Porsche Cayman GT4 vs. Lotus Exige V6 Cup
The best Porsche you can't buy against the Lotus you might just want to consider as an alternative - but is it really worthy?
The one we've been waiting for!
Starting price for the Exige Cup is £62,994 while the Cayman, if you could buy it (which you can't), ostensibly starts at £64,451. Both numbers can be easily inflated via the options list though, our PHer supplied Exige costing over £70K while our GT4 press car with all the toys tops £80,000.
The Cayman has 385hp and 310lb ft from a 3.8-litre normally aspirated flat-six while, as tested, the Lotus's 3.5-litre supercharged V6 does 350hp and 295lb ft in a car weighing nearly a quarter of a tonne less. Lotus has also just confirmed an updated Cup with 360hp plus the same starting price and it would seem there is more where that came from on the way. For now both are manual-only, track-tyre shod circuit shredders with spanner-based adjustment for the fettlers but a no-nonsense purist streak straight out of the box. This test isn't about lap times and number crunching though, rather an investigation of which can work better on your traditional British back road, in this case the brutally bumpy ones criss-crossing Saddleworth Moor.
The 991 GT3 is not like the cars Porsche's GT department used to make. An incredibly impressive piece of kit and, if you're man enough to go there, a very, very grown-up driving proposition too. But gizmos like PDK and four-wheel steering open the door to the posers and wannabes natural selection would previously have weeded out in as long as it took them to stall single-mass flywheel against hair-trigger clutch.
Fluid, precise and pretty fabulous here actually
And that's exactly who bought it. Apparently swallowing up the entire allocation, leaving none for the rest of us. Here, in a Bullseye style 'look at what you could have won' is what you're missing out on. In short, the answer to all the criticisms we've thrown at the 991 and latest Caymans and Boxsters. Well, nearly all.
Starting at the front the GT3 front suspension, smaller (and completely unadorned) wheel and other changes mean there's none of the mush in the steering seen in 'civilian' Porsches. Yes, it's electrically assisted. And, no, there isn't the feel of the older cars. But it's brilliantly weighted, predictable and absolutely resolute in its reaction to your inputs. Point front end. It goes. The murmurs of feedback as the front wheels track cambers or load and unload aren't as clear as they once were but for an electric system it's as good as it gets.
Lovely - but not really that pared back
Saying that the beauty of the GT4 is its ability to overlap the various corner phases and give you confidence to play with its balance even at vaguely civilised speeds. Regular Porsches just don't do this any more but in the GT4 you can relish the sense of picking up the throttle before you've even started winding the lock off, rear axle working in partnership with the front to push the car into the turn. Meaning by the time you come to exit you're already in the engine's howling sweet spot as the lock releases, the relaxed stability control permitting just the subtlest sense of rotation under power. That you feel this even with Cup rubber on a dry road is a measure of how detailed the feedback is.
Porsche at its finest? No doubt
The Cayman might have a half cage in the back and natty little fabric door releases. But its track pretensions are just that, given the lashings of Alcantara, contrast stitching and toys found in the cabin. The Lotus is the real thing though, kill switch and extinguisher button occupying the space where you'd usually find a radio and only the bare minimum of the aluminium tub covered in any trim whatsoever.
No slipping under the radar, even in this grey
On the road the V6 Exige is a more muscular and physical piece of kit than the old four-cylinder one. More potent, for sure, but not quite as feral or crazed. But it's still 230kg less than the Porsche. This shows as you swap from one to the other, the supercharged Toyota engine having a more elastic power delivery than the crisp, normally aspirated Porsche in the sense that you stretch it and then - twang! - you're properly catapulted forward as if fired off the front of an aircraft carrier. For all that talk the gearing doesn't feel noticeably shorter than the Porsche but the rev range is tighter and the delivery punchier, meaning you spend more time flicking between third and fourth with second only really necessary in properly tight corners. Which is just as well, because the shift - though better than many Lotuses - still isn't quite as positive as the Cayman's.
Cup by name, Cup by nature!
Exige less composed than the GT4 here
As you'd expect, it's a much more sensory experience driving this car fast. The creaks through the structure, the whiff of fuel, the sneezes and shrieks of the supercharger - even the squelching of the dampers through big bumps - you get it all. Next time we get these two back to back it needs to involve a track and a stopwatch...
First shock is the car that performs best on these very British roads isn't the Lotus, at least as-is. Not everyone wants to fiddle with clicker adjusters and spanners and, without any tweaking, the Porsche just gobbled up the very worst these vicious roads could throw at it. The engine is glorious and the decision to keep it manual only is inspired self-selection for those who'll really appreciate its subtleties.
This isn't over just yet...
So the Lotus is the silver medal for those who didn't win the race to get a Cayman? Yes and no. Like that guy who self consciously wears his race overalls to the track day briefing there's a whiff of pretension about the Porsche's track garnish, given it's not really stripped back and minimalist at all. When Sport Auto's reaction to driving it back to back with a standard Exige is a narrow points victory for the Lotus and cry for a 'proper' pared back, track-spec RS version you know there's something in this.
The Cayman still taps into enough track influence to reward like no other Porsche on sale and make every day feel like a track day, even if it's not. The Lotus, on the other hand, is a pure adrenaline hit, a bit raw and properly intense but always thrilling thanks to a pleasing imbalance of power to weight. And if the Cup is a bit extreme there's always the standard V6 S. Either way, if Stuttgart's caution about GT4 volumes has given you fear of missing out it's credit to Lotus that the Exige offers a genuinely viable alternative, even against Porsche at the absolute top of its game.
LOTUS EXIGE V6 CUP
Engine: 3,456cc V6, supercharged
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 350@7,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 295@4,500rpm
0-62mph: c. 3.8sec
Top speed: c. 171mph
Weight: 1,110kg (without driver, depending on final spec)
MPG: 28mpg (NEDC combined)*
CO2: 236g/km*
Price: £62,994 (basic price inc. VAT, fully road legal and with limited warranty)
*Figures for standard Exige S
PORSCHE CAYMAN GT4
Engine: 3,800cc flat-6
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive, limited-slip differential
Power (hp): 385@7,400rpm
Torque (lb ft): 310@4,750rpm
0-62mph: 4.4sec
Top speed: 182mph
Weight: 1,415kg (EU with driver; 1,340kg DIN without driver)
MPG: 27.4mpg (NEDC combined)
CO2: 238g/km
Price: £64,451 (before options, £81,551 as tested, comprising Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes £4,977; Clubsport package £2,670; fixed bucket seats £1,907; black painted wheels £393; centre console carbon trim £341; black leather interior with contrast stitching £1,344; Porsche Communication Management inc. sat nav £2,141; Sport Chrono £1,085; telephone module for PCM £527; two-zone climate control £518; Sound Package Plus £396; Porsche Dynamic Light System
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[Photos: Sim Mainey]
couldn't give a s
t what people thinkI guess it was the only Exige you could get hold of but it still seems a bit of an odd comparison.
Strange test and draws conclusions with just a hint of a nod towards the two individual cars. One a secondhand customer car with almost infinite adjustments for its suspension, but left on the most unsuitable settings and has now been superseded.
The other a no-expense-spared Press car which will be more equal than other examples.
Edit for fat fingers.
Because the additions to the Lotus were cosmetic to take it to 70K, not performance related but the additions to the Porscha were performance related: Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes £4,977 and Clubsport package £2,670. plus some cosmetic stuff.
So for example testing the Exige with Ohlins
"so that it would not struggle with the violent compressions more than the Porsche". Especially as the point was laboured
"First shock is the car that performs best on these very British roads isn't the Lotus, at least as-is,
"Not everyone wants to fiddle with clicker adjusters and spanners and, without any tweaking".
(Presumably the dealer could do this to set it up for British roads then?)
Especially as the Porscha was very much not "as is" and clearly the favourite going into the test.
Thus putting the little company on a par with the global mega giant.
Or reducing the clearly performance enhancing components on the Porka.
Then you have something approaching like for like test.
Come on PH, more rigerous tests required and less bias.
ks, which it may be) is very different from 1400kg. Very different cars, in my book. Not sure anyone would cross-shop.ks, which it may be) is very different from 1400kg. Very different cars, in my book. Not sure anyone would cross-shop.I'll just chip in with a couple of points to hopefully help with the context of this comparison. Firstly, the roads we drove on are EXCEPTIONALLY bumpy, even by the standards of British tarmac. I've driven a lot of seemingly comparable roads from Wales to Scotland but have never encountered anything quite as vicious as these ones. And the Lotus owner, who wasn't local, said if he drove on them regularly he'd be fiddling with the dampers on his car to suit; sadly there wasn't the time or scope to do so on the day.
I have to say though, the way the Porsche handled those roads straight out of the box was also exceptional and way, way above my personal expectations. True, the PCCBs and reduction of unsprung weight is a 'performance advantage' gained through an expensive option. But given how much heavier the car is in general I think credit where it's due - the damping is very, very good.
Second, I've driven both of these cars independently on track, albeit not the same one. But the impressions in the test incorporate observations from these and the behaviour on the road would seem to confirm them. I first drove the Lotus at Hethel; it was a press car in the stock 'safe' geometry and damper setting and the instinct to push on under power rather than rotate like the Porsche was noticeable there too. Indeed, I went out with Gavan Kershaw on the steering circle and even he was struggling to get round the understeer under power. As I said in the story, a lift and tuck very quickly adjusts the poise and can then be exploited to the full. But you have to lift, rather than power through like you can with the Porsche.
Comparisons have to be tempered with experience and the fact the behaviour of both cars can be significantly altered with mechanical adjustments to chassis and/or aero. One of the Caymans we drove on the track on the launch event had, for instance, been set soft front/hard rear on the three-step anti-roll bar settings and was massively oversteery compared with the default set-up on the other cars. Let's just say it had been configured with photo and video shoots in mind.
I don't doubt you could do the same with the Lotus too, given the amount of adjustment available.
As I say, nothing on this road drive in different cars from ones I'd driven previously overturned any significant impressions previously derived from testing them on track. So I stand by what I said, hopefully this just helps a little with the context of the conclusions.
Cheers!
Dan
don't bother showing up porsche, no matter what the sales results are.
let's do the track thing already............ that'll be interesting and for god's sake put on the proper ohlins TTX damper....
thing is i bet the lotus will lose just like the Gt4 gets creamed by the Gt3 on track.
Buy the lotus if you want singular focus which in itself cannot be replicated in the porsche; they have moved away from that even in the 991 RS.
If you want a multi-dimension car, the gt4 will eat whatever lotus has.
as much as this comparo was obvious, the porsche that cannot be bought at list shouts more loudly than any lotus fanboy can
ps: i am kinda on the wall re this fanboy thing as I've wanted to own a lotus but ended up with mostly german toys.
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