I know they're very different cars, but I am torn between the two. The Porsche is the real car here and the Lotus is the toy. My use would be weekend fun and an occasional track day. I love the look of the Exige and love how wild the car is. It'll have some issues and it's hard to live with - it's hard to even get into and out of. The Cayman S will cost a little more money (not the issue) and will be a lot more useable. But I suspect that the Cayman S (and later the base Cayman) will be pretty common sites around some of this country's more affluent suburbs.


Which do you think would get old first --- the flashy Lotus with it's issues and it's harsh ride and lack of comort -- or the somewhat common Porsche -- that will appeal to enthusiasts and badge-***** divorced orthodontists and upscale housewives?


I never thought the Boxster was really worth the $ Porsche charges for it -- so I bought an S2000 instead. I like it, butI am done with the top-down driving thrill. I like the Cayman 3x better than the Boxster, but I'm still not so sure it's worth $70k. Then again, I'm not sure a fiberglass toy with a Toyota 4 cylinder is really worth $56k.


I know this is the Cayman Club, but have any of you considered an Exige?

Absolutely! The Exige is great fun and much cheaper that the Cayman at UK prices. But it is a toy.

Have you worked out the cost of a properly specced Exige compared to Cayman? If it really is only $14k then go for the Cayman, no question...

My mate has the Exige S2 and it's an awesome bit of kitalbeit a 1 trick pony. He has a BMW CSL as his 'everyday car' besides. It's for the serious track dayer as that's exactly what it's built for and driving it just on the normal roads most of the time you could be conceived as a bit of a **** - it's no road car really. I had a deposit into one of these a year ago but pulled out as it still seemed like too much money for what it actually was and quality for that sort of cost was always a sticking point for me.


The CaymanS will be all things to all men and as far as common goes, well I doubt it, how many 911's do we really see on our roads each day either side of the atlantic and Porsche are building less CaymanS's than the 911.


Dean

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How tall are you? I know that I can't fit in an Exige (my head is taller than the rollbar in an Elise). Exige will be faster and more involving to driveat the track (1,100 pound lighter is a big deal). Cayman will be more comfortable, safer and more reliable, but more 'isolated' to drive. It's hard to beat good manual steering and a light chassis.

Edited by - grant on 10/25/2005 4:37:54 PM

I agree with the above responses completely.


I've only experience of an Elise (S1)- a fantastic drive, excellent track toy, but impossible for practical, dailyuse. Also, extremely fragile with pieces constantly coming astray and more of a kit-car level of build quality.


Immense fun though [img]/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/thumbsup.gif[/img]


...Porsche make quality sports cars - all the fun, along with proper build quality and reliability. They'll always be more common than Lotuses (Lotii?) though..

I keep asking people how far they want to carry the Elise/Exige mantra? Do you go to a Super 7? What about one of those superfast go-karts? At each stage along the way the vehicle becomes less and less of a 'car' and more and more something else. The Elise/Exige does not make a good road car, good track car? yes, good road car, no. Is that an issue for you? For me it would be and pretty much rules out the Elise/Exige.


Looks are subjective and while I like portions of the side and rear view of the Exige, the front view is almost hideous IMHO. I wouldn't care if I saw 1 or 100 other Exiges a day on the road. Will there be more Caymans than Exiges? Probably so, but not to the extent of say a Toyota Corolla (US) vs. a Viper type of differential. Statisitcaly you may never see enough of either to notice a difference.


I would also be concerned about repair/durability of each car and so far the Elise has fallen down several times here in the US and Lotus just continues to raise the price which I can't understand. If I went with an Elise/Exige I'd have to drive 3.5 HOURS to the nearest dealership, not something I'd want to do if there was a problem as driving that distance might make it worse or it would simply break down completely leaving me stranded vs. Porsche's roadside assistance and local dealership (15 minutes) away.


Last, but not least, the Elise/Exige lacks torque and I'm a torque abuser and I admit it, so cars low on torque are low on my priority list as well.


If someone was 'giving' me an extra play toy car for the track I might take an Exige to run the snot out of it, but otherwise I'd pass.

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K-Man S

My long-term dream garage is to have a Cayman S as my daily driver and for only ocassional track use (just-to-see-what-it-can-do sort of thing),and an Elise as my flashy summer convertible and track/autox car.


...and of course a wagon as our family car.

I am in complete agreement with K-Man-S. I looked at the Lotus Elise before the Cayman S. The Lotus stems from the days of driving an Elan S2. I like the looks etc. but to me seems to be very impractical as a daily driver. I had to compare it to a Boxster S and the Porsche won hands down. I have wanted to own both a Porsche & Lotus and will never be able to have both at the same time. That made my decision pretty easy towards the Porsche since it will be my everyday car.

Ariel Atom? ; -) I've toyed with building a Birkin (gone from the US) or a Caterham 7 - and while I'd be willing to drive cross country in one - I know my wife would never get near the thing.



Totally uncivilized, a hair shirt if ever there was one - it'd have to have heim joints throughout the suspension so make sure you got a cigar (pronounced SEE-ghar) clenched between your teeth to keep from grinding them into porcelan powder. And yes - I may end up with a 7 or a clone - I'd love to assemble a 7 (build is a bit of a stretch for a pretty well assembled kit).



But use it regularly for vaction travel with She Who Must Be Obeyed, totally unacceptable. I need a GT car, in the 300SL sense of Grand Touring. That's where the Cayman will absolutely shine!! No compromise on sport, handling, spirit, but sooo much more livable then an Elsie/Exige/7.

The motor for the US Elise is the Toyota Celica GT-S unit that's been gussied up a bit - it uses the Yamaha head, high zoot variable valve timing and some bespoke Lotus software to extract 190 HP (in a > 2000 lb car). But, it is an inflexible engine - anything below 6800 RPM is noise - and you really have to row - row - row your gearbox to get the thing to work. (Not unlike the S2000 - but worse). Torque is what pulls you out of the corners as the dirt track guys say. : -) And it's what makes a good road car livable in my estimation.

But (and there's always a but) - I am enthralled with 'lightness' - the Lotus maxim of 'adding lightness' is something I'd like to see more manufacturers take to heart. A Pontiac Solstice at 2800 lbs, huh? Why?

I've never owned a Lotus, but have two friends who have had five between them. Great cars to look at, and true performers, but both guys have had repeated issueskeeping their cars running. I don't know of another marque with so many relaibility problems.

FIAT? ; -)

I do not know if this plays into your decision, but 300 Exige are destined for US and all are sold already to my best knowleged, as I could find a single dealer with 500 mi. that would accept my order[img]/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/sad_smile.gif[/img] Granted I have never shopped for a Lotus before, so I do not know the dealers, may be that played a role in it as well.

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Have you seen the latest Car & Driver magazine? It compares the Cayman against the Lotus at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Cayman wins hands down.