The Cayman was just the car to drive round the track in the rain – now coming down heavier than when I drove the 911 Turbo. Straight off, as soon as you get into the Cayman, you feel at home. It is not just that the driving position and controls are just right, but that as soon as you move off, you feel you are at one with the car.
245 bhp Cayman first
I drove the 245 bhp Cayman first; it comes with a five-speed box and black instrument dials with white numbers. The 295 bhp Cayman S comes with a six-speed gearbox and white dials and black numbers, which are clearer. On a wide track, 245 bhp does not seem much, and acceleration seems quite gentle, but it was a different story on the roads, as you’ll see later.
No worries about the streaming wet track and heavy rain. The Cayman feels so nicely balanced that you drive around with confidence, finding your line through the long compound bends, accelerating hard up the straight – and after the 911 Turbo you need to accelerate hard to make headway.
Nicely balanced, nicely weight steering
The steering feels nicely weighted, and warns of impending understeer. The turn in is positive and quick, and there is minimal roll except on the sharpest of bends. On the faster curves, you can feel the understeer starting to make itself felt.
Approaching the streams running across the track, I was just a little anxious, but it is just a case of keeping the car straight, and through she goes – the tires are a good deal narrower than on the Turbo, so aquaplaning is not a problem. Soon, I am at the double right hander just over the crest of a hill and turn in, looking for the standing water, and eased around it, finding the line before accelerating from the second apex down the hill into the straight.
Brakes are good, and work well in the wet, maybe not working them very hard, then turn into the sharp right-hander of the chicane, and swing round the left-hander before nailing the throttle to the floor for the straight. And so it went on without any alarums or moments.
295 bhp of Cayman S makes itself felt – straight away
With an extra 50 bhp, the Cayman S, is very much faster than the Cayman, and this makes itself felt straight away. Whereas the Cayman is relying on the handling to keep up, the Cayman S has the power to go with that handing. The balance is still there, the rain is still not a serious problem – just moderate things a little – and soon I’m enjoying the delightful handling, the ease with which I can place the car where I want so that I can get the right line round the bends.
Wriggles under braking on wet track
On the back straight the car goes quite a lot quicker than the Cayman, needing much firmer braking. When we hit the braking area the car wriggles as one of the wheels hits a slippery patch, but the ABS keeps it all together, and soon I am swinging through the chicane and giving the car its head up the short straight. A few laps later, I come in, impressed with the Caymans.
But there is more to come. Swishing through the slalom the car shows sure-footedness, and then at the hairpin, where the idea is to provoke a slide by nailing the throttle, the car slides a bit, and also goes a bit wide if you put the power on too early. All nicely controllable.
The turning-while-braking test shows the same exemplary behaviour as the Turbo, but the Cayman handles differently at the very tight figure of eight course. Of course, it does not have the four-wheel drive system sending power to the front wheels when the back end starts to lose traction, nor the very wide rear tires.
Quick reactions and plenty of power for the figure of eight
Actually, this involves turning sharply round a bollard, then, with full lock on suddenly flooring the throttle at a very slow speed. In other words, trying to provoke the car into a spin. With the PSM active, the car behaves much as on the hairpin. If you turn too fast, then floor the throttle you scrub off the speed with understeer, running wider all the time – this exercise was done on a wide expanse of tarmac.
When I went in slowly with PSM active, threw the lock right over and pressed hard on the loud pedal, the tail came around in a nice slide, and came back again.
Now without PSM. Go in too fast, and the understeer is exaggerated, get the speed right, and it all happens very quickly on that wet and greasy tarmac. The back end goes, and if you keep the power right in, you’ve got a chance of keeping it going. Once I got that far out of line that when I overcorrected, the car almost stopped. Another time, I held it OK,, and once I lifted off and spun. So don’t lift off!
Out on the road with the Caymans
After that fun, now for reality. I took the Cayman then the Cayman S for a test on the road – in an area I don’t know well. The Cayman is a thoroughly pleasant car, like the Boxster, with good road performance, allowing you to get around the country quickly. Visibility is excellent and the car is thoroughly practical.
The five-speed gearbox seems well matched to the engine, and the car handles as you would expect. Going where you point it, with pleasant steering, and just a real pleasure to drive. Everything works well as you expect on a Porsche.
Extra 50 bhp makes all the difference
The Cayman S is surprisingly different. That extra 50 bhp made itself felt as I accelerated hard in first having just turned onto a main road. The back end sidestepped before the traction control could act. I snicked into second, and there was another little step before we shot off up the road, the engine making a delightful raucous roar.
I soon realised that the Cayman S was quick, and that I was travelling much faster than I thought, but feeling very much under control. The six-speed gearbox has good ratios, and there is real power from about 4,500 rpm up to the cut-off at 7,200 rpm.
The rain was teeming down all this time, and some of the roads were quite busy, but the Cayman S happily trundles along waiting for that overtaking opportunity, and then blasts past very quickly, and if you’re not careful you are soon into speed that can endanger your licence.
The Cayman S starts off on the right foot by looking great and very sporty. It has an excellent driving position – as you would expect – with good controls. There is also a good view over the hood, with the fenders showing you the line.
Nor does the performance disappoint. It is all there making this a great sports car, with terrific handling balance and plenty of power when you need it.
On this brief test, in appalling conditions, the Caymans come across as two great sports cars.
