Hello all. I have been driving a 240SX since the day I drove it off the showroom floor back in 1990! My wife says it is time for a new car! (Oh darn!) Anyway, I have narrowed it down to the 350Z or the Porsche Cayman S. Was wondering what pros and cons I should be looking for? Obviously the price is a huge difference. Have any of you owned a Cayman? I have driven both and was very impressed with both. I like the looks of the Cayman much better. Also, I will use the car as a business car so interior room is an issue too. Thanks for your insights.

Don

 

big price difference. Your close to Z06 territory on the S model!

 

I don't want a Corvette. Other than the price difference, do any of you have experience with the Cayman?

 

Why not? The Z06 is an amazing performance machine, with great looks, and more interior room than the other two.

 

The Cayman S is hot and there's a lot of brand recognition for Porsche.

It's going to come down to what you want...

Price? The Z

Performance? They're pretty close stock vs stock, but if you put the extra $20K into the Z you'll be smoking some of the big brothers of the Cayman.

Looks? The Cayman looks nice- like a mix of a 911 Carerra and a Boxster. The Z has a look of it's own. People tend to admire Porsche's more for the namesake alone.

Impressing Clients? Porsche...

What kind of business will you be conducting from your car?

Really, if you have the cash and don't mind paying $20K for the Porsche name, go with the Cayman. Otherwise, you'll probably be completely satisfied with the Z and can make it an even more amazing car with $20K.

 

Ask Raceboy, he bought a Porsche Cayman S!

 

I am a professional photographer. All of my equipment can fit in the back of the Cayman but will be a little tighter because of the bar in the back. I am not interested in an unreliable Chevy. The guys on the Porsche site think the Z isn't even in the game. I'm not into impressing people, I just don't buy cars that much and want this one to be one I can drive for 10-15 years or so. Long term Porsche reliability data is hard to come by. The Z only gets average marks from CR. Porsche gets the best rating from JD Power and Assoc. in initial quality. It is a hard choice.

 

In all honesty the porsche is def. the performance car of the two. But then again the price dif. is huge. $35K for a very well equiped 350Z and roughly $65K for the Caymen S. $30K is huge with vehicles in that price range. The 350Z is a great car, its fast, stops well, corners well, and most importantly fun to drive. The Porsche is on a complete next level. Its faster, corners better, and is probably more fun to drive. Is that worth 30K? If it is, then i suggest you go for it, if not, then welcome to the club.

 

haha.. Initial Quality.... like you said, not a lot of data on long term quality. If there's a problem, the repair bills are expensive. My uncle has raced Porsches for 20 years and refuses to buy newer ones because he can work on the older ones himself.

We seem to have won over CR a little more... it's actually "recommended". Check this out: https://my350z.com/forum/2003-2009-nissan-350z/214313-consumer-reports-ranks-350z-8th-best-sports-car.html

If you're not into impressing people, the Z is the way to go. It's subtle yet still sexy.

Most Porsche guys don't consider anything less than a Ferarri as "competition". But I've seen many races go either way. It's not very bright to discount a 300hp sports car just because it's not European

 

Interesting that the 911 and Boxter made the list but the Cayman didn't! What's up with that? HAve they fixed the tire shredding issues with the Z?

 

want a 350z but want more room? back seats maybe?


if only they made such a car lol

Considered a G35?

 

It's not hands down just just because it's a Porsche... the cars are pretty close in stock performance though admitedly, I'd expect the handling in the Porsche to be slightly better. With these two cars, the performance difference is not that great, and could even be negligible with a seasoned driver.

This is from automobilemag.com
Base price: $59,695
Engine: 3.4 L H-6, 295hp, 255 lb-ft
Drive: Rear-wheel
0-60 mph: 5.1 sec (est.)
0-100 mph: 12.0 sec (est.)
1/4-mile: 13.7 sec @ 105 mph (est.)
Top speed: 171 mph

Whatever you choose, post up some of those professional pics of the car.

 

Based on your comments, you've already decided on the Porsche. So why are you asking? Go buy your Porsche and be $30-$35K poorer. Later . . .

 

caymen, porshe is more exotic than nissan

 

Yeah, I've read about that a lot on here in searching older posts and the tire shredding issue seems to have been fixed with the 05 year I believe. I have an 06 and no problems from the tires so far. Some of you guys with the older models, correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Thats what porsche claims. Most performance mags ie caranddriver or motortrend say the caymen S hits 60 in 4.7 or 4.8. Plus its mid engined and has perfect weight distrubution. Hits corners at 0.94g. In all honesty on a track or even on the street, the caymen is a better performance car.

 

Agreed that the Cayman is better, but only slightly and definitely not enough to justify the initial purchase cost and potential long term costs.

Weight distribution for the Z is estimated at 53/47 and the Cayman is actually estimated at 55/45.

You can argue tenths of a second on 0-60 all day and how "off" different tests are, but when it comes down to it, both are close to 5 seconds which will make it a driver's race.

Lateral grip on the Z is about .90g, so again, a marginal difference. Although, slalom speeds slightly favor the Cayman, by a few mph.

One thing I like about Yahoo autos is that it projects total costs of ownership, which can vary, but is still a neat side by side. The Cayman comes out to about $84K in 5 years, whereas the Z comes to about $59K.

This guy doesn't sound like he'll be throwing it around a track and that he'll end up keeping it for quite a while if history repeats itself.

I see the Z as a better buy all things considered.

 

Yes, the Cayman is more exotic car, but paying double the price for a tiny bit more performance, I wouldn't. Your basically paying for the badge. You've also got to understand that servicing the car is going to cost you a lot more simply because of the exclusivity of a Porsche, not to mention repairs. Also, why would you want to fork out that much money if your not going to "enjoy" the car.
About the looks. In my honest opinion, the only way you can distinguish between Porsches is buy reading the badge on the back. They all look almost the same. If i was going to fork out money on a Porsche, the only one i would buy would be the Carrera GT3.
Buy the Z, and if your not happy with it, then don't worry, because the resale value is great, so you will still be able to go out and buy the Cayman.

 

Ppl usually dont cross shopping between Cayman and 350z due to huge price different. If you want value, go with 350z. If money is no matter, go with Cayman S. I'm considering a boxster myself after hearing so many issue with the 350z. 350Z is still a great car for the $ though.

 

I drove a Cayman S and a Z back to back recently. If price were no option, I'd take the Cayman in a second for it's looks and smooth transmission. However, since price is a factor always, I'd definately go for a Z. Besides the transmission 1st to 2nd shift and outside looks (read: I love the Z's body, but it is a Porsche), I enjoy everything about the Z more. They both handled spectacularly and while the Porsche's balance and weight difference to the Z was noticeable, with the cash you save you could easily tweak the Z suspension to fix that. Porsche interiors are not my thing at all, and many would say that the throws are too long in that gearbox. The Z has definately got the perfect gearbox IMO and very simple yet classy gauges.

Something tells me that Porsche doesn't have Bose audio with MP3 CD Capability either