Having just traded my 997 GTS Cab for a Cayman S, I was not sure whether I was going to have a better car. Most of the judgement is emotion in the context of particular circumstances relating to use. Neither used daily, increasingly the main use is going to and from and on track days, with some touring. I do like my comforts so never really thought of an Elise or similar. What do I miss? It has to be the engine the engine the engine oh, and the grunt - can I have the engine back please? I drove hood down much of the time in 2011/12 but despite better weather less so in 2013 - so whilst without a cabriolet for the first time in 10 years, I don’t really miss that (yet). I miss the larger cabin, the Cayman is quite cozy with little internal space for bags without compromising rear vision. I found packing for trips in the GTS very much easier with lots of space behind the seats, particularly using the folded down wind deflector which made it difficult from the outside to see what was behind the seats. I am sure my Cayman is quite lardy, all the nice to have extras (which I wanted) have motors and extra wiring. The 9x1 controls and buttons look very nice but I find them very difficult to locate whilst driving, they are too low, largely obscured by the gear lever, and I find it easy to push the wrong one. Also with the mirror controls, I end up folding the mirrors when I just want to slightly change the angle of the mirror glass. Intuitive it ain’t. I need to go through the handbook again as I can’t seem to get the screen to stop showing me the sky above the map’s horizon - why do I want to see sky? Full post code actually works - hooray! Fuel saving - auto stop/start works but I turn it off. Coasting is interesting - with cruise on, it seem to be “modulating†the throttle most of the time thus not creating the circumstances that would activate coasting. When I have been on a motorway with cruise off, the coasting comes on presumably because/when I take my foot off the gas to manage gaps to other traffic. So is it more economical to coast or cruise? New PDK is much faster and coupled with sports exhaust and Sport/Sport +, just wow! Down Wellington Straight, braking into Luffield, auto-blipped down shifts, why do I need to change gear? On track, understeer gone. Rear traction in the damp not so good out of slow corners (the Loop), less torque, more revs, weight bias, tyres? However faster corners (Maggots, Beckets, Chapel) I/it feels more secure, confident, I reach the same end of straight speeds as I did in the GTS. These comments are to a large extent based on my capability as a driver; other GTS’ were faster and better driven than than mine. On the road, I feel more confident in the Cayman, probably down to the fewer inputs/feedback from the steering, far less flex in the body, longer/wider (more stable) platform so I can drive more quickly more safely (conditions allowing m’lud). Noise, GTS tyre roar but you get used to it. Cayman on track, I can hear lot from the engine and gears, hopefully because they are in the cabin with me. Cayman exhaust seems a lot louder on full throttle. Steering on the GTS was alive, perhaps overly so with the compromise of body flex and suspension. In comparison at first the Cayman’s seemed heavy, then “weighted†but never “aliveâ€. Looks - GTS every time. The Cayman in white with silver Carrera S wheels looks rather effite from most angles whereas the white GTS with black centre locks, black hood looked the biz. Also the Cayman was an ex-management car, and came with a puddle not a paddle steering wheel. So the road wheels will soon be gloss black, the puddles paddles, and the dirt retaining chrome (on white?) Porsche and model decals on the rear lid deleted; I appreciate all a matter of taste. The answer, do I have a better car? Actually they are both great cars. You gotta have a 911 once in your life and the 997 GTS was one of the best. The 981/991 are a different and IMHO a markedly better generation. I never really got excited by the 991 models v the 997. There will always be progress and I shall enjoy what I have. When the Cayman reaches its third birthday, it will go, I shall be well into my 70’s and I may just scratch an itch and go back to a nice 993 or (hush) a 2.7 RS rep…. and 356’s are so beautiful.
