Carrera GT

12:00pm Pacific
Live video stream of the Porsche unveiling

http://www.planet-9.com/news-items/7...atch-here.html

Here's the Porsche promo video now the live thing is done.


I don't think they've done justice to their mid-engine offering. I'd be all over this if it had a 400 horse Carrera S engine and suspension*.

Porsche continues to be afraid of its own shadow. I guess they want to release a hot rod mid-engine above the RS price tier and dupe the suckers out of their money a handful at a time rather than deliver a full fledged Cayman and sell it for a mere couple of thou above the Boxster. Not exactly far-sighted product planning and they've had most of a decade to rethink their game. Anyone that short-sighted shouldn't be driving cars, let alone building them …

* adapted to the platform of course.

TTCarrera

Darn.

You'd think they'd make it as good as the 991S, just $30k less expensive. So disappointing.

Carrera GT

Droll. I wasn't suggesting a cake-and-eat it price point, just the option to venture up the menu and shoehorn in a bigger donk for that "niche" of drivers wanting a mid-engine Porsche with more than grocery-getter neddies.

TSpyder

Got an invite to a 911 focus group at the LA Auto Show on Mon including perks. Should be fun, and checking out the new Cayman is definitely on the agenda.

Spyder

Alan Smithee

5hp less than the Cayman R (which was 10hp more than the outgoing S) is just so...orchestrated. To your point of having a decade to position the cars differently, this was J. Clarkson's biggest gripe when the Cayman was first introduced - as good as it may be, it is hard to really like a car from a sports car and engineering company that is so deliberately neutered.

I think it looks great - I will wait for final judgment until I see it in person tomorrow, but it is possibly the best looking new Porsche right now.

wbgordon

What am I missing here, sir? You complain twofold of the lack of supercar motor and then continue on ranting that they didn't offer your dream "for a mere couple of thou" above the Boxster.

Huh?

I'm lost. Wasn't the entire idea behind the Cayman to make it more of an entry level Porsche coupe? If you want a 911, then go buy a 911.

I don't know about you but I think they did a jam-up job with the car.

Carrera GT

I think what you're missing is taking the time to read and comprehend.

You consider my post a rant? I wrote two sentences to express my opinion of the on-going short shrift for the Cayman. Hardly a rant.

I have a 911, I've said nothing in my post pertaining to buying a 911 versus buying a Cayman or Boxster.

You've not read much about the Cayman -- it's "a couple of thou" more expensive than the Boxster and it's not an entry-level vehicle, at least in the US market.

The Carrera S is a sports car, by no means a "super car" and I didn't suggest anything of the sort.

As for the 981, I've not seen it yet, so I assume it's about as good as the Boxster, which is okay, nice enough … I like it, but I still prefer the outgoing Spyder.

I asked Google and between the two of us, we can't find a definition for "jam-up job" so I guess you might mean "bang up" job. I think they phoned it in -- parts bin generic cabin, 99% carry-over from the Boxster. Just to be clear, that doesn't mean I dislike the car -- I dislike the way Porsche is resting on their laurels.

MikeBat

Addressing this point of your post....

I believe you are wishing Porsche would go all out with the mid engine coupe. I can see that as how the Cayman is a disappointment to you.

Porsche could have gone much further on the mid engine coupe concept at the near $100k price point. But, Porsche once made the critical mistake of thinking past the 911, when they believed the 928/944 would eclipse the good ol'Carrera.

It would make sense to me that Porsche would not want to make that same mistake and is just keeping the order of things as they are.

If you think of the Cayman as simply a Boxster coupe, it is easier to swallow instead of thinking of missed opportunities.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents.

wbgordon

Maybe you missed my point, which was that putting a 400-hp motor in the Cayman wouldn't leave the car "a few thou" above the Boxster but rather in 911 territory, thus defeating the point of the car. And, yes, I am well aware the Carrera is not a super car. I've owned five 911s, two of them 997s, and yet I am quite sure that a 400-hp motor is super by Cayman standards.

Besides, beyond the track, where around town are you going to get the full use out of 400 hp? That's why I love my 325-hp Spyder. I never get tired going through the gears in normal traffic.