my PCA e-mail. Members raffle this year is for a 1973 911T remanufactured by Porsche at an estimated cost of $100K+. Damn, if I won that I’d have to learn how to drive….
I’m not sure that comparing lap times vs $ paid for a vehicle is necessarily a good benchmark for evaluating a car purchase but it seems that compared to other special edition Porsche models (or the Z4), this one is perfectly reasonable.
“Ha! Made you look! Just kidding!” You just made me feel like the time Santa forgot to include the batteries one Christmas…
Overpriced, eh? You poor darlings.
Despite the Australian and US dollars being almost identically valued right now, the recommended retail price of the Cayman R in Australia is ONE HUNDRED AND SIXY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.
Add another $20k or so for onroad costs.
I think Porsches are so overrated. they are great cars, but the people pricing them know how strong the brand is and that people are willing to pay extra, so they charge stupid money…
I still don’t get how Porsche can get away with charging more for much less…but then again, i dont get how people pay twice the money to get a V6 Cayenne rather than a better equipped Touareg…
Porsche “gets away” with charging more for their cars in the same way, for instance, Ford gets away with charging $40,000 plus for a body-on-frame, 1960s-tech four-wheel-drive pick-em-up truck. Because people want to drive that, as opposed to, say, a better equipped Honda Accord to and from their cubicle.
That said, I was disappointed (though not at all surprised) by the Cayman R. Puny power increase, minor weight loss, hardly the race-inspired engineering feat that the ad copy describes. Any shade tree mechanic with a few thousand bucks and a ’09 Cayman S could do quite a bit better for much less.
Porsche continues to engineer their Cayman, Boxster, and lower Carrera variants to a price rather than performance point, creating an increasingly crowded lineup of nearly-redundant cars.