Paul Marangoni

I have owned both the Cayman and the 911, and I would say that the Cayman is a better daily driver. Also, I had the Porsche roof transport system on my Cayman for my bike, so not sure why you couldn't find one for your car.

The 911 has grown over the years. Just look at a 911 from 20 years ago. The new model is way too huge for a sports car. I guess most sports cars are too big these days.

The Cayman is a nice size, and has plenty of storage space (which is easily accessed).

Cayman all the way. Or Macan.

zelig

Driven both a 997 and 991 as DD but never owned a Cayman. 911 is a great daily driver, comfortable, great visibility and puts a smile on my face. Ground clearance is an issue that needs to be respected and LEOS take a greater interest in you. Office colleagues also give you a hard time.

FORENN

Enjoy your Cayman. Nice car and you'll save yourself some money.

+1

StudGarden

The 991 and 981 are the same width and height, the 991 is 4 inches longer though, while the 981 has a one inch longer wheelbase.

What separates them in weight, like 100 lbs?

That's hardly too big for a sports car in either case. The 991 is still 2 inches shorter than a Ferrari Speciale. It is bigger than a Mini Cooper though I guess, so if that's the standard pretty much every sports car is a "GT", Cayman included.

What's the difference between the 991 and 997 anyway, like an inch? The 991 feels bigger when you sit inside because the console is designed to give you that illusion. But the car is lighter, and that's real 247365.

The 991 has a back seat too. Yes there is no way you're getting 2 full sized adults back there. But I've carried a low to mid 5 footer back there on several occasions, and when not in use the back seat folds down to form a generous cargo shelf that easily rivals the little trunk in back of the 981.

The 981 is a great design. Fun to drive and yes it's unfair they don't get all the engines etc. But to say the 991 isn't as good a sports car as the 981 isn't at all accurate IMO. I really like them both, and they are both really good DD's as long as you don't need to constantly haul adults in back.


The argument about which is the better car could go on for years, but the 991 is the better DD for sure. Not by a massive margin, but it's better for that task by a small but decisive amount.

motenai

Did you have the 987 Cayman? I've been looking at both 991's and 981 Caymans recently at dealers and there are no provisions for roof racks on the 981. The 991 has hidden installation points on the roof under the weather strip, but the Cayman is one solid roof with nothing for a roof rack to attach to.

EDIT: nevermind, I just saw your avatar with your 987

THPorsche

Do they allow you to wash your car in these underground parking lots? Or you have to bring it somewhere to wash it?

Porsche_nuts

Got a Cayman as a loaner the other day. Definitely a nice car, drives great. But interior is too small and claustrophobic for me - the 911 has a bigger and more open interior. Also, the engine is right behind your head and it was loud. Not sure I could deal with that every day.

jem7v

Also it's very rare for people to have their homes fully paid off. So in a sense everyone is in debt. Plus, if you can finance for dirt cheap, it's better to prolong rather than give that cash up front and lose the liquidity. So it's kind of naive, and shows a lack of understanding of econ/finance when people make claims like this.

Someone who makes 200k can very easily afford a 700k home, and a 130k 911 through financing, and have no issues in their life time. The same way someone who makes 5 million, home is paid off, can afford a 911 and have again zero issues. Now that person who is financing could take that liquidity, and put it to work for him to earn him money, rather than put it all in the car. So if his earnings are higher than the interest he pays, he walks away with free money essentially.

Now that guy who makes 5 million has no issues with liquidity obviously, but that same 130k he can't put to work for him. Now he doesn't need to, but again his 130k is gone losing value, while the other guy's 130k is making value.

StudGarden

I think the central issue WRT debt and sustainability at the individual level is building up too big of a "monthly nut" and having it all come tumbling down with an unforeseen event, particularly job loss. There are a lot of people making high income levels that are a couple paychecks away from ruin.

Spending tomorrow's money today can get many people into a much higher social strata with cool toys, but even if things stay on track, usually the cost to that is steep. I get the merits of financing at low interest rates to preserve liquidity. That's a whole different level and type of debt than "maxing out" lines of credit to get into things you can't otherwise buy.

While we may make exceptions for a home (the market is permanently distorted to almost mandate that anyway) the 200k income example of a 700k house and 130k car is far beyond what's reasonable. Murica, live free or die etc, so more power to whoever lives like that, but both them and those that finance to them deserve no bailout of any kind when it goes up in flames as it all too often does.

I've always subscribed to the notion that besides a reasonably priced home, if you can't pay cash for it you can't truly afford it, period. 0.9% interest loans may make financing attractive to keep cash in reserves, but IMO (thanks internets!) spending tomorrow's money today because one has to just to get high priced toys is a recipe for disaster.

MJBird993

I concur with all of this. I'd also like to add that it's a favorite comment to "borrow money cheap and then make it work for you". In other words, borrow at 1.9% to buy your Porsche/Ferrari/Lambo and then take the cash and invest it. The problem with that system is like "Stud" mentions, one ends up with a big nut. It also assumes that the investment will do better than 1.9% and not lose money. Yes, the stock market does go up, generally, but there are periods where it goes down, or sideways. And you can't earn anywhere near 2% with a CD or money market, not these days.

Oh heck, I think we've gone way OT. I thought this was one of those buy/lease threads.

todd92

Get rid of all debt first, before buying big ticket toys. No loans, leases, mortgages.

Limit big ticket toys to 10% of net worth.

These are my rules and they have worked very well.

jem7v

I don't quite understand this did you do the math? At 200k a year your bringing in about 11k after taxes. A 700k house mortgage is about 3000 dollars a month. The car another 2000. So you have 6k a month left over to play. You spend that much a month? I mean unless your shopping non stop.....

As I stated before, to me having liquidity at the expense of a couple thousand in interest is more than worth it, rather than putting it all in a car. I don't believe in financing anything other than homes and cars.

jem7v

Dividend stocks will get you the return you need. Take a look at GE and Verizon. In the last couple years their prices have barely moved and you collect a nice 4% dividend.

But yes we are OT. But this convo is more fun anyways

StudGarden

There's a lot of core incidentals besides the 5000/11000 you mentioned, and of course "paying yourself" at least 10% but realistically much higher for retirement etc. Thousands worth of monthly incidentals to say the least is likely at that "lifestyle" too. The 11000 is still enough to get into that lifestyle, but faced with sudden job loss, and a 5000 that's really 7000-8000 easily, and that's a big nut to cover.

Obviously it depends on savings and the stability of income (trust funds etc). Either way every time I do the math on leases it never makes sense for me because I typically keep cars a long time.

mtbscott

As I noted, you observed, and other poster didn't....Porsche has abandoned the Roof Transport System on the 981 Cayman, and yes the 987 had provisions for one.
I was the first 991 owner at my dealer to ask for one and when it arrived without instructions, we were all baffled. Took a bit of Googling to find out there's four pages about it in the owner's manual (like who ever looks at their owner's manual). It is easy to take on and off, looks good in place, and adds a certain panache to the car in my opinion, I get lots of good comments when I drive up somewhere with my bikes on the roof of my 991.
I find it really weird that Porsche didn't design one for the 981, having one for the 911 goes back almost to the beginning. It's almost like it's a subtle marketing ploy to push some folks into a 911?