Porsche 718 Cayman: 7 Things you didn’t know

The Porsche 718 Cayman essentially a mid-life update for Zuffenhausen’s 981 Cayman. Far from being a nip here and a tuck there, the suspension and the interior have undergone some wide-ranging tweaks and boasts an all-new smaller capacity turbocharged flat-four, which replaces Porsche’s celebrated atmo flat six.

1. It comes from a long line of flat-four-engined Porsches including the car that began the dynasty, the 356 (1948-65), and its replacement, the flat-four 912 (1965-69), which was a 911 with the 356’s four-cylinder engine mounted in its rear.

2. It might look similar to its six-cylinder 981 predecessor, but the 718 Cayman is virtually all new, sharing only its windscreen, roof, and luggage tailgate with the previous car.

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3. Porsche has deliberately brought the 718 Cayman visually closer to the 718 Boxster, much like a 911 Coupe is to a 911 Cabriolet. Previously, the Cayman was more expensive than its rag-top relative (it’s now the reverse) and featured different bumpers, rear taillights and detailing.

4. If you option ‘sport chrono package’ on a Cayman with the PDK gearbox, a ‘sport response button’ becomes available. Mounted in the centre of the little sport chrono dial hanging off the steering-wheel hub, it primes the engine and transmission for maximum “spontaneous” responsiveness (eg. for fast overtaking) for a period of 20 seconds.

5. Not only is the turbo-four Cayman considerably faster than its atmo-six predecessor, it’s significantly more economical. The standard Cayman PDK drinks 6.9L/100km on the official government cycle (compared to 7.7) while the Cayman S uses 7.3L/100km (was 8.0), though its fuel tank is also 10 litres larger than the base Cayman’s (64 litres v 54).

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6. Despite rumours to the contrary, Porsche will continue to offer manual gearboxes in its cars, unlike sports-car marques such as Ferrari and Lamborghini. The six-speed manual makes up around 30 percent of Cayman/Boxster sales in Europe, though that percentage is much smaller in Australia.

7. Fears that the new turbocharged flat-four would fail to match the free-revving magnificence of the old flat-six have mostly been unfounded. While the new engine produces maximum power at 6500rpm, the boosted four’s redline remains at 7400rpm and its rev cut-out at 7500, just like the old six.