Cayman GT4!

Porsche has finally made a truly hardcore Cayman with GT3 parts, a manual gearbox, and a 3.8L 385hp H6 from the Carrera S that is supposedly not far off the pace of the 997 GT3. Price seems surprisingly reasonable for a "special" Porsche.

GT4

Musings?

Evo did an interview with some guy from Porsche about it. Sounds cool but as always, I'd build somethin for that money.

the want is strong, very strong. Agreed on the price, I think they'd sell every single one that they plan on producing if the sticker was $40k higher

As mentioned in previous threads, it's a good time to be a car enthusiast... at least one with money.

Wow that is an excellent car, looks REALLY good too.

But I'd never buy a modern Porsche even if I had the money, the parts cost too much and I find their snobbery-driven brand image repulsive. For that money I'd get an S3 Exige S.

stuff a cayman and an exige into a tire barrier at 30mph, then see the repairs needed and get back to me on that one. I used to love the lotus' but they don't make for good track toys, with is terrible for such a focused car.

That being said, as previously noted, it's a great time to be a car enthusiast.

I have a friend with an Exige S for a track toy and it makes me cringe. Kind of a terrible street car and putting it into a wall even very gently is a death sentence, so you have to drive it at 90% most of the time. This Cayman interests me a lot.

I agree the Exige is a terrible street car... but running any expensive non-caged late model sports car at 10/10ths all the time is reducing the odds on an uneventful outcome to pretty close to zero. Were I you guys, I wouldn't expect the Cayman or any other unibody car to "buff out" a significant hit. I've seen plenty of cars leave a track on a flatbed straight for the junkyard by way of the insurance adjuster.

If you really want a car you can wreck and repair buy a tube chassis. If you want a rockstar street car to go to the track with... buy track insurance.

^This. Any meaningful smack to anything that doesn't have a tube frame makes it a wreck.

I don't disagree with any of that. I just had a friend of a friend back an S2000 into a water barrier at speed. We were debating repairibility. It would not have been a debate with the Lotus.
If a GT4 ended up in my garage it wouldn't be for me to play with anyway. It would be Mrs. Deuce's other car and I'd still be driving around station wagons.

Honestly, the GT4 is cheaper than I expected.

LOL to repulsed by Porsche snobbery. You'll miss out on some awesome cars.

I like it. It is cheaper than I thought as well, but more than I'd consider paying for a car.

Cotton wrote: Honestly, the GT4 is cheaper than I expected. LOL to repulsed by Porsche snobbery. You'll miss out on some awesome cars.

Hey I might still drive someone else's modern Porsche, and since that's the only way I could get behind the wheel of one next to conning a salesman into a test drive, I'm not missing out on anything. Win-win!

I'm not implying that a shunt can't write off any car, however I've seen a few caymans make contact at 90+ straight into walls dead on and have surprisingly little damage, one was even back on track the next day (this past weekend at Sebring in fact). Doesn't mean that the repair was cheap, nor easy, but with the lotus it wouldn't have been possible.

I want to see the craziest magazine shoot out ever between the GT4, Mustang GT350R and Focus RS, 3 vastly different ways to get the same job done.

90+ straight into a wall dead on and it was driving the next day???

Something about this description is inaccurate.

Lof8 wrote: 90+ straight into a wall dead on and it was driving the next day??? Something about this description is inaccurate.

tire wall was hit so hard that the conveyor belt banding them together snapped, and 2 sections of jersey wall (making up the wall) fell over. Jersey wall sections that go over safely absorb a TON of impact. Lots of luck, great safety engineering by the track officials and hard work by the crew involved in that base case scenario.

It's not the first time I've seen it happen either, similar hit, though at 118MPH square into the outside wall at the braking zone at turn 1 at Road America this summer, suspension component failure. That car didn't end up on track later in the weekend as the driver opted to not go out, but the car was ready. As much is dependent on track design and safety as it is on the vehicle. At COTA such a hit might cost you $60k, but you could potentially be back out on track in the next session.

Sploosh!

captdownshift wrote: At COTA such a hit might cost you $60k, but you could potentially be back out on track in the next session.

I would wish my car was wrecked instead

mazdeuce wrote: I don't disagree with any of that. I just had a friend of a friend back an S2000 into a water barrier at speed. We were debating repairibility. It would not have been a debate with the Lotus. If a GT4 ended up in my garage it wouldn't be for me to play with anyway. It would be Mrs. Deuce's other car and I'd still be driving around station wagons.

We've seen your wagons and don't feel too bad for you

I think talk of terrible street cars like a gt4 or s3 exige is ridiculous. How are these cars any less livable as a dd proposition than a standard cab pickup truck? I know people who dd bikes for christ sakes.

Y'all forgetten that cars are designed to crumple when hitting an immovable object and not be repaired. Sacrifice so you can git out alive.

Back closer to the subject.
My boss is mad right now. He just traded his old Cayman S on a new Cayman GTS a couple months ago. Now he finds out this is coming out. He said he would have waited for this one.

Wow, a lot of money but as previously mentioned a relative bargain for a hard core Porsche. The GT3 is close to $150K new. I find the Cayman more appealing than a 911 in a lot of ways too. M3 starts in the 60s. Z28 at 75K. Corvette ZO6 upper 70s. Sounds crazy to call it a deal but I think it might be. Very tasty.

carbon wrote: I think talk of terrible street cars like a gt4 or s3 exige is ridiculous. How are these cars any less livable as a dd proposition than a standard cab pickup truck? I know people who dd bikes for christ sakes.

Not as a useable space thing, that's fine, but there are literally roads he can't drive down. Paved roads. In neighborhoods. The car is LOUD on the freeway. Exhaustingly loud. You're tired when you get someplace. It's like you took a Miata and modded it to within an inch of it's life and you get to the point where you'd rather just hop in your truck because the car is really rather unpleasant to drive. That's pretty much what the Lotus is.

captdownshift wrote:

Lof8 wrote: 90+ straight into a wall dead on and it was driving the next day??? Something about this description is inaccurate.

tire wall was hit so hard that the conveyor belt banding them together snapped, and 2 sections of jersey wall (making up the wall) fell over. Jersey wall sections that go over safely absorb a TON of impact. Lots of luck, great safety engineering by the track officials and hard work by the crew involved in that base case scenario. It's not the first time I've seen it happen either, similar hit, though at 118MPH square into the outside wall at the braking zone at turn 1 at Road America this summer, suspension component failure. That car didn't end up on track later in the weekend as the driver opted to not go out, but the car was ready. As much is dependent on track design and safety as it is on the vehicle. At COTA such a hit might cost you $60k, but you could potentially be back out on track in the next session.

If you want a track toy that can be repaired... lets not beat around the bush. $60k... fast like CSR...

https://www.nasaproracing.com/news/2014/12/nasa_announces_innovative_new_affordable_prototype_series_at_pri_show

Formula Mazda with fenders. Look out you Radical fans... Anyone else fully engorged?

Ian F wrote: As mentioned in previous threads, it's a good time to be a car enthusiast... at least one with money.

There's a reason Ferrari followed Lamborghini's lead in making one to three off super special limited edition models to sell for absurd money.

I honestly expected the GT4 to cost more than that but I have no doubt it's fantastic.