baege

Interested in hearing about other cars you considered before landing on a 718 4.0.

Here's my story:

Having already had 2 981 Cayman S's (a 2014 and a 2016), for me it's more there isn't really anything out there on the market that hits all the marks for me. I do sort of think I am basically getting the same car with a bigger engine, but it's the closest car out there to what I want.

I've had 20 cars and I am in my late 40's so I do have a bit of an issue with getting bored of cars quickly.

But there is no question that my prior caymans are my favourite cars to date. I appreciated their compact size, the sound and throttle response that came with a sweet naturally aspirated six and the porsche manual.

Some of the cars I seriously considered instead of the 718 4.0 were:

992 GTS (too big and turbo)
lotus emira (unsure about reliability, but this might be a move for me in the future)
audi R8 v10 rwd or rws (too big and automatic)

so in the end I landed on a CGTS 4.0

what other cars did you consider and why did you land on the 718 4.0?

Sharm

Lotus Emira is the only other car I’d consider to move out of the Porsche range right now. That car is sexy and priced right, and would be an exotic in its own right.

Tigers10

M2 competition but it did not seem awesome enough. M2CS had not came out yet otherwise that would have been a strong contender.

C63 S AMG, I love a great engine (like a 4.0 flat 6) and that V8 is a rocket.

718 GT4 but I didn't plan to ever track the car, funny how that worked out...

So CGTS 4.0 won. Overall I'm very happy, such a fun car to drive. Although I do occasionally wish I had more negative camber and more downforce (like a gt4). Guess that's for the next car.

baege

I am currently in an M2 comp. It's a fun car and I enjoy it, but it's no naturally aspirated manual porsche. The CS would be at another level, but I still think you made the right choice there.

I also considerd the c63S prior to the M2 comp but I found it heavy and bulky and no manual. The engine is pretty sweet though.

DMack

Miata! I landed on both and find them equally fun.

Zhao

I considered stuff in similar price ranges and each had a reason or 2 they got eliminated.

991.1 GT3 (PDK only)
MP4-12c (nightmare for repairs)
F430 (too old, never seen a manual for sale in my country)
F360 (too old, feels old.)
981 GT4 (718 GT4 looks better, off warranty, not a huge savings)
Lotus Evora (ugly, interior is meh)
991.2 C2S (turbo engines aren't good for track, hard to find a manual with a decent spec)
991.1 C2s (hard to find one in manual with a decent spec)
718 Cayman S (turbo engine, resale sucks)
718 GTS 4.0 (GT4 just made more sense for me)

enduro

Objective was enjoyment > numbers, high RPM NA preferred, light weight preferred. Driver's car. Trackable out of the box but fun on the street.

Thus no modern Corvettes and the like were considered. BMW has lost its way so a modern M was out of the running. I dig the ZL1 1LE, but it's too fat for this go-round.

I most seriously considered a 991.1 GT3, an Evora GT, 981 GT4, 997.1 GT3, and building an outrageous track car with a ~4.0 out of a 987 or 981.

Evora's engine didn't do it for me, and its windows creaked when I tripoded it out of a driveway, and no carbon buckets option (tho this could be rectified aftermarket). Loved its simplicity, lack of screens, and controls, but that wasn't enough to overcome the yoda V6. Didn't like its looks at first, but they grew on me. 'Ugly hot'. I couldn't get over the finger follower issue with the 991.1 GT3, else one of those would've been in my garage... tho its 'reasonable' price point is an artifact of the finger follower issue. 997.1 GT3 would probably be the connectedness winner, but I think the 982 GT4 is the better car, and think I'll prefer the mid-engine to rear. I liked a few things about the 982 GT4 better than the 981 GT4 (esp the higher RPM nature of the 982), and wanted to try out this newfangled PDK two pedal thing. I figured if I started the 987 project, it'd be 5 years and $100,000 before I actually turned a wheel, so unless a compelling presorted example showed up on racingjunk, that was out.

Unlike a lot of reviewers, I prefer the 'dated' interior aesthetic of the 982, just wish I could've spec'd an even more 'basic' interior without the touch screen and stereo. Also like the (relative) lack of nannies. No stupid lane departure garbage and autonomous emergency braking.

One thing I wish the Cayman (and most other mid engined cars... I'm looking directly at the C8 with its stupid golf bag metric) did is ditch the rear trunk and prioritize exhaust routing and a massive diffuser, but that's asking a lot for something that needs to cover a wide market segment.

To level set, there is very little in the new car market that gets my attention. The GT4 got my attention. Things have gotten too sanitized, fat, and nannied for my taste. Back in the day, I had to double a car's power to get it to an enjoyable point, nowadays, it's like it used to be with the crotch rockets; more than enough power, so now I instead look for enjoyment over who's the absolute fastest with pro driver.

So I landed on the GT4 because track focused for a street car, high RPM NA, relatively simple and elegant interior, light weight, mid engine, Porsche reliability, reduced nannies compared with many, can run a hard 30 minute track session ZFG, good balance of performance vs enjoyability for a driver's car.

The only reason I'd really like an RS vs what mine is morphing into is an extra 1kRPM of nirvana and proper gearing.

thejholmes

I sold my C5 Z06 in May of this year because I just wasn't enjoying the drive in it anymore. Great motor, but the rest of it was just aging, and a Chevy interior from 2003 ain't that great. I did a lot of trackdays in that car, but I've got 3 young kids so getting away for a full day is on pause for a bit. Golf is the new thing!

I've had a Macan Turbo for a few years now as my family car (wife has an Escalade for true family duty) and I love the Porsche vibe it gives when driving, even just being a spruced up Audi. But it's my first and only turbo'd car and I'm just not digging the turbo power. N/A all the way!

And for some reason I really wanted a convertible. I live in the California Bay Area so we get year round driving, and I find myself with the sunroof open often enough I thought it would be fun. Guess I'll find out in May.

So that really limited my options, older 991.1 911 for N/A power. A GT3 would be cool aside from the convertible part. Briefly thought about a Speedster but this being my first Porsche sports car didn't want to dive in that hard. I spent a lot of time looking at the AMG Roadster but ultimately stuck to my guns about N/A. I didn't really find anything else that interested me, so Spyder it is!

unclemat

^ Is the Evora GT's V6 really that bad? Haven't test driven one, but sounds decent in videos. I am trying to buy BGTS 4.0 as my fun/summer trip car, but would like to add something with more edge to the stable and was thinking about Evora GT later - the simple no-BS interior has a lot of appeal to me. I also own an 06 Elise Sport, so I have a spot soft for Lotus cars.

remington

Although I have a 718 GT4 I had originally decided on a CGTS4.0 and had an allocation for one when a GT4 became available in a private sale with 3k miles for a few thousand below market rate. I bought it over the CGTS4.0 because it's purely a weekend toy for me and felt more special, owning a GT car was on my bucket list, and I am expecting the actual cost of ownership to be similar given historical GT car depreciation, although I do expect the GTS4.0 to hold it's value well also.

baege

good on you for sticking to your guns about NA. I have always gone NA but tried the M2 comp since it had a pretty NA feeling turbo engine, but guess what still feels like a turbo, a much less connected experience. I am going NA (may consider supercharged) from now on as long as I can.

Zhao

My beef with turbo is not the lag so much as the heat. Lag is pretty good on German engines now but overheating is almost impossible to solve on turbo cars. Even if you don't overheat heat soak still sucks. It's very frustrating to drive a turbo car on track when you know there really is no point to driving past the first 4-5 laps because after that the car is making significantly less power. it's also frustrating to know even with a 45 minute break it still likely won't be cooled down enough to run as fast as you did your first few laps in your first session.

Turbos lack soul too. Reving a NA out is great and contributes to the enjoyment of the car much like a good sounding exhaust does. Turbos feel and are very fast but when your redline is in the 6000s that's not doing much for me.

enduro

Most people disagree with my opinion of the engine; my recommendation is, drive one and see if you like it.

Although I'm not going for numbers, it just felt pretty anemic to me. Noise was very good for a V6 (unlike my Raptor which sounds like warmed over poo), but I've never liked any V6 sound, even those with the correct firing order and V angle (which the Evora has). Supercharger whine was a lot less than the vids led on. For street driving, I expect the 'anemic' could be corrected with a tune (and pulley?), and/or most won't find it anemic.

At least a year or so ago for a new Evora GT, the local Lotus dealer's MO was to turn a potential customer loose in a Lotus for a pretty much unlimited test drive (well, prob expect you'll have it for less than 30 mins), and the car should sell itself.

tigerhonaker

In my case I was only considering the C-8 Z06 coming out for 2022.

But, it's just to large a vehicle and I would have had to wait another year or so and decided against doing that.

Terry

unclemat

I certainly will, thanks. But it does not bode well for Emira. Same engine, more weight.