The first round of reviews for the Porsche Cayman GT4 is coming in this week. Unsurprisingly, they are all rather hosanna-esque in nature; Porsche PR won’t permit anything less. With that said, this is the combination of Porker-LEGOS for which a lot of people have been asking for a long time, and there are some interesting tidbits from the reviews, summarized below.
* “Production capacity” limits the GT4 to 2500 units worldwide and about half that for the US. Surely the limiting factor here is a product of Porsche’s own imagination because the GT4 does not appear to have any unobtanium parts or difficult third-party sourcing. This will probably cause a bit of a bidding war at some Porsche dealers, so be prepared.
* The body-in-white is supposedly reinforced in a few different areas and is unique to the GT4.
* Front suspension is from the 911 GT3. The rear suspension is unique to the Cayman. Wheels are five-bolt, not center-lock.
* Like the Nissan 370Z, the GT4 has an automatic rev-matching feature for downshifts. It can be disabled.
* My friend at Road&Track, Jason Cammisa, found understeer at the limit.
* There’s a Nurburgring time, of course, that time being 7m40s.
Equipped to match my 2004 Boxster Anniversary, minus the special-equipment leather from my car and without carbon brakes, the GT4 checks in at about ninety-four thousand dollars. In Porsche-land, this amounts to a bargain; my Boxster’s MSRP of $61,450 adjusted for inflation is seventy-nine grand today, for a car with 115 fewer horsepower, less impressive running gear, and the infamous M96 engine. If you can find a dealer to sell you the car at sticker, you might want to consider getting one.
Alternately, for less money you can get a Corvette Z06 or the base $84,995 Dodge Viper. The blah-blah of Ring times aside, I cannot adequately convey how much faster either one of those cars would be around any racetrack of any size in even remotely capable hands. If you don’t care about racetrack times, then forget the Cayman GT4 entirely and get a Boxster. The top goes down, which is nice on sunny days and makes for very nice first dates.
The ultimate in Cayman country would be a GTS (not a GT4) with a manually removable targa hardtop like the Porsche 930 (911) had in the 80’s. Viper and Corvette are more expensive down here; has to do with the way cubic inches are taxed.
” If you don’t care about racetrack times, then forget the Cayman GT4 entirely and get a Boxster. The top goes down, which is nice on sunny days and makes for very nice first dates.”
Much wisdom here.
I love the Cayman’s looks, but I love convertibles more.
I do like the Boxster. I briefly considered a Boxster Speedster a year ago, but didn’t want to deal with the goofy top. I think the sweet spot is the Boxster GTS.
If it’s off a track I don’t see the point of a two-seater that isn’t a convertible.
I guess if you’re asking that question, this isn’t the car for you.
Unlike most Porsches, I think the ideal Boxster is an S with minimal options. If you’re going to use it as a third/weekend car, there’s no need to load it down with options because you aren’t going to use most of them on those Sunday AM fun drives or Friday PM cruises to the ice cream shop, and that’s 90% of the usage for that kind of car. Good headlights, a decent stereo, and workable HVAC (and maybe heated/cooled seats if you’re spendy) is about all you need in a convertible.
Apparently they will permit criticism of the gearing, but not much else.
I don’t think anyone is going to find one of these south of $100k right now. Too much desire and energy behind this car. When they do show up, even used will be a premium. I think it would be incredible to own.
He seems to suggest this is a great daily driver too.
He sure used the word “special” more times than I can count.
Wow. $94k for this. You can nearly buy a 911 for that. Or a gently used Ferrari.
To use an old Jack Baruth line, this car is nice but what would really be nice is if they made a convertible version…
“Wow. $94k for this. You can nearly buy a 911 for that. Or a gently used Ferrari.”
A person buying a Cayman GT4 isn’t troubled at missing out on a base Carrera, nor are they the person who can (or wants to) pay for the running costs on a used F-Car.
you can debate this or that but they are sold out to buggery, and where i am its a $200k+ car
and surprising to me, no one minds the manual transmission but at this point, i beleive chris harris has said porsche can sell a manual one until they can sell no more and then they introduce the PDK version as if its the 2nd coming and then they sell even more
their practices are truly like the Apple of the automotive world
they must have a grand plan on how to stretch out their product line by drip feeding the models
AND… there’s a GT4RS and 4.0 potentially coming
MSRP on a Base, no frills Cabrio is $99k. Sorry, can’t find no-option coupes in my area, and that’s kind of the point: When you buy a new Porsche, especially a 911, you are going to order one to spec with an options list longer than your arm. Don’t forget that (if I remember correctly) the AVERAGE options charge on a 911 is north of $25k.
This thing costing $94k is (at least in Porsche-land) a steal, especially if it’s delivered as-shown with the trick brakes.
Having said that, I’m sure it is a pretty phenomenal drive – the Cayman has proven to be as fantastic on the track as is is on a pretty road on a sunny Saturday morning. But Harris very quietly highlights the ‘problem’ with this car. Despite the engineers clearly loving it, management will never allow it to compete with anything other than the ‘old’ 911. They make WAY too much money selling 6-figure+ cars to lawyers and boring bankers to let a superior platform usurp the king.
Really? A C7 vette?
Sorry, but journos have been giving Chevy a complete pass with this car. The most track capable corvette ever so long as the race is really, really short and you aren’t racing a GTR? Mismatched and orange peel paint? And no ‘ring time, because I am sure it sucks.
Apparently Edmunds managed to get their long term C7 (the regular one not even the Z06) to overheat on public roads just trying to do a spirited drive.
http://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/corvette-stingray/2014/long-term-road-test/2014-chevrolet-corvette-stingray-overheating-on-a-mountain-road.html
That’s pretty damned disappointing, what’s the point of a sports car that you can’t actually drive hard without overheating? I’m seeing people reporting that overheated C7’s are common on track days…not good.
And overheating aside apparently car and driver blew up TWO different C7 Z51 motors during a lightning lap as well as on their long term C7.
Might be cheaper to own the Porsche in the long run at this rate.
Wouldn’t a stock C7 Stingray, at around $70,000, pretty much keep up with the GT4, whereas the Z06 would pretty much destroy it?
A Camry V6 would demolish a BRZ Limited in a straight line, but then that’s not what you buy a BRZ for.
Cars like this are not for those with frail egos (well at least not the frailest).
Damn it Jack, whyd you have to ruin it with the convertible thing? I do still love this car and everything it represents, but I’m struggling to think where it would fit in my life. If the weather is nice or I can carve out a day to hit the track I’m going to pull out my motorcycle. If I want to go somewhere nice with my wife I think I would prefer a regular Boxster S 7MT to this.
Cars like this represent a real secret kind of luxury. It’s probably going to be someone’s 2nd or 3rd car, in addition to some kind of SUV + convertible, probably spending at least half its miles at the track. Even for someone with the financial means, finding the time is tough. But kudos to Porsche for making it anyway. This has really boosted the brand’s enthusiast cred.
$94k? Woof. Well, the upshot is Porsche will sell every one, debate about abosulte value of the product be damned.
For me, better money is spent on thd Cayman GTS. I detest ‘verts. Save for certain targas (Corvette, 300ZX) and spyders (458 spyder, MP4-12C/650S).
So…like 19 separate dedicated low-buck track-day cars, then?
…by comparison, what’s the new evora 400 going to sticker?..
A 987.1 Cayman S is my only car. Other than only holding 2 people, it works pretty well for me. I’ve taken runs to the dump, home depot, and lumber liquidators with the car. 2 bicycles is a bit of a stretch, but the hatch holds a surprising amount of stuff, especially with the hatch lid partially open (and tied down). I can’t image using a Boxster as my only car. I did a hardwood flooring project for a friend and you should have seen the expression of surprised when I arrived with a fully assembled table saw (!!!), chop saw, air compressor, nailer, 3 boxes of various tools, and a half dozen 10-foot lengths of baseboard–and I didn’t even bother putting on the roof rack.
I had an S2000 as my only car for several years (though I sorta cheated, I was married and my wife drove a Jeep Liberty and a MkV Jetta while I was DDing the S). There was never anything I couldn’t do with the S2000 that was worth doing more than owning the S2000. It’s easy to rent a car, borrow a car, rent a truck, pay for delivery, whatever. As long as my car can hold a set of golf clubs, a duffle bag, and a case of beer, I’m all set. Although now that I have a kid, a rear seat is a requirement too, but fortunately I just added an additional car.
Always found it interesting that Porsche made the 981 bigger, but the rear hatch area became much less versatile in that car as opposed to the 987
Can’t see the engine.
If you don’t care about racetrack times or badges, then forget the Cayman GT4 entirely and get a Miata. The top goes down, which is nice on sunny days and makes for very nice first dates, and the TCO is very reasonable.
Fixed.
I have a question for the Porsche owners, as someone who has considered a used Cayman purchase for years. How do you overcome the stereotype that Porsche owners are jerks? Not trying to be a troll in any way – this is an earnest question.
My suggestion would be to dress up when driving one. Put on a sport shirt and blazer instead of an Ed Hardy T-shirt and baseball cap. A high status car and low status driver leads most observers to the same mental shortcut: “douche bag”.