Everyone is talking about the Porsche Cayman GT4 and the 911 R, the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S manual, and the Corvette Grand Sport. These are cars built for enthusiasts. Naturally aspirated, manual-transmission sports cars set up with a sport tuned suspensions. The have been built to satisfy our most basic speed needs. Raw, visceral […]
Tag: Cayman
The Porsche Cayman Conspiracy is No Longer a Conspiracy
Conspiracy theorists push nearly unbelievable ideas. The moon landing was a fake, filmed on a Hollywood movie set; Hillary Clinton is a humanoid reptilian bent on world domination; and Porsche nerfs the Cayman’s performance because it doesn’t want to expose that the 911’s rear engine placement is a huge mistake. The thing with conspiracy theories […]
Porsche Posses
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Living in today’s world means enduring a constant storm of vocal opinions and ridged viewpoints. So naturally we crowd under branded umbrellas with people that have similar appreciations. However, once you are safely shaded with all your like-minded friends, you’ll find you are still a part of a diverse group. Even though we may all be huddled under the same shelter, little posses form within the mob. Let’s take a look at some Porsche posses.
If Porsche culture were a Snickers bar, the air-cooled faction would be the peanuts. The liquid-cooled cars far out number the air-cooled at this point, but without the fan clad bunch, the whole culture wouldn’t be the same. These happy geezers are generally very accepting and will wave at anyone with a Porsche. They were raised watching the old cars race and probably still own their first 911. No mods, no stereos just wax and oil. They have often owned a number of different front or mid mounted Porsches but always revert to classic 911s.
More recently a new crop of #aircoolednuts have sprouted. The number of younger, #trendy enthusiasts seems to be growing more rapidly than Magnus Walker can get another post on Instagram. Will these new followers still love the air-cooled 911 when they are too pudgy to fit into their skinny jeans and all the boutique coffee shops have closed due to market saturation? Only time will tell.
Next to them are the Porsche fanboys. These people love everything Porsche. They praise the obviously terrifying Panamera Hybrid’s build quality and technological advancements. So blind is their loyalty that they will even find a reason to admire a Tiptronic 996 Cabriolet – “Feel how smooth it shifts and look how convenient these gear selection buttons are.” To them, Porsche is completely faultless. You may even see them with a Porsche timepiece. These guys are the most likely to own modern Porsches. They may have a Cayenne tow car, Boxster Sunday driver and a 997 daily and will also wave at most everyone.
There are some Porsche enthusiasts that can’t justify the swollen price of peanuts and seek out special pieces of caramel and nougat. Most prominent are the 928/944 enthusiasts. Many of these guys like to “build” their cars. Modifications range from aftermarket wheels to forced induction. When asked about their opinion on the 911 they usually respond with “Dude I’ve smoked so many of those things” or “Yeah I drove one of those once, wasn’t super impressed.” Now you will find purists that live in this group or Porsche enthusiasts that are new in their walk so they haven’t made the jump to a 911 yet, but the most prevalent ingredient here are tuners. Who could blame them? The 944 and 928 are wonderful platforms. These guys generally will only wave to other front engine guys, if at all.
Cayman owners have typically had a few other Porsches and wanted something a little modern but didn’t want the size or weight of a liquid-cooled 911. Many of the Cayman’s owners out there aren’t really Porsche enthusiasts, more style/status/Instagram enthusiasts. But the ones who are Porsche enthusiasts love driving and wouldn’t give their car up for anything short of a GT3. These guys are too busy working their wheel to wave.
Then there are Boxster/914 owners. Unless they are owned by the previously mentioned fanatics, this group sits in the background just happy to be in the wrapper at all. They truly are the black sheep of the group, the partially hydrogenated soybean oil. They will wave at anyone who waves at them but they don’t expect anyone to acknowledge them.
Sprinkled through this constantly growing group are different kinds of enthusiasts. Each with their own flare like RWB and the aforementioned Magnus Walker who throw convention out the roll-down window and do what they love. 914 modders who stick 993 and turbo engines in the back of featherweight targas and the supercar owners that get to live millions of people’s dreams on the daily. It is a very diverse group but we all chose to stand together because we have a great appreciation for the engineering, design and care taken by a forward thinking family, Porsche.
PS if you LS/350 swapped any Porsche you are the allergy information of the candy bar. You are the saturated fat, the high fructose corn syrup and all the other poisons that unfortunately tarnish something great. You are a twinkie, so please stick with your soft, fat Camaros.
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Porsche ushers in future by referencing past: the new-ish 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman
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For 2016, Porsche has renamed its entry level sports cars, the Boxster and Cayman, as the 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman, referencing the 718 RSK racecar from the 1950s. Moreover, the new 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman will share the old car’s engine layout, a flat-four engine, albeit supplemented with a turbocharger.
In addition to the name and engine changes, the 718 Boxster will been priced higher than the 718 Cayman, to be more in line with the traditional pricing of other coupes and convertibles across the industry. The two cars will be more similar than ever, with their new engine being equally powerful in both cars, as well as other visual and technical similarities.
After years of slowly and deliberately moving away from numeric names, it’s a nice change of pace knowing that people will stop confusing Porsche’s mid-engined sports car with their full-sized suburban-sheikh SUV. It will be much more convenient to distinguish the new 718 from the old 987 and 986 with the new name. And you’ll know exactly where it falls in the lineup with Porsche’s other current sports car, the 991 911, which succeeded the 997; which is far superior to the previous 996, the terrible successor to the 993 (the last of the air-cooled greats). But, even the mighty 993 has nothing on the legendary 930 or 965. The 718 will join the ranks of other great four-cylinder Porsches in addition to the original 718, including the 914, 924, 944, 951, and 968. See Porsche? Numbers are way easier to understand.
But the most important news is that Porsche’s best car is now Porsche’s cheapest car. The 718 Cayman is the driver’s Porsche, and will be cheaply available for your local investment account manager to snap oversteer into your neighbor’s mailbox in a torrent of four-cylinder, turbocharged, liquid-cooled fury.
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Amateur racers rejoice: The Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport has arrived
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Porsche debuted the track version of its celebrated road-going Porsche Cayman GT4, the Cayman GT4 Clubsport, this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Sales of the superior-balanced 911’s kid brother started immediately at debut for a racecar-bargain $165,000, ready to be raced in several race series around the world.
The GT4 Clubsport is powered by the production-based 3.8L flat-six from the road-going GT4, and a six-speed PDK transmission with paddles on the steering wheel. It tips the scales at 2,866lbs (1,300kgs), and boast suspension bits from the 911 GT3 Cup.
If you have recently found yourself the heir of an inheritance, here is your chance to show off your amateur racing prowess in one of the most capable and well-handling production-based cars from Porsche, a company steeped in motorsport tradition.
Source: Porsche
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