Bond55

Hi all,

B7 RS4 owner here planning on ordering a Cayman soon. Original plan was to order a Cayman, but a few friends have been trying to talk me into an S. As of right now, $6800 separates the non S and S.

Should I suck it up and order the S?

Is the S better in terms of resale value in the future?

Having the fastest car isn't so much a priority for me as having one of the best handling cars on the market today.

Thanks so much!

CarAholic

For me I personally prefer the base cayman over the S but I assume I am in the minority. The S was fast enough to take you to jail if you had fun with it on the street but not fast enough to where you get allot of thrills out of it. Where as the base you can beat the crap out of it and not be murdering the speed limit. They always say better to drive a slower car fast then a fast car slow. Either way I would drive both yourself to see what you like. Also if you are going pdk I would go for the S.

Bond55

Thanks for the reply!

The plan is to go PDK. I've been a manual person mostly, but the PDK is so good, I want to give it a whirl. Was going to do Sport Chrono PDK on the base Cayman and no SC PDK on the S. I test drove the non S recently and actually really liked it. Perhaps I'll go test drive an S this weekend. It has been a while since I have.

sjfehr

They're both plenty fast. Drive 'em both and see which you prefer. Personally, I think the S has a little too much power for the street, as it's far too easy to get on-throttle oversteer. I can't imagine the restraint required to daily drive a GT3!

Milehigh981

I'll give a dissenting opinion.
I was in the same boat a little over a year ago. Drove the base, thought it was a blast and was ready to order.
Someone talked me into trying an S. one drive with extra thrust was all I needed. The power difference is quite noticeable and addictive.
I would up with a slightly used (4400 miles) S for almost the same price as the base build that we had configured.

Drive both. Nothing wrong with either choice.

Zeus993

I drove a base PDK 981 Cayman and loved it. It was enough power to have fun, alot of fun in fact shifting the gears manually, and enough that I would have been perfectly satisfied owning it. Power to me is more fun in a straight line than in the corners - that's what Corvettes are for IMO. But a mid-engine base Cayman with the X73 suspension and Adaptive Sport Seat options is an amazing car. Just sayin'...

extanker

depends on how you will use the car .DD,sunny sunday only,street/track racer,soloramp racer or look i have a porsche garage queen. budget ? depending on ordered options 60k to 100k. .even the s begs for 150 lbs more torque:thumbsup. Maintenance is high if the dealer does the work.good luck

white924s

If you're doing PDK, sport chrono makes a big difference because it adds the sport plus transmission programming and launch control. For me, the base engine had plenty of power, as much as a 987 S does, and after driving a base, S, and GTS, I concluded that the base was sufficient. I plan to "invest" my savings in HPDE and autocross events haha.

Definitely drive both before making a decision, there's no right or wrong answer to this question!

Machog

Love my 'base' Cayman (hate the base description).

As others said, base will give you more than enough power on the street. I'd rather drive my base near its limit than the S at 60% of its limit.

One of James Mays (Ex Top Gear-aren't they all;-) favorite cars is or was his Fiat Panda. You can take it to 100% between home and the post office, totally maxed out. Not one of the cars on this forum could do the same, even the 'base' Cayman.

Machog

PhilNotHill

We live in the CO mountains 8k feet above sea level. The base just does not have enough power here.

I believe you will get your money back (or most of it anyway) at resale. Meanwhile you will have the fun of more hp and torque should you choose to use it. The interior and exterior are better/nicer. I like the red calipers on the S.

We have a 2011 S ordered to our specs from the factory:
Can you get these options on the base?-
Heated and AC seats
Sports exhaust
Dimming mirrors
PASM
Multi func steering wheel
Adaptive headlights
Upgraded interior and trim
Auto wipers
3 memory elec seats

Dino944

Drive them both then make a decision. A friend had a base model 987.2 that he really enjoyed, but always wished it had more power and wondered if he should have gotten an S. He hemmed and hawed about trading it, and eventually traded his base 987.2 for a 981S and he loves it! Good luck with whatever you decide.

GrantG

Agree - this makes a huge difference to both power and torque in a normally aspirated car. I expect that even my GT4 won't feel all that fast in a straight line in town and especially in the mountains near town here (good thing the roads and track are mostly not straight ).

500

This is the conundrum of shopping for a new Porsche...

The "base" Cayman is a fantastic car. However, Porsche has just enough of a price delta, that you find yourself asking if you shouldn't go for an S, once you see how quickly a few options gets you close the price of an S (leather interior, X73 suspension, 20" wheels and you are pretty much there).

Of course, the S doesn't have the full leather interior or 20" wheels either, and then before you know it you add those options back in and they wonder if it wouldn't make more sense to stretch for a GTS...

And so it goes!

I think a "base" is a great choice, but the trick is to tread lightly on options.

Bond55

Thanks all for the replies! Plan for use of the car is weekend canyon carver / track / autoX car.

I think I'm going to go with base Cayman, full leather, Sport Chrono and PDK + other misc. items. I should be placing the order later this week or next!

Budget was somewhat limited, as this would be a second car. If it was my only car, I would have for sure decided on an S!

Archimedes

Don't make this decision without driving both cars. Too much money at stake in either car to not be sure you get the right car for you. Drive them both and you'll know which one is the right choice for you.