Our Porsche Cayman is all fixed, but what does a bone-stock, base model 981-chassis Porsche Cayman weigh? It’s time to find out, so we rolled the car across our Intercomp SW777RFX Wireless Professional Scale System.
[What’s it weigh? LFX V6-swapped Miata edition.]
We weighed the car with 3/4 of a tank of fuel and no driver. And the result? As …
My guess was a generic 3000 since it had to be about the same-ish as my 987.1. I have dieted losing 5# for the Soul exhaust, and guessing that I lost 5# a corner with the new 2pc brake discs.
Considering the pounds the newer cars pack, this is a pleasant surprise. It also seems relatively well balanced, although throw a driver into it and it might have a slight left-side bias.
This makes me wonder what the lightest new car available is.
I imagine it will be something like a Miata, Toyoburu or even Mitsubishi Mirage.
More research is needed...
I think it's pretty much guaranteed to have a left-side bias with a driver unless you also install a passenger. However, that's the case for any car that's not ballasted to offset the driver's weight or has a central seating position :)
It's a little chunky IMO. That's 500 lbs heavier than an ND Miata with a 500 hp V8 in it. 400 if you want that Miata to be an RF - and the Miata is newer.
Colin Wood said:This makes me wonder what the lightest new car available is.
I imagine it will be something like a Miata, Toyoburu or even Mitsubishi Mirage.
More research is needed...
Interesting perception of weight. The Toyoburu is roughly 500 lbs heavier than an ND Miata - the latter flirts with the 2300 lb barrier in the right trim. Good call on the Mirage, though - Wikipedia says it's under 2000. I can't find a spec sheet on the Mitsubishi site to confirm.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Just to ballpark, what is the cost of said ND Miata with the V8 swap all in? Would it be cheaper than a decently optioned 981 cayman, or more expensive?
In reply to cmcmillin31 :
It will be more expensive than a used 10-year-old Porsche, especially if you buy your Cayman with a busted trans. It is also faster :) They're not really available on the used market (only two have ever changed hands) and I think the current cost of the conversion is about $50k plus Miata.
But the question wasn't how much the Porsche cost per pound, it was how heavy it was. The Miata isn't lighter because it's full of high dollar fancy parts, it's lighter because Mazda made the ND more than 600 lbs lighter than Porsche made the Cayman - and at a retail price in the low $20s when new. That just gives us the margin to yank out the four cylinder and install a beefier drivetrain without approaching the weight of the Porsche. The Miata is more expensive because it's effectively a hand-built car and a whole drivetrain gets discarded in the process.
I don't think it's quite fair to compare the Cayman to an ND, though, even an RF. They're not even on the same planet NVH-wise, nor should they be given the intended markets/price points. Heck, the Cayman has a big steel weight on the shift linkage just to make fore-aft shifts feel sturdier, and the battery is about the size of the ND's engine block.
Keith Tanner said:Colin Wood said:This makes me wonder what the lightest new car available is.
I imagine it will be something like a Miata, Toyoburu or even Mitsubishi Mirage.
More research is needed...
Interesting perception of weight. The Toyoburu is roughly 500 lbs heavier than an ND Miata - the latter flirts with the 2300 lb barrier in the right trim. Good call on the Mirage, though - Wikipedia says it's under 2000. I can't find a spec sheet on the Mitsubishi site to confirm.
I had a hard time tracking down a spec sheet, too, but I at least found a spec sheet for the 2021 Mirage:
From left to right, Mirage ES, Mirage LE, Mirage Carbonite Edition, Mirage SE
Keith Tanner said:I think it's pretty much guaranteed to have a left-side bias with a driver unless you also install a passenger. However, that's the case for any car that's not ballasted to offset the driver's weight or has a central seating position :)
It's a little chunky IMO. That's 500 lbs heavier than an ND Miata with a 500 hp V8 in it. 400 if you want that Miata to be an RF - and the Miata is newer.
True about the bias, but I like thinking about the driver. Installing a passenger - at least the ones I find - increases NVH. Need quieter ballast 
The '19 Mitsubishi Mirage was the last new car sold in America that was under 2000#. There were some minor changes for '20 that added about 80#.
Tom Suddard said:I don't think it's quite fair to compare the Cayman to an ND, though, even an RF. They're not even on the same planet NVH-wise, nor should they be given the intended markets/price points. Heck, the Cayman has a big steel weight on the shift linkage just to make fore-aft shifts feel sturdier, and the battery is about the size of the ND's engine block.
Having owned both, I agree that they're not really comparable. That's a surprisingly low weight for that car; IIRC the manufacturer specified them around 3200 lb. I wonder how much more the PDK weighs than the manual?
ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:Tom Suddard said:I don't think it's quite fair to compare the Cayman to an ND, though, even an RF. They're not even on the same planet NVH-wise, nor should they be given the intended markets/price points. Heck, the Cayman has a big steel weight on the shift linkage just to make fore-aft shifts feel sturdier, and the battery is about the size of the ND's engine block.
Having owned both, I agree that they're not really comparable. That's a surprisingly low weight for that car; IIRC the manufacturer specified them around 3200 lb. I wonder how much more the PDK weighs than the manual?
Porsche's listed curb weight is 2888lb manual, 2954lb PDK, which are empty weights. Add in 3/4 of a tank of fuel and you get pretty much exactly 2975lb.
ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:Tom Suddard said:I don't think it's quite fair to compare the Cayman to an ND, though, even an RF. They're not even on the same planet NVH-wise, nor should they be given the intended markets/price points. Heck, the Cayman has a big steel weight on the shift linkage just to make fore-aft shifts feel sturdier, and the battery is about the size of the ND's engine block.
Having owned both, I agree that they're not really comparable. That's a surprisingly low weight for that car; IIRC the manufacturer specified them around 3200 lb. I wonder how much more the PDK weighs than the manual?
I have owned an NB and a 987. There is still one in my driveway for a very good reason.
Wonder what an ’84 911 Carrera weighs? :)
Interesting that the 19 Mirage is under 2K. My 96 JDM special mirage with no options just weighed at 2136 LBs with a 1/ 4th tank of gas.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
According to Excellence Magazine, 2756 lbs.
I guess I think of Porsches as being sports cars first, which to me implies light weight over NVH. That may be the case in things like the GT3, but of course that's not the vast bulk of the market. There are a lot of much tamer, quieter cars sold. That's a big reason I wasn't really taken with the 997.2 that was in my garage for a while, it wasn't enough sports car to be a Porsche to me. Very nice, but it just wasn't committed to the bit. That remains the only Porsche I've ever driven so I'm working purely off perception here.
Still, you've gotta wonder how Mazda managed to make the Miata so much lighter without going to exotic materials. Alfa probably wondered the same thing when they built a carbon fiber tub for the 4C and still couldn't match it.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I imagine I’ll come close to that. Mine has a fiberglass deck lid so, maybe, a little lighter. Or maybe not. More interested to see the weight split.
With regard to the Miata’s weight, clever engineering, maybe? Gotta weigh mine, too.
The Miata is also really small, in almost every dimension. The Cayman has 20" wheels and two trunks, and I'm 6' tall and can comfortably stretch out inside with plenty of headroom. The Miata's on a different scale. That doesn't make it bad, just different.
My Opel GT is somewhere between 2000 and 2100. Small as a Miata but a hard top and not as crash friendly. Mazda did do it right for the market they went after. I remember clearly the first time I saw an NA in BRG with tan. Just pure sex.
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