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For me, essential options for a daily driver include: Park Assist with rear view camera (especially in urban driving), rear wiper (especially if you have snow), power steering plus, fire extinguisher, passenger footwell luggage net (great for charging iPads, storing maps, etc), the telephone module and voice control, and XM Radio. Really nice but not essential would be seat ventilation, power folding side mirrors (tell you at a glance whether you remembered to lock the car). As for an expensive add on probably not necessary for a daily driver, I love how flat my car corners with PDCC. Absolutely stunning. I also like the PDLS Plus. I frequently drive back country roads at night, and find the corner tracking feature of the lights to be an important safety feature under these conditions. In urban driving, not so necessary. I also like the LED headlights with PDLS Plus because of the automatic high beam feature, again very helpful because of the amount of rural driving I do at night. If you get snow, an extra set of wheels and excellent winter tires are essential.
I have one of each, a Cayman S and a Carrera S. Both great cars and both good daily drivers. The Cayman is a more engaging, fun car to drive, but the Carrera does everything just a little bit better, it's just a little more distilled. For daily driving duties, I love the hatchback on the Cayman. Really miss that when I'm DD'ing in the Carrera. That said, the Carrera is better on the freeway and longer drive situations, has better grip and obviously more power.
The only thing I don't really like about the Cayman S is that it's really loud in the cabin, even with PSE turned off. Other than that, amazing car.
All that said, if I had to pick between the two, I'd probably keep the Carrera.
Thanks everyone, great feedback! I took a look at the hot deals thread and saw one that pretty much fit the bill, dark blue (the color I want) plus enough of the extras to cover most of what I had thought of and the recommendations above.
What generally have people's experience been buying remote though? I'm in the Seattle area and specific car from the hot deals thread is near Portland OR (that's not too bad) but I once purchased a car through a car finder that was brought up from California but it turns out it had spent the first five years of it's life in New Jersey! The finder hid that and some damage from me and sold me the car. I didn't discover the problems until after the deal was done. If I'm going to buy used I'd like someone who is actually an advocate and wants the car to be a good one. At least when buying a new car the manufacturer has a stake in the product and overall experience being good.
You're less than a 3 hour drive or 1 hour $120 flight - agree on a price with the dealer and go get it!
You could get a PPI also, but very nice car for that price (you could still negotiate on it). Would check all the boxes for me.
Alright, I'm pretty sure I'm off the Cayman idea. Here's some quick napkin math comparing the two cars above in the thread. It's not perfect but was supposed to give me as close to apples-to-apples as possible. Clear downsides to the car in Oregon is that it's in Oregon and it's used (albeit possibly gently with only 7kmi). But the table shows that many of the more expensive features of that car are ones I probably wouldn't have gotten anyway.
Help deciding - add a Cayman or trade the Cayenne in and come out with a 911?
Originally Posted by alexk
Alright, I'm pretty sure I'm off the Cayman idea. Here's some quick napkin math comparing the two cars above in the thread. It's not perfect but was supposed to give me as close to apples-to-apples as possible. Clear downsides to the car in Oregon is that it's in Oregon and it's used (albeit possibly gently with only 7kmi). But the table shows that many of the more expensive features of that car are ones I probably wouldn't have gotten anyway.
119K Bellevue car will lose $20K in less than 12 months. Put over 10K miles on it and you're down $30K
86K Oregon car has a ton more options, CPO, better looking, and less downside in depreciation.
Up to you!! You have all the info to choose your path.
$86K car with sports chrono, PSE, SPASM, 18 way seats and SD package versus the $120K car without SC and PSE. No competition and it only has 7K miles on the clock.
Lack of SC on the 2016 could be tough on resale. Only downside on the Portland one is the lower ground clearance.
Help deciding - add a Cayman or trade the Cayenne in and come out with a 911?
Originally Posted by Dalema
$86K car with sports chrono, PSE, SPASM, 18 way seats and SD package versus the $120K car without SC and PSE. No competition and it only has 7K miles on the clock.
I didn't look that close. No Sport Chrono or PSE on the 2016?? That's a resale KILLER (no Sport Chrono) plus you won't enjoy the full potential of the car. This is a no brainer.
I don't want to hurt resale too much but at the same time SC and PSE aren't really my things:
SC:
Dynamic Engine Mounts
Reduces transfer of vibration from the engine and drive train under normal driving while the dynamic adjustment of the mounts allows for improved stability under load transfer and during high-speed cornering maneuvers.[/I]
-- I'll bet the car handles pretty well w/o this...
Analog and Digital Stopwatch
On top of dashboard
-- Ok, not high value in my book
SPORT PLUS Button
On center console, affects throttle characteristics for even greater performance tuning of the engine as well as chassis control.
-- it get it makes for more aggressive shifting, not a DD priority..
Performance Display
In Porsche Communication Management (PCM)
-- not clear of the importance of this
Performance Oriented Shift Assist Display
In the instrument cluster (for manual transmission)
-- N/A
Additional Steering Wheel Display
For display of SPORT and SPORT PLUS mode as well as Launch Control activation.
-- Not important to me
Launch Control
Motorsport derived gearshift strategy (PDK only)
-- would only do this a couple few times ever probably.
As for SE, I do like how it sounds but might be a bit over the top for me.. nice to have maybe but not a priority.
Oh, I may have clearance issues in my driveway. Its steep and uneven, the Cayenne is good with it of course but a Cayman base that came through here recently had trouble. Needed to go down a neighbors drive instead. So the sport fender and lower ride are not things I'm sure I would want even if they were cheap.
But thanks for all the opinions - what a great and supportive forum!
I didn't look that close. No Sport Chrono or PSE on the 2016?? That's a resale KILLER (no Sport Chrono) plus you won't enjoy the full potential of the car. This is a no brainer.
Agree on this. These are two must haves. Sport PASM too.
Oh, I may have clearance issues in my driveway. Its steep and uneven, the Cayenne is good with it of course but a Cayman base that came through here recently had trouble. Needed to go down a neighbors drive instead. So the sport fender and lower ride are not things I'm sure I would want even if they were cheap.
But thanks for all the opinions - what a great and supportive forum!
Coming out of a Cayman I think you will be satisfied with any 991 variant as a DD.
Just one other note, I don't think that the 16 has an upgraded leather interior that you list on your spreadsheet, so may want to check on that.
Get the ventilated seats for sure. If cold and some snow in the winter where you are, get a 4S and a winter wheel/tire set (since it's a DD). You'll never go back.
True on the winter wheel tire set. We don't get much snow where I live, but lengthy stretches of below 45 degree weather. The summers get rock hard at those temperatures, losing both traction and ride comfort.