After launching the Boxster, Porsche hinted at a roofed version to broaden its appeal. That car arrived in the form of the Cayman, which delivers the same lovable traits as the convertible Boxster but in a car that is much more dynamically focused, especially in R guise.
The R is one serious road rocket with a truly sweet powertrain. While it employs the same 3.4-litre flat-six as all but the base Cayman, the numbers have been upped to 330 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque at 4,750 rpm. That’s a lot of power in a 1,320-kilogram roller skate. The sound the engine makes when the power begins to come on cam has to be experienced to be believed — it wails like a deranged banshee. The oh-so-sweet siren reaches its spine-tingling crescendo about two rpm before redline and nanoseconds before a needed upshift.
The stampeding ponies are fed to the P265/35R19 rear tires through a locking rear differential and Porsche’s optional PDK twin-clutch automated manual transmission. It’s as good as any transmission I’ve tested, simply because its operational logic is bang on. It functions flawlessly when left to its own devices, yet, pull back on one of the paddle shifters, and it responds in an instant. Select manual and it’s just that — thank you.
When the PDK is along for the ride, the Cayman R offers three driving modes, which really do change the R’s personality. Normal mode is great about town. Crank up the tone of the drive and the Sport mode comes into its own. The throttle is sharper and each gear is held longer to emphasize the R’s true potential. For track days, there is the Sport Plus setting. This includes a launch control function and even faster gear shifts, and it allows the back end to go walkabout a lot farther than with the other two modes. If there is a danger of the driver overcooking it, it still manages to rein things in and prevents unscheduled lawn mowing. Finally, for the truly adventurous, there is an off option.
All of this brings some seriously quick acceleration times. It takes the Cayman R all of five seconds to run from rest to 100 kilometres an hour and it
accomplishes the 80-to-120-km/h passing move in just 3.2 seconds!
Then there’s the handling side of the R’s dynamic personality. The stiff chassis and suspension combine to dial out basically all body roll. This keeps the tires planted and the cornering forces well up the scale. In short, it’s truly tenacious through a corner. The R decimated my favourite set of sweepers like no other car before it. That’s remarkable, made all the more so because the test car was wearing winter rubber. Naturally, the steering is wonderfully weighted and its precision is just about perfect. Ditto the brakes. Even after several back-to-back full-on stops, there was no evidence of fade.
That single-minded dynamic focus does have a drawback: The penalty for the R’s ride-on-rails cornering ability is a really taut ride. When driving the car slowly in an urban environment, the potholes jar its occupants to attention.
The Cayman R’s cabin is minimalist in its execution — there are pull straps in lieu of door handles and air conditioning and a sound system are options. However, the R has a noteworthy upgrade — the carbon-fibre front seats. Yes, they are awkward to get in and out of (the small door apertures and the tight cabin don’t help matters), but the support they deliver is well worth the effort. They look and feel as though they were lifted right out of a race car, so they hug the driver and passenger such that they do not budge when the R is flexed to its full potential.
Cargo capacity is as tight as the cabin — there’s 5.3 cubic feet under the hood and 9.2 cu. ft. beneath the rear hatch. The Cayman could do with a rear wiper because of the lazy lie of the rear window. Checking Porsche Canada’s website shows it is an available option ($420), along with a whack of other items including the aforementioned automatic A/C and heated seats. In fact, the option list is so extensive it’s possible to drive the Cayman R’s base price of $75,600 to more than $130,000! That’s not nickel and diming, that’s bucking a potential customer royally.
If you’re looking for a track car, they don’t come much better than the Cayman R. It has power aplenty and its tenacity through a corner is a thing of beauty. Turn the electronic nannies off and it will drift through said corner leaving a blue haze in its wake.
The flip side is a tight cabin that is difficult to get in and out of and rearward sightlines that are far from good. The bigger hitch, options aside, arrives if you intend to use the Cayman R as a daily driver. If that’s the case, make sure you have a very good dental plan!
