This is the first drive of the Mk2
Cayman, a coupe so brilliant it could trounce not only its rivals but also its
legendary big brother, the 911
Porsche’s product strategy isn’t uppermost
in my mind this morning. Despite the ever present risk that the new Cayman may
upset the equilibrium by actually improving upon the 911, I can’t spare the
time to care right now. I have 18km of epic, irresistible road in front of me;
corners of all radii, dips and crests, climbs and descents, some blind stuff
and some wide open, the once black Tarmac now covered with a light-grey dusting
of winter salt. No police, no black ice, no farm traffic and no other Caymans
coming the other way. I’m sure of the latter – this is the first test car, and
I’m the first to drive it.
Despite
the ever present risk that the new Cayman may upset the equilibrium by actually
improving upon the 911, I can’t spare the time to care right now.
We have always liked the Cayman S for its
poise and precision, for its balanced handling and accessible performance. And
the Mk2 really picks up the baton, losing 30kg of weight and gaining 4kW of
power output in the process. At the same time the torsional rigidity improves
by 40%, the wheelbase increases by 60mm, and the standard tire size leaps from
18-inch to 19. The result is a nimbler and even more determined sports car
which really shines on this deserted Bavarian B-road. The naturally aspirated
flat-six obeys throttle orders as if by remote-control, the seven-speed PDK
’box fairly hammers through the ratios, stability control works reliably in
minimum interference mode, the steering does its best not to let me feel its
electro-mechanical origin, and the brakes snarl at their absolute limit
whenever optimism challenges the law of physics. Which is happening a lot
today.
I’ve got the car set in Sport Plus mode –
usually for race tracks only and we’re at full punch all the way to the
limiter, accelerating hard in third gear at over 160kph, relishing each
whiplash upshift, and changing down so early that my head keeps snapping
forward. You can either paddle shift, or you can slip the lever into D, but the
harder you go the more conscientious the input should be. It is surprisingly easy
to overdrive the Cayman S by being a touch too slow at the wheel, not
determined enough on the brake, and too impatient with the throttle. Mistreated
like this, the car will squirm and wriggle, relying on its computerized
cleverness to stay on the road. The worst thing one can do in this situation is
switch off the stability control. Sigh. Yes I’m afraid we did…
The
worst thing one can do in this situation is switch off the stability control.
Sigh. Yes I’m afraid we did…
Unlike the 911, which swings round
gracefully like a power-operated precision carver, the Cayman (and indeed its
Boxster brother) wants to be coaxed with verve into rotating around its midriff
axis. Push too hard, and you may spin; too little, and it’s under steer. The
secret lies in massaging the accelerator. There is no doubt about it: these
mid-engined Porsches feel more loose at the edge of adhesion than the
rear-engined one, the 911. This stability issue reoccurs on certain high-speed
autobahn sections. While the 911 is susceptible to a lack of front-axle down
force, delayed turn-in and lift-off woolliness, the Cayman S deserves extra
attention during flat-out lane changes, lift-off braking, aquaplaning and
surface irregularities. Both take some driving.
In the new Cayman the standard six-speed
manual is a crisp and eager transmission, but I would still rather have the PDK
’box, which offers a seventh ratio, cuts fuel consumption by 10% and shaves up
to three tenths off the 0-100kph time. Plus, if you order the optional Sport
steering-wheel you get chromed paddles instead of boring thumb switches. To get
the best out of PDK you have to spec the Sport Chrono pack, which includes
launch control, ensuring a 4.7sec sprint from 0-100kph. This number matches
last year’s 242kW Cayman R and undercuts both the PDK-equipped 232kW Boxster S
and the manual 257kW Carrera by one tenth. It won’t be the stopwatch that makes
your decision.
Good
news for g-force addicts and frustrated racing drivers
Since our Cayman is shod with winter types,
the excursion to the autobahn doesn’t permit us to sample the car’s 283kph top
speed. Just for reference: the 911 is 6kph faster overall, the Boxster S is
3kph slower. Tapping the memory chip inside my head helps to compare old and
new, Cayman and Boxster, Cayman and 911. In the Cayman, I long for Porsche’s
defunct hydraulic steering even more than in the 911. Why? Because the new
steering is sometimes too clever for its own good, especially in Servotronic
Plus guise. At low speed, the rack-and-pinion device enhances the
self-centering force, which is okay for parking but counter-productive through
hairpins. Equally debatable is what Porsche describes as ‘filtering action’:
brief and barely noticeable random correcting inputs which can be more of an
irritation than a help. It sometimes feels as if car and driver are debating
who is in charge.
Get
the sport wheel and those lovely chromed paddle blades are all yours
But if the steering is an acquired taste,
the upgraded brakes are an undisputed bonus. Like the roadster, the coupe now
boasts bigger cross-drilled and inner-ventilated rotors (330mm in the front,
299mm in the back), stiffer calipers, larger pads and more efficient cooling
ducts. The steel brakes are spot-on, especially on low-friction surfaces where
the types run out of grip long before the pads start to drip with sweat, and
where every spirited approach to a corner is accompanied by pulsating ABS
intervention. Fading is absolutely non-existent in cold conditions. You can
forget the optional ceramics.
Lighter,
more powerful and more rigid than its predecessor? Rear-drive, mid-engined,
looks to die for
We have yet to try a Cayman S with standard
suspension, but if it is anywhere near as good as the no-frills chassis of the
base 911 it’s probably a safe choice. Alternatively, you could order the
non-adjustable sports suspension in combination with the newly available
20-inch wheels and tires, which is what many hardcore g-force addicts are
likely to do. Option number three is the adaptive damper system PASM, which
lets you choose between Normal and Sport calibrations. In the new Cayman, PASM
employs four additional sensors for a quicker and more sensitive response. This
Mk2 version is no longer a black or white affair. Even in Sport, the shock
absorbers will assume a relatively soft setting as long as the driver is
holding back. PASM can be combined with PTV short for Porsche Torque Vectoring.
PTV pairs a mechanical side to side diff lock with an advanced ABS algorithm
which intermittently decelerates the inner rear wheel through tight corners
tackled at speed. As a result, the car turns in more eagerly, and it puts the
power down more effectively at the exit of the bend. Sounds great, but after
650km I’m not sure I could tell the difference.
