Porsche's worst-kept secret is the fact that their entry-level sports car, the Cayman, handles better than the ubiquitous Porsche 911, while being nearly as fast and just as good looking. Now here's another secret - you can now buy a mint example for less than the price of a New Honda Civic Si.
This 2008 Porsche Cayman is what you get when you look up "sports car"in the dictionary. It's "pull me over" red, low to the ground, has a swooping roofline, seats 2, has a manual 6-speed transmission, and has the holy grail of engine configurations - mid engined and rear-wheel drive. It's the best of the best, for a seriously small amount of money.
This Cayman has a clean vehicle history, comes with all of its original paperwork, and looks to have been taken care of by its previous owners quite well. The mileage stands at around 89,000, but the car's mechanicals are so relatively simple that reliability isn't a concern and parts can be reasonably sourced and installed by any independent shop or shadetree mechanic.
While some other models had IMS bearing problems, the Cayman's engine didn't suffer the same fate. Here's a poll of Cayman owners and their issues - a useful nugget of wisdom if you're looking to buy this sports car as a weekend toy or daily commute destroyer. This car, at the very least, deserves a second look and a PPI to make sure everything is as flawless as it looks, because for this price, you're not buying it, you're stealing it.
If you want more awesome performance bargains, check these out:
Tavarish is the founder of APiDA Online and writes about buying and selling cool cars on the internet. He owns the world's cheapest Mercedes S-Class, a graffiti-bombed Lexus, and he's the only Jalopnik author that has never driven a Miata. He also has a real name that he didn't feel was journalist-y enough so he used a pen name and this was the best he could do.