:lol: Been there, done that in wife`s previous C5. "Um, you`re done for the night if you keep running like that". Somewhere is the vid of one of the first runs of the C5 when both wife and I were in car and you can hear her say towards the 1000ft mark "You better slow down or they`re gonna boot us"...which they did. Doh!
Pretty neat stuff. Slippery slope going fast next thing you know a turbo or supercharger shows up to your door and wife whacks you in back of the head when you try to explain you have no recollection of ordering this part.
It`s kinda reversed in our house at times; when we were doing headers, exhaust, intake and tune on her C5 she saw a shiny, polished Procharger in a catalog and wanted one immediately. Fortunately, I was able to talk her off of that ledge...
Why don`t I even remember that car? I`m looking at pictures and trying to tell myself it looks kind of familiar, but when I first read it I drew a complete blank.
Probably because anyone who owned one is embarrassed to talk about it...made by Mitsubishi, marketed by Plymouth, total piece of mid-1970`s garbage. Went thru 2 engines in that thing, balancing shafts would eat their bearings and toast the motor. After getting it back after the second engine, I immediately traded it in on a black, 1977 Cutlass Supreme w/ a 350ci motor, 2-barrel carb...which was made more palatable from a sound perspective by flipping the air cleaner lid. Not faster, but more fun.
BudgetPlan1:
For more "behind-the-scenes" personal information that led up to the purchase of this 2016 Porsche Cayman S 4.0, I read your ENTIRE post of it in budgetplan1.wordpress.com (sorry no link due to forum rules).
First and foremost, your are a prolific writer; extremely detailed and articulate. Your high-school English composition teacher would be proud.
Second, you are a "car-guy" to the max.
Third, you are a truly Obsessive-Compulsive Detailer (OCD) Autopian Al-Star in my book.
Thanks...I certainly can ramble on, eh? :lol:
If ya made it all the way through, you`ll see that I intended to trade the 981 Cayman in on a new 718 GTS 4.0...but I`ve since decided to keep the current Cayman long-term. While the 718 will give me a 70hp boost and the ability to custom configure my `perfect` Cayman, I`m afraid I`ll lose some of the `soul` associated with the current one. Even though it`s only been a year I`m so enamored with this version and already have memories associated with it over the past year that I`m not willing to risk losing something intangible that might happen with a new one. Been there, done that with other cars trying to `make it better` and this car has been such an epiphany with regards to what it takes for me to truly enjoy a car that I`m not willing to chance `taking a step backwards by taking a step forward`. Towards that end, I plan on sending the Cayman in this winter to have a few nicks touched up and then have it fully wrapped in PPF and coated; I drive this car *everywhere* I can and it`s starting to accumulate a few scars that bug me, things PPF would shrug off. PPF ain`t the perfect solution for every vehicle and situation but for my particular circumstance, it`s the way to go and having lived with PPF on her car for 2 years now, it`ll meet my needs perfectly.
What led me to all this was trying to find out if your Caymen had a 6-speed manual OR the PDK (PDK is an acronym for Porsche Doppel Kupplungs getriebe (strictly, Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe) Dual-Clutch Automatic transmission. Now that I see you mentioned your "distraction" with the "Launch Control" and its effect on your Reaction Time, I can conclude the Caymen has the PDK transmission.
I understand WHY you wanted to try the Cayman out on the dragstrip. It is a safe environment to do so and no worries about pubic roads and other drivers and "concerns" from traffic law enforcement . AND, now you (and the rest of us) know what the Caymen is capable of doing in a sprint. Yes, there are "faster" cars and even you have had a few Mustangs that fit that category. What many "go-fast" vehicle owners/drivers do NOT understand is the over-all driving experience in a Caymen, which, after reading the fore-mentioned blog, is the reason you now own and drive and immensely enjoy the Caymen.
I can kind of relate after owning a used `84 Ford Mustang SVO and going through two turbos in it and then trying out a new `86 Toyota MR2. While nowhere near as fast, the sum of the parts and the overall driving experience was SOOOOO much better than the SVO. That was most evident in the 5-speed manual transmission of the MR2 and its snick-snick operation of the cable shifter to the rear transaxle. Not to mention the balance of the high-revving mid-engine 1.6L four-cylinder engine that had the smoothness of a sewing-machine compared to the archaic front-engine Pinto-derived 2.3 L turbo 4-cylinder in the SVO. As the saying goes, "Sometimes it is more fun to drive a slow car fast."
While all of my previous toys have been manual transmissions, the PDK fits our household quite nicely and really doesn`t give up anything as far as performance. While my wife can drive a stickshift, she prefers not to and it is best to have interchangeable `toys` for maximum variety of enjoyment. She`ll always like her Vette more but after driving the Cayman to work for the first time, I quickly got a txt message saying "Turning is fun! I`m going to just drive around on lunch!" ANd after driving the Posche PDK with manual mode and paddles, I will likely never have a stick shift again...work smarter, not harder :lol: The PDK blips the throttle on manual downshifts, shifts in the blink of an eye...just soo much fun (without the work)
The Cayman just inspires so much confidence I feel like it will never hurt me despite my driver shortcomings at this point. And when I`ve let some more experienced drivers show me what it can *really* do, it`s quite impressive. I don`t have a need for more HP anymore (although it`s tough to beat the Vette getting up to speed on a freeway on-ramp!)
"Sometimes it is more fun to drive a slow car fast." - Truer words were never spoken in my case, it just took a few decades for me to figure that out. If I had unlimited funds and unlimited garage space, there would be a Miata in the mix somewhere. Or a John Cooper Mini.
I`ve always been a huge fan of the Cayman and long for a chance to actually drive one rather than ride in one. So far, I`ve only managed a few laps around a road course in a GT4 on one occasion and much later a lap of an autocross course in another instance.
There is so much truth here. A well sorted platform will make any car a dream to drive regardless of horsepower. It`s one reason why I miss my E46 BMW so much. It only had 175hp, but the experience behind the wheel was amazing. I`m at a point in my life where sheer acceleration is entertaining, but doesn`t really endear me to a car. What really gets me is a car that has me laughing out loud spontaneously as I toss it around a twisty backroad, on-ramp, or a sweeping left hand turn when I catch the turn arrow at the right time.
You can really see the brilliance of the Cayman at our SCCA Autocross events. In the hands of a good driver a bone-stock car dances around the cones like nothing else. No drama, no waves of body roll in the transitions, to tire howl, and very little noise at all. It just sticks and goes. Using a football analogy the Mustangs, Camaro`s, and M3`s are like Linemen. The Vett`s are more like a line-backer. The Cayman is the wide-receiver. Even the Miata`s and BRZ/FRS/86`s don`t get around the course with the same poise and balance.
Exactly...and in everyday usage (like a commute to work) the Vette is fun on the freeway onramp...and the Cayman is crazy fun everywhere else that even the must mundane turn lays in wait. And I *really* dig the wail of the little flat-6 motor at about 6500rpm.
I`ve been trying to convince my wife to trade the Vette in on a Boxster for the last year but so far remain unsuccessful which is a bit ironic. When we were pondering replacing her C5 with a C7 back in early 2019, she said "Maybe we should look at a Boxster instead..." and I shot that idea down with "Why would you want a little 6-cykinder, 300-ish hp car instead of the good ol` 436hp V8 Corvette!?!?!" If only I had a time machine to go back and chance re-phrase that with a "You now, I think you have something there..." Doh!
. 
. Never saw exactly what time it was running but he was movin`
