Most people assume that guys in the car industry are car freaks. For the most part, nothing could be further from the truth. Even if cars were the reason they got into the industry, most people in a dealership have lost that spark. I must admit, that after all these years, while I’m still a complete car fanatic, a new car has to be really special before I actually rave about it. I’ve been sick this week & was feeling pretty low, when I heard a ripping noise outside my office. I knew without even seeing it that there was a Porsche of some sort waiting for me to sample & suddenly my spirits came alive. Nothing like a quick shot of automotive adrenaline to cure the common cold! A silver 2006 Porsche Cayman S, just for me!
Silly nicknames aside, I must admit that I was smitten by the shape of the new Cayman when I first saw one. The rear 1/4 view has the look of a muscular cat waiting to pounce. Overall, the shape is undeniably Porsche and I think this will become one of Porsche’s defining models over time.

On first inspection, the large (12.5″ front, 11.8″ rear) brake discs and giant red calipers are visually stunning and really caught the eye. Looking around the car, the fit & finish were excellent. The rear trunk actually looks like you might be able to fit some clubs inside, though your Callaway driver would have to ride shotgun. Sliding into the cockpit, the interior feels quite snug, but there was just enough room for my 5′ 11″ passenger & my rotund frame fit nicely. The driver’s seat could stand to move back about another inch, but the engine compartment doesn’t allow room for that and the seats could be a bit lower to the floor. Owners who run their Cayman at lapping days will want to replace the driver’s seat with a lower profile racing seat, as there isn’t enough headroom for a helmet. One thing Porsche has done a great job of is creating storage space. There are little stoarge cubbies all over, not to mention a large glove box, making the Cayman a good car for real life. It even has 2 cupholders that are so exquisite that they could only have been designed by German engineers, it’s a shame that in the real world, they will likely get snapped off the dash.
A twist of the key and the 3.4 L 295 hp flat six growls to life. In todays world of fuel injected perfection, this engine is a bit of an anomoly. The idle is rough, with all the burps & farts that one usually associates with an all out race engine, not that of a street car. In fact, that rough idle is odd, given that the engine is striking in it’s smoothness once moving. The interior is quiet and calm at all speeds, which is quite a feat given that you are riding only inches from the engine. Porsche claims a 0-60 time of 5.1 seconds and I believe it. With the short time we had with the car, we weren’t able to do any real testing, but pulled off a 0-60 of about 6 seconds without any drama. The car just hooks up and goes. On occasion the PSM (short for Porsche Stability Management) kicked in and is so subtle that many drivers won’t notice it. This is a hero car that will make many drivers feel much more talented than they really are! The top speed is reported to be 171 mph, but in the urban setting we weren’t about to test that number.

There are those who say that the new Porsche Cayman S may be the best handling street car that Porsche has ever built. We should be able to test that out this summer when we join our Data guy at a few local PCA lapping days. For now, I’m going to have to keep jonesing for a drive whenever I can because it’s been a long time since I’ve driven a car that cranked me up as much as the Cayman S did.

Photo courtesy of autopress.be

When most of us take a road test in a used car, it usually means a quick spin around the block. Not so for a 16 year old in Timaru New Zealand. This guy took the car for a weekend & put 500 km on it! Apparently, the kid isn’t facing any charges from police, as the owner didn’t stipulate conditions of the road test.

Another one of life’s lessons….when you are trying to sell a used car, always go along for the road test, or at least keep something of value (like another car) as collateral.

The show features dealer kid cum sales phenom Josh Towbin (aka Chop) as he leads his huge crew of wacky sales staff to incredible heights of craziness. These guys will do anything to sell a car, and sell cars they do. One day featured in the show, they sell 40 cars in one day. 40 cars!!! I know many dealers that don’t sell 40 cars in a month, let alone a day! One cool stunt they pull is that customers who buy a car are allowed to drop their sales guy into a dunk tank. Who hasn’t wanted to drown a salesman before?

Towbin Dodge does really well with their Chopper Edition models, which they have slammed, lifted, installed hydraulics in everything from a 2006 Charger to a 2005 Hummer H2.

The show King of Cars is put together by the same group that produce Dog the Bounty Hunter and other A&E hits, so you know it’s well put together. I actually really enjoyed the view into a dealership much larger than anything I’ve ever been in. I hope they spend some time in the service department.

“It drives like a Lada running on corn oil”

A customer’s description of the noise his belt tensioner was making.