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About 1.5 years ago, I paid $34K for my CPO'd 2011 Cayman Base 6MT with 67K miles and about every major option minus leather wrapped interior panels.
The car is nearly 60% 911 and most every part I've pulled off the car (and there have been many) say "997".
The car is raw and visceral, yet totally comfortable enough and reliable for me to take on 10+ hour drives. She ain't very fast (maybe mid 13s@102mph), but most everyone thinks it's way faster than it is solely because of the near exotics car looks and Porsche name. While not fast, she leaps extremely off the line with 4500-5000rpm launches and gets to 60 quickly (low low 5s) and sounds amazing doing it. But this car isn't about the power, it's about the handling. It's bonkers because of the light weight (just under 3,000lbs as measured on a local truck scale), small body, mid engine balance and traction, strong and linear brakes, and excellent suspension. I love having a high revving (7500rpm redline) naturally aspirated lower torque motor because I can fine tune the power vs traction in turns which is something not easily done with a turbo and is likely why all the super Porsches remain NA.
For what it can do stock, which mine is down to the base suspension, the car is a steal for the money, IMO. I've done a good amount of maintenance and preventative maintenance to it, but the car so freaking easy to work on and parts are not too crazy cost wise in most cases.
My Cayman was sold in late 2010 which means it's been on the road for 13 years now. It doesn't rattle and the interior and exterior are in stellar shape minus some minor scratches on the rear interior panels. I'm the 6th owner of this car and probably the only one that's really cared for it. The build quality of these cars is impressive. Everything is robust, heavy, and direct. All inputs (steering, shifter, throttle, brakes) are VERY heavy but also very connected and/or linear. The body panels themselves are very thick and have no give. The car could easily be 150lbs+ lighter if Porsche didn't use such thick sheet metal and so much noise insulation everywhere.
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The forest was shrinking, but the Trees kept voting for the Axe, for the Axe was clever and convinced the Trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them.
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