Driver Review
Porsches have never really grabbed me in the past - I've always thought of them as slightly squashed Beetles! And they seem to be everywhere - particularly around the City where I work. However, I haven't really had the opportunity to drive them so my opinion has been completely superficial.
So, here is the Porsche Cayman S. Looks good with the flowing lines and the low-profile tyres on smart alloys - it might even look better than a lot of the 911s I've seen. It feels good to sit in too - I like compact sports cars, and it just seems to "fit" snugly. I'd heard good things about this car from people used to driving supercars, saying that it was nice to get back into a "normal" car, but one that gave a great driving experience through a good balance of power and handling. So I was looking forward to driving this. The first thing I noticed, driving it around central London, was that the clutch felt very heavy, and the brakes too ... but then I was comparing with my day-to-day car, an Audi S3, which has a very light clutch and brake pedal coupled to almost similar power (265 bhp rather than 295). If anything, I was a little disappointed initially - in heavy traffic, the clutch was hard work, and there didn't seem to be an immediate pickup at low revs when hitting the accelerator. Since the official 0-60 time is 5.1 seconds generated from a normally-aspirated 3.4 litre engine, I was a little surprised at this lack of immediate "kick", but wanted to reserve judgement until I was out on the open road.
And that was where this car started to excel. Once I found some country lanes, this car really shone. The mid-mounted engine coupled to rear-wheel drive and taut suspension contributes to a really assured feel, and once you get out of the lower rev range you certainly find decent power. And as you start to take corners with a little more speed as you gain confidence, you get a real sense of what the car is doing, where the grip is etc - in fact a similar feeling to my own favourite, the Ferrari F355. This little Porsche is a proper drivers' car - to reuse a well-worn phrase. What does that mean? It means it is FUN ... you start to get that "invincible" feeling because the car does what you want it to do, and you can feel when it's pushing back. Particularly on country roads, the distance between landmarks you see every day definitely seems shorter in this car.
So - not a head-turner like one of the real supercars. And it doesn't sound anything special - no big fat exhaust providing an other-worldly soundtrack as you would get from the 355, and an engine that from inside the cockpit sounds a bit like a sewing machine (my son wondered what the "S" stood for!) But the lack of supercar-ness actually adds to the enjoyment - there isn't the pressure not to do anything stupid, and the great handling and decent power form a great package. Recommended!
Paul Williams
DRIVER RATINGS:
Exterior: 8/10
Interior: 7/10
Cool Factor: 7/10
Driveability: 8/10
Fear Factor: 1/10
TOTAL: 29 (Fear Factor Scores are subtracted)
|
|
