Hi there
Well Saturday I picked up a new Cayman R PDK with Sport+ with Sport+ paddles steering wheel, it had full leather bose, A/C and normal steel brakes. So quite a few weight adding options. If I was buying a Cayman R I'd be keeping it light with ceramics, carbon bucket seats and even an A/C delete. I did not weigh the test car but I'd expect it to be around 1340kg.
For those who don't know the Cayman R has an extra 10BHP over a regular Cayman S and approx 60kg of weight removed, so total power was 330BHP along with some suspension revisions I believe.
I picked the car up with circa 850 miles on the clock and gave it back today with over 1100 miles on the clock, needless to say I did plenty of driving, got to go on all my favourites roads in both dry, damp, wet and heavy downpoor. A big thank you goes out too Porsche for giving me this opportunity, anyway here is more detailed reviewed on the certain aspects of the car:-
Comfort, running cost etc.
You'd never think this was a stripped out racer, the interior is solid, great leather seats, awsome BOSE stereo and certainly a great place to be each day, definetely a car which will perform amazingly well on track, but at the same time you can use it daily in comfort and also have a truly capable road car. On a run in 7th gear the car will return 38-42mpg if you stick around 70mph area and it can easily do 30+ mpg in town if driven lightly, which for a 330BHP sports car is impressive. Spank it and the mpg's will drop to the teens. But running cost wise this car is good on petrol, insurance is cheap and Porsche are reliable, they don't cost any more than a BMW or Audi to keep on the road and in some cases less.
Power & Performance
There is no shortage of performance, the car is fast at everything and will easily accelerate to crazy speeds with ease which would land you in jail. This being PDK+ has launch control, however I did not use it as at the end of the day someone will be buying this car and I've found in Porsches Launch Control is simply something you don't need, they launch easily with all that rear-end traction. 0-60mph is sub 5s, 0-100mph is around 10.4s and power/torque is always on hand, you can plant throttle in 6th gear at 70mph and it will quickly pull you into three figures. Its not as quick as the 911 on in-gear acceleration but the PDK makes it nearly as quick acceleration through the gears. Some performance stats for you from in-gear testing:-
My 911 C2S 30-62mph in 2nd gear = 2.7s
My 911 C2S 50-95mph in 3rd gear = 5.6s
Cayman R 30-62mph in 2nd gear = 3.0s
Cayman R 50-95mph in 3rd gear = 6.7s
Boxster 2.9DFI 30-62mph in 2nd gear = 3.8s
Boxster 2.9DFI 50-95mph in 3rd gear = 8.5s
The Cayman R has ever so slightly shorter gearing than the 911 and both rev to around 7500rpm, but the 911 is definetely the faster accelerating car, particular more noticable once you shift in 3rd gear and upwards, but the difference is not huge. The 911 also has noticably more torque sub 3000rpm, as even though the Cayman R is not lacking torques it does like to play most beyond 4000rpm.
Off the mark the 911 definetely has the edge, it can put the power down so well, even in wet conditions, wheras the Cayman R it does need to be dry if you want to boot it from a standstill as the Cayman R will get sideways in a straight line even if you give it too much throttle in the wet in 2nd gear, wheras this is never an issue in the more powerful rear engined 911.
To put it short the Cayman R is an extremely fast car and I'd say definetely quicker than a stock 911 C2/C4 even the newer DFI cars. But the S/GT 911's do have a performance edge but the Cayman R would be not far behind until speeds got silly as in 150mph+
The PDK+ is a big improvement over regular PDK, in Sport+ mode up-changes have a nice thud which feels good and the PDK paddles work great, left for down and right for up, its a lot more involving than regular PDK and works well. In sport you loose the thud in the back on up-changes, it is just completely smooth. I drove the car 90% in Sport+ mode as its most like a manual and reminded me of the CSL. However if I was buying a new Porsche I'd still opt for a manual, simply because I feel with PDK/DSG you loose the sensation of speed somewhat and it takes out some of the involvment. As such once the novelty has worn off it makes the car more boring and less of a challenge when you go for a fun drive, though it is great for in town/traffic.
Handling / Feel / Brakes
The Cayman R has a very firm ride, almost as firm as the 911 with PASM ON, but the dampening on the Cayman R is far superior, but this is something Porsche improved across all their cars 2009 onwards. The car is sometimes a little to firm but on a whole it is acceptable and truly amazing handling car. The cars ability in the wet is truly immense like most Porsches, but the grip the car had was simply mind boggling considering the huge amounts of rain and sub 5c temperatures, the chassis is very good though the Goodyear F1 tyres would certainly have been helping wet traction a lot too.
The advantages the Cayman R has over the 911 is the tyres need less warming for optimal performance, the car has better initial turn-in, changes direction better and generally has better levels of grip in tighter corners and is a master of small tight roundabouts. For example a smallish roundabout the 911 can manage 42-44mph in the dry and it tends to push into understeer unless you give a big dose of right foot to bring the rear around. The Cayman R was managing 44-46mph but was a lot more twitchy, it has very slight understeer which can quickly turn to oversteer and does not really want to push much faster when at these limits, wheras the 911 can be pushed harder/faster by steering from the rear more. The 911 with a more neutral handling setup, basically a lot more front camber which no doubt bring it a bit more inline with the Cayman R, but the Cayman R will always have the advantage of mid-engined giving it better direction changed and more balanced feel.
However the advantage of the 911 is it feels far more planted as such this gives you far greater confidence especially in fast long sweepers and the other advantage is when you do get understeer you know you can press the loud pedal harder to use the rear to steer the car.
Steering wise, well the Cayman has faster steering but I did feel it had marginally less feel than compared to the 911, but very marginal and as such still Porsche are away ahead of other car manufacturers when it comes to steering feel.
So the Cayman R is better in some corners and the 911 is better in others but its marginal at best. However when it rained very hard today the Cayman R showed a big negative, any attempt at full throttle out of corners in 2nd and it literally could not put the power down. Also due to how firm the ride is on more bumpy B-roads in the wet the car was rather twitchy and was becoming quite a handfull when trying to press on and the mid-engined gave it a very twitchy feel almost as if it goes wrong it will do so very very fast, wheras the 911 remains very planted even on poor B-roads in rain and you can make use of the mechanical grip advantage the 911 gives.
To put it short the Cayman R is an amazing handling car as is the 911, the Cayman has advantages over the 911 and the 911 has advantages over the Cayman.
Some people say Porsche deliberately hold the Cayman back by fitting less powerful engines so it does not start out performing the 911. I however disagree with this, a Cayman with 400BHP would be a true handful in anything but the very best dry conditions. The Cayman R in the wet was struggling and becoming a handful and it has 330BHP and was wearing the very best wet tyres, Eagle F1's, but the car could not put its power down in 1st or 2nd in such conditions without easing the throttle in or short changing too 3rd, this also made the car twitchy and easy to get out of shape where road has lots of un-even cambers. So I think Porsche know what they are doing and realise that an even more powerful Cayman would not be such the usable car Porsches generally are. As a more track focused Cayman then yes it could handle more power.
I'd say if I took the Cayman R too Donnington it would play an advantage in corners like the chicane as I literally feel you could throw through the Chicane at higher speed due to the mid-engine layout. Though corners like Coppice really benefit the 911's rear-engined layout allowing you to get on the power earlier.
The brakes were simply superb, lots of feel, plenty of power and never experienced any fade but I was only road testing so you'd expect not to get any fade.
Specialness / Sound / Image
This I think is the Caymans weakness, the styling, well its a nice looking car but just does not look special. I am sure in green it would be more appealing, but still I just see it as a hugely capable car, but not a car thats well that special. My Mustang was a special car and I feel my 911 is too, but a Cayman R, well not really. Though the Cayman according to girls is the cuter car, maybe this is a good or bad thing, LOL.
Sound wise, well in the cabin things sound good, listening to the engine revving right behind your head is good. However it does lack the sound of mechanical shrill the 911 has at higher RPM's and from the the outside the Cayman just sounds, well a bit lacking. It is this category which the 911 wins with ease.
Conclusion
Lets not beat around the bush, the Cayman R is sublime, it has some negatives but the positives far outweigh them, its abilities are pretty much un-matched. But ask yourself this how much better is a Cayman R over a regular Cayman S and I think you will find the answer is well not much at all, noticable yes, but certainly not night and day. This leads me onto something, not long ago I had a Boxster 2.9 PDK and on a whole it gave 90% of the fun/thrill driving experience that the Cayman R did. An issue with the Cayman R is it is so fast and so well damped it makes going quick maybe a little to easy, don't worry were not talking GTR easy but certainly so. I think we can definetely blame the PDK part for this too, but because your mixing power and PDK together it all just got a bit too easy. As such the Boxster with its less grip and less power was practically just as much fun to drive and a big part of the enjoyment with the Boxster was actually about spanking it, because the 2.9DFI engine loves to be rev'd and was awarding to do so.
As such I'd highly recommend people also consider the 2.9DFI Cayman before maybe looking at an older or newer S/R model because you may find you get the same levels of enjoyment and involvment for a much lower cost.
The Cayman R has plenty of power, great handling and the PDK makes it even faster, but just take some of the involvment from the car and I feel a manual would make the car more entertaining and you'd not want to change it so soon, unlike a PDK/DSG model.
I'd rate the Cayman R, 997.1 C2S & Boxster 2.9 PDK as follows:-
Performance:-
997.1 C2S = 8/10
Cayman R = 7/10
Boxster DFI = 5/10
Handling:-
997.1 C2S = 9/10
Cayman R = 10/10
Boxster DFI = 9/10
Grip:-
997.1 C2S = 10/10
Cayman R = 8/10
Boxster DFI = 7/10
Running cost:-
997.1 C2S = 7/10
Cayman R = 9/10
Boxster DFI = 10/10
In short a regular Boxster DFI or Cayman DFI will give you tons of fun with the same handling characteristics as the R, but are a little safer/timer and less twitchy. If you want more performance than the S versions will give you near R levels of performance and handling. The R is only marginally better on the road, I am sure on track it will show bigger improvements where the weight saving and firmer suspension will be of a greater advantage. Still if you can afford a Cayman R, then don't settle for less and get one, it is truly amazing, but so are all Porsches.
Gonna leave it at that, any questions just ask.
Well Saturday I picked up a new Cayman R PDK with Sport+ with Sport+ paddles steering wheel, it had full leather bose, A/C and normal steel brakes. So quite a few weight adding options. If I was buying a Cayman R I'd be keeping it light with ceramics, carbon bucket seats and even an A/C delete. I did not weigh the test car but I'd expect it to be around 1340kg.
For those who don't know the Cayman R has an extra 10BHP over a regular Cayman S and approx 60kg of weight removed, so total power was 330BHP along with some suspension revisions I believe.
I picked the car up with circa 850 miles on the clock and gave it back today with over 1100 miles on the clock, needless to say I did plenty of driving, got to go on all my favourites roads in both dry, damp, wet and heavy downpoor. A big thank you goes out too Porsche for giving me this opportunity, anyway here is more detailed reviewed on the certain aspects of the car:-
Comfort, running cost etc.
You'd never think this was a stripped out racer, the interior is solid, great leather seats, awsome BOSE stereo and certainly a great place to be each day, definetely a car which will perform amazingly well on track, but at the same time you can use it daily in comfort and also have a truly capable road car. On a run in 7th gear the car will return 38-42mpg if you stick around 70mph area and it can easily do 30+ mpg in town if driven lightly, which for a 330BHP sports car is impressive. Spank it and the mpg's will drop to the teens. But running cost wise this car is good on petrol, insurance is cheap and Porsche are reliable, they don't cost any more than a BMW or Audi to keep on the road and in some cases less.
Power & Performance
There is no shortage of performance, the car is fast at everything and will easily accelerate to crazy speeds with ease which would land you in jail. This being PDK+ has launch control, however I did not use it as at the end of the day someone will be buying this car and I've found in Porsches Launch Control is simply something you don't need, they launch easily with all that rear-end traction. 0-60mph is sub 5s, 0-100mph is around 10.4s and power/torque is always on hand, you can plant throttle in 6th gear at 70mph and it will quickly pull you into three figures. Its not as quick as the 911 on in-gear acceleration but the PDK makes it nearly as quick acceleration through the gears. Some performance stats for you from in-gear testing:-
My 911 C2S 30-62mph in 2nd gear = 2.7s
My 911 C2S 50-95mph in 3rd gear = 5.6s
Cayman R 30-62mph in 2nd gear = 3.0s
Cayman R 50-95mph in 3rd gear = 6.7s
Boxster 2.9DFI 30-62mph in 2nd gear = 3.8s
Boxster 2.9DFI 50-95mph in 3rd gear = 8.5s
The Cayman R has ever so slightly shorter gearing than the 911 and both rev to around 7500rpm, but the 911 is definetely the faster accelerating car, particular more noticable once you shift in 3rd gear and upwards, but the difference is not huge. The 911 also has noticably more torque sub 3000rpm, as even though the Cayman R is not lacking torques it does like to play most beyond 4000rpm.
Off the mark the 911 definetely has the edge, it can put the power down so well, even in wet conditions, wheras the Cayman R it does need to be dry if you want to boot it from a standstill as the Cayman R will get sideways in a straight line even if you give it too much throttle in the wet in 2nd gear, wheras this is never an issue in the more powerful rear engined 911.
To put it short the Cayman R is an extremely fast car and I'd say definetely quicker than a stock 911 C2/C4 even the newer DFI cars. But the S/GT 911's do have a performance edge but the Cayman R would be not far behind until speeds got silly as in 150mph+
The PDK+ is a big improvement over regular PDK, in Sport+ mode up-changes have a nice thud which feels good and the PDK paddles work great, left for down and right for up, its a lot more involving than regular PDK and works well. In sport you loose the thud in the back on up-changes, it is just completely smooth. I drove the car 90% in Sport+ mode as its most like a manual and reminded me of the CSL. However if I was buying a new Porsche I'd still opt for a manual, simply because I feel with PDK/DSG you loose the sensation of speed somewhat and it takes out some of the involvment. As such once the novelty has worn off it makes the car more boring and less of a challenge when you go for a fun drive, though it is great for in town/traffic.
Handling / Feel / Brakes
The Cayman R has a very firm ride, almost as firm as the 911 with PASM ON, but the dampening on the Cayman R is far superior, but this is something Porsche improved across all their cars 2009 onwards. The car is sometimes a little to firm but on a whole it is acceptable and truly amazing handling car. The cars ability in the wet is truly immense like most Porsches, but the grip the car had was simply mind boggling considering the huge amounts of rain and sub 5c temperatures, the chassis is very good though the Goodyear F1 tyres would certainly have been helping wet traction a lot too.
The advantages the Cayman R has over the 911 is the tyres need less warming for optimal performance, the car has better initial turn-in, changes direction better and generally has better levels of grip in tighter corners and is a master of small tight roundabouts. For example a smallish roundabout the 911 can manage 42-44mph in the dry and it tends to push into understeer unless you give a big dose of right foot to bring the rear around. The Cayman R was managing 44-46mph but was a lot more twitchy, it has very slight understeer which can quickly turn to oversteer and does not really want to push much faster when at these limits, wheras the 911 can be pushed harder/faster by steering from the rear more. The 911 with a more neutral handling setup, basically a lot more front camber which no doubt bring it a bit more inline with the Cayman R, but the Cayman R will always have the advantage of mid-engined giving it better direction changed and more balanced feel.
However the advantage of the 911 is it feels far more planted as such this gives you far greater confidence especially in fast long sweepers and the other advantage is when you do get understeer you know you can press the loud pedal harder to use the rear to steer the car.
Steering wise, well the Cayman has faster steering but I did feel it had marginally less feel than compared to the 911, but very marginal and as such still Porsche are away ahead of other car manufacturers when it comes to steering feel.
So the Cayman R is better in some corners and the 911 is better in others but its marginal at best. However when it rained very hard today the Cayman R showed a big negative, any attempt at full throttle out of corners in 2nd and it literally could not put the power down. Also due to how firm the ride is on more bumpy B-roads in the wet the car was rather twitchy and was becoming quite a handfull when trying to press on and the mid-engined gave it a very twitchy feel almost as if it goes wrong it will do so very very fast, wheras the 911 remains very planted even on poor B-roads in rain and you can make use of the mechanical grip advantage the 911 gives.
To put it short the Cayman R is an amazing handling car as is the 911, the Cayman has advantages over the 911 and the 911 has advantages over the Cayman.
Some people say Porsche deliberately hold the Cayman back by fitting less powerful engines so it does not start out performing the 911. I however disagree with this, a Cayman with 400BHP would be a true handful in anything but the very best dry conditions. The Cayman R in the wet was struggling and becoming a handful and it has 330BHP and was wearing the very best wet tyres, Eagle F1's, but the car could not put its power down in 1st or 2nd in such conditions without easing the throttle in or short changing too 3rd, this also made the car twitchy and easy to get out of shape where road has lots of un-even cambers. So I think Porsche know what they are doing and realise that an even more powerful Cayman would not be such the usable car Porsches generally are. As a more track focused Cayman then yes it could handle more power.
I'd say if I took the Cayman R too Donnington it would play an advantage in corners like the chicane as I literally feel you could throw through the Chicane at higher speed due to the mid-engine layout. Though corners like Coppice really benefit the 911's rear-engined layout allowing you to get on the power earlier.
The brakes were simply superb, lots of feel, plenty of power and never experienced any fade but I was only road testing so you'd expect not to get any fade.
Specialness / Sound / Image
This I think is the Caymans weakness, the styling, well its a nice looking car but just does not look special. I am sure in green it would be more appealing, but still I just see it as a hugely capable car, but not a car thats well that special. My Mustang was a special car and I feel my 911 is too, but a Cayman R, well not really. Though the Cayman according to girls is the cuter car, maybe this is a good or bad thing, LOL.
Sound wise, well in the cabin things sound good, listening to the engine revving right behind your head is good. However it does lack the sound of mechanical shrill the 911 has at higher RPM's and from the the outside the Cayman just sounds, well a bit lacking. It is this category which the 911 wins with ease.
Conclusion
Lets not beat around the bush, the Cayman R is sublime, it has some negatives but the positives far outweigh them, its abilities are pretty much un-matched. But ask yourself this how much better is a Cayman R over a regular Cayman S and I think you will find the answer is well not much at all, noticable yes, but certainly not night and day. This leads me onto something, not long ago I had a Boxster 2.9 PDK and on a whole it gave 90% of the fun/thrill driving experience that the Cayman R did. An issue with the Cayman R is it is so fast and so well damped it makes going quick maybe a little to easy, don't worry were not talking GTR easy but certainly so. I think we can definetely blame the PDK part for this too, but because your mixing power and PDK together it all just got a bit too easy. As such the Boxster with its less grip and less power was practically just as much fun to drive and a big part of the enjoyment with the Boxster was actually about spanking it, because the 2.9DFI engine loves to be rev'd and was awarding to do so.
As such I'd highly recommend people also consider the 2.9DFI Cayman before maybe looking at an older or newer S/R model because you may find you get the same levels of enjoyment and involvment for a much lower cost.
The Cayman R has plenty of power, great handling and the PDK makes it even faster, but just take some of the involvment from the car and I feel a manual would make the car more entertaining and you'd not want to change it so soon, unlike a PDK/DSG model.
I'd rate the Cayman R, 997.1 C2S & Boxster 2.9 PDK as follows:-
Performance:-
997.1 C2S = 8/10
Cayman R = 7/10
Boxster DFI = 5/10
Handling:-
997.1 C2S = 9/10
Cayman R = 10/10
Boxster DFI = 9/10
Grip:-
997.1 C2S = 10/10
Cayman R = 8/10
Boxster DFI = 7/10
Running cost:-
997.1 C2S = 7/10
Cayman R = 9/10
Boxster DFI = 10/10
In short a regular Boxster DFI or Cayman DFI will give you tons of fun with the same handling characteristics as the R, but are a little safer/timer and less twitchy. If you want more performance than the S versions will give you near R levels of performance and handling. The R is only marginally better on the road, I am sure on track it will show bigger improvements where the weight saving and firmer suspension will be of a greater advantage. Still if you can afford a Cayman R, then don't settle for less and get one, it is truly amazing, but so are all Porsches.
Gonna leave it at that, any questions just ask.
