Porsche Cayman S
5/24/05, 07:50 AM
#1
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from autoweek.com
I like it. It looks like a . . . 911, or what a 911 is suppose to look like. I think it would have been cooler if Porsche had called it 912, or some other number.
Grand Cayman: Porsche's latest hit offers near Carrera performance at a Boxster price
GREG KABLE
Posted Date: 5/24/05
2006 PORSCHE CAYMAN S
ON SALE: 2006
BASE PRICE: $60,000 (est.)
POWERTRAIN: 3.4-liter, 295-hp, 255-lb-ft H6; rwd, six-speed manual
CURB WEIGHT: 2948 lbs
0 to 62 MPH: 5.4 seconds (mfr.)
Porsche’s new Cayman S, revealed here officially for the first time, is poised to raise the German company’s already haughty standing at the sharp end of the sports car ranks.
The 3.4-liter 295-hp flat-six-powered coupe is scheduled to make its first public appearance at September’s Frankfurt motor show before reaching North American showrooms early next year.
The two-seat Cayman S slots into the Porsche line slightly above the new 2005 Boxster, and in doing so it bucks Porsche tradition of pitching coupes at a lower price point than their more complex convertible siblings. It’s a strategy that has required Porsche to provide the Cayman S with greater firepower than the 3.2-liter 280-hp Boxster S simply to justify its positioning. At the same time, Porsche has been careful not to let its latest model—named after the caiman breed of crocodile found in Central and South America (rather than the Caribbean tax haven)—encroach on the territory ruled by the 3.6-liter 325-hp 911 Carrera.
In both power and straight-line performance, the Cayman S remains a respectable distance from its more expensive Carrera stablemate, although if word from the Stuttgart grapevine proves correct, Porsche is already considering a racing-focused stripped-down Clubsport version of the Cayman, possibly to receive the historical GTS designation. A less expensive base Cayman is also planned, running either the 3.2-liter from the Boxster S, or a 3.0-liter 260-hp flat six.
In a move aimed at trimming development costs and streamlining production, the Cayman shares up to 40 percent of its components, including a good deal of its exterior, with the second-generation Boxster. The two cars share the same hood, headlights, front guards, doors and taillights.
However, a close inspection reveals some interesting styling changes that, from certain angles at least, help give the Cayman its own distinctive visual character. Inspiration for many of the changes comes from Porsche’s classic 904, which evolved from the company’s racing activities to become a road car in 1965.
Up front is a modified bumper with larger air ducts below each headlight. The fog lamps are housed in round units rather than the rectangular ones found on the Boxster. The windshield shares the same angle as its open-top Boxster sibling, but extends farther up into the roof. The roof itself is heavily curved and not unlike that found on earlier incarnations of the 911. Small fixed windows are incorporated behind the tailing edge of the doors, while the air ducts that cool the mid-mounted engine receive a different graphic with vertical strakes. The rear hatch opens remotely via a button on the key fob to offer newfound levels of practicality for a Porsche sports car. It can be lifted to a nominal 50-degree angle or extended through to 68 degrees.
The Cayman is slightly longer than the Boxster, all concentrated in the rear overhang. The heavy curvature in the roof also increases height over the Boxster, but width remains the same. The addition of the fixed roof has brought added rigidity—and insiders say Cayman is even stiffer than the new 911 Carrera.
The car is more aerodynamic than a Boxster, and to regain rear-end downforce lost through the incorporation of the sloping rear hatch, Porsche has provided the Cayman S with a unique rear spoiler assembly that deploys hydraulically at speeds greater than 75 mph.
The steel-bodied Cayman tips the scales at 2948 pounds, just 11 pounds more than the Boxster, much of the increase to do with the packaging of the hatchback. In comparative terms, however, the new Porsche can be considered somewhat of a lightweight in the sports coupe segment. Nissan’s 350Z weighs in at 3146 pounds and the all-wheel-drive Audi TT at 3300 pounds.
As with the exterior, the Cayman’s interior borrows heavily from the Boxster. The dashboard, instruments, switchgear, seats and door trim are identical. The creation of a parcel shelf in the space behind the seats boosts rear trunk capacity. Combined with the front trunk, Cayman offers what Porsche describes as class-leading cargo space.
Powering the Cayman S is a newly developed version of Porsche’s horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine, the same unit in the Boxster S, only with a slight increase in bore to push displacement to 3.4 liters. Also included is Porsche’s Variocam Plus system, as used on the 911. It employs electrohydraulic tappets to constantly vary the timing and lift on both the inlet and exhaust valves. As a result, power swells to 295 hp at 6250 rpm, a 15-hp increase over the Boxster S’s 3.2-liter engine. Torque peaks at 255 lb-ft on a powerband that stretches from 4200 rpm to 6000 rpm.
As with the Boxster, power is fed to the rear wheels via either a standard six-speed manual gearbox or an optional five-speed Tiptronic automatic featuring steering-wheel shift buttons. Word out of Stuttgart indicates Porsche will begin offering a new double-shift gearbox similar to Volkswagen’s unit on its latest model, though according to AutoWeek sources, it isn’t likely to become available for another 18 months. In manual guise, Porsche says the Cayman S hits 62 mph in 5.4 seconds, and tops out at 171 mph.
Underpinning the new car is a lightly reworked version of the Boxster’s MacPherson strut suspension. The two cars also ride on the same wheelbase and share the same track measurements. Porsche’s chassis engineers have gone over every component in a bid to provide the Cayman S with its own unique handling character. Changes are fairly straightforward: firmer springs, stiffer dampers, larger diameter antiroll bars and more resilient bushings. The threshold for the standard four-channel ABS antilock and PSM (Porsche stability management) systems has been extended slightly.
As a measure of the Cayman’s ability, Porsche claims a prototype version lapped the Nürburgring’s North Loop in eight minutes and 11 seconds in the hands of former rally ace Walter Röhrl—an improvement of seven seconds over the time he recorded in a similar specification Boxster S late last year, and four seconds faster than the 911 Carrera.
I like it. It looks like a . . . 911, or what a 911 is suppose to look like. I think it would have been cooler if Porsche had called it 912, or some other number.
Grand Cayman: Porsche's latest hit offers near Carrera performance at a Boxster price
GREG KABLE
Posted Date: 5/24/05
2006 PORSCHE CAYMAN S
ON SALE: 2006
BASE PRICE: $60,000 (est.)
POWERTRAIN: 3.4-liter, 295-hp, 255-lb-ft H6; rwd, six-speed manual
CURB WEIGHT: 2948 lbs
0 to 62 MPH: 5.4 seconds (mfr.)
Porsche’s new Cayman S, revealed here officially for the first time, is poised to raise the German company’s already haughty standing at the sharp end of the sports car ranks.
The 3.4-liter 295-hp flat-six-powered coupe is scheduled to make its first public appearance at September’s Frankfurt motor show before reaching North American showrooms early next year.
The two-seat Cayman S slots into the Porsche line slightly above the new 2005 Boxster, and in doing so it bucks Porsche tradition of pitching coupes at a lower price point than their more complex convertible siblings. It’s a strategy that has required Porsche to provide the Cayman S with greater firepower than the 3.2-liter 280-hp Boxster S simply to justify its positioning. At the same time, Porsche has been careful not to let its latest model—named after the caiman breed of crocodile found in Central and South America (rather than the Caribbean tax haven)—encroach on the territory ruled by the 3.6-liter 325-hp 911 Carrera.
In both power and straight-line performance, the Cayman S remains a respectable distance from its more expensive Carrera stablemate, although if word from the Stuttgart grapevine proves correct, Porsche is already considering a racing-focused stripped-down Clubsport version of the Cayman, possibly to receive the historical GTS designation. A less expensive base Cayman is also planned, running either the 3.2-liter from the Boxster S, or a 3.0-liter 260-hp flat six.
In a move aimed at trimming development costs and streamlining production, the Cayman shares up to 40 percent of its components, including a good deal of its exterior, with the second-generation Boxster. The two cars share the same hood, headlights, front guards, doors and taillights.
However, a close inspection reveals some interesting styling changes that, from certain angles at least, help give the Cayman its own distinctive visual character. Inspiration for many of the changes comes from Porsche’s classic 904, which evolved from the company’s racing activities to become a road car in 1965.
Up front is a modified bumper with larger air ducts below each headlight. The fog lamps are housed in round units rather than the rectangular ones found on the Boxster. The windshield shares the same angle as its open-top Boxster sibling, but extends farther up into the roof. The roof itself is heavily curved and not unlike that found on earlier incarnations of the 911. Small fixed windows are incorporated behind the tailing edge of the doors, while the air ducts that cool the mid-mounted engine receive a different graphic with vertical strakes. The rear hatch opens remotely via a button on the key fob to offer newfound levels of practicality for a Porsche sports car. It can be lifted to a nominal 50-degree angle or extended through to 68 degrees.
The Cayman is slightly longer than the Boxster, all concentrated in the rear overhang. The heavy curvature in the roof also increases height over the Boxster, but width remains the same. The addition of the fixed roof has brought added rigidity—and insiders say Cayman is even stiffer than the new 911 Carrera.
The car is more aerodynamic than a Boxster, and to regain rear-end downforce lost through the incorporation of the sloping rear hatch, Porsche has provided the Cayman S with a unique rear spoiler assembly that deploys hydraulically at speeds greater than 75 mph.
The steel-bodied Cayman tips the scales at 2948 pounds, just 11 pounds more than the Boxster, much of the increase to do with the packaging of the hatchback. In comparative terms, however, the new Porsche can be considered somewhat of a lightweight in the sports coupe segment. Nissan’s 350Z weighs in at 3146 pounds and the all-wheel-drive Audi TT at 3300 pounds.
As with the exterior, the Cayman’s interior borrows heavily from the Boxster. The dashboard, instruments, switchgear, seats and door trim are identical. The creation of a parcel shelf in the space behind the seats boosts rear trunk capacity. Combined with the front trunk, Cayman offers what Porsche describes as class-leading cargo space.
Powering the Cayman S is a newly developed version of Porsche’s horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine, the same unit in the Boxster S, only with a slight increase in bore to push displacement to 3.4 liters. Also included is Porsche’s Variocam Plus system, as used on the 911. It employs electrohydraulic tappets to constantly vary the timing and lift on both the inlet and exhaust valves. As a result, power swells to 295 hp at 6250 rpm, a 15-hp increase over the Boxster S’s 3.2-liter engine. Torque peaks at 255 lb-ft on a powerband that stretches from 4200 rpm to 6000 rpm.
As with the Boxster, power is fed to the rear wheels via either a standard six-speed manual gearbox or an optional five-speed Tiptronic automatic featuring steering-wheel shift buttons. Word out of Stuttgart indicates Porsche will begin offering a new double-shift gearbox similar to Volkswagen’s unit on its latest model, though according to AutoWeek sources, it isn’t likely to become available for another 18 months. In manual guise, Porsche says the Cayman S hits 62 mph in 5.4 seconds, and tops out at 171 mph.
Underpinning the new car is a lightly reworked version of the Boxster’s MacPherson strut suspension. The two cars also ride on the same wheelbase and share the same track measurements. Porsche’s chassis engineers have gone over every component in a bid to provide the Cayman S with its own unique handling character. Changes are fairly straightforward: firmer springs, stiffer dampers, larger diameter antiroll bars and more resilient bushings. The threshold for the standard four-channel ABS antilock and PSM (Porsche stability management) systems has been extended slightly.
As a measure of the Cayman’s ability, Porsche claims a prototype version lapped the Nürburgring’s North Loop in eight minutes and 11 seconds in the hands of former rally ace Walter Röhrl—an improvement of seven seconds over the time he recorded in a similar specification Boxster S late last year, and four seconds faster than the 911 Carrera.
5/27/05, 10:48 AM
#3
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Very nice car. IMO, much prettier than the Boxster and more traditional like like 911. It could never be called the 912--way too much oomph for that! And I like the Cayman name. What does a cayman eat? Dang near anything it can get its jaws on.
5/27/05, 02:30 PM
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Originally posted by THRUST_@May 27, 2005, 4:20 PM
looks pretty sweet, although I will probably never even see one in person.
looks pretty sweet, although I will probably never even see one in person.
Sure you will! Boxsters are all over the place and you see 911's here and there. You'll see one, trust me
5/28/05, 09:04 AM
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ya seirously, wayyy too many 911s.
I like this car a lot, especially the hips when seen from the back. i've always found that porsches have an akwardly short looking wheelbase, though. really long front over hang. not so into that.
I like this car a lot, especially the hips when seen from the back. i've always found that porsches have an akwardly short looking wheelbase, though. really long front over hang. not so into that.
5/31/05, 05:52 PM
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way too many boxters, those things are so ugly i hate the tail end. the new ones are getting better doesnt look like they used a mailbox for the measurements of the scoop at least
6/1/05, 08:35 PM
#15
Shelby GT500 Member
Don't like it. They aren't supposed to put stuff out that looks like experiments gone wrong. This thing just doesn't set right with me.
(still not as bad as that subaru though!!)
(still not as bad as that subaru though!!)
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