2006 Porsche Cayman Review

Specifications

A Lot More than a Boxster Coupe

Yes, its time again for a revised list of New Years resolutions: 1) Go to the gym three times per week. 2) Eat healthier, with more fruits and vegetables and less sugar. 3) Be kinder and more loving to my family. 4) Be kinder and more loving to myself, and show this love by buying a new Porsche. Hmmm… that last one might just be possible to keep - OK the last two.

I think Ill make mine a Cayman S. OK, Im still undecided, as the 911 Carrera S stole my heart away when I drove it on the racetrack earlier this year, but the new two-seat coupe is amazingly agile and the track I tested it out on recently is about as fine as any Ive ever sampled.

I went way down south for the Cayman S launch, way down to Alabama. When I first got the call to go I couldnt figure out why Id be going to Birmingham, having never gone there on a ride and drive before, but upon arriving, the warmer weather would have been reason enough. Of course, there was another even more important reason. This was a Porsche event, after all, and few that Ive been on havent included time on a racecourse. This one would take us out to Barber Motorsport Park, home of the worlds largest motorcycle collection, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, which also includes some pretty impressive cars, I might add, such as one of the best Lotus collections Ive ever seen off to the right of the entrance, John Surtees (the only man to ever win a World Drivers Championship on two and four wheels) Moto GP (FIM Grand Prix) winning MV Agusta and F1 championship Ferrari off to the left, a host of classic Porsches (one of which was the new Cayman S), an assortment of Le Mans cars and other oddities in the clearly visible basement, plus a pretty little Ferrari 246 “Dino” upstairs (or more like up the circular ramp surrounding the car-sized six-story glass elevator complemented by four “PEZ” dispenser-like racks of motorcycles stacked to the ceiling at each corner - yes, its like the Guggenheim, NYC dedicated to bikes). Fittingly, at least to this event, George Barber raced, modified, and maintained Porsches in the 60s, accumulating 63 first-place wins.

After providing us with ample, but still not nearly enough time to check out all the machinery in the museum (as if there would ever be enough time for a place like this), all the slow pokes that got lost on the way there (which is usually me but fortunately this time I was driving with someone from the company) had finally shown up and we went downstairs, where a classically silver painted Cayman S was parked beside an even more classic 550 Coupe.

A what? Yes, I wouldnt be surprised if youve never heard of such a thing, being that the lovely 550 Spyder normally gets all the attention, but I suppose its anonymity does makes sense as only two were ever made and until recently both were unaccounted for. The coupe was created alongside the Spyder, and therefore both are considered to be Porsches first dedicated racing cars - the Spyder, however, was the first of the two to go racing, winning at the Eiffel Races at the Nurburgring at the hands of Helm Glöckler - in its inaugural run no less. The coupe, however, holds an even greater honor in taking Le Mans the same year - 1953. But this is where it gets interesting, being that the roadster that won on the Nurburgring is actually the same car that swept up the 1101-1500 cc class at Le Mans, only it was now fitted with a hardtop in order to maximize aerodynamics (and no doubt keep the driver dry being that it was horribly wet at the previous Nurburgring event). In typically reliable Porsche fashion, both cars finished the 24 hour endurance race back to back, in 15th and 16th place overall. This car, chassis 550-01, having recently been restored by Cavaglieri Restorations to the originals final 1953 Carrera Panamericana specification, complete with the bright sponsor decals, is currently part of the Miles Collier Collection. It has the dubious honor of being both the first 550 Spyder and the second 550 coupe, and having taken the checkered flag at both of its initial outings, making it one of, if not the most important Porsche race car in existence, is absolutely priceless.

In comparison, the comparatively massive (but still small by todays standards) Cayman S that sat beside it seems quite affordable, even at a base price of $58,900. And after a day of traveling the highways and side roads of Alabama, and even more enjoyably testing out the Caymans mettle on a tight, winding autocross course just after turning lap after lap on one of the most technical racetracks Ive ever encountered, Id have to say that Porsches latest is worth every penny of the asking price.

But before I get into the nuances of its on-road and on-track driving dynamics, I have to say a thing or two about other aspects of the car.

First, styling. What do you think of it? When I pulled up at the hotel, Porsche had purposely positioned a few up front by the entrance, where we could see them in an elegant setting. Without question each car fit into the picture, but more than the typical luxury cars parked up front of the five-star resort, the Cayman pulled immediate attention. From the front it hardly looks much different than the recently updated Boxster, except for a few minor styling differentiators integrated into the lower fascia, such as a thin divider running horizontally across each brake duct, interrupted by a circular fog lamp at center.

Following either front fender rearward along the lower sill line, which bends upward just aft of the door, finds a unique vertically fanned engine vent, a truly unorthodox styling element that Porsche says enhances cooling. Follow that line upward, as the eye naturally does, and the cars most distinctive design element comes to light, an almost flat rear surface treatment. OK, its not flat, being canted at an angle, but compared to most coupes that gently curve outward as they approach their backsides, or alternatively are chopped off abruptly before forming into a conventional decklid, the Caymans rear hatch leaves the passenger compartment and immediately dives down deeply, a straight line from top to bottom, visually interrupted by the tall haunches of its rear fenders - which are actually higher at their peaks than the cars liftgate. Its an odd sight, at first, and even more troubling because it looks superb, but in so doing hardly follows any conventional rules of automotive design. How refreshing! It also aids the Cayman in achieving its 0.29 coefficient of drag (0.30 for the Tiptronic equipped model).

Compared to earlier Porsches, the Caymans interior is a sight for sore eyes as well. Gone are the brittle plastics that made the brands rather pricy optional full leather package, which covered the dash, center stack and console edges, door trim and other surfaces, a necessary addition. The full leather package is still available, and a wonderful upgrade, but its hardly needed now that the plastics are top-grade, switchgear second to none and overall design a pleasure to the senses.

That interior, by the way, is pretty well identical to Porsches new Boxster, other than a few minor trim details, and Im OK with that. It keeps the price lower than it would have been if Zuffenhausen had chosen to come up with something totally new, and why should they being that the Boxster cabin has proven to be a favorite among Porsche clients and critics (like me) alike. Thirdly, the Cayman is, for all points and purposes, little more than a Boxster with a fixed roof, or at least thats what I thought when I first set eyes on it.

It appears that my initial beliefs were in error. Of course, it uses much of the roadsters chassis architecture, as well as some of its sheet metal and pretty well all of its interior, as just mentioned, but thats where the similarities end. In actuality, the Cayman S only carries over 30 percent of its components from the Boxster S, with the majority of parts used, a total of 50 percent, pulled from the 911 - no wonder the brakes feel so strong? The remaining 20 percent has been crafted specifically for the car in hand, giving it enough of a unique flavor to make any true Porschephile want one of each, at the very least.

The most obvious difference is its larger, upgraded horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine. Displacing 3.4 liters compared to the Boxster Ss 3.2, plus aided by the first application of vario-cam plus technology outside of the 911-engine family, the Cayman S adds an additional 15 horsepower and 15 lb-ft of torque to the mix, for a ULEV-2 emissions compliant total of 295-horsepower at 6,250 rpm and 251 lb-ft of torque at 4,400 to 6,000 rpm. Whats more, the Cayman S actually weighs nominally less than the Boxster S, a mere 11 lbs for a total of  2,954 lbs, but in the world of performance cars, every ounce matters.

The added power and slightly reduced mass results in a stimulating acceleration time of 5.1 seconds to 60 mph, which is a slight nudge under the Boxster Ss posted sprint of 5.2. This is, of course, where I question the performance specs I have on either car. A lighter car with a five percent increase in power should be able to shave off more than a mere 0.1 second when charging to 60 mph, shouldnt it? Whatever, powering off the line from stoplights isnt exactly what the Cayman S is for. You can buy a cheaper Corvette to handle such activities with greater success, but when the road starts to twist I challenge a comparable driver to keep up to the deft German coupe.

To say that its handling is sublime hardly does the new Cayman S justice. After all, a 911 with its engine hanging awkwardly behind its rear axle is sublime in the corners, the new mid-engine Cayman requires a new superlative to describe its tenacity - say, exalted? No, Im not even going to try and relate the acrobatic-like balance the car delivers in any given situation, turning my comparatively clumsy throttle application and braking response, plus my somewhat hesitant and often harried steering wheel input into relatively smooth, stable operation.

Its not that Im such a bad driver, or anything. Actually, Im pretty good on Californias Willow Springs or Quebecs Circuit de Mont-Tremblant, for instance, the former a fairly easy course to get to know and the latter a track that I know quite well after returning to on six separate occasions this year alone. Its just that Barber Motorsport Park is such a difficult track to learn, with so many convoluted twists and turns, and some even that look near identical to each other when approaching but follow unrelated paths when exiting, that I kept going too quickly or too slowly, plus getting my line wrong when setting up corners. And just when I was getting the hang of it, it was time to come in off the main track and head up to a makeshift autocross course put together on one of the facilitys upper parking lots.

The autocross course wasnt particularly technical, at least when it came down to learning its few chicanes and fewer turns, being that it generally looped around in a figure-8 formation, but the corners were tight yet allowed for generous speed, taxing the suspension and tires if pushed to the limit. It was almost as much fun watching others wind the Guards Red Cayman between the cones as it was to do so myself, with the former providing the rush of an engine hitting redline, its exhaust growling with every blip of the Tiptronic shifter (yes, as previously mentioned the Cayman S comes in six-speed manual and five-speed automatic guises), its rear wheels breaking out slightly during the really sharp apexes, with little tufts of dirt, dust and or tire smoke emitted when the rubber started to scream. Of course, when the Porsche-supplied professional driver took to the course, needing much less time to cover it than most of the journalists, except a noteworthy few, there was little in the way of tire squealing, but rather we witnessed the execution of an agile sports car effortlessly negotiating obstacles with an uncanny grace of composure.

After a few rounds of the course the Cayman felt that way to me, even when behind the wheel. It easily responds to minor input with dramatic results, the drama being, “How did I just get around that corner without breaking traction?” Yes, it defies logic, and until experienced under such conditions cant be imagined.

In the case of the Tiptronic-equipped car, only flips of the thumbs were needed to shift gears, reducing the amount of effort a driver has to expend in order to maximize results. I suppose this is why the Porsche reps inserted the Tip into this segment of the days activities, so that we could concentrate more on the Caymans handling than on shifting gears. But for me, either transmission would have been just fine.

The six-speed manual is a delight, after all, seemingly identical to the new-and-improved unit in the Boxster S which I fell head over heals for previously. It features single synchromesh gears in 1st and 2nd, plus double-synchromesh gears in 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th, making for a very slick shifting package. Ive said it before and Ill say it again, but theres something truly unique about the man-machine interface that connects a driver to any given Porsche, and the Cayman may be the best interpretation of such layout ever created. The gears click forward in tight, precise increments, needing little more than wrist movement compared to some sports cars that engage the entire arm. Clutch travel is likewise shorter than with the majority of performance cars, with a firm yet low-effort application and smooth, progressive engagement. Again, theres a reason Porsche charges more for its cars than, say, Chevy does for its Corvette.

Dont get me wrong, I love the new Corvette. Its insanely fun to run through the gears and especially enjoyable when the tail wags sideways during aggressive cornering, but the very fact that the Caymans tail doesnt wag out during aggressive cornering is why I like it more, because it can manage much higher speeds on uneven road surfaces, wet, snowy or dry, and because it feels miles safer when doing so. I suppose, if I had the driving skills of sports car legend “Doc” Bundy, my opinion might differ, or for that matter Le Mans-winning C6-R driver Ron Fellows. But Im just a better-than-average driver, or so Ive been told by some credible sources, and therefore I appreciate the high-speed stability brought about by the Cayman S.

In case youve not heard of Doc, his first notable series was British Formula 3, in which he faired reasonably well, after which he put in stints in European Touring Cars as well as the Japanese GT Series, plus the renowned FIA GT Championship. He managed a GTO class win in the Daytona 24 Hours, plus took his Lotus Sport X180R to the podium enough times in 1982 to win the IMSA Bridgestone Potenza Supercar Championship - the previous year he lost out to Hurley Haywood, also on hand for our days events just outside of Birmingham, who won the series in a Porsche 911 Turbo. Bundy, along with Andy Wallace, gave Panoz their first victory ever when they won at the IMSA GT race at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, not too far from where were were testing this Cayman S, in their Panoz GTR-1 in 1997, but Porsche is probably just as appreciative to Doc for handing over its 75th Trans-Am victory at Portland.

To really get a feel of what this car could do, I asked this same “Doc” Bundy to take me for a spin on the racetrack at the end of the day. All smiles, he promised me an enjoyable ride when I told him I wasnt afraid of going to the limit. Ive learned to trust these guys, and on occasion, women, who spend nearly every day driving on race courses, pushing various cars and themselves to and beyond their capabilities. They know their craft like I know mine, and therefore I feel comfortable in the knowledge that they can take a car like the Cayman S to a point where I might think it has reached its limit, but they know full well that its only nudging eight or nine tenths.

Still, eight or nine tenths of the Cayman Ss limit is shocking even to a seasoned “shot gun” pro like me. Yes the Cayman can break its tail free if the Porsche Stability Management (PSM) system is shut down, and yes it does feel forgiving at that moment, at least from a passengers perspective. Bundy didnt appear concerned, only grinning wildly, his tanned face showing lines of experience and slit-like eyes the determination it must take to move up to the top levels of motorsport.

On a more practical note, the Cayman benefits from even greater storage space than the Boxster, which, due to its front and rear trunk compartments, is class leading among roadsters. The Cayman complements a similarly sized front trunk with a rear hatch sized large enough to accept large items, at 45.7 inches long and 35.4 inches wide, combining with the front trunk for 14.5 cu-ft of luggage capacity, 9.2 cu-ft of which is just in the rear. While hardly minivan territory, try that in a Nissan 350Z? It wont happen under the rear hatch alone.

While not too hard on the pocket book when filling up, with a rating of 20 mpg in the city and 28 mpg on the highway, the Cayman S is also quite safe in case of accident. It not only comes equipped with three-point seatbelts, as well as six standard airbags, two at the front, two protecting the thorax and two on top of the windowsills, which shoot upward covering the window if deployed, but its overall body structure is said to be so rigid that it can withstand front and side impacts better than most cars of its size. Porsche has reinforced the doors with an extra steel profile plate, and the cars many complex curves combine with pre-engineered crumple zones to minimize cabin shock and maximize the protective perimeter around occupants.

Regarding safety, but this time active instead of passive, those brakes that I mentioned earlier in the review are borrowed directly from the 911? Theyre powerful enough so that you should never have to concern yourself about airbags, with twin circuits, front and rear, comprised of four-piston, monobloc aluminum calipers, plus cross-drilled and internally ventilated discs measuring 318 x 28 mm (12.52 x 1.10 inches) up front and 299 x 24 mm (11.77 x 0.94 inches) in the rear. The sticky tires that aid in shutting the speed down are ZR rated, of course, and measure 235/40 up front and 265/40 out back.

Im not going to go on and on about available options, being that there are many more than you will probably ever want to take advantage of, the added cost of which would drive the car way
beyond entry-level 911 territory. A short rundown shows that four seating choices are available, including adaptive sport seats at $3,055, adaptive sport seats with the leather interior $2,695, and heated seats at $480. The full leather interior, which adds leather to the dash, center console, and just about everywhere else (one of my favorite extras) will deplete your pocketbook by $2,095.

The 18-inch Boxster S wheels will cost you $390 over the stock rims while the 19-inch Carrera S wheels will set you back $1,550. Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), which reduces the ride height by 0.4 inches, offers two damper settings, “Normal” and “Sport”, and much more, costs $1,990 while the Tiptronic S automatic transmission is a staggering $3,210 - about $2,000 more than most other manufacturers automatic gearbox upgrades (or downgrades depending on your priorities).

Speaking of upgrades, the ceramic brakes are definitely worth the money if stopping is a priority, after all, how can you put a price on a potentially life saving option? Porsche has, to the tune of $8,150, but before you go AWOL keep in mind that the stock braking system is superb. The ceramic brakes are just that much better, dramatically reducing fade on the track and reducing stopping distances from any speed on public roads.

A DVD-based navigation system, which also includes Bluetooth connectivity, costs $2,970, but my personal favorite, the Sports Chrono Package, which not only looks ultimately cool sitting atop the dash like some overly sophisticated Swiss timepiece, actually is capable of counting laps, keeping track of a drivers best time and displaying all lap time information on a digital graph via the audio/nav system interface in the center stack. The $920 Sport Chrono Plus package also modifies the cars engine management characteristics, if programmed to do so, plus the behavior of PSM and PASM systems. For Porsche technophiles who frequent the racetrack, this is money well spent.

A remote CD changer can be fitted into the front trunk, featuring six additional discs for $650, while the audio system can be upgraded with a Bose surround sound system for $950.

A tire pressure monitoring system can also be added, probably a good idea if you plan on driving quickly, as can a $530 park assist system to aid when reversing - its a small car but the rear window isnt exactly minivan-large.

One option that you might want to buck up for is the bi-xenon headlamp package, adding $1,090 to the total price, while I found it a bit shocking that, if you happen to want Porsches most popular color, basically any shade of silver, youll be paying $825 for metallic paint. Ouch! I suppose thats a lot easier to stomach than the $4,315 needed if you simply must match your new Cayman S to your favorite fuchsia carry-on bag. At least Porsche will match the cars exterior paint to a sample, something most carmakers wont do.

But once again, Porsche is not like most car companies, and therefore the prices it charges for options, which are almost always made to a much higher standard than similar items found on competitive vehicles, are almost always dearer. Porsche has also put together a Tequipment catalog full of cool extras to personalize your Cayman S, such as yet more wheel options, snow chains, an aluminum-look exterior package, sport tailpipes, interior trim packages, made with aluminum or carbon fiber, roof racks plus lockable cargo boxes and ski or bike carriers, a remote for your nav system, a logbook, cellphone, child safety seats, car care products, etc. If you still want more stuff embossed with the revered Porsche crest, someone at the dealership will no doubt be happy to supply you with a Porsche Design catalog, filled with watches, pens, lapel pins, apparel, hats, key chains, and the like.

I flew away from Birmingham impressed with Porsches latest sports car, fully understanding why the designers and engineers just had to build a car that fills a niche so small that most automakers would never even dream of putting it to market. But this said, Porsche isnt like most automakers, now is it? Its the most profitable car company, on a unit-by-unit basis, in the world, the result of which has allowed it to stow away enough cash to recently buy a majority stake in Volkswagen, no less, the largest automaker in Europe and the fourth largest maker of passenger cars in the world! This deepens the relationship between the two companies, which not too long ago combined forces to bring the Cayenne and Touareg SUVs to market, allowing Porsche greater access to Volkswagens wealth of resources (could a DSG-type sequential manual transmission be in the pipes?), and providing Volkswagen with the influence of a leadership team that has proven its worth.

And the Cayman S will prove its worth to you, if only in a matter of minutes after slipping into its superbly supportive drivers seat, this I can assure you. It will, without doubt, help you reach your other New Years goals all the quicker too, zipping you back and forth to the gym in record time as well as over to the Whole Foods Market, for some of those aforementioned fresh fruits and vegetables. But for the first two weeks, at least, youll have to keep your resolutions from behind the wheel of your current ride, because the Cayman S doesnt go on sale until January 14, 2006. Can you hold on that long? Mmmm… that box of chocolates looks mighty good.