[Dandelion]

Hi all - a friend asked offline about my impressions regarding the two after a few days of ownership; I thought I'd post them here as well:

vs.

I'm still in break in, but here's what I've gleaned after a weekend...

1) Open car vs. closed car: I drove the Lotus almost exclusively with the top down; the smallness of the car + open air made it seem like you were going fast even at regular speeds. The Cayman is closed, and is larger, so speeds sneak up on you. (I would imagine that the Boxster or even a 914 would be more like the Lotus in this respect.)

2) Engine - the Lotus is, even with its lightweight, a small displacement engine without a whole lot of torque. You need to get on the gas quite a bit to get the engine to produce power, and it produces most of its power above 6000 rpm - you definitely know when you're pushing the engine. The flat 6 in the Cayman is much torquier, and produces power much more effortlessly - even though I'm keeping it around 4500 rpm max.

Bottom line of 1 and 2 - the Cayman feels like it wants to be driven above 70mph all the time.

3) Steering - the Lotus still has the edge here - unpowered steering + fantastic small wheel = bliss. The Cayman is still very good, but not quite at the Lotus go-cart level.

4) Handling - toss-up so far - the thing that I loved about the Lotus was that it disappeared at the track - instead of worrying about how the car was going to behave, it simply became part of your mind and hands. Yes, you did need to respect the handling at the edge, and not doing something bad like lift in a turn at the limit, but you could concentrate on the line you wanted to carve through a turn, and it just followed. Verdict on the Cayman will not come in until I get to the track, but I like what I feel so far. The car seems to corner pretty flat, with almost no body roll on public roads and reasonable speeds. Both are good at turning immediately, without needing to roll over and take a set before turning.

5) Shifting - well, PDK vs. manual. I'm still getting used to PDK and paddle shifting after a lifetime of manual or completely automatic shifting. However, I'm not sure I buy that PDK is less involving. Yes, you don't have another pedal to work...but you are still making the decisions on when to shift in the braking-turn in-apex-acceleration sequence. I'm quickly getting used to shifting with the paddles without conscious thought (like driving a good manual transmission).

PDK in automatic mode does some interesting things - for example, brake hard from highway speeds and the transmission automatically downshifts to a low enough gear where engine braking is useful - something a regular automatic transmission would never do.

Involvement aside, I am completely convinced that the shifts are much better and consistent than I could possibly accomplish manually.

6) Build quality. Hands down, the Porsche has the best materials in a car that I've ever owned - as it should. The structure feels like it's milled out of a block of steel, all of the materials have a high quality feel to them, even the plastic and vinyl parts. The attention to detail is great - for example, all of the metal parts that you touch (e.g. paddle shifters, shift knob) are satin finished so they won't pick up fingerprints or feel sticky.

The paint job is easily the best I've ever seen (the Lotus was below average in that respect; our Infiniti has an excellent paint job, but is eclipsed by the Cayman).

Driving around in the Lotus, you heard rattles, panel resonances, and other mechanical clatter. The fiberglass was designed to be light...and therefore suspect in terms of durability (it is literally a rolling chassis with bodywork added.) Fit and finish is vintage 70s.

Driving the Porsche, all you hear is the engine (and transmission). The only out of place noise is that *with the windows down*, you can hear wind whistle past the mirrors above 45 mph (it's inaudible with the windows up). Fit and finish is jewelry like.

7) Livability - so far the Cayman is hands down a winner. Wife stopped riding in the Lotus - too cramped, too hard to get in and out of. Even with the racing-type sports bucket seats, my wife is more than happy to ride in the Porsche. And there are two very usable trunks, vs. one that wasn't very usable (e.g., you couldn't fit a helmet in the Lotus trunk because the height of the trunk was too low.)

Anyway, those are my initial impressions...

ed

[Landjet]

Nice write up. Congrats on the CaymanR, I'm sure you are going to be very happy with it.

[smdubovsky]

x2. Really interesting writeup.

[Helios59]

A few years ago I was lucky enough to take an Elise on a long test drive (thank you, Criswell!) and I loved it. White Ground Road is a long, tight series of undulating, off-camber, uneven turns in MoCo, and the Lotus handled it much better than the S2000 I had at the time. I came away with the impression that the car was made for the track and would quickly become tiresome if driven only on public roads.

In 2008, I was lucky enough to rent a Cayman S for one week. I drove it about 800 miles through every condition but the track and it was so competent, so refined, that it seemed almost bored with me. It was a wonderful car - and I'm sure your Cayman R is a major leap from even that level of capability.

Both these cars are wonderful and you're most fortunate to have owned them. Thanks for the write-up and enjoy your new ride!

[HoodPin]

Very nice comparo writeup. Congrats on the new ride!

[Trak Ratt]

Originally Posted by AJ986S

Very nice comparo writeup. Congrats on the new ride!

could make a nice article for the DV !

[racer]

I've always thought of the Elise as a "motorcycle" compared to the more carlike Boxster/Cayman series. Or perhaps Lotus = 2/3 scale. Great fun, but nowhere near as "practical" as a Porsche.

[markwemple]

I still wish Porsche would make a "sports car" like the Elise rather than just the GTs like the Boxster and 911.

I like the comment that driving the Elise was more of a mental connection, that you simply had to think about what you were going to do. That's exactly how riding my Ducati is (similarly, the Bugeye as well). Something a true sports car should always do.

FWIW, the Elise has any of the p-cars hands down in the looks department. One of the best designs of the last 20 years.

[good hands]

Originally Posted by Varejao17

Driving around in the Lotus, you heard rattles, panel resonances, and other mechanical clatter. The fiberglass was designed to be light...and therefore suspect in terms of durability (it is literally a rolling chassis with bodywork added.) Fit and finish is vintage 70s.

Driving the Porsche, all you hear is the engine (and transmission). The only out of place noise is that *with the windows down*, you can hear wind whistle past the mirrors above 45 mph (it's inaudible with the windows up). Fit and finish is jewelry like.



ed

Very nice write up.

In the 60's and 70's when I used to go to the races with my dad his buddies used to comment how nice the Lotus's were but had a hard time finishing races. Maybe because Colin Chapman refused to use washers ?

Your comment on Porsches is spot on. Get in a mid 80's 911 and it's amazing the absence of rattles or vibrations in car that age.

[dgmatt]

Congrats on the Cayman R, I look forward to seeing this out at the track. You should check with Richard Curtis about a dV article, I agree this would be a good candidate.

Originally Posted by good hands

Your comment on Porsches is spot on. Get in a mid 80's 911 and it's amazing the absence of rattles or vibrations in car that age.

Or a mid 90s. "Structural rigidity" claims for the new Porsches notwithstanding, my Cayman felt very solid but not as solid as my 993.