bet

I have my gripes about Porsche also, but the fact is Porsche still builds the car that everyone is claiming it doesn't. The GT3. Dry sump? check....LSD? check....no electronice aids?.Check...and there has been no indication that the 997 GT3 will not continue down the same path. Sure it isn’t inexpensive, however, Porsche has never been about inexpensive. If you compare the history of Porsche they have always been more expensive than the competition. Why should a modern GT3 vs. Z06 be any different?

The fact is that not every Porsche is suppose to be an all out track weapon. There just isn't enough of a market for that type of car. Porsches are still great sports cars for every day driving. I understand the reasoning for the electronic aids and even the elimination of the dry sump lubrication. However, the thing that really bothers me is why there isn’t a “delete” option for some and an option for others. It would seem that all this should be available but in the tradition of Porsche at a price.

It would be interesting to see the sales figures of say a $90k Cayman RS with the options mentioned and without the options people have said they don’t want vs. the sales of the Cayman S as packaged. I bet the Cayman S would outsell the RS by a huge margin. More than likely Porsche knows this and has elected not to bother with offering “options” for the RS type of car. Face it, the general buying public (at least in the US) has softened and wants power and sporty handling but also nav systems, auto climate control, TC, etc. Porsche knows this and has adjusted its offerings to match. Similar to how the SUV craze took off….people wanted the rugged look and some off road capabilities but also all the comfort of a Toyota Camry (the vast majority of these cars never even get into someone’s yard not to mention off roading). So the hard core off roaders morphed into the SUV’s of today.

Sure it would be great for Porsche to offer a mid engined 3.8L dry sump, with no electronic aids, a LSD and stripped out interior at $58k but the problem is that there is much more $$ to be made at selling the Cayman S at $58k. For the vast majority of the buyers the Cayman S will work perfectly as a daily driven sports car and the occasional DE weekend. Is Porsche’s reputation damaged? Maybe to the hardcore enthusiast driver but not to the general buying public. The cars such as the 911 Turbo, GT3, Carrera GT, etc. still carry weight with the general buying public.

Porsh-uh

Pcar964, you make some good points in your posts. However, they also smack of bitterness and bias. You remind of the grandpa who always sits around and talks about "the good ol' days." Well- what you've missed is that the Cayman S is, in fact, the best handling Porsche ever produced outside of limited production run models (GT and RS types). Excellence (an independent magazine- not a mouthpiece for the factory) echoes this point in their recent article on the Cayman. Could the Cayman be even better? Sure it could. And just like any other car that Porsche has ever produced, there will be plenty of options for people who want to improve it. All it takes it the money. That's the way it always has been. Looking at the car as a total package, I'd take a 993, 996 or 997 easily over any 964 (with the exception on a RSA, possibly). And the RSA was limited-production run. You have no idea if the factory intends to build a Cayman RS with LSD and other "enthusiast" goodies. Just like the GT3- I'm sure you were very critical of the 996 when it came out, but now revere the 996 GT3 as a "great Porsche." Temper you criticism of Porsche. They continue to produce some of the best cars in the world. And then they make them better. This has been no different lately. The Boxster continually got better. The 997 is an improvement on the 996. Maybe three years from now, you'll be complaining about how there aren't enough Cayman RS America's being produced because it's too hard to get ahold of one.

pcar964

See your point, and agree to a certain extent about the GT3. However, the Carrera GT is not obviously not a realistic option for most Porsche enthusiasts, and the Turbo is an overweight GT car, despite its well-made engine/drivetrain and good power.

I agree that not every Porsche is purchased with intent to go to the track... but Porsches have always been expensive BECAUSE it was expensive to build a car strong enough for that sort of abuse. Now they're not built that way, but still charge the high price... that's why they're so profitable, the cost of production has gone way down, but the price has stayed the same.

pcar964

Me? Bitter about Porsche's new design philosophy?

Jim Michaels

Speaking of the RSA, Porsche offered only 701 of them for all of North America at a price almost $10k (without any of the 5 options) below the price of a regular 964 coupe. Dealers ended up selling them below their cost. Where were all the American enthusiasts who demanded our own RS version of the 964 after Porsche finally offered it? Some of them are probably among those now saying they're waiting for the Cayman RS. Maybe Porsche learned a lesson from that; there are not as many American enthusiasts willing to buy a new Porsche designed for enthusiasts as the cheap talk leads one to believe.

pcar964

Jim, you've just taken the wind out of my sails... because I forgot about that, they DID have to discount the already 10k-cheaper RSAs because we wouldn't buy them. Funny that they now command a premium.

ztnedman1

Jim. The problem with the 964 is that it came at the worst time. The sports car market was at its all time low in the early 90's. Latley it has been booming, just look at all the mid level and high level sports cars being produced.

pcar964

Here's a great article on the RSA vs '73 RS.
http://www.rsamerica.net/articles/ro...Dec92-PtII.htm

Porsh-uh

Great article, thanks for the link.

Porsh-uh

ztnedman, While your facts are correct, the inference is that now that the sports car market is booming, a "RS" model would do well. That's a tough jump to make. The RSA did very poorly when compared to standard model sales at the time. In the article that pcar linked though, it does make mention that deposits poured in, but interest waned when people were somewhat disappointed by the specs. Why that interest did not come back until 10 years later, I'll never understand.