Had a Carrera on loan for 3 days

nascar · #1 (**permalink**) 04-24-2008, 10:38 PM

My Cayman was in for the recall of the clutch slave cylinder and I was given a Carrera (650mi on the clock) as a loan car. Unfortunately it was not the "S" and also it was a Tiptronic.

All I can say is that I was very pleased to get my Cayman S back. On balance, the Carrera failed to impress me.

Likes: The lumpy idle (sounds great)

Dislikes: Weaker brakes, Auto box, less nimble

Both my car and the Carrera had PASM, 19in wheels. The Carrera just felt too "soft". That could well be due to the auto which I did not enjoy even in traffic.

**Rpryan55** · #2 (**permalink**) 04-25-2008, 12:55 AM

Well, even forgetting the tip, Porsche has gradually been turning the Carrera into a GT for some time now - I drove one with Sport Chrono and a short shifter back to back with straight CS, tho, and I have to say I rather liked the 911.....then again, I really felt more comfortable with the CS in heavy traffic......

BillK · #3 (**permalink**) 04-25-2008, 10:22 AM

I drove a 997 Carrera a while back and actually preferred the feel of my 2003 Boxster S, let alone my new CS.

I chalked it up to not wanting to push a $90,000 car on a test drive and not having enough rear engine experience, but all in all if nothing else it means the 986 and 987 are easier to drive at the limit, something most all 911 owners would agree about.

**phredden** · #4 (**permalink**) 05-04-2008, 04:05 PM

Different cars, different markets. I've had three 911's, liked them all. The only one I consider a "sports car" was the '77 "S" I bought in Germany in 1981 with 25,000 klicks. No a/c (so you didn't need to tear it out), cloth interior (so you didn't need to retrofit cloth seats to keep from sliding all over the place), no sunroof (so you didn't need to cut it out, along with the tracks and mechanisms, and weld in a steel panel), no radio to speak of....pure bliss! An actual sports car!

The SC and the 996 were pimp-mobiles in comparison....also known as GTs. But guess what, the older I get the more GTs aren't that bad!

As baby boomers get older, fatter, slower, the market for GTs will continue to grow. However, I think that the 997 is a big improvement over the 996, and running contrary to the trend the 996 was setting toward an expensive, rear-engine minivan for aging, overpaid Boomers.

Regardless, the Cayman is the sports car in the P-Car family. To compare it's agility and handling with the family GT requires filters. Both are magnificant, each in their own way.