CHICLANA DE LA FRONTERA, SPAIN — Porsche marketers have long been brilliant at squeezing maximum dollars from their eager and passionate customers. Considering the chaos at some auto firms right now, company representatives happily acknowledge Porsche is the most profitable car company in the world.
And it's no wonder. Everything on Porsches, it seems, is optional. Care for floor mats on your high-dollar German sports car? Sure, for another $130. Oh, you wanted colour on those? Make it $535, then. Rear window wiper? That's, ka-ching, $500 more. Those toonie-sized wheel caps with a Porsche crest in colour instead of just black? Yours for a mere, ka-ching, $260.
The two-door, two-seat mid-engine Cayman, however, must be Porsche's masterpiece in modern automotive milk…, er, marketing.
While the rest of the automotive universe typically charges thousands more for convertible models versus their immovable hardtop equivalents, Porsche has turned around and done the exact opposite with its Cayman.
Using the popular Boxster convertible as a base, the two-door, two-seat mid-engine Porsche Cayman is a masterpiece in modern automotive marketing. (PORSCHE)
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Taking the popular Boxster convertible as a base, the Cayman essentially replaces the pricey power-operated top mechanism with a fixed hardtop, rounds off the styling, tweaks the engine for a touch more pop, and then tosses out decades of conventional convertible marketing practice by pricing the base 2009 Cayman coupe at roughly five grand more than the similarly revised Boxster drop-top — with 10 hp more than the equivalent Boxster in both regular and faster S versions.
Geniuses, I tell you.
One pays more for less sunshine, with not even a sunroof available on the 2009 Cayman, which arrives in Canada this spring.
And Porsche gets away with all this because it knows that the Cayman offers the purest, and arguably most responsive, driving manners of any Porsche sports car, which qualifies the Cayman as one of the best handling vehicles on the planet, even if it's far from the quickest.
The next Cayman offers an impressively thorough update of the engine, transmission and interior on the tin-top version of the Boxster that first came to market in 2005. Updated looks are part of the new equation as well, although fairly subtle, in long-time Porsche tradition.
Brighter LED daytime running lights, bi-Xenon swiveling headlights and quicker responding rear LEDs will help Porsche enthusiasts spot the latest Cayman, while larger air intakes, headlight and exterior mirror housings are also new.
The inside of the car also gets a style refresh, but more notably gets a host of new comfort and convenience items. Cooled, as well as heated, seats are now available, as is the heated steering-wheel option from the 911. Buttons on the steering wheel can now allow you to take calls from your Bluetooth-enabled phone.
A new-generation touch-screen navigation system also comes with connections for music-loaded USBs and MP3 players, as well as a 40-gig hard drive that lets you record tunes from these sources, the satellite radio, or the integrated six-disc CD changer. So you only technically have to bring out your CDs, memory sticks or iPod to the car once.
It might all cost extra, but you can no longer accuse Porsche of outdated interiors.
As much as the new niceties are welcome, the drivetrain changes are still the major highlights of the 2009 Cayman. The principal change is the addition of Porsche's new dual-clutch PDK transmission, which replaces the Tiptronic S as the automatic option — though in engineering terms it is closer to two stacked manual transmissions that pre-selects the likely next gear than a torque-converter-equipped automatic that simply smoothes out the shifts.
Leave it in automatic mode, and the seven-speed PDK transmission does an immaculate impression of a true automatic, up there with the best such dual-clutch systems from Audi and Ferrari. It's still not as lump-free as the best luxury-oriented automatics — nor are any of these systems — but the PDK's in-town manners are impressively smooth and refined.
Granted, what makes its urban behaviour in auto mode so notable is how quickly this same transmission responds when it's time to have some fun in manual mode. Instead of shift paddles, there are buttons on both sides of the steering wheel that can shift up or down, which adds an element of thoroughbred joy to the experience, especially in its rev-matching downshifts, which essentially executes the perfectly smooth heel and toe downshift that very few humans could do consistently, and even fewer would want to do on every downshift.
There is one frustrating aspect to driving the PDK, at least until one gets used to it. Since up-shifts are done by tapping down on the spoke-mounted steering wheel, while downshifts are executed by pulling back on the two-way button, the buttons seem counter-intuitive, even after a full day of behind-the-wheel fun on mostly wet Spanish roads.
Porsche further confuses the issue by using the opposite pattern if you slide the PDK's shifter over into manual mode, with a push-forward prompting up-shifts, and backwards triggering downshifts, which felt more natural to some of us. But then, my long-time manual-driving co-driver thought that shifter pattern felt backwards. He'd rather use the shifter than the buttons, the opposite of my preference, so we were both pining for a manual. Still, buyers would likely get used to whichever shift method they preferred in time.
Porsche Canada communications manager Laurance Yap said the six-speed manual currently accounts for about 80 per cent of Cayman sales, although we spent our entire time in a PDK-equipped Cayman S, which starts at $75,800 before any options.
There are some compelling reasons to believe Porsche when they say that the PDK will help reduce that manual dependency. An available Sport Chrono package adds a Launch Control feature that helps bring the Cayman S model's 0-100 km/h time down to 4.9 seconds, aided by new direct-fuel-injection engine technology that boosts the 3.4-litre flat six's power to 320 hp, up 25 from before.
The base 2009 Cayman starts at $63,900, and boosts power the more traditional way, with a larger engine and without DFI, its 2.9-litre flat-six now developing 265 hp. And even though both models weigh slightly more than before, they still weigh less than the stripped-out 911 GT3 race replica.
Fuel efficiency is improved despite the Cayman's increased power, although less so in the base manual version, with the PDK helping to decrease fuel use by approximately 11 per cent in the Cayman, and as much as 16 per cent in the DFI-equipped Cayman S — to 8.9 L/100 km for the Cayman and 9.2 for the Cayman S in European mixed-driving standards.
The whole package combines to make a car of dichotomies, one that's quicker yet more fuel-efficient, more comfortable yet more sporting.
Sure, the Boxster may give you similarly spectacular handling and more sunshine for slightly less money. But if you're contemplating track-time fun to truly stretch your Porsche's abilities, the Cayman's hard-top and low weight are pure driving magic.
2009 PORSCHE CAYMAN S
Type: Two-seat, mid-engine sports coupe
Base price: $ 75,800; as tested: $90,000 (estimated)
Engine: 3.4-litre horizontally opposed six-cylinder, DOHC and DFI
Horsepower/torque: 320 hp/273 lb-ft
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Drive: Rear-wheel-drive
Fuel economy (litres/100 km): 9.2 overall (estimated); premium recommended
Alternatives: Chevrolet Corvette, Nissan 370Z or GT-R, Infiniti G37 Coupe, Mercedes-Benz SLK55
Like
- Microscopically accurate handling makes curving roads a joy
- PASM damper system offers regular comfort, testy Sport and race-ready Sport Plus modes
- Modern conveniences like Bluetooth and USB/iPod connectors finally arrive
- Extensive active and passive safety systems available
- PDK offers a truly comfortable cruise mode
Don't like
- Doing a backstroke through the options list; regular floor mats and other bits should really be standard in a $70,000-plus car
- PDK transmission quick-shifting, but not the most intuitive
- A Boxster that costs less offers more sunshine and equal handling if you're not timing laps