Selling a car privately

[dkmech]

cayman?

[schmunk]

[dkmech]

I was thinking more along the lines of this schmunk

[schmunk]

I know... There's one that parks in the car park I use. S'nice car.

[Taz]

Yes, it's a Cayman S. Not with the brakes shown in the picture in dkmech's post though! The yellow brakes are the £5.5K ceramic option! I passed on that. If you see one and it's got red brakes then those are the standard brakes.

I test drove a 2004 911 (a 996 C4S) and a new Cayman S. Both were around the same price (low £50K's). The C4S had a Porsche Sports Exhaust and actually sounded a bit scary! Boy was it loud and attracted way too much attention. It looked a bit better than the Cayman S as it has the 911 Turbo body kit as standard. Obviously it was very quick (25BHP more than the Cayman S - 320BHP as opposed to 295BHP for the Cayman S). However, the Cayman S is lighter so the power-to-weight ratios are roughly the same.

The 911 C4S also has the benefit of small rear seats and is a proper 911.

I then drove the Cayman S. I have to say that before I drove it I would have bought the 911 on the spot. After 30 minutes in the Cayman S I was convinced that the Cayman S was a better drive. You could throw it around and it has the engine in the right position (mid-engined) compared to the 911 (rear-engined). It felt much more balanced and was actually more fun to drive. It uses the same Variocam Plus (valve timing) system as used in the 911 and this cuts in after 4500RPM. Below this it behaves like any other car. Beyond this it is quite astonishing. The engine is right behind your head and the sound is almost overwhelming!

The same models that I drove (a new Cayman S and a 996 C4S) were raced on the Nurburgring recently and the Cayman S was faster. It is based on a Boxster with a slightly larger engine (3.4L). The looks are a bit awkward from some angles and the 911 does look better. So, it's a tough one. Most people I guess would go for the 911 as you're really paying for a pricey Boxster Coupe if you opt for the Cayman S. I used to own a Boxster and I have to say that all three cars (Boxster, Cayman and 911) are totally different drives.