Porsche 911 Carrera S vs Cayman S, which should you buy? 997 & 987 test drive and review

Hello YouTube! Welcome to the channel. You join me today to look at this pair of absolute beauties. On my right we have a 2004 Porsche 911. This is a 997 and it is the 3.8 Carrera S. So it's two-wheel drive, 3.8 straight-six engine and it's a Tiptronic automatic. On my left is a 2006 Porsche Cayman S in a manual and that's a 3.4 straight-six two-wheel drive. Obviously notable differences, 911 rear engine, Cayman mid-engine, Cayman no rear seats but has a boot, 911 rear seats if you can fit small children or dogs in there and it doesn't have a boot. They've both got a frunk which is your front trunk, pretty much identical size there. Obviously there's some power differences and everything but when you're looking at buying one of these on the market at the moment, this one for example, £25,000 versus £14,500, £15,000. I guess what we're talking about is, is it worth an extra £10,000 of your money to buy the 911 over the Cayman S? Depends on whether you definitely want a 911 I guess or whether you're just in the market for a Porsche sports car. I guess the only way to find out, especially as it's raining now, is to get in the cars and we'll go and have a look. So probably not the best day weather-wise to be testing out two rear-wheel drive Porsches especially as this 911 seems to have the noisiest wipers in the world. So apologies in advance for that. Unfortunately I can't see unless I put them on so we've just got to suffer through this. I wish I'd checked this beforehand but c'est la vie. I've actually invested in a draggy box so that we can try and get some times but again today's probably not gonna be the best time to do that. I'll certainly give it a go but the last thing I want to do is put one of these these cars in a ditch so I'll just tell you how I feel about about the cars on the whole. I have to admit I never used to be much of a Porsche fan. I thought they're a bit sort of bland and probably read too much into all the kind of Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear stuff saying oh it's a beetle they all look the same and don't get me wrong you know throughout the generations they do tend to look the same but actually that's kind of grown on me the fact that you know you can older you can own an older generation and it's not a million miles away from some of the newer stuff and it wasn't until really we had a 997.1 I think in stock that I kind of fell in love with Porsches and actually I think it's probably one of my top tier brands now I think you know if money was no object and it comes to buying a sports car I think a Porsche probably would be one that I would buy I don't think you feel for me personally I'm one of those people who would always probably feel a bit self-conscious in a sports car or a supercar or something but in a Porsche I feel like it's it's a it's a really classy car isn't it and it feels like you know you could be an enthusiast someone who genuinely appreciates cars and sports cars etc and it's not just of a flashy look at me I've got a sports car type of thing at least that's how I feel anyway at least that's what I tell myself and the sound that definitely grows on you once you start driving one and you actually get to experience it in person and the way that you've got to kind of work them to really get the best performance and sound out of them they are quite sort of revvy engines not that they're free revving I would say but you know they come alive in the higher revs probably slightly more difficult to display in this being a Tiptronic which I have to say isn't my favourite gearbox in the world it does have the little Tiptronic buttons on the steering wheel both sides so you can you can change gears with either hand and it's it's not bad I think once you get used to it but it's it's certainly not the quickest gearbox in the world it's no BMW automatic or DSG gearbox we're talking about here the PDK is meant to be an awful lot better I haven't got to that stage I've never I've never tried a PDK gearbox hopefully in the not too distant future I'll get a chance to try one but on the whole it's not it's not a bad gearbox but I do wonder how much it affects performance and I mean I love I love an automatic gearbox these days but when you're in a sports car and you kind of got something special I I mean I would love a manual 911 997 but then again that comes with a premium because everyone else wants exactly the same so you're going to pay a lot more for a for a manual than you are a Tiptronic basically it's just a lot more desirable and understandably as I say it's not the fastest changing gearbox in the world inside people kind of refer to the 911 versus the Cayman as feeling more airy because you've got back seats and although you can't really fit anyone in the back seats it makes it feel more spacious um not sure about that I wouldn't exactly describe a 911 as a spacious and airy car um it's comfortable don't get me wrong I mean compared to a 996 for example where I seem to feel like I just sit across the front of the seats I am actually feel like I'm supported by these seats I fit inside um as always with Porsches the finishing side is just so nice the leather dash um this one being the sports chrono packs got the lap time timer etc it's also nice it's got the navigation which of course is ancient and laughable really um and it even has a Porsche in-car telephone which you can get an adaption kit to make those work and I think if I was going to keep one as my own personal car I would um of course you can't use it while driving but I just think it's cool a bit of a retro feel um makes you feel like you're a high flyer from you know the early 2000s I guess the nice thing with a Porsche 911 is as everyone says in probably every review you've ever seen of a Porsche 911 is that it is civilized and easy to drive and it's something you can drive every day and yes you probably could but I probably wouldn't I would much rather waft about in a Range Rover or something comfortable it's not the easiest thing to get in and out of for me anyway um it's comfortable and it does drive well but it's not the easiest thing to drive either um and if you want to drive spirited it is something you're going to have to try and concentrate on it's one of those things where you know you don't just get in it and drive fast like you might do in a front-wheel drive hatchback so if you let off the throttle halfway around a corner there's a fair chance you're going to spin off that being said obviously it does have sport mode and mag ride adjustable suspension so we've just got a bit bumpier uh we can put this into a manual mode it's actually incredibly surprising just how much bumpier that suspension gets let's get the windows down see if we can really make the most of that sound what you probably can't hear is the pops and crackles on the overrun I need to get some kind of external microphone if anyone has any recommendation I just love the sound of these flat sixes holy moly people come around here in these lanes in the middle of the road typical sports car you open the window and there's a bit of rain and it just pours straight in like a sheet one more attempt at a draggy run 0-60 okay so that was the 911 and the 0-60 I got there was 5.29 which pretty good actually I thought in and I thought we'll just head out to the same little spot and do the 0-60 that came in first they're both up to temperature I had them running while I was doing the sort of my attempted cinematic shots anyway so um but it already feels good to be in a manual they do make really nice manual gearboxes to be fair just non-leaky windows they're not very good at not that they leak so much as that if you want a little bit of air when it's raining you are going to be soaked so here we are obviously in the cayman first thing that jumps straight out of me is I much prefer this steering wheel and I think that might just be a sort of age generation type thing um so yeah that does it does seem it just seems more appealing to me really um slightly different instrument clusters you got three pods rather than five um otherwise it's very similar the seats actually in this are probably more comfortable um I think these are probably a sports option to be fair right so here we go for a draggy launch a lot of wheel spin there or clutch slip I don't know attempt number two trying to be slightly less harsh on the takeoff than the first run but I don't think it's anywhere near as quick to the 911 to be honest it surprised me this doesn't I thought there wouldn't be a huge difference in feeling of power and power delivery but actually this does feel really muted uh in comparison to the the 997 3.8 um which is surprising as well being that this manual and that was an automatic but um I guess they probably deliver their power slightly different um yeah it does surprise me I thought they were going to feel very very similar um but you can feel a noticeable difference in the 997 this I have to say it feels more nimble it feels like a lighter car and then in line with that now with what we've just attempted there with the uh sort of 0-60 it it feels less powerful it feels yeah it feels just more like a exactly what it is I suppose the baby brother of the the 911 okay finally I think we're getting a bit of clear road here so the cayman is even more of a revvy engine than than the 997 I'd say in fact it's almost night and day you really this thing absolutely comes alive when you get it higher in the revs and that's where all the noise is as well there's almost no noise really at these lower levels and then it starts to uh really come alive as you get up through the revs oh like that and it still sounds amazing but again it is a slightly more subtle version than the the 997 uh it's slightly more muted but generally speaking I think I'd say slightly more confidence inspiring going through the twisties especially in this wet weather I guess maybe because it feels slightly less punchy on the power um but I think more than anything it feels a bit of a lighter car and it also feels more balanced I guess being mid-engined it's gonna be it's gonna sort of sail through these corners the interior finish quality in here is equally as good as the 911 it's just not as pretty and it's more basic it's still got a really nice lovely leather dashboard it's stitched well but there's less nice stitching on show um and on the whole I guess it's slightly less pretty inside uh if if you are going to compare the two it's still an absolutely gorgeous interior and it is an absolutely lovely place to be and if anything I think these seats um are much nicer and much more comfortable than the ones in the 997 um so swings and roundabouts there but yes the 911 does kind of pip it on the interior design features really interestingly this kind of review and comparisons actually surprised me because I came into this with the preconceived idea that I would be telling you uh just by the Cayman because I think it's a great car and as long as you're not bothered by the fact that you're not buying the 911 um then that's what I would buy but I think every time I've driven the Cayman um I've felt like this is an incredible sports car it's so poised and it's quick and um fun and kind of easy to drive and that's always been an isolation of having driven a 911 never have I driven them back to back like this before and I really thought there was going to be not a huge difference I was thinking I was going to planning to come out of this review saying buy the Cayman if you want a Porsche sports car um and if you really want a 911 for the looks um and the kind of kudos then then buy an 11 911 but really there's no need but actually putting them back to back uh there are some pretty glaring differences um the 911 feels quicker it feels sharper it feels more special um and there's just there's a multitude of things really I guess that all will add up to make it that extra um it's hard to quantify but I guess the feeling of that rear engine rear-wheel drive um it feels a heavier car it feels more powerful um yeah I I think if you're really hankering for a 911 you know we had someone come in the other day and I think look at the 997 that we've got as well as uh he was looking at a TTRS or something and he was saying well TTRS obviously will walk all over the 997 but the 997 is the screensaver on his laptop you know it's it's that kind of quintessential sports car that perhaps we've all dreamed of basically if you buy a Cayman there is a fair chance down the line you think you're getting this car on the on the weekend when you're planning to drive it and think should I have got the 911 but if you buy the 911 I don't think you're ever going to get in that and think should I have saved the money and got the Cayman so my opinion would be if you want a Porsche sports car um and you're not fixed on which model and you don't have to have the best one out there you just want one you want something that you can really enjoy uh have fun in and will be an amazing performing sports car then the Cayman S is 100% it's an amazing car uh but if you want the best that Porsche has to offer of that era then it would probably be a 997 turbo but then we're talking silly money um but yeah if you're comparing similar generation similar sort of spec both being the S version then yeah I think the 911 does blow out the water and actually that surprises me to say it but that's honestly how I feel I thought I might have been tempted to save the money and get a Cayman S and maybe put some nice wheels on it and make it feel a bit special and I like that it's got a boot but yeah there's no avoiding it actually and I'm I'm almost disappointed that that I'm that I do far prefer the 911 but that's the way it goes I guess um anyway I hope the video has been helpful informative um if I haven't said it already interestingly the 0 to 60 speeds that I managed to achieve in the 911 was 5.29 pretty decent considering how wet it is out here and in this the Cayman S it was 6.8 so about 1.5 seconds difference there are a lot of variables here it's it's wet I hadn't been driving the Cayman so while the Cayman engine was warm because it'd been idling the tyres weren't necessarily and you know but I am going to start a leaderboard now of our 0 to 60s um and these two are going to be at the top 911 Cayman S it'll be interesting to see when we get things like a Golf R of which we've got three in stock or a Mercedes c63 which we've also have in stock just how uh these cars are all going to stack up so definitely stick around for that subscribe loads of videos coming and they're you know if you if you didn't really enjoy that one this much they're going to get better so subscribe and I'll see you in the next video oh is that recording