If you find the sea of models and options swirling around the 911 to be too much to fathom, then the rock to cling to bears three little letters: GTS.
Where Porsches are concerned, these are always the best of them. Not the most hardcore, not the most luxurious, but the best blend of both.
Of course, we'll have to wait a while to see what the new 911 GTS is like, but in the meantime the Panamera GTS is a hoot despite the heft, and the Cayenne GTS is the spiciest SUV Stuttgart makes. Now, there's this, a GTS version of the Cayman.
I already quite like the Cayman. On paper, it's not much more than a Boxster with a fixed roof, but climb behind the wheel and everything just sort of fits. It's leaner than the 911, more compact, defter-feeling. The former is a grand tourer, but the Cayman and the Boxster have grown to be the true sportscars in the Porsche range.
With a GTS version, Porsche expands the choice available to Cayman customers - well actually, that's not really true. What they've actually done is make the choice simple. Trust me, this is the one you want.
Design
From certain angles, the old Cayman didn't quite have the cohesive feel it does now. The drive was there, but the Boxster roots simply looked a little strange when smoothed out into a coupe. No more.
These days, with the 911 stretched and widened into quite a large car, the Cayman's proportions set it apart. It has the look of a miniaturized Carrera GT, that lunatic mid-engined V-10 supercar Porsche unleashed on the world some time ago.
To this slippery shape, Porsche has added a dash more aggression in the form of smoked headlights, some unique blacked-out aerodynamic trim, and 20-inch Carrera-style alloys as standard. Naturally, if you start going crazy with the options boxes, you can have any sort of colour scheme or wheel type you desire, but the basic GTS package looks pretty good.
The new exterior is a mild tweak, but one that sets the car slightly apart, even if you opt to have the rear badges deleted. And then there's what Porsche has done on the inside.
Environment
This tester was fitted with Porsche's horrendously expensive GTS Communications Package. It may sound like a binder filled with descriptions of "increased dynamism" or "greater emotion," but really it's just some two-tone seatbelts and fancy floor mats.
Along with contrastcolour stitching on everything, the red edges to the seatbelts and embroidered crests on the seats are a nice touch, but for more than $4,000, I personally wouldn't bother. Instead, the standard GTS interior is just fine as it is, filled with Alcantara from the headliner to the gearshift.
Even the standard seats are perfect, though there's the option to dial in a multi-way power option. The manual adjust will work best for most as you won't want to be lending your keys out much, and while the cabin isn't huge, it does have a decent amount of headroom for most drivers.
Performance
Along with the cosmetic stuff, the GTS designation for the Cayman comes with standard Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), Sport Chrono adjustable driving modes, a two-mode sport exhaust, and an extra 15 horsepower. That makes a total of 340 h.p. coming from the 3.4-litre flat-six, which in a car with a base price of $85,800, isn't a whole heck of a lot.
So it's costly, especially with a few options added, but as soon as you crank the left-mounted key and zip off down the road, the Cayman starts earning its price tag. There's no learning curve, no worrying about sightlines or gear-change oddities, or powerband surges. You just get in and go.
Emphasis on go. My tester happened to come with a sixspeed manual gearbox, and although the dualclutch PDK seven speed is better for everything from racetrack duties to commuting, the stick-shift is just great. It's got short, precise throws and feels even better than the 911's manual.
For the sport chrono settings, Normal is fine for zipping around, Sportplus is racetrack only, and Sport is simply heaven. The exhaust opens up and begins to snarl eagerly, the throttle response is sharpened, but you still get to do your own revmatching and heel-and-toe downshifting.
It was so much fun, I got up at 5 a.m. and drove out to the Fraser Canyon, just so I could whang it through the tunnels near Hell's Gate. The little Cayman barked and growled and thundered along through the curves, with plenty of grip over the patchily damp pavement and complete confidence coming up though the chassis. The steering isn't quite as sharp as it used to be on the old hydraulic systems, but the experience as a whole is just thrilling.
And the best part of all this is that the Cayman GTS is this much fun without anti-social speeds. Everyone talks about how good the new 911 Turbo is, but it's essentially unusable on the public road - it's just too fast. The fierce little Cayman is really fast too, but because you have to wind it out a little, it's easier to get a grin from a brief onramp blast or a wriggle through some rural twisties.
It's wonderful fun. I'm quite upset they wouldn't let me keep it.
Features
And now, the portion of the Porsche review where we complain about the cost of the options. As you do.
As a standard car, without Navigation or a premium audio system, the GTS is probably fine as-is. It'd be a great weekend toy, with just the essentials.
Regrettably, this isn't a mid-$80K car, it's really a $90,000 or more car when you pick a few options you want. Navigation, heated seats, maybe parking sensors — bam, the sticker on the windshield now reads more than 100 grand. The features are available, but they'll cost you.
Fuel economy is quite reasonable at a projected 12.1 litres/100 kilometres city and 8.9 l/100 km highway (the PDK version will do better). Observed mixed-use real-world mileage was 9.7 l/100 km.
Green light
Confident chassis; usable performance; thrilling driving experience.
Stop sign
Slightly noisy ride; options pricing and packaging.
The checkered flag
The best Cayman yet, and maybe even the best Porsche.
Competition
Jaguar F-Type V6S ($84,900): For this kind of money, you could look at the Corvette in terms of bangfor-buck, but you could also consider probably the best-looking modern car on the market. Jaguar's FType is sleek, shapely, and it attracts a crowd.
It's not quite as sharp to drive as the Porsche, but it is sharper looking, so if you'd prefer a dash more standout style, then here you go. A word of warning though, the trunk space is pretty tight.
