Keep my Cayman or trade it in for a Stinger?

[kaiju26]

Hey Stinger fam,

Need some input here. I have a 22 GT2 AWD Scorpion on reserve. Paid about 2k to ship it over from WA to TX here at my local carmax. I'm currently debating trading in my 2016 Base Cayman 6spd MT for the stinger. Am I making the right choice? Both are great vehicles so I'm a bit torn. I do have my RAM and my wife's Camry as our daily commuters so this would be for weekend fun spirited driving.

2016 Porsche Base Cayman 6spd MT 34k miles:

Pros:
6spd MT
Sound ...V6 naturally aspirated sounds amazing in higher rev ranges
Aesthetics - Head turner ...people literally stop dead in their tracks thinking this is a GT4RS (has a factory OE GT4 bumper)
Handling ...amazing
Materials in terms of craftmanship and quality if amazing ...its a porsche
Retains its value a bit better than the Stinger in terms of depreciation

Cons:

Cost of ownership ..I make a decent living so this isn't really an issue but for comparison sake I'm guessing Kia would overall be more cost efficient to own
Modifications for more power would yield lower ROI from what I've read (currently all stock)
Slower than the stinger (one of the reasons why I'm considering at all is power)
Clearance ...currently have to cut across my lawn a bit to avoid scraping going down the driveway
Currently its a garage queen ..I've only taken her out a handful of times since I got her two months back as its kind of a pain to get her out or worry that some idiot dings/clips her

2022 Kia Stinger GT2 AWD Scorpion 15k miles

Pros:
Speed and power is greater than the Cayman (as mentioned above I felt the need for...speed )
Cost of ownership
Modifications from what I have researched has pretty nice gains....even if I decided to keep it stock it still has more power
Would drive this more than the porsche I'd feel

Cons:
Automatic but I think I can live with the paddle shifters
Depreciation
Mixed reviews on reliability and or quality such as poor paint and trim fade


Ultimately up to me I know what I want to keep but appreciate your inputs. Thanks.

 

[Kodiack]

Paddle shifters are very good IMHO...I came from a manual and I wasnt disappointed. But now I find myself very rarely ever using them, the shifts are pretty good in the auto.
Depreciation...cant fight this one...it is a KIA unfortunately. Even though it is the best they have ever made.
As for reliability I have 170k kms and other than maintenance and my AC evaporator and passenger mirror harness I havent had a major issue in 6 years and mine is a daily driver....so not too bad.

 

[kaiju26]

Paddle shifters are very good IMHO...I came from a manual and I wasnt disappointed. But now I find myself very rarely ever using them, the shifts are pretty good in the auto.
Depreciation...cant fight this one...it is a KIA unfortunately. Even though it is the best they have ever made.
As for reliability I have 170k kms and other than maintenance and my AC evaporator and passenger mirror harness I havent had a major issue in 6 years and mine is a daily driver....so not too bad.

Nice thanks for the insight how is your interior seats/ exterior paint holding up?

 

[Maljey]

I vote to keep the Cayman. I haven't driven one (would love to), but I'm going to assume the Stinger handles like an absolute boat by comparison. I wouldn't buy a Stinger as a weekend spirited driving car. It's GREAT as a jack-of-all trades car that can accelerate fast, comfortable fit 4 adults and their luggage, handle decently well (given the weight), haul big items with the backseats folded down, and get a little sideways with a rear biased AWD. I can't speak for others, but I bought it as a compromise car because I don't have the $$$ or space for a weekend car.

If I had the extra $$$ my ideal garage would be Stinger + Miata/BRZ.

But since you already seems to have the practical cars covered with the RAM and Camry, I would keep the Cayman.

You may find the Cayman more enjoyable if you find some Autocross courses locally. Not sure if you have many twisty roads to take advantage of the handling?

Otherwise have you considered the Supra, Nissan Z, Mustang, Camaro? They are going to offer more power than Cayman and they will all handle better than Stinger. They should be cheaper to maintain than Cayman as well.

 

[kaiju26]

I vote to keep the Cayman. I haven't driven one (would love to), but I'm going to assume the Stinger handles like an absolute boat by comparison. I wouldn't buy a Stinger as a weekend spirited driving car. It's GREAT as a jack-of-all trades car that can accelerate fast, comfortable fit 4 adults and their luggage, handle decently well (given the weight), haul big items with the backseats folded down, and get a little sideways with a rear biased AWD. I can't speak for others, but I bought it as a compromise car because I don't have the $$$ or space for a weekend car.

If I had the extra $$$ my ideal garage would be Stinger + Miata/BRZ.

But since you already seems to have the practical cars covered with the RAM and Camry, I would keep the Cayman.

You may find the Cayman more enjoyable if you find some Autocross courses locally. Not sure if you have many twisty roads to take advantage of the handling?

Otherwise have you considered the Supra, Nissan Z, Mustang, Camaro? They are going to offer more power than Cayman and they will all handle better than Stinger. They should be cheaper to maintain than Cayman as well.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately only flat straight roads where I'm at unless I make a trip to the Hill country about 3 hours away. You make great points regarding handling and spirited fun driving.

 

[Maljey]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately only flat straight roads where I'm at unless I make a trip to the Hill country about 3 hours away. You make great points regarding handling and spirited fun driving.

Heh, yeah I'm in a region where its the opposite. Lots of hills and curvy roads, so its great for more nimble cars like Miata, Cayman etc.

I always hear about TX having flat straight roads, so I get the appeal of wanting more power. Maybe consider the M240I as well? From what I've read, you can get plenty of extra power from it.

Whatever your decision, good luck!

 

[Snicklefritz]

Did I read that right, and you've only had the Porsche two months and are already thinking about selling her off? FOUR vehicles? Wow, you must have some garage space, or some live outdoors.

Money not being the issue, it seems to me that you got the Porsche for a reason. The Stinger will not answer that reason. It has answers all its own. They overlap, as you've pointed out in pros and cons comparison. But the Stinger is a touring car, very practical and super comfy, so, a great car for road trips. If the Stinger and Porsche share the garage, Ima sure it will turn into a beautiful relationship, with no jealousy between them involved. Ha hah.

As for worrying about parking lot digs, just do what I've been doing for over seven years since getting the Stinger, park far away from everyone else, in an end stall. I haven't been marked once in all that time.

 

[kaiju26]

Ha yes you read correctly -I've only owned the Cayman for about two months. In that time I suppose I've only driven her a number of times to the local cars and coffee once a month. Thanks for your insight. I may just keep her after all. Ha or convince the wife and trade in her camry instead

 

[Snicklefritz]

Now I see your stillborn thread from a few days ago. Funny how a thread can catch zero attention, and when you ask the question again with another go at it, for no reason it works this time.

I will answer your previous question about reliability and quality concerns long-term.

As I said, I've had my first Stinger over seven years. She still looks new. I wash her weekly or even more often when it rains/snows. Sometimes I can go almost two weeks when the weather is really fine and the air is clear, i.e., low air grime.

The paint is fine, there isn't a quality issue there. I know that some individual vehicles have peeling and chipping issues, notably and infamously the Sunset Yellow. No other color has manifested a quality control issue like that. The rare ones are purely random across all colors. Even then, most of the Sunset Yellows didn't have the peeling problem, but enough of them did that KIA addressed it with buyback or respray options. Anyway, that is just a bit of historical trivia.

The trim doesn't fade per se. It gets discolored and tarnished if not kept clean. My neighbor's Tribute dark chrome even the grilles looks like crap because he doesn't pay attention to those pieces when washing, which he does regularly. His dark chrome has gotten very spotted. I know that it will clean and polish up just fine if/whenever he decides to tackle the job. In my case, after three years I noticed my first tarnishing on the window pieces. I addressed this with a rubbing compound, then since that solution I pay particular attention to vigorously drying them off each wash. Rub with a microfiber that has a side of stiffer microfiber stripes or ridges. I just happened to acquire these because my wife had them. The ridges work a trick knocking back any spotting, but you might actually have to push to get the spots off. Beats having to use some kind of tarnish remover paste like Flitz. I have a tube of that in case I ever encounter a really nasty tarnishing that the drying microfiber won't touch. So far, so good, not needed.

The drip rails, even on a car that is stored out of the sunlight, will eventually start to develop fine lines or cracks in them. They are some kind of rubberized finish over stainless steel base, then painted. Over time the paint is affected by that rubberized surface - I think that it dries/shrinks slightly, causing the paint to separate into relief lines, the paint itself doesn't go bad. I think that all of them are destined to experience this. Mostly it is easy to ignore. Once you see it, though, you can't unsee it, as we all know. But unless you look directly at it up fairly close it isn't noticeable. Weathered drip rails can look really gnarly though. Some of the pictures shared on here are frightful. When or if it gets that bad, you have to either replace them or have them repainted or wrapped. One guy on here used a wire wheel to strip his down to the bare steel and then coated with a clear coat. On his Silky Silver they looked really good in the photos. This was years ago.

As for the rest, in over seven years I have had zero repairs on my GT1. Other than cylinder six having a coil pack go bad and crack several spark plugs, nothing else has failed. I have c. 75K miles. Take that for what it's worth.

 

[kaiju26]

Now I see your stillborn thread from a few days ago. Funny how a thread can catch zero attention, and when you ask the question again with another go at it, for no reason it works this time.

I will answer your previous question about reliability and quality concerns long-term.

As I said, I've had my first Stinger over seven years. She still looks new. I wash her weekly or even more often when it rains/snows. Sometimes I can go almost two weeks when the weather is really fine and the air is clear, i.e., low air grime.

The paint is fine, there isn't a quality issue there. I know that some individual vehicles have peeling and chipping issues, notably and infamously the Sunset Yellow. No other color has manifested a quality control issue like that. The rare ones are purely random across all colors. Even then, most of the Sunset Yellows didn't have the peeling problem, but enough of them did that KIA addressed it with buyback or respray options. Anyway, that is just a bit of historical trivia.

The trim doesn't fade per se. It gets discolored and tarnished if not kept clean. My neighbor's Tribute dark chrome even the grilles looks like crap because he doesn't pay attention to those pieces when washing, which he does regularly. His dark chrome has gotten very spotted. I know that it will clean and polish up just fine if/whenever he decides to tackle the job. In my case, after three years I noticed my first tarnishing on the window pieces. I addressed this with a rubbing compound, then since that solution I pay particular attention to vigorously drying them off each wash. Rub with a microfiber that has a side of stiffer microfiber stripes or ridges. I just happened to acquire these because my wife had them. The ridges work a trick knocking back any spotting, but you might actually have to push to get the spots off. Beats having to use some kind of tarnish remover paste like Flitz. I have a tube of that in case I ever encounter a really nasty tarnishing that the drying microfiber won't touch. So far, so good, not needed.

The drip rails, even on a car that is stored out of the sunlight, will eventually start to develop fine lines or cracks in them. They are some kind of rubberized finish over stainless steel base, then painted. Over time the paint is affected by that rubberized surface - I think that it dries/shrinks slightly, causing the paint to separate into relief lines, the paint itself doesn't go bad. I think that all of them are destined to experience this. Mostly it is easy to ignore. Once you see it, though, you can't unsee it, as we all know. But unless you look directly at it up fairly close it isn't noticeable. Weathered drip rails can look really gnarly though. Some of the pictures shared on here are frightful. When or if it gets that bad, you have to either replace them or have them repainted or wrapped. One guy on here used a wire wheel to strip his down to the bare steel and then coated with a clear coat. On his Silky Silver they looked really good in the photos. This was years ago.

As for the rest, in over seven years I have had zero repairs on my GT1. Other than cylinder six having a coil pack go bad and crack several spark plugs, nothing else has failed. I have c. 75K miles. Take that for what it's worth.

Wow thanks for the write up! I appreciate it. Weird that I actually can't see my previous post. Good to know that the paint issue isn't really an issue. To own both would be the dream but sadly I can only keep one. Decisions decisions haha

 

[Daniel @ K8 Stinger Store]

Ha or convince the wife and trade in her camry instead

+1 for this idea

 

[Snicklefritz]

Wow thanks for the write up! I appreciate it. Weird that I actually can't see my previous post. Good to know that the paint issue isn't really an issue. To own both would be the dream but sadly I can only keep one. Decisions decisions haha

Still there. Here. Second thoughts on the stinger..

I say get the Stinger, and I reckon you will since you paid two grand to get it to you. But now you'll have somewhat relieved buyer's indecision/remorse, hopefully anyway.

 

[NS_Stinger]

+1 for this idea

100%, trading the Camry for the Stinger is the best solution here!

 

[Alpinesting]

We got our 21 GT Limited/GT2 in the latter part of 2024 with 15k on the clock now with 18k. There were little things

that we noticed due to the year of the car like coil packs and spark plugs issue that plagued the early models. We enjoy

this car immensely because people don't really know what it is and always ask, "What is that?" and that is kind of funny

since this car was put out there years prior with the G70 and later, the Stinger effort. The dealership problem is a real

issue if you have one that is not under warranty. Lot's of crappy dealerships out there that are under the KIA badge

(which has improved ten fold due to the new ownership at our local dealership) and that can cause some anxiety if you

finance the car (and have a used car warranty), however, if you are paying cash for the car and can afford the expense of a

twin turbo charged model, I highly recommend owning one. It is a unique experience because this car is special and

likely to never be built again. Will it be worth anything? Maybe, maybe not, but it's worth a look and a drive at least for a little

while, for sure. We plan on leaving it stock and enjoying this car from Korea for a long time. We tend to keep our cars for awhile

and enjoy them, as we have a 25 year old Toyota and a 14 year old Nissan in the garage cycle. It's worth a look..Or not.

 

[GT Elite]

Another one for replacing the Camry with the Stinger. This gives you your dream garage.

As for the Porsche, I had a Porsche 944 and that cured me of ever owning another Porsche. As an ex-Porsche 924 owner put it “For a car that is so well engineered, it’s amazing how frequently it breaks or wears out parts”. I used to joke that when the car had to go to the dealership.for service, it was time to go talk to my bank manager! They are nice cars and I enjoyed driving mine, but the cost of ownership can be high.

 

[Volfy]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately only flat straight roads where I'm at unless I make a trip to the Hill country about 3 hours away. You make great points regarding handling and spirited fun driving.

Sounds like you're in either Dallas or Houston area. Yeah, we used to pay pilgrimage to 3 Sisters twice a year on 2 wheels for the same reason. To me, having a weekend-only dedicated fun roadster makes sense only if I do autoX and track days regularly. A lot of guys here do exactly that. Cayman would be superb in that role; Stinger... less than ideal. Trust me... I've tried.

That said, it isn't impossible to enjoy a good handling car on my commuter route, even if it isn't FM-336. A wide 2-lane off ramps here and a nice open corner there could easily zest up an otherwise mundane commute, especially early morning with little traffic, where spirited cornering fun can be had safely, without attracting LEO attention. However, that does mean you need a car that works well as a commuter, first and foremost. Stinger works brilliantly; 6MT Cayman might not fair as well. On a nice day, I bike commute for the same reason. Bits and pieces of fun here and there - every day - adds up to a good bit of it over time.

A car is just a tool. There is no wrong tool... just wrong ways of using that tool. How you ultimately choose to use your tool will dictate which works better.

 

[kaiju26]

Sounds like you're in either Dallas or Houston area. Yeah, we used to pay pilgrimage to 3 Sisters twice a year on 2 wheels for the same reason. To me, having a weekend-only dedicated fun roadster makes sense only if I do autoX and track days regularly. A lot of guys here do exactly that. Cayman would be superb in that role; Stinger... less than ideal. Trust me... I've tried.

That said, it isn't impossible to enjoy a good handling car on my commuter route, even if it isn't FM-336. A wide 2-lane off ramps here and a nice open corner there could easily zest up an otherwise mundane commute, especially early morning with little traffic, where spirited cornering fun can be had safely, without attracting LEO attention. However, that does mean you need a car that works well as a commuter, first and foremost. Stinger works brilliantly; 6MT Cayman might not fair as well. On a nice day, I bike commute for the same reason. Bits and pieces of fun here and there - every day - adds up to a good bit of it over time.

A car is just a tool. There is no wrong tool... just wrong ways of using that tool. How you ultimately choose to use your tool will dictate which works better.

Yea I'm out here in Houston, where the roads are very flat and very wide and full of potholes...which was a factor that made me consider some more power over handling per se plus a little more ground clearance...I do sometimes drive out to Austin/Lago Vista area to visit my brother and drive Lime Creek Rd area which if I keep the Cayman then I'd have to plan a trip out there. When I say commute really it would be driving to and from my house around the area where I live. I work fully remote so the commute is literally from my bed to my office haha. I wouldn't necessarily be commuting in either cars (got the RAM/Camry for that) but if I did go across town with either Cayman/Stinger I'm thinking I would have to be less concerned about potholes and such with the stinger.

I hear a lot of people suggesting sway bars as the first go to mod ...for those that have done this mod would you still describe the stinger as feeling like a boat? Curious to see if properly upgraded how well the stinger handles? Obviously I understand the Caymans are in a different class of their own when it comes to that (coupe vs sedan) but if modded correctly will the stinger perform decent enough in the twisties if I ever make that pilgrimage to the Hill Country?

Another thing to consider is the Stinger being more of a gran tourer those three hour trips to the Hill Country would probably be more enjoyable...made a trip to Dallas the other weekend in the Cayman for a possible trade in for a Stinger I found out in Garland but that didn't pan out. Got me some great BBQ though so the trip wasn't wasted! Needless to say the 4 hour drive wasn't bad in the Cayman though I don't know if I would take it on road trips that far too often.

I'm leaning Stinger but worried whether I'd regret it trading the Cayman in for it which is why I'm grateful for all of your feedbacks! Thanks everyone

 

[kaiju26]

@Volfy - just wanted to say I noticed you've had two of the Stinger bodies and g70 ...how do you like the g70 compared to the stingers? They're essentially the same chasis engine correct minus the interior/exterior aesthetics? Must be a great platform if you've liked it enough to own three.

 

[Snowwhite]

as others have said, the stinger is great but a bit of a porker. sway bars go a LONG way to fixing most of the obvious faults, but you're still trying to convince 4000 lbs+ to change direction. it also has a nice long wheelbase. it'll never be a cayman that practically rotates on its own axis. you have to decide if you want a mountain carver or a tourer. unfortunately you can't really have both in one.

sway bars were without a doubt the best mod I have done to my stinger. better than springs, subframe collars, brake pads, etc. really cleaned up the steering response and the body control in general. handling is much better all around.

 

[kaiju26]

as others have said, the stinger is great but a bit of a porker. sway bars go a LONG way to fixing most of the obvious faults, but you're still trying to convince 4000 lbs+ to change direction. it also has a nice long wheelbase. it'll never be a cayman that practically rotates on its own axis. you have to decide if you want a mountain carver or a tourer. unfortunately you can't really have both in one.

sway bars were without a doubt the best mod I have done to my stinger. better than springs, subframe collars, brake pads, etc. really cleaned up the steering response and the body control in general. handling is much better all around.

Thanks for the insight! How would you rate the fun factor of your stinger out of a 10?