After a multi-year quarter life crisis that included two 6.2L V8s and a "no replacement for displacement" driving playlist...the P-Car north star has shown me the way.
The desire for a Porsche started after a 2017 trip to the Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles to drive the 718 GTS on track. Their process gets you behind the wheel fairly quickly without much babysitting, meaning they might as well have put the Dr.-Ing. h.c. F. needle directly in my arm. Prior to this a few pals had 997 and 991 911s, but I never really considered them an option due to the "seriousness" of the 911. Briefly looked at 987.2 Caymans (similar to another TCLer's recent acquisition) but the cabin fit didn't quite jive. After a couple hours hooning the 718 with the no-regrets insurance upgrade, the proposition of that chassis with a naturally aspirated chassis seemed like a holy grail value proposition.
I started seriously shopping for 981 Caymans towards the end of 2019 with no solid leads. Most examples were safe specs in grayscale colors with PDK transmissions and vehicles with exciting options had a $10-15k premium. Come February 2020, the shopping path took a detour when I unintentionally won a no-reserve CTS-V wagon off of BaT. That was its own mess and became my shortest ownership period of any car, and since then the Holden, CTS-V, and '69 Benz have been sold.
Around March of this year a 2016 Cayman base that checked most of my boxes was posted on craigslist with a very cliche PCA member description. Over the course of a couple weeks we swapped info and I was ready to see the car + get a PPI. This was where the fun started, as the seller specified that I could not actually drive the car or have it inspected more than ten miles away from their home. Those familiar with SoCal will know its hard to get any errands done without driving 30-60 miles round trip. There were additional stipulations around masks, sanitizing, distance, etc which I was happy to accommodate if we ever got to the viewing stage.
The seller was too painful to deal with and I ended up watching the ad get reposted over time with lower and lower asking prices...until the car popped up at a local luxury used car dealer. At this point I still had the V, but it was listed for sale in a few places. Longer story short, it took about 48 hours to trade the V in (for more than the BaT purchase price) and drive off in the Cayman after a clean PPI. Dealer did a couple service items which helped seal the deal, although I have to dive into the trunk carpeting to clean up oil residue.
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2016 Cayman (last model year for the flat six)
- 6MT
- Mahogany Metallic
- Full leather black and Luxor Beige interior
- Sportdesign steering wheel
- White gauges
- Convenience package (heated seats, dual zone, homelink)
- CD-R plus infotainment
- 19" Boxter S wheels
- Colored wheel crests
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Could not be happier with the way this car drives. Coming from the 4000+ club the jenny craig spec 2,888 lb curb weight is a breath of fresh air. And cutting the daily driver's horsepower by over 50% allows me to actually enjoy the car within legal boundaries.
Even with euroboi roots, coming into this caliber of build quality right after two GM platforms has increased driver snobbiness at least 30%.
After ~1500 miles the modding began:
- Porsche x73 suspenion
- BBS LM-R 19"
- 50% ceramic tint
- AWE anti wind buffeting window corners
- Zunsport grilles
- 718 third brake light (light beam instead of dots)
- Tequipment color matched key
- Aluminum-look fuel cap (please take the needle out of my arm)
![Image]()
![Image]()
The desire for a Porsche started after a 2017 trip to the Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles to drive the 718 GTS on track. Their process gets you behind the wheel fairly quickly without much babysitting, meaning they might as well have put the Dr.-Ing. h.c. F. needle directly in my arm. Prior to this a few pals had 997 and 991 911s, but I never really considered them an option due to the "seriousness" of the 911. Briefly looked at 987.2 Caymans (similar to another TCLer's recent acquisition) but the cabin fit didn't quite jive. After a couple hours hooning the 718 with the no-regrets insurance upgrade, the proposition of that chassis with a naturally aspirated chassis seemed like a holy grail value proposition.
I started seriously shopping for 981 Caymans towards the end of 2019 with no solid leads. Most examples were safe specs in grayscale colors with PDK transmissions and vehicles with exciting options had a $10-15k premium. Come February 2020, the shopping path took a detour when I unintentionally won a no-reserve CTS-V wagon off of BaT. That was its own mess and became my shortest ownership period of any car, and since then the Holden, CTS-V, and '69 Benz have been sold.
Around March of this year a 2016 Cayman base that checked most of my boxes was posted on craigslist with a very cliche PCA member description. Over the course of a couple weeks we swapped info and I was ready to see the car + get a PPI. This was where the fun started, as the seller specified that I could not actually drive the car or have it inspected more than ten miles away from their home. Those familiar with SoCal will know its hard to get any errands done without driving 30-60 miles round trip. There were additional stipulations around masks, sanitizing, distance, etc which I was happy to accommodate if we ever got to the viewing stage.
The seller was too painful to deal with and I ended up watching the ad get reposted over time with lower and lower asking prices...until the car popped up at a local luxury used car dealer. At this point I still had the V, but it was listed for sale in a few places. Longer story short, it took about 48 hours to trade the V in (for more than the BaT purchase price) and drive off in the Cayman after a clean PPI. Dealer did a couple service items which helped seal the deal, although I have to dive into the trunk carpeting to clean up oil residue.
2016 Cayman (last model year for the flat six)
- 6MT
- Mahogany Metallic
- Full leather black and Luxor Beige interior
- Sportdesign steering wheel
- White gauges
- Convenience package (heated seats, dual zone, homelink)
- CD-R plus infotainment
- 19" Boxter S wheels
- Colored wheel crests
Could not be happier with the way this car drives. Coming from the 4000+ club the jenny craig spec 2,888 lb curb weight is a breath of fresh air. And cutting the daily driver's horsepower by over 50% allows me to actually enjoy the car within legal boundaries.
Even with euroboi roots, coming into this caliber of build quality right after two GM platforms has increased driver snobbiness at least 30%.
After ~1500 miles the modding began:
- Porsche x73 suspenion
- BBS LM-R 19"
- 50% ceramic tint
- AWE anti wind buffeting window corners
- Zunsport grilles
- 718 third brake light (light beam instead of dots)
- Tequipment color matched key
- Aluminum-look fuel cap (please take the needle out of my arm)
but i think they look great the way they are too.
