Six things we learned about the new Porsche Cayman

This is the key thing with the new Porsche Cayman – and many other turbocharged sports cars. A few of the comments on the drive were asking what the big deal was with the switch from flat six to four cylinders, since it was only the noise that had taken a hit. But it’s not just the noise – there are three main elements that lose out when an engine is turbocharged: the noise, the response and the power characteristics.

So not only does the Cayman sound cheaper (although it’s plenty loud as Porsche has made sure volume hasn’t suffered), but throttle response is a hair slower as it takes the exhaust gas driven turbo a moment or two to wake up and get going, which means you don’t have the purity of pedal response you used to have in the naturally aspirated car.

Lastly, turbochargers yield great torque, which gives them booming mid-range deliveries, but fewer reasons to hold on for high revs. Now everyone likes torque, so this is a harder sell, but a great naturally aspirated engine will build and build as the revs climb to a screaming crescendo, ideally somewhere out beyond 8000rpm. A turbo isn’t as exciting. It thumps in about 3000rpm, blows hard and gradually runs out of puff around 6,000rpm. Now the Cayman’s new engine is better than that and maintains thrust clean through to a relatively high rev limiter at 7500rpm, but there’s no real crescendo to it, no sense of building excitement.

In other words no, it’s not just about the noise.

Review: TG drives the new Porsche 718 Cayman S

OK, so our car was on the optional £1,566 Carrera Sport 20-inch wheels rather than the standard 19s, but even so, the 330mm brake discs looked like bottle tops (they’re even worse at the back, just 299mm discs – I reckon my mountain bike looks more macho). The only way of correcting this is to fit the optional £4,997 PCCB ceramic brake system, which gives you 350mm discs all round. And yellow calipers.

Review: TG drives the new Porsche 718 Cayman S

Opinions are mixed about whether the new Cayman is a looker or not. It’s hard to see further than the Miami Blue paint this one is wearing. Might be worth having a look at other wheel options too – there are six to choose from in total. But yeah, the Cayman floats my boat. What I do think have been nicely done are the details – the integration of the rear spoiler, the insides of the lights. It’s still not a very aggressive car, though. If this had been done by BMW it would have had sharper headlights and a much more edgy lower airdam.

Review: TG drives the new Porsche 718 Cayman S

It’s been said before, but the sheer scope for personalisation is outstanding – and means there’s plenty of room to make a complete balls up of your spec unless you’re very careful. So no, you don’t need the Porsche logo imprinted on the lid of the centre stowage bin, nor do you need the dials painted Luxor beige, a mahogany steering wheel or leather inner door sills. And particularly no cross combination of aluminium, mahogany, leather, carbon and alcantara inside. You can do, but you absolutely musn’t. But I would urge you go and see what it looks like when you hose every option at a Cayman. The configurator is ace. See if you can beat a list of £85,742 for a Cayman S.

Anyway, back to the point. Porsche, I know you need to give the customer what they want, but you’re not helping your own potential residual values here, are you?

Review: TG drives the new Porsche 718 Cayman S

PDK costs £1,922, but you’ll be splurging so much on the options list you’ll barely notice the extra cost. Look, PDK is great – it’s simple, it’s low hassle and if you’re driving your car every day and have to deal with low speed traffic, you’d be an idiot not to have it.

I have to and I am that idiot. I’d have the manual. I’d have it for two reasons. Firstly, it’s an ace gearbox with a lovely short, snicky throw (clutch travel is overly long though). Secondly, it enhances your sense of connection with this new engine. It means you have to think, actually have to engage with the car. And the Cayman really is a car you want to engage with.

Review: TG drives the new Porsche 718 Cayman S

I would. I’ve just had a scout about on Autotrader and for £50,000 you can get a one year old Cayman S that’s done a handful of miles. I know it might not be in your exact spec, but you could get the important stuff right – you just might struggle to find one with the mahogany steering wheel and leather door sills.

We will try to get old and new together, because I think it matters for the Cayman and I’m utterly intrigued about that. As I wrote in the review, the more I drove it, the more I liked it. But I still didn’t love it and I wouldn’t want the niggling doubt in the back of my mind that I’d bought the inferior car.

Review: TG drives the new Porsche 718 Cayman S