After a recent tour of the factory in Stuttgart, I am all 911 in my head. Even took a trip to the dealer to have my "fluid" level checked so I could sneak a peek at the 911s in inventory.

I love the cayman. I bought it because I love it. Wonderful car, and great reviews. Drives like nothing else I've ever been in.

Someone help!!!

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Matt S.
Cayman 2.7L
De-snork, Remote Key, K&N

I hear them 911's are pretty good cars too, you should go test drive one. You may fall madly in love with your Cayman all over again. Or maybe not....

Sorry, no help here. If you want a 911 go buy one and enjoy it!

Yeah, same here. No help really.
If I had the cash for the Carrera S, I would have gone for it.
In fact, within a week after I took delivery of my CS, I was debating whether I should have just saved up for the Carrera S. For now though, I am absolutely loving my CS.

resist the Dark Side of the Force, my son...........so says Yoda, a great fan of the Cayman (I might add)

You know, I've been the Porsche dealer several times, as my plans include the purchase of a Porsche for my 60th b/day. My current car will then go into storage as it will be saved for my grandson. The last few weeks, however, I've been wondering if I shouldn't just go for the 911, but hesitated raising it on this website for fear of a backlash. I think Matt is asking basically the same thing I might ask: if money was not the object, why would I buy a Cayman S as opposed to a 911?

My initial response to this was the mid-engine capability and the glowing reports from Motor Trend and the like...but IS there a CLEAR advantage one has over the other that would either cause Matt (or me!) to stay the course, or change over to a 911? Good questions, Matt...I, too, am eager to hear positive discourse on the subject!

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"Whoever controls the media controls culture." Dr. Francis Schaeffer

AZCS - Thanks for the words of support!! That's exactly where I am.

The Cayman is a perfect machine save the concerns with power, and I do not need the power. I can verify that it is a wonderful car, but to have a 911.

Since you are in many ways buying the porsche brand when you buy a Cayman, what is the difference in a few dollars to have the flagship? In talking to my wife her only point of concern was that at the moment we are near the end of model year 08. She'd prefer that I wait for 09 models.

I can go either way-
CS: $70k, 2seats, refined handling, a bit under power, not the Porsche flagship, but in many ways what the 911 is not (throw back, 963), detailed and perfect

911: $75k, Flagship, symbol of the brand, raw power, larger cabin, more power, years of history, tons of style and great automobile.

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Matt S.
Cayman 2.7L
De-snork, Remote Key, K&N

Go to the dealer and drive a Carrera S then drive a Cayman S. Go with what you like. Of course, you could just skip both of those and get a GT3

Just my opinion, but unless you are going for the Carrera S I would stick with the Cayman. (This assumes you are not going to look at the cabrio models) I have a hard time figuring out (other than mystique) a good reason to get the base 911 over the Cayman S. Depending on your source, acceleration times are indistinguishable, and clearly from a handling perspective our Caymans are tough to beat. Seems like a choice between Porsche's current top line mid-engined car v. their relatively underpowered rear-engined car. Add an 'S' to that Carrera and we have a different discussion. Just my thoughts.

i thought its perfectly ok for like another car, i am sure cayman is not the jealous type

I've owned both now. I will be of no help. The 911 is a fantastic car. Completely different than the Cayman S. The 911 goes about business differently than the CS. The way you drive the cars in the corners is completely different. After 2 911's I thought it was a time for a change when I bought my CS. Do I regret it? Tough question, but, No. I really like many things about the CS. It is a much more "tossable" car, more nimble feeling, but it doesn't have the grunt of the Carrera S. It is a pure sports/fun car to drive. It just doesn't carry the grunt of the 911. Believe it or not I actually miss the poser back seats of the 911 sometimes. Don't get me wrong I think the CS is awesome, it does so many things great with my only real complaints being the lack of power and that it is a little quiet in stock form for my taste.

Drive both and decide. They are different cars and have a different appeal.

This discussion gets me thinking about future p-car purchases. Will I get another 911 in the future? Maybe. Will I get another Cayman S? Maybe. While I understand having a difference between the 911 and the Cayman, I don't like the fact that the Boxster can be had for less $$$ with the same power. The Boxster and Cayman are so close in the way they drive that I think the best compromise would be to get a 911 and a Boxster (I don't like the looks of the 911 cab). You could have the best of both worlds. For pure fun the Boxster is arguably the best deal in the Porsche line up. You get old school sports car drop top driving, mid engine nimble/tossability and performance similar to the Cayman at a lesser price.

My biggest complaint about the 911 has been that it has moved towards GT status with each model. Yes there is the GT3 but now we are talking about a serious difference in price. I would really like to see Porsche work on bringing the weight down with slight increases in power. I like what BMW has done with utilizing CF on the the M3 (even though it is still a pig with regard to weight). I think similar usages of lightweight materials by Porsche on the 911 and Cayman would be great.

If image/brand/status are a concern there is no question that the 911 brings the cache.

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Brian

I moved from a Cayman to a 911 (Turbo). Unless you are going to the 4S or Turbo (or GT3), I would DEFINITELY stick with the Cayman.

The CS versus a base 911 is an easy choice, IMHO.

-Chris

The 911 is a great car NOW....technology has finally caught up to it...meaning when the 911 first made its debut, the rear engine design was frightful but now the engineers have designed around that giving it the handling it deserves.

I've driven many 911's in my time (cost prevents me from owning one)...with the most recent being the 911 turbo...besides the 1/2 second turbo lag this car is a beast...and I would put its hips above the cayman's. The regular 911 and 911s are a little blasie or vanilla in my humble opinion, you see them way too often...but still a great car. Hey they even have a back seat....okay really a shelf do not kid youself and think otherwise. And if you play golf well your bag will fit nicely in the passenger seat unlike the the rear boot of the cayman.

911 is the flagship model of Porsche...more money and more power and with great power comes more responsibility...and maybe a tad more fun.

You cannot go wrong with either choice...either way it will be a great birthday gift for yourself...it's a porsche no matter how you slice it.

I seriously considered a 911, but I came to the conclusion it's a poor value compared to the Cayman S. The only 911s that really attracted me, because you can't get anything like them in a CS, were the GT3 and the C4S. One ride as a passenger told me the GT3 wasn't a practical daily driver, at least not here in Oregon. The C4S was very interesting, but once I get in that price range my mind wanders. The Turbo and GT2 are just too rich for me.

Even a C2S with full leather and sport seats is ~$100K, and I could never convince myself it handled as well as the CS. The C4S is very, very good, perhaps better handling than the CS, but the '07 I test drove was $107K+. Yikes.

Oddly, every CS I've driven has had better clutch and shifter feel than any 911 I've driven. The 911 also has so much snout it wouldn't go in my garage without scraping a little, and it looks funny, IMO, from the side profile.

I also found it odd (remember, I'm new to Porsches) that the interiors and the option menu (and the build quality, for that matter) are essentially identical between the Cayman and the 911. Yeah, the 911 has a couple of extra (and nice!) oil-related gauges, the Alcantara roof liner, and the LCD display, but everything else is the same, and everything but the gauges are an option on the CS. Even the wheels and the paint colors are the same. You would think for the 911 prices there would be more of an element of exclusivity of features. (And, Porsche, I am not suggesting you limit Cayman/Boxter options in any way.)

Power and AWD appear to be the key differences, but the prices for these differences are very high, and you still get to look at Corvette tail lights. If price wasn't a factor a C4S would be very enticing, but price is a factor for me.