Goddamn, Porsche has won my heart again. Here I was, being a complete snob about the 718 Cayman because of its unsightly—unsoundly?—four-cylinder engine, and then I drove one. It turns out it drives so right! Who knew the 718 Cayman chassis was my soulmate! (Too bad I can’t say the same about the engine.) Porsche crafts cars that meld with their drivers, and the 718 Cayman GTS did exactly that with me.
I am at Porsche’s Monterey Car Week pavilion for my drive. My 718 Cayman tester is custom-built to please a car enthusiast: GTS trim plus cloth sports seats and the PASM sports suspension. Of the lot, it is the GTS trim that is the key; it gets the best go-fast goodies from the 718 Cayman S and adds an additional 15 hp to the turbo-four for a grand total of 365 hp. The only thing that may not be enthusiast spec is the automatic transmission. (This is a customer-test-drive vehicle, after all.) But Porsche’s PDK has always been the best automatic transmission, so the lack of a proper stick-shift is forgiven.
Porsche offers 14-way and 18-way electronically adjustable seats for the 718 Cayman, but the cloth sports seats fitted to my car are just 2-way power adjusted. For sliding the seat fore and aft, I have to use manual controls to find the right position. Settling in, I find the seats comfortable. I’m rail thin…who knows if you’d find them comfortable too.
The GTS trim and sports suspension bring the car’s MSRP to ~$81,000. An additional $17,960 of style and creature comforts appear on the Monroney of my tester. Upgraded wheels, LED headlights, a premium stereo, navigation, smartphone connectivity, and leather trim push the grand total to $99k. $99k seems rich for a 718 Cayman, but Porsches have always cost a pretty penny.
I power up the 718 Cayman GTS and chuff out of the parking lot. Boy, this four-cylinder sounds funny! A button on the central console to toggle the sports exhaust flaps; opening them makes the car louder, but not any more sonorous. The most charitable thing I can say about the sound is that on light throttle, I get a hint of the old four-cylinder rumble from the Porsche 356. Even if today’s Porsche enthusiasts consider the downsized engine a sacrilege—and I do—the brand does have a history with four-bangers.
Porsches have a signature heft to their controls, and that heft permeates the 718 Cayman GTS too. All the driving controls and switches have a matched weight and solidity and a clear determined response when used. I love this about Porsche; it makes their cars feel grounded, precision-engineered, and ready to take decades of hard-driving. My driving today will be spirited but not challenging to the autobahn-bred and racetrack-ready 718 Cayman GTS.
On Carmel Valley Road, the 365 hp 2.5L four-cylinder proves that it is the little engine that could. While barking its snorty song, the engine shakes my seatback and whips the 718 Cayman GTS down the road with gusto. The turbocharged engine produces ample torque, and the 718 Cayman GTS is clearly faster than the naturally aspirated six-cylinder Cayman GTS it replaces.
As always, the PDK transmission responds instantly to my paddle pulls. My finger flicks make the tachometer needle leap between the numbers. PDK delivers fast and seamless shifts, flawless engine blips, and (not experienced today) repeated launches and hot laps. No wonder it is considered the best.
Thankfully, Porsche’s old thumb-shift buttons are a thing of the past. Instead, the new sports steering wheel works just as God intended: The left paddle is for downshifts, and the right paddle is for upshifts.
At moderate speeds, the 718 Cayman’s cabin is awash with road noise. The car clearly aims to be a sports car rather than a grand tourer. I wouldn’t expect the 718 Cayman to be relaxing on a long highway drive.
The optional PASM sports suspension is adjustable but rides firmly even in its softest mode. I’m not getting beat up, but I’m missing the luxurious suppleness of the old 997.1 911 Carrera S. (It’s a bad comparison, but that is the most current 911 I’ve reviewed!) If you want a comfy ride, investigate the 718 Cayman’s non-sport suspension.
I turn onto Laureles Grade, a road befitting of the 718 Cayman GTS’s mission. The lumpy but unbroken pavement is clearly communicated through the 718’s EPAS steering. Porsche has the best EPAS steering for weight, response and communication of road texture and impacts. The only thing missing from the steering is the sense of suspension travel that the old hydraulically-assisted 911s relayed.
Climbing the grade, the 718 Cayman GTS dices up the twists with so little effort that I feel more like a bird soaring thermals than a man muscling metal. The 718 glides and rolls with the ease of quicksilver. Praise the 718 Cayman GTS’s mid-engine layout and light 3,000 lb weight for its supernatural agility. Here is a true sports car.
I feel an amazing sense of faultless flying in the 718 Cayman GTS. For that, I love and want this car. The fly in the ointment to temper my temptation is the gruff-sounding four-cylinder. It soils the 718’s allure.
Fortunately, a solution is on the horizon. The upcoming 718 Cayman GT4 and 718 Boxster Spyder use a new six-cylinder, naturally-aspirated 4.0L engine and start at, ahem, a Porsche-obtainable $99k. The same price as my test car. Finally, the world will be able to enjoy the sublime 718 Cayman chassis with an equally sublime engine. I look forward to my first drive!
Mike's Steering Column 