2008 Porsche Cayman consumer reviews

It's a great sports car for a fraction of the price. I personally like the body style better than some 911s. It's an all around perfect car, you just have to plan group drives accordingly.

Great german made car. Love it. You actually feel like you are driving something vs. the tin cans or plastic bubbles as with other automobile manufacturers. Sturdy, dependable, rock solid, handles great!! This is my 4th Porsche - once you own a Porsche, you will not want to buy another manufacturer.

Styling, it is one of the most beautiful cars out there. Comfort, great for me, male. 77 years young, 5' 7" , 170 lbs. I actually installed a 'Clutch Pedal Extender' to bring the clutch pedal 2.5" closer to me so that I can move the seat aft, then all 3 pedals are 'in my comfort zone' otherwise the LONG clutch throw would require me to sit too far forward, too close to the accelerator and brake pedals . GREAT HANDLING, cornering, acceleration etc. You just cannot 'unglue' this mid-engine car. Mine is 'Base engine, 2.7 L 245 hp. Owned it for 3 1/2 years now near Toronto, Canada. I do NOT drive it in SNOW or ICE. The Summer Michellin Pilot 2's are suicidal in even a little snow. Excellent on dry or wet though. Around town fuel consumption could be a lot better at an average of 15 L /100KM. That is as much as my 2004 Volvo S80 AWD which is 1,000 lbs heavier. Although the Cayman does like to 'rev' where as the Volvo is automatic and low rpm.

I have owned several Porsches. However, I have never owned a mid engine Porsche. I was in for a surprise. The ride was a little rougher than my others, but what a bang for the buck. I felt like I was at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee driving a go-cart with 300 Horse Power. It handles like none of my other Porsches. And compared to others, it is about bullet proof. Outside of standard maintenance like oil, filters, spark plugs, belts, and tires nothing breaks on this car. This doesn't make my mechanic very happy. Actually it does. He was getting tired of taking my money for all my other cars!

This car with its rare Speed Yellow color and Fabspeed custom exhaust system is like driving an exotic super car. Heads turn and camera phones come out wherever this car goes.

This is by far the best car I have ever owned. Never had any problems with it. Looks like a million bucks and drives smoothly with lots of power. Perfect car.

Like many I dreamed of a 911 and really wanted the 89-93 body style for its classic lines and reliabiltiy. However from a comfort and driveability once I started driving the Cayman it seemed like an easy choice. Nothing against the 911 the comfort, ride, and overall performance seemed to be just what I needed for my first sports car. And after just 2 weeks it will will not be my last. I found a one owner 2008 with 34K on it and its solid. Paid some good money for paint restoration and c quartz finish and it looks new. Cannot belive how it holds the road in the Tennessee Mountains!

I have now owned my Cayman for over four years. Notwithstanding my title, it has been extremely reliable for me. Now here are the two "catches". First, unless you get one that's highly optioned up, you are going to be missing things that all your friends have in their Kias and Camrys ... like auto temp control (!), auto lights, wipers, and a decent stereo. Oh sure, I know, real sports car drivers don't care. Well, most of us spend our days driving on ordinary roads with ordinary traffic and that engine sound is beautiful for a while and after a couple of hours it becomes a drone that won't be drowned out by the pathetic radio. And you think you won't miss the other little things ... you will be wrong. There is a reason other manufacturers put them on their cars, they are nice to have. Porsche will sell them to you, also ... at a very high price. But the real biggie is, as the Chicago owner pointed out, all the defective engineering. Yes, the engine may suddenly blow up, and a new engine costs $20,000 with the same defective engineering. It's no lie. There is a cottage industry in trying to rectify this problem, which affects anywhere from 1% to 10% of these cars but which Porsche won't officially admit to. Why should they? Idiots like me get so hyped up over the media reviews and the test drive that we buy their cars anyway. But are you really willing to take a 1% chance that you'll have to pay another $20K for a new engine?

My red Cayman S purchase was a private transaction. It was only 24K on a 2008, but I still ran CARFAX and had the Porsche dealer check it out. Interestingly, a lot of Porsche's are only driven at weekends. That seems a waste to me. The only major mod was after market sport springs that stiffened up the ride a bit and made getting in and out more of a work out. The performance is excellent. The car runs like is in on rails. Realistically, you aren't going to push the CS to its handling limits on public roads. I live in the mountains with plenty of corners to play with. Steering is very precise. Clutch and manual shift are easy to get right. Engine response is smooth across the range. I miss not having either BT or a MP3 player interface, but the engine sound puts a smile on my face in the morniing. So if you want a fun car that isn't a crazy price, then this is a good bet. I used to own a Miata - That was fun too!

Instant power on demand, surgical precision steering, comfortable daily car, exciting car when pushed, nice rumble sound in and outside the car. However, the generation 1 Cayman has several designed flaws, some can cause catastrophic failure with little to no warning. Those things can constantly nag you in the back of your head - and can reduce the joy of owning one. - IMS (Intermediate Shaft) Failure. A design flaw that when it fails, a new engine is needed. Porsche rectified this by not having an IMS in Gen II Cayman. - RMS (Rear Main Seal) Failure. The broken seal is not so much of an issue, the problem is that it leads to the IMS failure - Cracked piston. A design flaw with porous engine head. - Water and Oil Separator failure. Apparently this can fail often. And when it fails, the tail pipe will belch out a massive amount of smoke. I am not sure on the damage to the engine when this thing fails. Another thing to worry about. - Water pump failure. This can fail even with just 5K miles on the odometer. When it fails, it will leave you stranded. You don't have this kind of problem with a BMW, Lexus, or Infinity. Just another thing that nags you in the back of your head.