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Comment by salgernon | Hacker News Reader

What's missing from most cars today, and most drivers experiences, is a manual transmission. I hadn't driven one in about 15 years, and when I decided to buy a sportier car for fun driving, it was really hard to find one in my (cheap) price range. Are cars with the paddle shifter thing anything like a clutched manual transmission? It always seemed to me that they were just throwing software into the mix.

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You can get a used Cayman S with six speed manual transmission for under 30k USD nowadays, if you're still looking. It's mid-engine as well, so it has better weight distribution than the 911. It's a shame that they have to gimp the Cayman platform so it doesn't take away sales from the 911, though.

The 987.1 (pre-'08) Cayman S that you'll find for under 30k is plagued by the IMS bearing issue that ruined 996 prices and early Boxsters, though. I'd spend ~40k and get a 987.2 instead. It'll hold value enough to make the price difference worth it, and even if a low percentage of engines actually fail, the peace of mind is very nice to have.

Plus they fixed a lot of other issues (better air-oil separator, more oil pumps, power steering heat soak) that will crop up if you ever take one to the track.

Overall I agree, though, it's a shame they keep holding back on the Cayman to keep the 911 on top. The 911 is an amazing car but there's no reason they should need to keep hacking around physics to keep the rear engine dream alive.

I had heard about the IMS issue, but it seemed like it didn't affect most people. Good info.

I'm wondering if early Boxsters and 996s might be good values now because there are fixes for the IMS bearing issue on the market. I've read it can be done with a clutch job.

I think the IMS issue may make the 987.1 Cayman and 996 911 cars some of the best deals out there today - it seems like the IMS issues don't affect too many cars (and the issues may have been over-reported on Porsche forums), and there are solutions like the IMS Guardian (http://theimsguardian.com/) to detect IMS failure before it happens.

To me, a 996 sounds like a great deal today because prices are driven down by people who don't like the IMS issue and the egg-shaped headlights.

Totally agree. There's nothing like the feeling of dropping down a gear and hearing the machine come on boost. That whole experience alone is a pleasure to drive a manual.

Mazda still puts manuals in everything.

Cooper Minis are cheap and available in manual. I recommend getting the S model; the turbo makes a huge difference.

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