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<span class="medheader">Car Review Full Verdict [/quote]</td>
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<td width="334"><span class="type2">Porsche[/quote]Cayman Coupe
<span class="red">TARGET PRICE
£43,930 - £43,930
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Price
£43,930 - £43,930
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ON THE ROAD
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Performance
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The Cayman S has a new 3.4-litre flat-six engine that incorporates elements of the Boxster and 911 power units. It’s nicely flexible for everyday driving, but does its best work above 4000rpm. A gem of a gearchange and six well chosen forward ratios add to the ease of driving. There’s also a five-speed auto option.
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Ride & handling
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The Cayman S is based on the mid-engined Boxster roadster, but with a firmer suspension set-up and a fixed-roof body that's twice as resistant to flexing. This creates rat-up-a-drainpipe agility and nimbleness, forgiving handling, grip to spare and brilliant bump absorption. The brakes are, typically, superb. Both they and the suspension can be uprated.
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Refinement
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You don’t expect sports cars to be quiet, but nor do you want to be sat in the middle of a din. With the Cayman S you’re not. The guttural low-rev snarl and higher-speed metallic thrash of the flat-six engine never disappear, but you probably wouldn’t want them to, and road and wind noise are rarely apparent.</td>
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OWNERSHIP
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Buying & owning
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Porsche will build only 10,000 Caymans a year (compared with 27,000 911s), so there’s likely to be lots of pent-up demand and very strong secondhand values. For a while, depreciation might be next to nothing. Porsche running cost aren’t cheap, but they are sensible for a prestige sports car.
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Quality & reliability
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One of the reasons Porsches are so popular as everyday performance cars is that they are untemperamental and undemanding – follow the service schedule and they’ll take what’s thrown at them. Some of the plastics and switches in the Cayman aren’t the last word in style, but they’ll last.
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Safety & security
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A brilliant chassis, powerful brakes and Porsche’s PSM stability control system give you every chance of keeping out of trouble; six airbags protect if the worst comes to the worst. Security is naturally better than in the Boxster roadster, but any luggage in the rear boot is on view to passers-by.</td>
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IN THE CABIN
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Behind the wheel
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Unless you’re using the full rear luggage capacity, the fore, aft and sideways view out of the Cayman is exceptionally good – even the front pillars don’t obstruct your sight through bends. Space and the adjustability of the driving position are great, but the crowded minor switchgear is not easy to use.
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Space & practicality
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Like the Boxster, the Cayman is a strict two-seater, but there’s plenty of room inside the new, fixed-roof cabin. Not a millimetre of space has been wasted: there’s a 150-litre front boot and up to 260 litres more in the split-level deck atop the mid-mounted engine and gearbox. Oddments space in the cabin is pretty good, too.
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Equipment
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The Porsche way of things is to provide everything expected of an expensive sports car, while offering plenty of options for those with bottomless pits for pockets. So, you can add carbon ceramic brakes, electronically controlled suspension damping, two-tone leather trim and a full sat-nav and communications package.</td>
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available at:
http://www.whatcar.co.uk/RoadTestmodel_FullVerdict.asp?DL=1&RT=217247&FC
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Edited by - mpollard on 11/02/2005 6:02:57 PM
Good Review. But looks like yet another critic who thinks the Cayman S should have a bit more power (Performance **** out of ***** stars)
