After selling my Cayman S a couple months ago to accommodate a new baby (read car seat) I was left feeling a little...um, how do you say Porscheless.





I looked at the super sedans M3, C63, ISF, but as it turns out the infant seat won't fit in those very well either.

My Father has an 01 E55 that in typical AMG fashion has depreciated to the point that he couldn't justify trading/selling when he bought his last car. Since it was not being used I told him I was commandeering it to be used as a baby mobile.

Then I started to look for a 997, I found one that met my criteria that had been traded in at a Honda dealer on a Ridgeline off all things. The Honda dealer put it on Ebay with no reserve and after a few conversations with them I felt comfortable enough to bid. I won the auction and brought her home last night from Atlanta. The Honda dealer was easy to work with, they even put a new set of N-spec rubber on it for me at 1/2 price ($800) to secure the deal. I'm pretty sure they wanted to get rid of it because they don't have the clientele to retail it.

Of course it rained the whole way home but that seems par for the course for me when I buy something in Atlanta. Although I'll say riding in the car was much more comfortable than bringing my Ducati home through 200+ miles of torrential down pour.

Alright enough back story. The car is a 06 that rolled over 25K miles on the way home. It's got heated sport seats, sport shifter, sport exhaust, bose, Xenon headlights (but not Bi-Xenon??), silver seat belts and some other stuff I'm sure. It's kind of hard to tell exactly what all options it has even using AutoAtlanta's VIN decoder.

Car doesn't have Nav, sport chrono, or the package with auto wipers/dimming mirrors. But I doubt I'll miss that too much.

I've already ordered clear side markers and some fresh floor mats. And have an appointment at my local dealer for service on Friday.

 

She's a beaut! Welcome to the 997 board!!!

I have to admit that the looks of the Cayman are simply incomparable to the 997... Not trying to ding the Cayman, but it's just sooo apparent when you see those two shots.

What do you think so far? I realize it's early, but do you have to have an initial personal comparo analysis between the two?

 

congrats!

You have PSE, be happy! If you miss the NAV, you can add after market nav+bluetooth replacing the radio.

 

My drive home was all highway so it's a little early to compare them. The Cayman has less room inside, I'm 6'3" so the extra leg room in the 997 is a welcome bonus for me. The exhaust/engine sounds very different, granted the new car has the sport exhaust but in the Cayman you really hear the mechanical whirl of the engine since it is right up behind you.

Honestly though since it was raining and I was just cruising I can't compare them as far as driving dynamics quite yet.

 

The PSE was a very nice bonus. I wasn't specifically looking for a car with it but it sounds great. Although, I need to check to see if it has modded to bypass the dash switch since it seems like it's on loud all the time. I was going to bypass it anyway if it hasn't already been done.


Depending on what it cost to get the maintenance up to date on Friday. I'll be looking at some LED tails and doing something about the lobster forks.

 

Nice looking 997. I love the silver too. Welcome and I just got here a week ago myself.

 

Trading a Porsche 997 for a Honda Ridgeline, one of the ugliest SUV/Pick-up ever created ? Was the guy under medication?

Yves

 

I'm 6'4" and used to have a Cayman, great car, but as my only car it was a bit of a squeeze and inconvenient to not have a back seat when I had passengers. Congrats on the acquisition. It's a bit different going from a Cayman to 997, there are pluses and minuses in my opinion.

 

that is one gorgeous Porsche!!! congrats!!!! Great move. Yeah, there are ways around the options if you really end up missing something. its easy to go crazy on aftermarket stuff though..there is something to be said for simplicity & purity.

 

Awesome, congrats and welcome to the 997 club.

 

Thanks! The car wears silver well and I think looks better in person than photos.

Guy was evidently an Architect (aren't they supposed to have and eye for the aesthetic?) But according to the dealership also has a 930 turbo so we can forgive him.

Biggest minus is not having a rear hatch. I could fit a ton of stuff in the Cayman.

Thanks! I did a few things to my Cayman interior that I may end up doing again. GT3 shift ****, Center console cover.

I will have to figure out a MP3/ipod solution. I've been reading up on the forum already.

Thanks!

 

Congrats, welcome back.