New Porsche Cayman S review

Forget those Mastercard ads. Seeing a Cayman S in Guards Red paint waiting for you at the hotel lobby and knowing it’s yours for the day, that’s priceless. More so because I’ve been salivating about this drive in Dubai for some time now. If the old Cayman’s reputation is anything to go by, this new Cayman S’s abilities will be taller than the towering Burj Khalifa next door. And so, I run an eye over its gorgeous shape, slide into the snug seats, clack the gearlever into ‘D’ and feed in the beautifully weighted throttle pedal.




Dubai isn’t the best place to drive a sportscar. They frown on speeding here and have about 900 speed cameras making sure residents don’t eat up oil reserves too quickly. So, the plan is to get out as soon as possible and drive to the beach town of Fujairah. In between lie approximately 120km of lightly trafficked, arrow-straight roads peppered with wide curves. Oh, and the route goes over a mountain range, through a few tunnels and past a couple of startled camels. But first, we have to get through Dubai.Like every recent Porsche I’ve driven, the Cayman S is immediately friendly. There are no intimidating blind spots, the driving position is just perfect, the controls are beautifully weighted and, despite Cayman v2.0’s increase in size, it still feels utterly compact. Apart from the superb ergonomics, the interior quality really stands out. It’s up there with the Panamera, and that’s impressive.

For now, I opt for the Cayman’s calmest modes and that means all the buttons around the gearlever are off and the gearlever remains in ‘D’. It’s quiet (with some tyre noise), it’s rather comfortable (although this could also be because of Dubai’s unblemished roads) and the gearbox upshifts smoothly. The fuel-saving stop-start system also cuts the engine when we stop at the occasional traffic light. I could be driving an everyday hatchback for all the
drama there is now.And then, as Dubai’s bustle fades into the flat six’s purr, the opportunity presents itself. A straight road disappearing into a shimmering haze of desert heat – time to dig in. Purr, snarl, metallic rasp as the seven-speed PDK gearbox snaps down cogs and the rev-counter swings to 7800rpm. The short-stroke engine is endowed with constantly variable valve timing and valve lift and a second induction system allows it to breathe through those new ducts that sit behind the doors. The result is a 6bhp bump in power, while torque stands at 37.7kgm, delivered at 4500rpm.