Small coupes really don’t come any
closer to perfection than this number from Porsche
All right – so this is something that
doesn’t happen all too often. We’ve been driving Porsche’s new
second-generation Cayman for the better part of a day across Faro’s narrow
hilltop passes, including several cautious laps on a sodden Algarve race track,
and we’re struggling.
Porsche’s
new second-generation Cayman
Struggling, that is, to find some chink in
the Cayman’s armor. We did find some (after a lot of searching, admittedly),
but you’ll forgive us if they sound a little... trivial.
Let’s start with its cup holders. They’re
particularly shallow and awkwardly placed, popping out from a slot just above
the glove compartment. Put in anything larger than an espresso cup, and it
sticks out into the driver’s peripheral vision.
And there are also far too many buttons,
especially if you decide to tick off items from Porsche’s fabled extensive (and
expensive) options list, including adaptive dampers, sports exhausts and the
like.
Confusion
says... Infotainment system and drive modes make for a dizzying array of knobs,
buttons and levers
On that last point, the infotainment
system, which conspires to complicate matters still further, has, besides its
multitude of buttons and knobs, a touchscreen interface. And we haven’t yet
gotten to the numerous stalks behind the steering wheel, which work the cruise
control and central multi-function display.
But tiny cup holders and fiddly
infotainment aside, the Cayman is a remarkably difficult car to fault where it
really counts. And it’s not that the Cayman didn’t have a lot to live up to.
Its predecessor was widely regarded as one of the finest handling cars in the
modern age.
So die-hard Porsche fanatics may have
bristled at the choice of an electromechanical power steering setup over its
predecessor’s hydraulic version. To be certain, the old Cayman’s near-magical
steering feel is gone, but the new system’s increased accuracy and directness
make complaining about the missing feel a little churlish.
Luxe
living: Quality goes way up – good thing too; since the previous Cayman looked
a little... budget
It’s scarcely believable, but Porsche has
bettered the Cayman in just about every conceivable metric. Thanks to the new
platform, which sees a 60mm swell in wheelbase and 40mm increase in track
width, it looks better proportioned (and it has more road presence) against its
forebear, which tended to look a bit like a squashed 911. Squint hard at the
new Cayman and you might even see shades of Porsche’s Carrera GT hyper car or
its successor, the upcoming 918 Spyder.
These enlarged dimensions also serve it
well when it’s on the move, the wider stance giving it phenomenal traction,
complementing the sticky 265-section tires on the optional 20-inch wheels (19-inchers
are standard Cayman S).
Light
brigade: Nearly 40 per cent of the new Cayman’s chassis is made from aluminum,
saving some 47kg
More than the amount of mechanical grip on
offer, the Cayman is, in a word, glorious. It tucks into corners crisply and
with little inertia, carries plenty of speed through and generates such
traction on exit, we get the feeling one would have to try (quite hard, at
that) to get it out of shape. It’s so competent, unruffled and forgiving even
to the ham-fisted; one might almost write it off as dull.
Much of the new Cayman’s sharpness can be
attributed to the new chassis’ construction, which is composed of nearly 40 per
cent aluminum, and the corresponding 40 per cent increase in torsional
rigidity.
This also happily saves some 47kg over the
previous model, but the larger overall dimensions have seen this diet negated,
with the old and new Caymans running an identical kerb weight. Still, at
1,350kg, it’s hardly what anyone might call overweight.
Evolution:
6 relatively unchanged 3.4-litre flat-6 produces just 5bhp more (325bhp), but very
much sounds and goes the part
There’s room to hone that even further by
checking off more items from the aforementioned options list, such as the Sport
Chrono pack, which also includes dynamic engine mounts (first debuted on the
current 911). These stiffen up when the Sport Plus button is depressed, which
improves throttle response and reduces unwanted flex from the rear end.
That, along with a launch control mode,
drops its 0-100km/h timing by 0.2 of a second to a scorching 4.7 seconds, a
good 0.5 of a second off its predecessor’s time.
