Features
Two against four
Just push beyond 4,500rpm to shift from measured urgency to a more frantic pace, at which point the Variocam Plus variable-valve timing-and-lift system exclusive to the Cayman S and 911 cuts in.
There's vivid noise and more than enough speed now too. The six-speed 'box flicks even more neatly through its ratios than the RS4's, although the clutch gives your right leg a tougher workout in the process.
Still the Cayman nibbles away at the gap, squarely locked on to the RS4's tail on all but long, straight stretches. Just don't bother pressing the Sport button set into its centre console to electronically stiffen the dampers - on these roads it leaves the front end bobbing around, unsettling the car's flow.
Returning to the Cayman's fresh-out-of-the-box set up, the messages feeding back to the driver are less outrageous and yet somehow more intimate than in the RS4. This car sits visibly closer to the road surface, with a lower centre of gravity also built in.
'The Cayman nibbles away at the gap, squarely locked on to the RS4's tail on all but long, straight stretches'
Despite the use of aluminium to lighten the RS4's front wings and bonnet, the Porsche still weighs in at 310kg less. That closes the power-to-weight gap too, with the Cayman S recording 220bhp per tonne next to the RS4's figure of 251bhp per tonne.
A fendish series of curves - apparently designed to keep local bodyshops provided with a constant supply of clients - tips the balance in the Cayman's favour, with awkward sight lines matched to tightening radiuses and variable grip levels. None of them fazes it.
Some people call it finesse. The matching of tyres, spring and damper rates blends perfectly to face the challenge set by these roads, with turn-in speed, smoothness of responses, grip and feedback moving on another increment.
The Cayman claims greater balance, tighter poise. No detail of the car's behaviour is held back from the driver, however uncomfortable it may be to take in. As a result, you very quickly learn to trust it implicitly.
The information content is so clear that the rear-drive Cayman's potential is even more accessible than the quattro-equipped RS4's. And its brakes are similarly astonishing in their effectiveness; strong under repeated hard stops, progressive in action and loaded with feel.
This all brings a dilemma. In a fight to the death, which do you need on your side? Overwhelming firepower or superior accuracy?
Of course, you want both. So spare yourself the agony of indecision. In the RS4 and Cayman's case, you'd have scored a spectacular result if you ever found yourself in either.
Peter Grunert
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Porsche Cayman - September 11, 2006
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