Stay Humble: Base 718 Cayman Is the Perfect Porsche Sportscar
As it stands, 718 Cayman is the least expensive new Porsche sportscar you can buy today but in many ways, it is also the best.
If I ever hit the lottery, the first thing I am going to do is buy a new 911 GT3 or a 911 Turbo S. Maybe both. They are Porsche dream cars for me that I would love to have in my garage. I am sure I am not alone in feeling this way. I am now going to spend the rest of this article explaining why that might be a mistake for all of us. A simple base 718 Cayman is now so good that it really is all the Porsche you would ever need. Yeah, I know all about the 4-banger engine and we will get to that but let’s keep an open mind here.
A base Cayman with a manual transmission has 300 horsepower and weighs 3,034 pounds. It will hit 60 mph from rest in the high 4-second range and top out at an even 170 mph. You know that 1989 911 Turbo that we all drool over at car shows?
This base Cayman is more powerful, faster, more efficient and will run away from it on a racetrack. That is what 30 years of automotive progress will do for you. My point is that the Cayman is not a slow car. In fact, in the year 2021 it is the perfect amount of fast.
718 Cayman Closeup
Ok, so let’s start with what exactly we are looking at with the base Cayman. First of all, when I say base Cayman, I mean base. You could add over $40,000 in options to a base Cayman if you so desire. But I would keep it simple. Paint it Guards Red, add the Premium Package, and done. All in at under $66,000.
Not economy car pricing but considering a loaded Toyota minivan can run you over $50K, it is reasonable. If you crave the open-air experience, throw in another two grand, and get the Boxster. Either way, these are the least expensive new Porsche sports cars you can buy today.
Yes, these base cars have a 4-cylinder turbo engine. They have a bit of turbo lag, and do not sound as good as a Porsche flat six. However, these engines will respond well to a tune and are easier to extract power from than the normally aspirated units.
Also, it is easier to live with a 4-pot engine in a Porsche that stickers in the mid-sixties. Going up to an S model or loading up the options on a base and you start looking at an $80K or even $90K car. At those prices the smaller engine is a tougher pill to swallow.
What About My Street Cred?
If you show up to a higher end car show, it is true that a base Cayman or Boxster is not going to turn many heads and have people fawning all over it. Does that really matter to you? If it does, rest assured that you will likely be spending 99 percent of your time in places other than high end car shows. Out on the streets in the real world most folks will get just as excited to see a base Cayman as they would a GT3.
As crazy as it may sound to folks like us that live and breathe Porsche, most people don’t know one model from the other. I have been to many PCA events with my 2016 Cayman S and people have asked me if it was a 911 or if the ‘S’ meant it was all-wheel drive. These are PCA members mind you.
The base Cayman is still a rare sight to see on local roads. I live in a fairly Porsche dense area. I have ten different Porsche dealers within an hour and a half drive from my home. Not counting when I attend PCA events, I see a Cayman out in the wild maybe once a month. Many people still get excited to see a bright red Porsche. If it is important to you, I promise a base Cayman will impress the vast majority of people as much as one of the much more expensive models.
A Lot More Speed, A Little More Fun
Let’s look at some extremes here. You have in one corner, the loveable underdog base Cayman. In the other you have the top dog 911 Turbo S. There is no question the Turbo S is the better car. However, let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment. The Turbo S will hit 205 mph versus the 170 mph the Cayman can muster. That is a significant speed advantage. However, when will you ever in your life need that extra 35 mph? When was the last time you drove anywhere at speeds topping 170 mph?
If the Turbo S had a top speed of 500 mph, would it really matter? You can’t go anywhere close to the top speed of either car on the street. I get that the Turbo S is accelerating much faster but that is both more and less fun. I will tell you why.
Launching a Turbo S or a GT3 or even a Carrera S is an experience. You rocket forward and can get the jump on nearly every car on the road. There is no doubt that sort of acceleration is a blast. It is an amusement ride type of experience. However, like an amusement ride, the fun is over far too quickly. A Turbo S will hit 100 mph in just over 5 seconds.
That is enough to get you thrown in jail just about everywhere. The car is so fast and so powerful that you can only dip into the power for fractions of seconds. In the Cayman you get to enjoy the experience longer. You are not going as fast but raw speed is not the be all, end all of the sport car experience.
There is a reason that cars like the Miata and VW GTI are always ranked as some of the most fun cars to drive. They are not the fastest, but they are quick enough, and handle well. That is where the Cayman comes in. It is fast enough to put a smile on your face, yet it is performance you can actually savor for a bit.
If you get a bottle of The Macallan Sherry Oak 25, you don’t pour a shot of it and down it in one gulp. You slowly enjoy it. It is about the experience; it is not about how fast you can chug it.
But You Want the Fastest Car on Track, Right?
Meh. Look, a Porsche 911 GT3 is utterly brilliant, and a wonderful thing to throw around a racetrack. I have driven them around a track along with many other extremely fast and capable sports cars. They are all a blast. But are they that much more fun than a slower car? No. I had a 2013 MINI Cooper GP that I ran around a track for several years. To this day that remains one of my favorite track cars of all time. Is it the fastest?
Not even close.
It was just a damn riot to rip around a racetrack in the thing. The base Cayman is a well-balanced car with plenty of power to have fun on a track. Yes, the GT3 is faster, handles even better, and sounds fantastic. But, in your base Cayman you are getting 95 percent of the experience for one third of the price.
Price(less)
This is where the case for a base Cayman really comes into view. This Cayman is going to be at least $100K less than a GT3 and about $150K less than a Turbo S. That is an absurd price spread. Yes, the GT cars and even the Turbos tend to hold value extremely well. But the difference in the cash outlay is tough to ignore. Buy a base Cayman, throw some sticky rubber on it and maybe a tune and exhaust if you want and you still have not spent anything close to what the other cars would run you. The ways you could spend the money you saved by sticking to a base Cayman are endless. And you are still driving one of the best sports cars in the world. You are not exactly suffering.
I do not expect to talk anyone out of buying a higher end Porsche sports car. The cars Porsche offers on the higher end of the spectrum are some of the best in the world. There is no denying that. But they get all the press, and they capture all the headlines. The simple base 718 Cayman tends to be forgotten. It has become so good, that in many ways it is the perfect Porsche.
Good-looking, quick, efficient, fantastic handling, and as much of a true Porsche as any other car in the lineup. What more do you really need? If you can afford a new Turbo S or a GT3 then by all means buy it. You will love it. But if you can’t afford one of those rides, you are really not missing out by settling for the least expensive Porsche sports car.
A Porsche is about fun and experiences. I have taken my Cayman S and 40AE 911 on many club events and drives with my friends. Neither of my Porsches are the fastest or most expensive cars there. But I am having just as much fun as everyone else.
Nobody hops in their Turbo S and then goes 200 mph and leaves me in the dust. We all tackle the backroads together. That is the whole point. Porsche makes an entire range of terrific sports cars today, and you don’t lose much starting at the bottom. There are no losers here. Well, except for all my lottery tickets.
Photos: Porsche
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