Has Porsche created the best handling production sportscar ever?

Has Porsche created the best handling production sportscar ever?

Wheels

2008 Porsche Cayman S
By: Jim Robinson

One would think that after more than 50 years, Porsche would have finally gotten it right. It seems that each time I write about one of these cars I say it is the best Porsche ever and each time the next one is another step forward.

This time I can safely say the Cayman S is not only the best "streetable" Porsche but perhaps the best handling production sportscar of any make on the market.

The secret to any Porsche is decade after painstaking decade of learning, refining and reworking a basic concept.

The Cayman S can be traced directly back to the legendary 1960s 904 Carrera GTS Coupe. Like the 904, it is mid-engined with most of the mass centred between four-wheel independent suspension systems. The 2008 Cayman S presents the sum of all Porsche has learned, with the essence distilled into one precision instrument.

Based on all that has been learned from the similar Boxster, the Cayman S sits between it and the 911 in the model hierarchy. Power is a 3.4-litre, four-cam, "boxer" six-cylinder engine (295 hp, 251 ft/lb of torque) placed ahead of the rear wheel with a six-speed manual or Tiptronic sequential transaxle.

Fuel consumption is listed at 11.8L/100 km (24 mpg) and 7.7L/100 km (37 mpg) in the manual transmission model as tested.

Simply put, the suspension is coil springs over struts at the front and the same at the rear supplemented by longitudinal and track control arms. In practice, the suspension was precisely mated to the ultra stiff chassis for optimum handling, distilled with the knowledge that has gone before. In testing at the Nurburgring, it rivaled the full-blown 911 and also set a record for the fastest lap using the least fuel.

Inside, the Cayman is typical Porsche, luxurious but not opulent. The seats, pedals and controls are there for the driver as befits Porsche's penchant for performance first.

At a base price of $75,300, the Cayman S for 2008 comes with no charge leather seating and a price reduction that worked out to $2,420 on this model. Although you can option this car out to well beyond $90,000, the price as tested including a $1,085 shipping fee was $81,270.

One option it did have was the Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) at $2,790 and it really works. Because of the snow this time of year, I did not have the chance to put PASM to the test, however, I've done so in the past as I found out during testing on a slalom course where threading the cones was like scissors cutting through cloth.

The styling is pure Porsche. You can't mistake this for any other make. And there are so many subtle lines. The rake of the rear hatch is actually lower than the rear fenders. Viewed from the rear, those bulging fenders give it a muscular appearance. Also, there is a kick-up of the rear quarter window purposely ahead of the rear wheel arch for purely aesthetic reasons. That is matched by a similar hockey stick shaped line that travels backwards down the rocker panel and then juts up to include a functional air intake with bold strakes that accentuate the double kick-up.

The Cayman S can hit 96 km/h (60 mph) from rest in 5.1 seconds. Not fast enough? How about 0-160 km/h (99 mph) in 11.7 seconds and 0-200 km/h (124 mph) in 18.6 seconds? I've been saying for years powerful cars don't get you into trouble, they get you out of trouble.

Some will say the Cayman is a big Boxster with a hardtop, and while the mid-engine layout is the same, much is different. By virtue of it being a hardtop, the Cayman S is 100 per cent stiffer than the Boxster S.

As great in the handling department as the Boxster S is, the Cayman S is in a whole Porsche class by itself. Yes the bigger 911 may be faster in a straight line ... but not by much.

When the Cayman S was introduced two years ago at the Barber Motorsport Park in Alabama, I learned first hand just how much potential exists within the Cayman S package.

But don't take it from me. International race champion Porsche drivers like Hurley Haywood, Doc Bundy and Dave Murray were on hand to take journalist-tyros like yours truly around before letting us loose. They all agreed the Cayman S was a giant step forward.

With Murray coaching, I managed to go faster each lap. Unlike the 911 where you sense that great lump of engine out behind the rear wheels, the Cayman S puts you and the motor between both sets of wheels thus placing you at the fulcrum of the forces acting on the car.

You can, and I did, bring the Cayman S down from full bore in fourth in about 20 metres for a sweeping left hander that seemed like a right-angle turn that plunged down and then shot back uphill to a right followed by another left. The Cayman was glued, and I mean glued.

Later, Murray drove at his pace. He is so smooth and so damned quick. Chatting about slip angles and apexes, he blasted around so fast the contents of my stomach where sloshed around like paint on a mixing machine. After I got out, I thanked Dave weakly, and then bolted for a washroom like my hair was on fire.

I have to confess that was on my mind as I drove through the aftermath of yet another winter snowstorm in our area. As far away as you can get from a broiling racetrack in the summer, the Cayman S with all the technical road-holding marvels was just at home in the snow.

With the ABS cutting in regularly, this coupe with four good snow tires was very tractable thanks also to its mid-engine layout and lower centre of gravity that is part of the boxer layout.

The thing about Porsche is they aren't track-tuned specials. Each vehicle comes off the showroom floor and immediately delivers what Porsche is all about, regardless of the season.

This is what makes people love their Porsches. The spirit that began way back with Dr Porsche's first car in 1948 has never been lost nor allowed to become diluted.

Porsches are purposeful beings, and I do mean beings in the sense they feel and act, even communicate, differently from normal A-to-Bers.

Wrap a Porsche around yourself and both of you work as one. It was, I believe, Ettore Bugatti who said a car is the closest man has come to creating a living thing.

With the Cayman S, a lucky few will find out in a tangible and rewarding way, there is some truth in this.

PORSCHE CAYMAN S 2008 AT A GLANCE

• BODY STYLE: Premium sportscar.
• DRIVE METHOD: mid-engine, rear-wheel drive;
• ENGINE: 3.4-litre, DOHC horizontally-opposed six-cylinder engine (295 hp, 251 lb/ft)
• FUEL ECONOMY: 11.8L/100 km (24 mpg), 7.7L/100 km (37 mpg) city.
• PRICE: Base, $75,300, as tested, $81,270, including $1,085 shipping fee.
• WEB: www.porsche.com/Canada/

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