[mithiral67]

I have been a 4 time BWM owner, but never an M owner. I seriously considered the m4 to be my next car but having had dabbled with Porsche before, they were on the table. If you are buying new, you cant cross shop between the M4 and a 991S, we are talking a 50% difference in price before options and it only gets worse with options. If you consider a 991 base, it’s more reasonable, but folks looking at the top of the line 3/4 serious might have issues with a base model when a bigger engine options is present.

Hence, when I was looking, the 991 was just outside of my budget. That really leaves the Cayman as the true competition if you start with only costs and wanting a sports car well more capable than you will ever fully utilize on the streets.

To me, the decision came down to 4 factors; daily usability, power, driving characteristics, and rarity. In daily usability and power, the BMW wins hands down. You have a back seat and one large trunk vs. two smaller trunks. In addition, you have a very broad power band making daily driving a breeze. The need for space quickly knocks the Cayman out of contention and the power band can make some folks crave for 100 more hp and 150mpre TQ.

For driving characteristics, I don’t think you can find any driver that wouldn’t prefer a car that weighs 300-500 less lbs and has the engine in the middle instead of in the front. Both these aspects transforms how a car performs. Its also a mid engined Porsche and argued by some to be an even better chassis than the 991 (thats some praise).

Lastly, the Cayman is going to stand out as more unique on the road (the 981 is a stunning vehicle) as there a significantly less number of them on the road and often an M car will quickly be mistaken as the regular 3 serious by an average person while a Cayman is more likely to be confused with a 911.

At the end of the day, I ordered up a cayman GTS, yea it priced out about $10k more than an M4, but every day I know I will be driving something special and something connected to the road like few other cars out there.