Porsche Cayman GTS first drive

A new, slightly more potent version of the already rather wonderful Cayman S that will, for the time being at least, lord it at the top the Cayman range until more powerful, possibly turbocharged models appear in the reasonably distant future.

Priced at £55,397 and boasting an uprated 336bhp version of the 3.4-litre flat six that already serves the Cayman S so well, the GTS also gets Porsche’s PASM suspension system as standard alongside a set of tasty looking 20-inch alloy wheels and a small range of styling upgrades. And it goes on sale throughout the Porsche dealer network as of now, with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard and the option of Porsche’s excellent but pricey seven-speed PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Also on the options list will be carbon-ceramic brakes, as before, but what’s new to the line-up is a sports chassis option, which lowers the ride height by 20mm and does away with the electronic dampers for the ultimate 'analogue' Cayman driving experience. The sport chassis is a no-cost extra and can be specified in place of the PASM.

You also get the sports exhaust and Sports Chrono Package as standard on the GTS, whose kerb weight drops to a feather-light 1345kg, getting from 0-62mph in 4.9sec with the manual gearbox and 4.6sec with the optional PDK.

In a word, lovely, especially in the spec in which I drove the car on its launch – so with the sports chassis, optional carbon-ceramic brakes, sports seats and a six-speed manual gearbox.

There is a cohesion to the way this car goes down the road that is rare, if not unique in my experience. There are Porsche 911 fans who claim that the bigger car is still the better one to drive and that the Cayman remains its lieutenant, no matter what form it might take or how good it may be. But I am no longer one of these people. 

The Cayman GTS feels connected and compact and responsive to your inputs – be that to its throttle, steering, brake pedal or gearlever, which slices quite beautifully up and down its six-speed gate – in a way that a 911 no longer does. The last time a regular 911 felt this alive, this keyed in to the part of one’s brain that revels in the simple art of driving, was a very long time ago. 

Indeed, you need to look to some fairly special versions of the 911 to match the satisfaction that the GTS Cayman provides, to the second generation 996 GT3, perhaps, or the 997 GT3 RS, and more recently the current GT3. And this puts the Cayman GTS in very high company, and me right out on a limb among Porsche’s commentators, some of whom will take great offence at such heresy towards the sacred 911. 

But, for me, that’s how extraordinarily good the Cayman GTS, with sports chassis, manual gearbox, carbon-ceramic brakes and sports seats, feels. Which is some statement, but then the Cayman GTS really is some car.

It’s hard, if not impossible, to think of any other sporting car this side of £70,000 that is sweeter to drive than a Cayman GTS. Get the spec just right and you will get very close to motoring nirvana. Get it wrong and you’ll still end up with a very lovely sports car. 

And at £55k it seems like a bargain next to just about all versions of the latest 911, none of which feel as compact or connected as a Cayman GTS. So I guess the answer is, yes, you should. With extra cheese and chilli sauce on top.