I recently crossed over the 30k mark. I don't daily since I work from home, but that mileage has been hit in under 18 months of year round use so I thought I'd share thoughts on the ownership experience this far. This is my first Porsche, coming from a BMW M3.
1. Purchase experience: By far the best so far. For context, I was 26 when I bought my WRX and 27 when I bought the M3 and didn't get taken particularly seriously at either dealership (pain to get test drives, etc). For the Porsche (was 28) I chatted with the sales manager, once he learned I track my cars and knew approximately what I wanted he pulled a few options out front and gave me the keys and let me go out on my own. Was pretty blown away by that.
2. Warranty: I've had a couple small warranty issues plus the big 3rd gear failure. But everything has been seamless in getting repaired quickly, and Porsche even made my car payment the month I was getting a new transmission.
3. Road car: I don't commute in this car, but I do lots of 300-500 mile road trips and it's a great long range cruiser. Can get 30mpg reasonably easily and other than a bit more cabin noise than I'd like it's a very comfortable car. Much better than the M3 in terms of harshness of suspension, particularly with the DSC. Also tons of storage space given it's a 2 seater. I added a hitch for my bike and it happily goes anywhere with cycling/camping/hiking gear. Decent ground clearance too, even with SPASM I don't find myself worried about scraping much.
4. Winter car: I spend tons of time in Ontario year round, and with the snow tires and LSD the car is a great winter car (as long as the road isn't unplowed in the middle of a blizzard). The only criteria I'd say it is inferior to the M3 is the HVAC system. The M3 would somehow be blowing hot air within 90 seconds no matter the temperature and the Cayman takes a while to warm up. I did run into some issues with the windshield washer nozzles freezing, will see about warrantying if it happens again this year.
5. Track car: I've got 29 track days on the car already, and will have 35 by the time the year is done. All I've done for modifications is the DSC PASM controller, some brake caliper studs, and high temp brake fluid. I run RE71R with stock brakes and have never had any issues with fade (though the rears wear FAST, but super cheap to replace). This car will happily drive to the track 500 miles, do 2 days of hard driving, and drive back in a thunderstorm with no complaints. I can attack curbing without unsettling the car as much as my M3. Meanwhile some of the other people I go with are constantly swapping parts and fixing their cars. This is really where you get your value for money with Porsche. You always hear of the argument where "For the price of a 370 hp 911 I could get a 650hp Vette and have money left over" but even a non GT Porsche seems to be happy to drive on track all day. It has enough power to enjoy the big tracks without feeling like a muscle car that's trying to break the back end loose. And of course it's probably the best handling car under $100k.
1. Purchase experience: By far the best so far. For context, I was 26 when I bought my WRX and 27 when I bought the M3 and didn't get taken particularly seriously at either dealership (pain to get test drives, etc). For the Porsche (was 28) I chatted with the sales manager, once he learned I track my cars and knew approximately what I wanted he pulled a few options out front and gave me the keys and let me go out on my own. Was pretty blown away by that.
2. Warranty: I've had a couple small warranty issues plus the big 3rd gear failure. But everything has been seamless in getting repaired quickly, and Porsche even made my car payment the month I was getting a new transmission.
3. Road car: I don't commute in this car, but I do lots of 300-500 mile road trips and it's a great long range cruiser. Can get 30mpg reasonably easily and other than a bit more cabin noise than I'd like it's a very comfortable car. Much better than the M3 in terms of harshness of suspension, particularly with the DSC. Also tons of storage space given it's a 2 seater. I added a hitch for my bike and it happily goes anywhere with cycling/camping/hiking gear. Decent ground clearance too, even with SPASM I don't find myself worried about scraping much.
4. Winter car: I spend tons of time in Ontario year round, and with the snow tires and LSD the car is a great winter car (as long as the road isn't unplowed in the middle of a blizzard). The only criteria I'd say it is inferior to the M3 is the HVAC system. The M3 would somehow be blowing hot air within 90 seconds no matter the temperature and the Cayman takes a while to warm up. I did run into some issues with the windshield washer nozzles freezing, will see about warrantying if it happens again this year.
5. Track car: I've got 29 track days on the car already, and will have 35 by the time the year is done. All I've done for modifications is the DSC PASM controller, some brake caliper studs, and high temp brake fluid. I run RE71R with stock brakes and have never had any issues with fade (though the rears wear FAST, but super cheap to replace). This car will happily drive to the track 500 miles, do 2 days of hard driving, and drive back in a thunderstorm with no complaints. I can attack curbing without unsettling the car as much as my M3. Meanwhile some of the other people I go with are constantly swapping parts and fixing their cars. This is really where you get your value for money with Porsche. You always hear of the argument where "For the price of a 370 hp 911 I could get a 650hp Vette and have money left over" but even a non GT Porsche seems to be happy to drive on track all day. It has enough power to enjoy the big tracks without feeling like a muscle car that's trying to break the back end loose. And of course it's probably the best handling car under $100k.
