Quote:
Originally Posted by XutvJet
Have you driven a base model Cayman? Take it from a guy that owns one and also has a much more powerful M235, don't write the base model flat 6s off. My 265hp 2011 Cayman base 6MT can do lower 5 second 0-60s and maybe a 13.4 on a good day where as my M235 is a deep 12 second car, but the Cayman is just so much more fun. You can use all the power on the street, it hooks hard off the line, sticks to curves like nothing I've experienced, and it sounds so damn good and I'm still on the stock exhaust. By the seat of the pants, it feels and sounds faster than it is and for me, that's fine. The car turns heads everywhere and I'm constantly asked about it at the store, gas station, etc. I paid $33K for the car in October 2022 and can't stop driving it. It's a scalpel. My M235, though I love it greatly, feels like a wet noodle in comparison.
You can save a ton on a base model or S model and go to town on it, making it your own. To me that's far more enjoyable than paying way more for a halo model where you'll feel guilty doing any mods to it.
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I just bought an 09 987.2 base cayman. 107K for about 11k less. Super clean and well maintained. (You want a 2009 + car!)
It is a much better built and more visceral car to drive than my 128i sport even after lots of fine tuning on the 128i. (bilsteins m12, Front sway, 3sim, tune, f30 brembo fronts)
I LOVE my 128i and will never sell it and the 128i is arguably a better day to day car...but it is a very good car built out of the simplest of BMW models of the era. It is a 2+2 and while its weight and balance is good....its mass centralization is terrible compared to the Cayman. You can almost feel the mass of the engine being pulled into the corner...this is not the case with the cayman. You feel like the mass of the car is in your right rear pocket.
Everything's mass centralization is terrible compared to the cayman except for a few mid engined cars..
The 128 is great from 0 to 75% and the cayman is superb from 50 to 100%.
And at 260 hp and sub 3100 pounds you won't ever feel cheated....but you aren't beating many modern off the line between the torque curve and gearing...the gearing is ridiculously long.
But it isn't about that...it is about corner balance and entry and handling....it is amazing.
I started a page for the 987.2 2.9 manuals just a few days ago...if you have one come join up.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3067345886735326
