And that is why Jeremy Clarkson's reviews should not be the final arbiter of what constitutes a "good" car. The Boxster/Cayman has been consistently judged to be a better driver's car than the 911 because the engine is mounted in the right place to begin with. It's very much similar to Intel and the x86 architecture where its greatest success is keeping it from future greatness.
I think you've rather missed his point - it has nothing to do with how good the car is to drive or not, it's a judgment on what buying the car would say about your aspirations. As usual from Clarkson, it's extremely opinionated and nobody sensible would take it as the final arbiter on anything, although it is a unique and fairly perceptive take on the car.
In which case the poseurs driving 911s should go out and shoot themselves in the head since they can't afford a Carrera GT... which is also mid-engine.
The key word here is "judged" - whether the boxster/cayman is a better car than the 911 is exactly that, a matter of judgement.
An early 70's 911, all that weight hanging over/behind the skinny (by modern standards) rear wheels, no traction control - a joy to drive. That's just a judgement too!
No... read the quote again. "The ONLY reason you would buy one of these is because you can't afford a 911..."
He has it backwards. The only reason why the Boxster/Cayman is crippled as compared to the 911 is because the Porsche 911 "fans" are keeping it from becoming the best. If you go back far enough when they had the whole air-cooled vs water-cooled engine nonsense, it's the exact same thing.
You don't have to take my word for it. Ask the Porsche engineers why each subsequent iteration of the "best" 911, the GT3, has been shifting the engine closer to a midships layout.
Clarkson is not a car reviewer. He's an entertainer.
To be fair, some of it is Porsche being a low-volume manufacturer for as long as they were, until the introduction of the Cayenne. Porsche has long stood by its practice of ensuring they make no less than $10,000 front-end on every car they sell. The fact the Cayman came into existence at all was a bit of a surprise -- that's a car that sells in far fewer numbers than the 911. Even in its last model year, fewer than 1300 Caymans made its way to the US, a tremendously small number for a car that starts around $55,000.
The Cayenne (and to a lesser extent, the Panamera and the upcoming Macan) increasing overall sales volume is what is allowing them to loosen the reigns on the Boxster and Cayman. Upon launch the Type 987 Cayman did not have a limited-slip differential. The refresh did, and now the Type 981 Boxster offers the same torque-vectoring rear diff as the Type 991 911 from Day 1. Porschephiles aren't a fan of the SUVs and the… thing… that is the Panamera, but the reality is it lets Porsche further improve its sports cars, and go on crazier exercises in racing and allow for more hyper cars like the 918 Spyder.
The Type 987.2 Boxster Spyder and Cayman R were faster around a road course than the base Type 997.2 911 Carrera, despite being significantly cheaper. Odds are good that this trend will continue with the Type 981 which is further straying from the 911 -- the original Boxster (and even the Type 987) was a cost-control exercise and was heavily parts-binned from the Type 996 911, down to the doors being identical.
"You get the impression that the engineers could have made the Coxter[1] faster and better. But they weren't allowed to because it would have been faster and better than the 911. So the Coxter then, isn't quite as good as it could have been.
I couldn't live with that. I like to think a car has been designed to be as good as it could be, not just to fill a gap in the market." --Clarkson
It isn't about 911 fans doing anything. Porsche has done this before, with the 914 vs. the 911. The 911 is an icon, and Porsche is a company that leans on history/lineage to help sell their cars, much like Triumph Motorcycles. They believe that keeping the idea of the 911 alive is better for the company in the long run.
