Which Mid-Engined Sports Car? | Porsche Cayman vs Lotus Elise
just the front end on this is incredible my cayman probably would go round the corner faster but this handles better it feels like a muscle car which is weird to say because it's not a muscle car at all hello there welcome to another video from maxwebs we're not in a porsche cayman we're in the lotus s220 that's 220 brake horsepower and about 920 kilograms and this is a phenomenal car we've got josh over here josh used to own a 981 cayman sport a real popular video on this channel we released it last year in lockdown i'm shouting because i've got no idea if the audio is going to come out i've always loved the cayman um ever since they came out the first generation of them i think the the shape of them and everything absolutely amazing and the also the size of them i live down the new forest on the edge of the new forest and the roads aren't particularly big so it's the perfect size um for for off for the roads that i drive on um doesn't really warrant having a huge horsepower bigger vehicle i've had m3 92s um and stuff like that m3s and um they're just a little bit too big to be honest yeah i'm very well thank you right max oh yeah you know it's great sunny weather open top and um we were just sort of talking off camera a little bit there's a lot of reasons why this car is on this channel because it ticks a lot of the boxes that you get in a cayman i've had lots of cars been into cars for many years um and as i've got older changed tastes change needs you know what i wanted um but yeah i've had lots of hot hatches um modified most of them um mostly engine and suspension work really trying to make them better drivers cars really and um yeah yeah loads have been very fortunate have lots of different different things nothing you know that swanky but i i liked him at the time what i could afford um and enjoy them loads so yeah my i had the 981 cayman s that was on your channel which i absolutely loved um a few reasons why i ended get getting rid of it mainly down to cost really because of the worry of lockdown covered everything was going on and you know i say like i said before and you know i'm not a millionaire i pay for everything that i've got and it was a lot of money tied up in in that and i didn't know i've run a small business um and you know that's that's sometimes you've got to make those choices you know then so that's what i had to do we were coming out of some roundabouts so we weren't even doing at speed but the composure the levelness i i felt it actually felt more composed than a gt4 because you're lower and i felt there was less spring travel i mean you bet you better get your flame suit on i think but a lotus is is designed principally i think for a certain purpose it is they're they are more compromised you know you know the the the caymans the gt4s everything like that they are possibly in my opinion you know one of the best all-round cars you can buy i love the exposed gear shifter i'll get you some footage of this car on the inside but it's it's a very stripped down car but but basic's the wrong word i think it's very purposeful yeah that's that's why i think the original um lotus elises were they were a lot more stripped out than this didn't have any particularly any creature comforts or anything and that's why i was very um keen to get one of of of the later ones because they do have all the nice and bits and bobs um on that i would want do they call this extended leather what's the option got leather in between and then you've got the alcantara pack which is like the seats and stuff like that and then the on contrast stitching obviously yeah polycolor stitching which in porsche land would be like probably 10 grand but yeah yeah it's quite a nice spinner it's got i think it's got the touring pack which is basically um you get carpets which is how you know that's how crazy it is that you have to pay extra for carpets um and it also had it didn't have the stereo option so you basically had only two front speakers and that was it so i had to put some rear speakers in so i could actually hear the music but again you're not buying this car for that when you got into this car when you first bought it like hey hey what were you looking for what made you go lotus elise and then when you kind of got the car what would like say the first three things that stood out in your mind um the reason why i got it um because i couldn't find a honda 2000 you've had two of them before i've had two of them before but they are anyone who's driven one in anger that is because a normal day-to-day driving they're pretty pants to be honest you know that what why would you say that no no they got no torque they're quite loud they're quite hard they're older do i mean good friend of mine had a lotus elise s1 he had it for years always we've been out on various drives together handle's amazing um you know and he's he's always he's got a lotus um avora now which is a lovely car um and yeah he he's always you know said you should look into him so i started looking into him and then you know for not that much more i could get into this it was you know another third more obviously about 33. well that's nice there we go let's give him away there we go we just waved to a ferrari the lotus driver's always it's how it makes you feel and um i that's why i like the s2000 as well because you you know you can you can have fun at sensible speeds and that's same with the bass bass game as well and to be honest you know even the 981 cayman s and the gts you know they're not that fast you know compared to modern day stuff they're not that fast anymore it's the thought of the experience i think it's the same way people pick manual over pdk yeah yeah you can all just get a 911 turbo with pdk put your foot down you know yeah i think there's less fun in that yeah yeah definitely i see i did miss i had obviously in puk in my um 981 and i did miss i it was a weird thing i was i was sort of still on the fence completely with it i missed the um interaction of having a manual gear shift but i love the drama because there is drama from having those paddles i felt like i was a racing driver i mean when you're flicking flicking through the gears of the paddles it was it still it was still really good fun i'd love to get past this guy that's nice we'll have to bring you a picture of the digital dash in here because like josh has actually put in an aftermarket that speedo see that's beautiful corner very confidence inspiring yeah it's nice nice easy to drive would you say the damper travel is quite short on this car there is quite a bit of damage when you i suspect you'll do some outside shots of the car and although it's a whole low car you've still got quite it's not like the wheels to the arch is not that yeah you know you've still got quite a big gap so that gives you you know you've got obviously got damper travel but the gt4s and stuff like that are you know they you're talking they're right on the ark there is you know um but again a gt4 down a super smooth road or on a track will probably absolutely smash this because that's you know yeah so disclaimer obviously we're still porsche fanboys you know we still love the porsches but i think there's nothing wrong with an honest debate especially from someone that's had a cayman and now no longer has a cayman yeah i think every car it has its merits doesn't it one way or another and um you know if i could afford a gt4 then yeah i'd love one um but i can't the best cayman is the one that you've got and you can afford yeah the best car is the one that you can afford without worrying about the payments on it yeah that's it i mean some people don't don't worry about it they um you know people are in different situations different stages in their life you know and things like that so um yeah right now i'm super happy with this and every right to be yeah yeah i mean it'll be great i don't know if we'll even get a chance today we might put you in my comment and then just get to see how you find the handling comparison on the same day oh by the way thanks for the t-shirt stephen from milton robery thank you i'll put it on so yeah cheers for that so i'm in the driver's seat of a lotus elise yeah mate so i'm just gonna before i even say anything i just want to like soak it up a little bit the shift is amazing so you said you waited to get this shift yeah i specifically wanted one the last iteration which is the s3 with this um open shifter in it i tell you what i mean it's it's it's not even porsche short shift it's it's it's shorter than that so these are my first impressions behind the wheel of a lotus don't flame me i'm just very excited today the sun's out and it's the first open top car i've been in we're in the new forest the landscape is stunning okay and i've got to say it's just great talking with cars with guys who are passionate about their stuff you know what i love the clutch so the clutch on this the travel is super the brakes the brakes are quite you have to push them down a lot to make them work there we go they're quite unassisted it's a good thing you're telling me that before i need them they're good see what you mean you do have to they're not very assisted yeah and the biting point is not as linear i'd say as the cayman right as in it comes in a bit later yes yeah yeah there's a bit of travel before yeah i mean this is just a standard steering wheel but it's way smaller than mine in the cable yeah they are super small yeah and i think that the reason that i think it was great to feature this car is that it ticks a lot of boxes as to why people buy a porsche cable like let's say ideally we live in sunny california you've got great weather all the time you're not too worried about driving in the wet conditions and this is your only car the boxes i would looking to take two-seater mid-engined feel and communication with the road and that's a bit like why i still like my 987 over like the more modern cars it's a bit more raw um i haven't really given the wheel a lot yet but certainly around the center position it doesn't feel that it's unassisted i mean you'd probably get that more on the corners there's no play in it it's not at all everything you know you move it a millimeter it moves me a millimeter um actually i've got to say it loads up when you put it to corners in a minute it loads up lovely yeah then you will feel you know the unassisted of it but you're right so in terms of play i mean i had my kind of bushings checked out and stuff but yeah this is probably the first car i've driven where i gen it's the least amount and by play i don't mean there's something wrong with the car yeah i know what you want about because in my 981 you could move the steering wheel ever ever so slightly slightly and you wouldn't correct correct and that that you don't have that in this yes it's your steering wheel which again is great for a car that you use on the odd occasion like this as a bit of fun but it becomes wearing if you're on a edit because you're constantly i definitely say it's confidence inspiring yeah it's got a lot of grip yeah that's what the brakes are like it reminds me a little bit of it i i'm beginning to think how assisted the brake pedal is on the cable as in not in a bad way but you can tell this is just more physics like i love the lights on your dash as well yeah there is no play for a lot of caymans and probably most all modern cars that they build that probably a little bit of play into it because then you don't have to keep adjusting it all the time okay you know wow i don't think there's anything wrong with it there wasn't anything wrong with my 91 and um correct yeah yeah like i did notice yeah as i gave it when something took my foot off the revs must drop pretty quickly because you obviously felt that yeah or maybe i didn't shift it quick enough but like yeah i think a smaller engine you know still love my camera though but so what i need to get into a spider because the open top feeling for me would you say that when you i mean i know you've only recently had the car but is it more of a top no top on the car driving experience oh 100 yeah that's one of the appeals to the of the elise for me um as having the open top because it makes it you know i use i'm fortunate enough to have it only to use when it's nice weather so it's lovely having the roof off when it's nice i think you know and that's why you know i i still really really like the um the spiders paul spoilers because you know you get the best of everything get that flat six you get everything but again it's it comes down to come down the money and price really this is fantastic well listen we're enjoying life and cast the max i want to save a bit of battery power in the cameras for when josh gets into my car so we're going to turn the cameras off now we'll get him into mine and we'll just try because he hasn't driven the 987 and i think his cayman was pdk so we'll get him to see my gear shifter after this one and we'll bring you his feedback shortly so we'll see you in a bit bye i've driven a manual camera not the not the 987 one i've always steered clear from the older rubbish models enjoy it like the guy that's it that's the end of the video before we get into my car yep is there any sort of uh preconceptions that you might be thinking about okay steering's not gonna be as good as this or the you know like what would go through your mind um i think the sound is gonna be better okay 100 i don't think i think the steering is not going to be anywhere near this steering on this but it's going to be better than my 981 that's only going from what other people have said because i think yours is hydraulic isn't it whereas mine was on the 981 is is electric um i personally didn't feel that the um steering feel on my 981 was that good i've got a little fiesta st 180 and i think that's got better steering feel than than my um my thing yeah i know get the flame get the flame suit out there ready um but yeah i i yeah i wasn't that you know but but as an overall package i loved my cayman um and so yeah with regards yeah it's gonna be very different i think it's gonna feel bigger and heavier yeah but then it's bigger and heavier yeah we've gone from the lease to my cayman and immediately our head distance to the floors it's gone up dramatically you know yeah um even you you were calling out the massive height difference here yeah i mean it just feels big and it's not a big car at all but it it's all a prospective thing yeah relative where you've come from it feels like a muscle car which is weird to say because it's not a muscle car at all but compared to the elise that's very interesting it feels like a muscle car because you can you feel that big old engine behind you yeah wafts wafts of torque which yeah again is not generally what you would hear from a cayman because they're not that talk rich are they yeah i mean it's the first time i've driven you know 987 and it's it's it's it's a porsche it's lovely every porsche is a is a nice porsche yeah you can give it open up that tap oh yeah my 981 um sports exhaust factory sports exhaust is i mean it's i would say it's probably louder than this really and these revs yeah from memory that is and obviously you've got you get a lot of crackles and bubbles which isn't the exhausted as he says that ecu tune isn't it on it i've said about for the beauty of a porsche it fits so many occasions yeah my lease doesn't fit it's definitely more singular in its use i mean i can't get over how high we've ridden i mean you've got to do it back to back from the elise to this one but we i mean even i feel we're riding really high but i've never felt that in my car no like i come out of our family honda and i think i'm riding quite low yeah yeah i think the overriding thing has been said loads this is definitely more a car that you can use on lots of occasion um steering nowhere near as the elise but that's a given obviously it's a lot heavier so it doesn't feel so um direct or pointy or darty or engaging but it does the key things really well still yeah i i think what i'm sort of taking away from this then i sort of thinking about it more is that everything's relative and i think if you were to pick a single car to give you driving dynamics engagement thrill motorway journey cruises you know that that's where i see the cayman working is your you know it it sort of ticks all of them boxes yeah yeah both lovely cars and i can see how you can appreciate the finer points in both yeah yeah like i said off camera it's you know i don't i'm not one to bash anyone's car or why they have it or why they like it because in different you know parts of your life stages if you like if you want different things or need different things and can afford different things so it's right for you at that time isn't it yeah so no car's perfect is it you know and there's things that i like love about this or the caymans or porsches in in some ways that i don't like about lotuses you know the same same as every car manufacturer i think there's quite a lot of parallels i'd say uh timeless looks yeah uh driver focused cars yeah and i genuinely believe they're both driver focused we're just talking about how much you want to turn that dialogue yeah because as you turn it up with a lotus you lose what this has so i think it's the comparable conclusions i think someone in the market for a sports car is going to have you know those on their list aren't they yeah you know so that shows that they are comparable definitely it's a beautiful car josh you know it's a beautiful car i don't think i would be as a summer car when a weather's like this i don't think i'd miss that much from a cayman i mean no i think that's the key isn't it it's a very um car that's built for one purpose to have fun in the summer correct with the roof off yeah whereas a cayman's you know it's a different proposition you can use it all the time that's that's the beauty of the cayman the key point there is overall package yeah if i was going to pick a one-trick pony as it were i think i'm still going to probably go cayman get out no no you've got another 100 you know i'm very fortunate enough to not you know to have to use this for what its intended uses not massive motorway miles or anything like that it's to enjoy on a sunny day down lovely country roads in my local area which is the new forest um whereas it came in you can use it for for everything um we just about fit my camera gear at the back yeah yeah you know yeah we had to take the roof out yeah so if it rains which it might today would be in trouble so i'm just about 20 miles into my journey home and this is why i think the porsche cayman is such a fantastic car i'm driving home on a motorway now i've got a hundred miles to do and i feel a lot better doing that in my cayman than the elise the cayman is a great car every cayman is a great car the elise is a great car for sunny days when you can basically take it out and it's not your only car but i think for me the cayman and this is what i couldn't kind of represent or quite comprehend driving around those back roads with the josh the cayman is a car you can have as your one car that basically ups up to 10 as much as possible all the great things you want in a car without much of the compromises enjoying life and cars to the max see ya
2021-06-21 22:10
