I got a phone call while sitting in Stomping Grounds enjoying a latte break mid bike ride. It was from Carter; the Cayman was back. We agreed that 1:00 pm would work for both of us.
Car #8: 2015 Porsche Cayman base. It is Guards Red with 23k miles, and the dealer is asking 48,249 Somolians. I have driven a Cayman way back in 2018, when my fairy godbrother David had a nice little P-Car garage, and I got to drive a bunch of Porsches. This was the only Cayman that Autotempest spit last week, so I wanted to drive one again even if this one has an automatic transmission. The typical streets, highway, and streets test drive. This yielded a meh on the want-to-buy scale. The auto tranny didn’t help, didn’t really hurt either, so I stand by my review of 2018: a large, comfortable, very fast, sharp-handling grand touring vehicle. Of course today on Autotempest there is a newer one for sale here in town. It is a black 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman for $49,990 with the preferred manual transmission. I’m tempted to chase it down for Friday.
Mike from Vancouver Subaru is off the hook for transferring that WRX because I found one, a WRX TSI, on the GMC-Buick dealer’s lot right next door to where the Cayman was. I was tempted to leave the Miata in the M-B dealer and walk back the 75 yards to the GMC-Buick place, but that felt like it might have been a slap in the face…
Car #9: 2021 Subaru WRX STI. Forty-nine thousand miles, and they want just over $30k for it. This one is slightly buried in the back lot. The salesman gave me the key, and he headed back inside for the key of a small Buick SUV. While I waited, I fired up the car. Oooh, that’s a heavy clutch, not outlandish, but it would be a workout if you always drove on the same route I took to get there. i.e., 14 miles of I-84 of which you crept for the last half of that, followed by 5 miles of US-26/I-405. On the way home, all of I-405 was creep and then 10 miles of I-84. The clutch was all I could really complain about. The car seemed a bit large (it’s 6″ longer than the GTI), but it felt like a GTI in its highway manners with just a bit more raucousness. Maybe this all makes it too GTIish to buy…