//steve\\

Good info here. I hope to be a Porsche owner in the next 3-5 years and I go back and forth between 997 Carrera S and 981 Cayman S. While I always though if I was going to get one it had to be the 911 I'm really coming around to the 981.

Also, 981.CS your car is exactly what I'd want in terms of looks. Love it!

vbb

Update as I have done a few of the things I intended to do to this car to change the look a bit more to my liking. I've added the Carrera III wheels with Michelin Pilot 4S tires, GTS black dual tail pipes, tinted the windows, debadged the "Cayman" from the rear hatch and replaced it with a 981 badge, and of course added the clear euro-style LED sidemarkers. I'm very much enjoying this car. The lack of horsepower that it has when compared to my two previous 911s (as well as most of my other previous cars) is not at all bothersome and is more than compensated for by the awesome driving experience. I've been accused of saying this before, but this is the keeper.

Zeus993

I am sure it's puzzling to many for someone to think of dropping in horsepower from that of the lofty 911's down into the Boxster / Cayman platform. But I too did the same and have enjoyed every driving moment of it. I also drove my base Cayman out to the dealership last year (and back) to test drive a new 991.2 CS. Excellent car - of course it is - it's a Porsche - but did I take the plunge - no. The Cayman was simply too good. I enjoyed that 2.9L engine and how fast it would rev. Remember - it's pistons have a shorter stroke length so it's easier to climb in the revs. And the power would kick in around 4000 rpms - almost "turbo" like in the feel of it. A total blast. Had I kept it I would have dropped in the X73 suspension. That was the one thing I missed in it. So those of you that have it - congrats. It completes the car.

So thumbs up to us all who've seen the light on low HP engines that you get to rev the snot out of and have lots of fun.

Suicide Jockey

Damn, that is pretty. Love this shot. The rear 3/4 view on the 981's rivals anything out there. Those lines! You shouldn't be able to buy anything that looks this delicious at this price point, but there you have it

Well done on the mods and thanks for your impressions.

RandyL

vbb, great post and though I haven't had a modern era Porsche my logic was much the same as yours when I bought my 2015 Cayman base about a month ago. I was coming out of an Audi S5 6MT which I really liked, but wanted to get back to a P-car and debated 981 vs. 991.1, MT in either case, for quite a while. The car I bought popped up on a semi-local dealers web site and I pulled the trigger. It is equipped with all the right "driver's" options IMHO and none of the convenience things that drive the price up. It had 6,000 miles on it and I paid in the high $40's for it and felt pretty good about the value.

I'm still sorting it out and planning a few upgrades, but you're absolutely right, the driving experience is simply superb... a scalpel for carving roads!






I'm planning a few tweaks...

• Carnewal stock exhaust mod done at Cantrell in Bellevue, WA
• FabSpeed deluxe dual exhaust tip
• Window tint (already done)
• Paint protection film
• May do something with the base audio system, not sure yet, I don't think it's as bad as some others do. I've already added a Bluetooth audio streaming adapter which replaces the AUX 3.5mm audio input._

Suicide Jockey

Great nab, Randy. LOVE the build. You're right - everything you need and want with no fluff. Congrats.

vbb

Your build looks FANTASTIC man. For upper 40s with those mods and 6k miles is a total steal. Great job on that. A question...what is this Carnewal exhaust mod you speak of? Sounds intriguing...

RandyL

Carnewal is a company in the UK that has apparently engineered a mod to the stock 981 exhaust system, both base and S. Link HERE.

Since they are in the UK they have licensed a company in Bellevue, WA called Cantrell Motorsports, link HERE, to do the mod for US customers. Since I just happen to live about a 2.5 hour drive away I plan to remove my exhaust myself soon and take it over for the mod, then reinstall it with the Fabspeed deluxe tips.

RandyL

That's a nice touch, would you mind relaying where you sourced the "981" badge?

Alanine

Actually, they're in Belgium

RandyL

Thanks, sorry for the error.

storii

RandyL, it can be sourced from Suncoast:

https://www.suncoastparts.com/product/PK981EMBLEM.html

I dig your wheels. I bought the same wheels for my 981BS.

vbb, can you post a close up of the "981" badge in relation to the "PORSCHE" badge? I am thinking about doing the same thing but would like to see how big/small the "981" would be.

vbb

Randy and Storii: Here is a closer pic of the 981 Badge:


Like was said/linked above, you can get it from Suncoast. Here's the catch though, they don't actually make a 981 badge, so when you order it, what you are sent are both a 911 badge and a 718 badge, all of which have individual numbers (ie: not one connected badge, but separate numbers that you can mix and match) and you have to make your own 981 badge. I used a level, some painter's tape and some patience to get it all lined up and spaced correctly. My original plan was to debadge the Porsche too... on my 911 C2 I had everything debadged and only had the 911 in black on the rear deck and thought it looked very clean that way. However, on this car I kind of like the PORSCHE lettering on there for some reason. I also thought about painting the badges a flat black or gunmetal gray, but to be honest I haven't felt like taking everything off, painting it, then putting everything back on. Maybe I'll do that somewhere later down the road, but I'm not terribly motivated to do so. I'll probably just leave things as-is.

I do like the look of the "981" over the "Cayman" script though.

vbb

Thank you. I'm with you 100%. As mentioned in the first post in this thread, I really think the 981 Cayman is the best looking Porsche that has been made in the last ~20 years as far as beauty of the lines are concerned. Clearly it is subjective, but even when I had the 911s I always thought the 981 looked better. You have to go back to the 993 widebody to find something prettier. To me though, I have yet to see anything before or after as beautiful as this:


If only they weren't a gazillion dollars, I'd have one of those and keep it forever. Alas, I will have to "make due" with my 981.

storii

Thanks! I never imagined that the buyer was to make his own "981" badge by mixing and matching "911" and "718" badges. I agree the "981" looks so much cleaner than the "Cayman/Boxster" script. The script, especially in the "Boxster S" or "Boxster GTS" form, looks way too busy with so many letters.