Porsche Cayman S 2006 Review

Porsche has build a beaut baby based on the Boxster, but goes far beyond that soft-edged droptop.

It has its own name and will take its own special place in the sports-car company's history. It's the Cayman S.

If they then went for a sprint in the Cayman, working it hard and pushing the edges, they would be convinced it was a 911.

Porsche purists and 911 owners will shudder at the idea that their hero has been undermined by anything else, but it is true.

So it's as well that the Cayman is still going to cost $148,500. Basic. Without any extras or insurance.

That price takes it nearly $50,000 beyond the Boxster, and well beyond many sports-car dream machines -- including the new Mazda MX-5 and the Nissan 350Z.

But the Cayman still sits comfortably below the benchmark 911 in the Porsche line-up.

Most companies rip off the roof to create a new sports car, but Porsche has gone the other way, adding a roof to the Boxster to make the Cayman.

This gives it a tighter drive than any convertible and allows the car to carry a punchy mechanical package.

Its name comes from a crocodile, not the Cayman Islands used by some of the super rich as a tax haven.

The Cayman was developed with the basics from the Boxster, but using some of the cash that has flooded through the company thanks to the success of the four-wheel-drive Cayenne.

Seventy per cent of the parts in the Cayman are new -- including the roof and signature rear guards -- and it gets a 3.4-litre six-cylinder engine with many 911 parts, and a six-speed manual gearbox.

The 217kW and 340Nm give a 0-100km/h sprint of 5.4 seconds and a top of 275km/h.

They are big numbers, but the Cayman also has more luggage space than a Boxster and has picked up the latest cabin overhaul work from the other Porsche sports cars.

Porsche is touchy about reaction to its Cayman project, and needs people to believe that it created the car to sit between the Boxster and 911, but -- more importantly -- to give it a new hero for keen drivers.

It says it is not a cut-price 911, nor an attempt to fight potential rivals.

"This is not a Boxster coupe. It's a different car. It drives differently and has a different performance potential," managing director of Porsche Cars Australia Michael Winkler says.

"Our research shows a lot of people will come out of a BMW M3 or Mercedes CLK but won't want a ragtop. There are also people who have had a Boxster but cannot jump to a 911, so they get more performance and a different character without the big price increase."

ON THE ROAD

THE drive in the Cayman was as memorable as the introduction to the original Mazda MX-5 in 1989.

You can see and feel the return of real quality to Porsche in the Cayman, just as the latest 997-model 911 is a step change over the previous 996.

But there is something else about the Cayman. You feel it when you snap the throttle open for the first time, or push a bit too briskly into an unseen corner.

The car works with you. Classic Porsche 911s always demand respect. They are tough and quirky to drive. Even the latest 911 needs respect until you know the car or the road - or both.

The Cayman, by contrast, encourages you to have a go and have fun.

It might just be a fast blast through first and second from the traffic lights, or it could be Sunday morning fun on a favourite road, but you can feel the car is wrapped around you.

The Cayman will turn even harder into a corner if you push down on the accelerator.

Most others run wide or fail to deliver, even the 911.

The Cayman is not perfect, with the chance for luggage to slide around below the rear hatch, and the driving position could benefit from a reach-adjustable wheel.

But there are no problems with its powerful sports-car brakes, a ride that soaks up bumps, and a slick six-speed manual shift.

Some people will complain about the Cayman's $150,000-ish price, particularly when the Boxster costs far less.

But, ripping across the Italian countryside on a quiet Saturday morning, it was hard to complain.