svelt

Great choice on the car, and clearly the forum favorite. Beautiful color.

dreameagle

first, you need to remember that despite all the minicomputers and microprocessors and such, what you are buying with the Porsche is essentially an over-engineered VOLKWAGEN on steroids;

if if you doubt Porsche's family history being closely wed to Volkswagen, all you need do is recall the VW bad jokes they've tried to foist off under their badge--the 912, 914, 924, 944;

the priciple design sign and layout can be traced back to the bathtub 356, meaning it has the same inherent handling flaws no amount of massaging the physics of can completely cure--I.e., the weight of the engine hung out over and behind the rear wheels;

it is no different than driving a baseball bat sitting at the handle--sooner or later you will fall victim to handling characteristics in many ways the complete opposite of what you are no doubt accustomed if you're going from your Lexus 350 and considering the Corvette;

of course Porsche fans will instantly pooh-pooh my statements as devoid of facts given modern engineering, but again, no amount of engineering can defeat or even mask the laws of physics;

there's a reason why baseball bats never roll from the handle end long even if forced to try;

it's the exact same reason why i bought an E-type over a 911 some 30 years ago, and then fifteen years ago a Corvette Z06 over a 9-something-something turbo;

ThumperPup

don't get me wrong i love the corvette its a true american car.
i would love to own one again one day.
however ill alwyas take cayman gt over the corvette because well vettes are good for one thing
going in a straight line fast with power.
no matter what anyone will ever tell me or try to change my mind it wont happen i don't care because they only are good for one thing in my mind straight roads fast like drag strips they are not for the turning track corner with it at 90 i don't want it and you wont ever prove to me that you can with a vette

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

So an old dog can't learn new tricks? What a silly notion that the C7 can't hang with the Cayman. The C7 is absolutely outstanding and does have prowess to negotiate more than a straight line as its skidpad has shown. Funny enough the C8 'Emperor' Corvette is debuting with a mid-engine layout, so might want to open up your mind on the Vette there fella.

ThumperPup

I also just don't have respect for GM vehciles not anything since past the early 80s every 80s and newer GM Chevy Cadillac and GMC i have had that was 80s through 2010 has done nothing but cost me money so i guess im also in the ill never own another GM again thats not atleast a 1979 or older

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

wow, some serious blinders (and stuck in the past) going on here... maybe some FACTS might help...

porsche and corvettes BOTH score highly on the list of top times on the brutal Nürburgring ... ahead of you know, many supposedly 'better' sports cars.

https://nurburgringlaptimes.com/lap-times-top-100/

mmarshall

Welcome to CL as a new poster.

I'm neither a Porsche or Corvette fanboy as such, though I have a fair amount of admiration and respect for the new GM, since the 2009 buyout. ​​​​Nevertheless, ​​​I can't agree with your assertion that Porsches (especially today's Porsches) are overdone VWs....and I've test-driven several newer Porsches from a Boxster to a Panamera. There was at least some truth to the close VW/Porsche relationship back in the days of noisy rear-mounted air-cooled engines, unstable and tipsy swing-axle rear suspensions, drive-all-day-long-before-you-get-any-heat windshield defrosting, and classic spinouts from drop-throttle snap-oversteer in sharp turns. Today, however, except perhaps for the Tiguan/Macan and Touraeg/Cayenne comparisons in the SUV-lineup, most Porsches and VWs are quite far apart in their design, conception, layouts, and driving-dynamics. Today's VW designs, in fact, are a lot closer to those of Audi than to Porsche.

dreameagle

thank you for the welcoming;

you'll have to forgive me, but i was unaware the laws of physics wore blinders;

there can be no debate this latest morphing of the 356/911 chassis is fast;

that doesn't dismiss the effects of physics, and by those laws the GT4 remains the latest iteration of over-engineered inherent design flaw;

i am speaking from the most intimate knowledge outside of working in the factory--one of the perks of working in a racing garage is the chance to test drive just about every motor any enthusiast could imagine, on the track as well as the street;

most 911s and their derivatives, when they lose it they almost always go rear end first, like a bat does when a baseballer lets it fly from his hands into the stands--the motoring version of an aerial flat spin and as near impossible to recover from;

i doubt most people here have intimate knowledge of trailing throttle oversteer, nor would i wish upon them the experience of being suddenly bitten by it;

this TTO remains the legacy of every iteration of rear-engined Porsches and their kissing cousins, VW, rear-engined layouts (and every other similar layout since the advent of motorcars);

although i own a Vette i am not blind to its flaws, either--but then, none of them pose the same inherent threat TTO does;

given the choices the originator of this thread offered, the Vette is clearly the better--the comical assertion that a pony car might be included as an option doesn't merit more than laughter..the Mustang is still little more than a Fairlane with a big motor, in keeping with Ford's predilection since the Lola T220 and AC of the 1960s and dropping in a big truck engine;

someone should remind Ford that taking a dog chassis and dropping a big truck engine in it does not make it a hot sports car, just a hot dog...

given a choice where price was no object, i'd best James Bond down to the local Aston-Martin dealer...or if having the engine behind me was a must, i'd go run with the Bulls (yes, the Italian ones);

nothing against Porsche in that regard, but having driven a 917 derivative back in the 1980s (they were called 952/962s then) the latest street model is just not my cup of tea, although it is undoubtedly a prime motor;

patgilm

I agree, I don't see how the Corvette is only a straight line car since it easily matches the GT4 when comparing track times. The Z06 would actually smoke the GT4. Many people still think the Viper is a straight line only car even though the ACR broke 13 out of 13 track records a couple years ago. With that being said, if given the choice, I would choose the GT4 over the Corvette every time.

Ramjet44

The Cayman is a mid engine car not a rear engine car. It doesn't have the TTO problem.

dreameagle

ah, and so it is!

so Porsche, no doubt beset by a bout of Henry Ford vs. Commendatore 1960s fever, took the aging well into obsolescence 911 chassis, flipped the engine 180 degrees and added a real honest-to-God transmission...and this makes it a new idea?

no TTO, to be sure, but how many microprocessors and mini-computers are needed for a mid-20th century chassis to cope with 21st century power plants and underpinnings?

this is a trick, a hot dog on the order of the Shelby Cobras and quasi-Ford Lola-platform GTs..better engineered, for true, but nothing more than a variation on that same old tired factory hotrod theme, right down to the gendarme-beckoning rear wing and speed racer front lips;

remember your basic aerodynamics--if a car needs that kind of wing and front appendages, it is because the original body design is seriously flawed..precisely what one would expect of a body shell designed in the early 1960s still expected to deal with the demands of 21st century powertrains;

don't fall for it, i say;

if if the Vettes is not your cup of tea, fine--but don't go plunk good money down for a fading yesteryear product gussied up like an aging boxer for another run at the marketplace of besotted Porschephiles;

pay the the extra freight and get something designed from the ground up for today's performance requirements, not a hopelessly compromised past its prime museum piece;

the Hurucan comes instantly to mind, along with certain Maranello offerings, as well as McLaren, some exquisite Scandinavian products (not blondes this time) and even Audi and Porsche offer proper current mid-motor designs (please note i purposely left off France and Ford, for many of the same reasons);

mmarshall

I think you and I are both describing the same phenomena, simply using two different terms. On your TTO, the way I learned it, it was known as "Drop-throttle snap-oversteer"...the bane of early Porsches and many other rear-engined cars. That's what got a lot of them spun out or into the ditch....or worse. An overconfident driver would try to take a sharp corner too fast, suddenly realize he or she was too fast, let up on the throttle quickly, and that would suddenly shift the car's rear-weight bias forward, bringing the outside rear corner of the vehicle with it...more than the capability of older tires, suspension systems, and lack of electronic traction-aids to be able to deal with it. That changed, of course, after the 1990s into the 2000s, as much more capable steering, tires, suspension, and stability systems were developed.

arentz07

One of the only current-gen Caymans I have ever seen was a GT4, white with a black stripe going up the hood, black wheels. It looked pretty awesome. C7 Corvettes seem to be more and more common these days. For that reason I'd pick the Cayman.

gengar

General thread note: Don't feed the trolls.

At the risk of being pedantic, all Cayman GT4 are 981.1, or last-gen (or at least pre-refresh). (Or are you saying that you haven't seen many even 981.1 Caymans??)

arentz07

Yes, I am saying for me it's been quite rare to see a Cayman in any trim.