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Porsche Cayman S
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<td valign="top" colspan="2"><span class="storyblurb">
Europe on 295 horsepower a day.
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<span class="author">BY AARON ROBINSON[/quote]
<span class="photo">PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFFREY G. RUSSELL[/quote]
<span class="photo">November 2005[/quote]
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A sign up ahead reads, 'Worms 1000 meters.' I know just how those people feel. We've been ravaging these European highways for about 19 hours and subsisting on a gas-station diet of vacuum-packed tomato sandwiches and a mysterious starch product called Crispers. Our supply of cookies is dangerously low, as are our vitamin E, riboflavin, and pantothenic acid. Should we really be doing 137 mph?
Most press-introduction drives follow fastidiously planned routes. In this case, Porsche gave us a brief presentation, tossed us the keys at the factory in Zuffenhausen, Germany, and asked that we return in 36 hours—with the car. We went straight to a gas station and bought a book of maps. It had Europe, Iceland, and a few places in Turkey that we just might reach if we chose to give up sleep. Later, we figured out how to operate the Cayman's navigation system, so the map book went under the seat.
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For those just returning from the seasonal whale hunt, the Cayman S is the new hard-hat version of the mid-engine Porsche Boxster—a Boxster with a hardtop, or
mit Kopf
as the Germans might say. It's also a Boxster
mit
new front bumper, titanium-colored body accents, and extra body curves. The Cayman's hips rise a half-inch higher to meet the sleek roofline slope. A small ducktail spoiler deploys upward on struts at 75 mph.
Only big-engine 'S' versions of the Cayman are available for sale at the start. The 3387cc flat-six shares bore-and-stroke specs with the previous-generation Porsche 911 and dynos at 295 horsepower and 251 pound-feet of torque, 15 more horsepower and pound-feet than a Boxster S. For now, all Caymans are being built in Uusikaupunki, Finland, by Valmet Automotive, an independent supplier already assembling Boxsters for Porsche. The Cayman S's fixed roof and an extra crossbeam behind the seats make it twice as stiff as the Boxster S. The Cayman S is also 10 pounds lighter, according to the press kit. The promise of nominally better performance, insists Porsche, justifies the U.S. base price of $59,695 (and $69,910 with our test car's options). It's $10,400 cheaper than the cheapest 911, but base to base the Cayman commands a $5800 whistler of a premium over the Boxster S. We're struggling to see why.
We're also struggling to escape from Stuttgart. It's day one, and our initial plan, to beat it south into the passes of the Austrian Tyrol, has been scuppered by lousy weather. I'm okay with an epitaph that reads, 'Last seen in opposite lock on a rain-slicked and fog-shrouded switchback above Kitzbühel,' but Russell, our photographer, pleads for sun. At the moment, blue sky lies only to the north and west.
We make for the Rhine, the last resting place of the Franco-German border after centuries of bloody tug of war. The Cayman takes up a relaxed residence in the autobahn's left lane, cruising with the BMWs and Audis at 110 mph. Its flat-six engine lives under a carpeted mound behind the seats and makes a brassy exhaust whine familiar to all Porsche owners. The background whirring of belts and accessory pumps and the thrum of meaty 19-inch Michelins are noises cooped up by the Cayman's roof. The only physical evidence of a real engine is a small panel in the trunk that flips open to reveal water and oil filler caps.
Once upon a time, you couldn't cross into France's Alsace-Lorraine region at Baden-Baden without being lanced, hacked at, cannonaded, or raked by machine-gun fire. We exit the motorway into a landscape that rolls and swells with green postage stamps, the late-summer crops elephant-eye high. From every tiny village of half-timber cottages rises a church spire, from every window hangs a box overflowing with flowers. A white stork circles lazily in the brightening sky. Packing light was an unnecessary precaution. Cargo capacity is an Accord-like 14 cubic feet, split between the front trunk and the gaping, forward-hinged hatchback. Leave the Cayman idling while you load bags, and the twin exhaust pipes fluffle your pant legs. Head- and legroom are ample for six-footers.
Wandering west through the Vosges Mountains toward Metz, we stumble on a suitably flat road to run some impromptu quarter-miles. As with other Porsches, frantic axle hop makes our six-speed Cayman S tricky to launch (a Tiptronic is available). The numbers are virtually identical to a Boxster S's: 60 mph in 5.1 seconds, the quarter in 13.4 seconds at 105 mph. Huge calipers clamp massive steel brakes (ceramic composite discs are an option) for 70-mph stops in a brief 147 feet. They feel touchier than typical ferrous brakes, but there's no doubting their stopping power.
Circling the 13th-century Cathédrale Saint Etienne in Metz, we can't find a suitable hotel. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, boasting the highest gross domestic product per capita in the world ($58,900 according to the CIA Web site—and they should know) is just up the road. Dotted with Disney-like castles and bisected by the startling deep gorge through which meanders the Pétrusse River, Luxembourg is deluxe.
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<td align="center"><span class="subheadline">THE VERDICT[/quote]
<span class="site-text">
Porsche Cayman S
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<td><span class="subheadline">Highs:[/quote] Extra cargo cubes, cheaper than a 911, as composed on the Nürburgring as on the autobahn.
<span class="subheadline">Lows:[/quote] Pricier than a Boxster, ready for more power.
<span class="subheadline">The Verdict:[/quote] A mid-engine Porsche for heliophobes.</td>
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In the morning we cross into Belgium and head for Bastogne. Here, in the Arctic-cold December of 1944, 18,000 soldiers of the 101st Airborne were surrounded by the German Army and hammered for two weeks without relief. When asked by the German commander on December 22 to surrender, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe famously replied in writing, 'Nuts!' and signed his name to it. Patton's tanks broke through four days later. In Bastogne's restored village square, near a Sherman tank with fist-size holes in its hull, you can buy T-shirts and coffee mugs that say, 'Nuts!'
We streak across a watercolor painting of waving wheat, tilled soil, and blue sky, heading east through the countryside, back over the Rhine, and into the murky pine forests of the Eifel Mountains. Destination: the Nürburgring. Porsche burned a lot of rubber here wringing out the Cayman on the 12.9-mile, 73-turn Nordschleife course. On most summer weekdays it becomes a high-speed lunatic parade when it opens to the public at 5 p.m. Deposit €15 ($18.70) in a machine for a single-lap ticket. Helmets are not required.
The first harrowing lap is a blur of candy-cane-striped curbs, hidden apexes, jumps, and blind approaches to blind corners. Ahead: slow-moving Opel station wagons. Behind: Porsche GT3s with high-beams blazing. The Cayman is balanced, reassuring,
glued
. Its wheel steers with a natural heft and direct precision. The front end refuses to plow, the tail end can't be shaken from its fat footings. Little drifts out of the corner are mastered with a throttle so gentle and controllable that you pick your tach settings to the rpm. The Cayman never lurches or bucks, just pours on power in a lump-free surge. You'll look like a hero with the standard-equipment PSM stability control, which needs a lot of prodding before it starts making minute brake adjustments to keep the Cayman on course. The first lap ends in about 13 minutes, the second in a bit over 10. That's less awful than I expected. Factory drivers do it in less than eight-and-a-half minutes.
It's time to roll south, back to Stuttgart. The Cayman's ride is supple, even with firmer springs and shocks than the Boxster, but the optional PASM electronic suspension waters down the bumps nicely. Sorry, Porsche, we still don't see much reason to pick the Cayman over the open-air Boxster—that is, unless you love the Cayman's shape or need more cargo space or you just want to save a bundle over the faster but no more thrilling 911. But we're willing to come back to Germany as many times as it takes to be persuaded.
<span class="subheadline">PORSCHE CAYMAN S[/quote]
Vehicle type:
mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 3-door coupe
Estimated price as tested:
$69,910
Price and option breakdown:
base Porsche Cayman S (includes $795 freight), $59,695; Navigation package, $3175; Porsche Active Suspension Management, $1990; 19-inch wheels, $1940; power seats, $1550; trunk-mounted 6-CD changer, $650; automatic climate control, $550; rear-window wiper, $360
Major standard accessories:
power windows and locks, remote locking, A/C, cruise control, tilting and telescoping steering wheel, rear defroster
Sound system:
Porsche AM-FM radio/CD changer, 9 speakers
ENGINE
Type: flat-6, aluminum block and heads
Bore x stroke: 3.78 x 3.07 in, 96.0 x 78.0mm
Displacement: 207 cu in, 3387cc
Compression ratio: 11.1:1
Fuel-delivery system: port injection
Valve gear: chain-driven double overhead cams,
4 valves per cylinder, hydraulic lifters,
variable intake-valve timing and lift
Power (SAE net): 291 bhp @ 6250 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 251 lb-ft @ 4400 rpm
Redline: 7200 rpm
DRIVETRAIN
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Final-drive ratio: 3.88:1
Gear -Ratio - Mph/1000 rpm - Max speed in gears
I - 3.31 - 5.9 - 43 mph (7200 rpm)
II - 1.95 - 10.0 - 72 mph (7200 rpm)
III - 1.41 - 13.9 - 100 mph (7200 rpm)
IV - 1.13 - 17.3 - 125 mph (7200 rpm)
V - 0.97 - 20.2 - 145 mph (7200 rpm)
VI - 0.82 - 23.9 - 171 mph (7150 rpm)
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 95.1 in
Track, front/rear: 58.5/60.2 in
Length/width/height: 170.9/70.9/51.4 in
Ground clearance: 4.3 in
Drag area, Cd (0.29) x frontal area (21.3 sq ft): 6.2 sq ft
Curb weight (
C/D
est): 3100 lb
Weight distribution, F/R (
C/D
est): 48/52%
Curb weight per horsepower (
C/D
est): 10.7 lb
Fuel capacity: 16.9 gal
CHASSIS/BODY
Type: unit construction
Body material: welded steel stampings
INTERIOR
SAE volume, seats: 48 cu ft
luggage: 14 cu ft
Seat adjustments: fore-and-aft, seatback angle;
driver only: front height, rear height, lumbar support
Restraint system: manual 3-point belts; driver and passenger front, side, and head airbags
SUSPENSION
Front: ind, strut located by a control arm, coil springs, anti-roll bar
Rear: ind, strut located by 1 trailing link and 2 lateral links, coil springs, anti-roll bar
STEERING
Type: rack-and-pinion with variable hydraulic power assist
Steering ratio: 17.1:1-13.8:1
Turns lock-to-lock: 2.6
Turning circle curb-to-curb: 36.4 ft
BRAKES
Type: hydraulic with vacuum power assist and
anti-lock control
Front: 12.5 x 1.1-in vented and cross-dilled disc
Rear: 11.8 x 0.9-in vented and cross-drilled disc
WHEELS AND TIRES
Wheel size: F: 8.0 x 19 in, R: 9.5 x 19 in
Wheel type: cast aluminum
Tires: Michelin Pilot Sport PS2; F: 235/35ZR-19 (87Y), R: 265/35ZR-19 (94Y)
Test inflation pressures, F/R: 37/37 psi
Spare: none
<span class="subheadline">
C/D TEST RESULTS
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ACCELERATION:
Seconds
Zero to 30 mph: 1.8
40 mph: 2.6
50 mph: 3.9
60 mph: 5.1
70 mph: 6.3
80 mph: 8.2
90 mph: 10.0
100 mph: 12.0
110 mph: 15.0
Street start, 5-60 mph: 5.7
Top-gear acceleration, 30-50 mph: 8.2
50-70 mph: 6.6
Standing 1/4-mile: 13.4 sec @ 105 mph
Top speed (drag limited, mfr's claim): 171 mph
BRAKING
70-0 mph @ impending lockup: 147 ft
FUEL ECONOMY
European urban cycle: 15 mpg
extra-urban cycle: 30 mpg
combined: 22 mpg
C/D-
observed: 18 mpg
INTERIOR SOUND LEVEL
Idle: 53 dBA
Full-throttle acceleration: 86 dBA
70-mph cruising: 76 dBA
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Available at:
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=19&article_id=10121&page_number=1
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