As I write a man is about to come and collect a Porsche Cayman 2.7 that has been here for a few days. This is the non-S version with 275hp and 214lb ft from 4,500rpm. It is fitted with a manual gearbox.
Pure as the driven snow? Or just buy an S?
I think the Cayman S is a worryingly good car - worrying for anyone attempting to match it - but having only driven
a PDK equipped S
on the launch, I suspected that
a manual car
with the smaller motor might be the pick of the range.
I was completely wrong. If you can afford it, get the S.
The little 2.7 is still objectively a fine car, but I missed the extra power and torque. The gear ratios are so long that you find yourself having to absolutely wring its neck, which is no hardship when it sounds so good and remains so smooth, but it makes the driving experience border on the violent at times. And even though the manual shift is sweet as sherbet, those ratios would be an issue for me. Enough even to contemplate taking the seven-speed PDK instead.
I was a strong advocate of the last Cayman in base spec, to the point of having one myself, five-speed 'box and all. I just clicked with that car and its level of performance for UK roads in a way I didn't with this one. Perhaps I have become tainted by the last decade of crazy power figures?
Pretty pimped for an entry-level version
I have also had my first seriously negative run-in with the Cayman's
electric power steering
. I was driving on wet-dry-damp-no-idea-what's-coming-next roads and suddenly found myself disconnected from the road surface. It was bizarre - the front tyres were telling me nothing. Where the last Cayman's hydraulic steering would have sent subtle messages back through the steering wheel rim which would allow the driver to interpret different levels of grip, I sensed nothing with the electric rack. It was mute. In the dry it's not a problem, likewise in the wet; but with rapidly changing grip levels it was poor.
Anyone else driven both Caymans and found the 2.7 too slow?
