Buyer's Guide · June 1, 2026 · 7 min read

Porsche 718 Cayman Buyer's Guide: GTS 4.0, GT4 RS, and Which to Buy in Florida

Ask a room of serious drivers to name the purest car Porsche makes, and a remarkable number will skip the 911 entirely and say the 718 Cayman. The reasoning is sound: the mid-engined layout puts the mass between the axles, the proportions are perfect, and Porsche — wary of letting it overshadow the more expensive 911 — has nonetheless allowed the top Caymans to become some of the finest-handling cars on sale at any price. For a Northeast Florida driver who values how a car feels over how it photographs, this is the connoisseur's pick.

The catch is the engine. The mid-life 718 cars introduced turbocharged flat-fours that were quick but acoustically uninspiring. Porsche, hearing the complaints, brought back a naturally aspirated flat-six for the top of the range — and those are the cars that matter. The decision between four and six cylinders is the entire buying decision.

Which 718 Cayman to Buy

Four-cylinder cars (718, S, T): Genuinely brilliant chassis and superb value, but the turbo flat-four sound is the compromise. A fine choice on a budget, and the 718 T in particular is a lovely, focused thing — just know what you're getting acoustically.
GTS 4.0 (~394 hp): The sweet spot of the entire range. A naturally aspirated 4.0-litre flat-six revving past 7,000 rpm, available with a proper six-speed manual or PDK, in a beautifully sorted everyday-usable package. For most buyers, this is the one.
GT4 / GT4 RS: The track-focused halo. The GT4 RS takes the 493-horsepower, 9,000-rpm flat-six lifted from the 911 GT3, drops it into the Cayman, and adds serious aero — a road-legal race car and a genuine collectible. PDK only, and all the better for it here.
Spec notes: manual vs PDK, the Weissach package on the GT4 RS, carbon-ceramic brakes, and the right colors all drive desirability and value.

What to Inspect

Full Porsche service history throughout; for the GT cars, allocation and provenance matter and should be documented.
On any flat-six car, confirm the engine and service records are clean and complete — these are the cars worth scrutinizing carefully.
For the GT4 RS, verify the Weissach package status, the spec sheet, and whether the car has seen track use; inspect brakes, tires, and the underbody.
Check the front splitter and nose for stone damage — front-axle lift (where fitted) is very welcome in Florida.
Confirm originality; the most desirable cars are unmodified with the right factory options.

Living With One in Northeast Florida

The 718 Cayman is one of the few cars in this guide you could realistically use every day. It's compact, easy to place, comfortable enough for the highway, and small enough to enjoy on the back roads inland from St. Augustine without ever feeling like you're wasting it. The flat-six cars in particular reward the kind of driving Northeast Florida offers — flowing two-lanes and early-morning coastal runs. You'll find enthusiast owners across Ponte Vedra, Amelia Island, and the broader Jacksonville area, frequently as the keeper in a collection of faster, flashier cars.

Running costs are modest by exotic standards, which is part of the appeal. The main Florida considerations are the usual ones — garage it out of the sun, mind the front lip on driveways, and on the GT4 RS, respect that it's a loud, focused machine that rewards being driven, not stored.

What They're Worth

718 Cayman values in Florida span from the $70,000s for four-cylinder cars to well over $200,000 for a GT4 RS. The GTS 4.0 sits comfortably in the middle and has proven a stable, sought-after holder of value given its naturally aspirated engine and manual availability. The GT4 RS is the appreciating collectible of the range, particularly low-mileage, well-specced cars. The flat-six cars, broadly, hold value far better than the four-cylinder ones — which tells you everything about what the market wants.

The right Cayman is a flat-six, correctly optioned, with clean provenance — and the GT cars in particular are allocation-and-relationship purchases, not lot finds. Opulent Exotics sources the right 718 Cayman privately for clients across Northeast Florida, from a well-specced GTS 4.0 to a collectible GT4 RS. To discuss a spec or request current availability, call Jhonny Garcia at (305) 922-5380.

Looking for a Porsche 718 Cayman? We source it privately, matched to your spec. Request 718 Cayman availability or call (305) 922-5380.