Sunday Drive: Porsche 718 Cayman GT4

Friday, 3 July 2020

• PORSCHE 718 CAYMAN GT4

• Base price: $217,000

• Powertrain and economy: 4.0-litre petrol horizontally-opposed six, 309kW/420Nm, 6-speed manual, RWD, combined economy 11.3L/100km, CO2 260g/km (source: RightCar).

• Vital statistics: 4456mm long, 1994mm wide, 1269mm high, 2484mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 150 litres front/270 litres rear, 20-inch alloy wheels.

• We like: Sublime handling, fantastic engine, surprisingly practical.

• We don't like: Gearing not quite right, so very low…

Porsche first unleashed the Cayman GT4 back in 2015 to near-universal acclaim and much frantic demand.

The Cayman GT4 was a very special thing and not just because it was the first time Porsche gave the feverish minds behind the 911-based GT2 and GT3 track day heroes a crack at a mid-engined road car. But mainly.

As such, it was the easiest, most affordable (relative) way into the world of big-winged track-tweaked Porsches and damn near the perfect driver's car to boot.

**READ MORE:

* Porsche working on 373kW Cayman

* Fewer cylinders, more character for Porsche 718 Cayman S

* Goodbye Porsche Cayman GT4, can't wait to see you again

* Porsche adds 718 to Boxster, Cayman names

**

Now we have a new one and it has a lot to live up to. But it is a Porsche, so the engineers and boffins who scrape the thing together are well-used to that.

And, no surprises here, they have banged together another startlingly good car with the all-new 718 Cayman GT4.

Unsurprisingly, the basic recipe has barely changed - the front axle is still taken straight from the GT3, while up the back the architecture is largely carried over from the standard Cayman like before, but also like before, the dampers are inverted and the control arms and subframe are pure GT3.

The GT4 also retains the massive rear wing, but Porsche says this time it makes a whopping 20 per cent more downforce than before (the new GT4 actually produces a massive 50 per cent more downforce than the old car too), and it is also adjustable. But there is no fancy electronic nonsense here - you will have to break open the toolbox and manually adjust this one.

Rather brilliantly the rest of the GT4 remains just as defiantly analogue as the manually-adjustable wing - there is almost nothing in the way of electronic gizmos aside from the mandatory traction and stability controls - there are no fancy drive modes here, just a button for the loud exhaust and another for the suspension settings.

So what is it actually like?

Utterly ferocious and thoroughly addictive.

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth surrounding the GT4's slick six-speed manual transmission - mainly the spread of ratios and the massive length of second gear that make its savage performance somewhat inaccessible at low speeds.

It's a known thing - even the engineers that worked on the GT4 say it isn't the transmission they wanted to use and a healthy aftermarket industry has popped up offering various solutions.

But here's the thing - the long gearing may mean you have to really wind the GT4 up to get things to 11 (which is no bad thing), but its decent torque low down means that those long gears actually make it a docile and usable thing around town. Not even remotely its point, I know, but a surprising advantage.

While it is never exactly lethargic down in the lower gears, it doesn't give you the properly aggro punch in the back of the head you are necessarily expecting. At least not until it is wound up beyond 3,500rpm that is… then things get truly spectacular.

Slip casually past the 3,500rpm mark and the engine and exhaust noise turn feral, with a hard, mechanical bark that you expect from a naturally-aspirated 4.0-litre horizontally-opposed six kicking in, before rising to a harsh, bellowing howl as the revs pile on.

The speed piles on as well as the engine comes alive and the forward momentum becomes truly relentless.

At this point - when you find yourself charging into the first corner - you also find yourself thinking 'I hope this thing handles as well as the last one…', and fortunately, it very much does.

The Cayman GT4 almost literally dances through corners, with its sublimely balanced chassis taking everything the ferocious engine can throw at it in its stride.

The steering is delightfully accurate and alive, with a direct, telepathic quality complemented by its perfectly-weighted feel.

Everything works in a near-perfect harmony and the GT4 remains beautifully composed and completely adjustable through every section of a corner

Negatives? Well, it is extremely low and, while that may elicit a few old-man grunts as you struggle in and out of it, the biggest problem is that the front lip catches on literally everything.

The gut-wrenching sound of grinding the nose over a speed bump or driveway becomes slightly less gut-wrenching when you realise it is just a plastic lip, not several hundred dollars worth of carbon fibre you are scraping off, but it still isn't a fun experience.

Inconvenient lowness aside, however, everything else about the Cayman GT4 is bursting with fun, from its wonderfully minimalist, analogue vibe to its ferocious naturally-aspirated engine and its sublime handling.

Perfectly-judged, brutally efficient Germanic fun.