mambodoc

Looking at a my14 Cayman, Pasm,PTV, Dynamic lighting system and 2way sports seats plus. Low mileage CPO. I'm moving from a my10 PDK CS that I put a bunch of miles on...my DD and do not track. I live in the car and do 30K miles/year. Will I be satisfied with 275 hp performance or look to snother CS. Never drove anything other than my CS. Finances influence this to a point.

Thanks

flyfisher

I have a '15 base and it's fast enough for me. It's fine as a DD street car. Plenty of fun to be had.

jmh981

If you enjoy driving, you'll love the base - if you want to race muscle-cars, buy something else.

RGTdal

You'll notice the power difference and miss it.

Go for the S

NetMage

For a DD I believe the base may be a better choice,if you like to Rev the car. The S has more power and you don't get to go as high up the Rev band as much. Since that is a big part of the Porche experience I sometimes think I would have preferred a base. OTOH if you prefer to keep the revs lower the S makes that easier though not as much as a 718. Since I generally don't stay in lower gears the S works well for me as a DD.

Macster

Take the base '14 Cayman for a test drive. See how you like it.

HP ain't everything but 275HP ain't shabby.

At 30K miles per year running costs have to be considered. Generally the base costs less to register, insure, service, and fuel than an S. The base costs less to buy, too, so you start out spending less money from the git go.

May not be a big factor but the base engine is the least stressed engine. (Might be part of the reason my base 2002 Boxster managed to reach 305K miles on its base engine.)

I have a 2003 Turbo, too. Even so the base Boxster is still a very good car and has plenty of performance and utility. Nimble in town and going in and out of parking lots. Runs plenty good on the freeway, too. Used to take the car on long road trips and could cover hundreds of miles as in 500 or more miles, even once in great while nearly 1K miles in a day (granted a long long day) of driving.

Go test drive examples of both the base and the S and make up your mind.

rf330

I bought the base and don't regret it. I've never gone over 5K rpm and still worry about staying out of trouble on the street.

jmh981

You are missing out on the 2.7 experience. Over 5000 rpm, the sound is spectacular and you are hitting peak power. I don't do it all the time, but I try to do a few runs into the upper reaches on most drive - why else would you own a car like this?

rf330

Two reasons why this is so, to date:

- Break-in. I only just passed 3K miles so haven't had many opportunities.
- Short commute. Limited opps with a 10-15 minute commute. Car barely hit full operating temp by the time I'm home.

I'm not deliberately babying it!

850tgul

I'm about 10 months into my ownership of a '14 base Cayman and I absolutely love the car. Having owned many toys in the past which were much faster in a straight line than the 981, I can say I don't want for more power very often. I DD the car save for the winter months and it is a terrific DD. Always fun, super reliable, not even terribly impractical for a 2 seat sports car, and it's even economical from a mpg perspective.
I think it really depends on what type of driving experience speaks to you. I,myself, have a fetish for high rev, n/a engines mated to a manual gearbox and an agile chassis so the 981 is basically tailor made for me. As someone above said if you feel like you need to drag race 30k mustangs this isn't the car for you as you'll feel inadequate. It's really about savoring the nuances of the drive.
If you need an auto I would jump up to the S because, to me anyway, the sweet 6 speed is one of the best features of the car and I think the enjoyment would be greatly reduced without it. With an S and PDK you can at least offset the joy of rowing through the gears with the joy of raw power.

jmh981