[jbarrow]

Greetings. My wife and I picked up "her" Cayman S a week ago Saturday. It is funny how this came about.

On another car forum someone posted a photo of the new BMW Z4 Coupe. I thought it looked decent, much less quirky from the rear 3/4 view than the roadster. Later in the thread someone posted another Z4 Coupe photo and one of the Cayman S. I had seen pictures of the Cayman and I quite liked it, but I was really drawn to this particular shot which I think can be found in some of the promotional material from Porsche. As soon as I got home on Friday I showed my wife Jolyn the two photos. Now this is a woman who has a die cast model of a 930 Turbo on her dresser and another of a 996 on a fireplace mantle. I should have had a clue that a Porsche was her dream car. She skipped right over the Z4 and while I mixed up a cocktail she got busy researching the Cayman on Edmunds. Forty five minutes she got an email from a local dealer confirming our appointment for 10 AM the following day.

I was going along with all this, thinking that she just paid off her 2004 Honda S2000 (having just received the title a few days earlier) and she wouldn't realllllly be ready for another new car. Wrong! My second clue to her level of seriousness came the next day when she stopped at the car wash on the way to the Porsche dealer. The Honda was getting spruced up one last time.

Our salesman took us around the car and discussed the features and controls. After fifteen minutes they were out for a test drive. Upon returning Jolyn remarked how nice the Cayman felt and that all of her expectations were exceeded. I was so happy for her that her desire of 25 years was being sated, unlike the time we stopped to drive a classic Corvette, but that is another story. Now, it seemed, the only thing to do was choose a color. Lapis Blue was the first choice, but this dealer had none in that color. Red was out of the question. Black with tan looked stunning, but one black car in the family is enough. As always there were a slew of Silver and this was really our second choice. Does any Porsche look bad in silver? I think not. We drove one with a grey interior and were underwhelmed by that combination.

Initially we were looking for a relatively unoptioned car to keep the cost down, but we happened upon another Arctic Silver with the upgraded Cocoa leather interior and we both agreed that this was the one. Other options included 19" Carrera Classic wheels, navigation, premium package, leather/wood steering wheel and maybe a few other things. We both wanted the manual transmission; Tiptronic was a deal-breaker. We had no need for PASM or ceramic brakes.

I have driven just a few Porsches (914, 928, older 911) so my frame of reference is out of date and I can't offer any comparisons, but I must say, I am really pleased with the Cayman. I like light, agile sports cars without and over-abundance of horsepower. It has fantastic steering feel and awesome brakes and seems very comfortable on the highway. The engine "soundtrack" is easily my favorite part of the car.

While Jolyn will be the primary driver, I will be the primary forum poster. Sorry for the long post, but the longer we have the Cayman the more excited I am about it. I'll try and post some pictures.

-James