First Drive Review
It would be easy to write off the new Cayman GTS as an obvious expansion of the model line. On the surface, it seems like a paint-by-numbers trim package: a couple of essential options like PASM and Sport Chrono bundled with 20-inch wheels, an interior done up in faux suede, and a new nose. There is substance in a tweaked engine computer that boosts power by 15 horses over the power of a Cayman S, but is that reason enough to get excited about this range-topping, $76,195 Cayman?
Yes. Not because of the car itself, which drives just like the Cayman we know and love, but rather because it confirms that Stuttgart will no longer subjugate the Boxster and Cayman to the hoary 911. Cayman S performance already was on par with that of the base Carrera, and the 340-hp GTS hints at a future in which cars like the forthcoming Cayman GT4 will make our preference for Porsche’s mid-engine models over its rear-engined jelly beans seem prescient.
Porsche’s motivation likely has less to do with our predilections than with the increasingly competitive field of sub-$80,000 sports cars in which the 911 no longer plays. Whereas the C7 Chevrolet Corvette hits Porsche on value, the new Jaguar F-type S dispenses with the body blows and goes right for the emotional jugular. Porsche’s engineers admit that the Jag and its machine-gun exhaust caught their attention, which explains why the GTS-spec Caymans and Boxsters get model-line-exclusive sound symposers as standard equipment. Press the sport-exhaust button on the GTS, and it cranks up the volume on par with the standard F-type exhaust note, although the Jaguar can still go all Spinal Tap when its own sport exhaust is engaged.
Which is okay with Porsche (and us, too). The Germans quite obviously imagine that Porsche buyers are more mature and more discerning, although we wonder if they aren’t just spending more. Add a few expensive options to the GTS—$2580 for Carmine Red paint, $3025 to upgrade the two-way-adjustable sport seats to 18-way adaptive sport seats, $6730 for the Burmester High-End infotainment system, $3960 for the PDK tranny, $7400 for ceramic brakes, $1320 for the torque-vectoring differential—and you’re looking at six figures in the rearview mirror. But the base price of the Cayman GTS is somewhat encouraging, as an itemized list of standard GTS equipment that’s optional on the Cayman S runs more than $3000 past the $11,400 bump in sticker. And that’s not even accounting for the extra power. Only at a Porsche dealership can the most expensive, range-topping model represent the best “value.”
