2006 Porsche Cayman S

Nobody asked me but . . .

Porsche. There is no other car like it, and if you want one, you pay the price. These words kept reverberating through my brain as I hurtled up the FRD Drive on a road surface that is best described as Baja with pavement, dodging other cars, trucks, numerous errant-driven cabs and potholes. The former much more successfully than the last, which are mine-field like in their number, variety and severity. I was behind the wheel of a Porsche Cayman. Think Boxster with a roof or mid-engine 911, and two, yes two, useable trunks. But only two seats versus the 911’s two-plus-two-cats.

I really disliked the early Boxster from which the Cayman sprang. Designed at a time when Porsche came within a phenig of going bankrupt, the car reeked of a diet of bread and water (brot und wasser?), not the expected sauerbraten mit spatzen. In other words, someone had not used his noodle. Cheap, tinny, devoid of quality, the Boxster was the bare-bones “essence” of Porsche. Today things are back to normal at Porsche. And this model and a recent “win” in the industry-respected J.D. Power Initial Quality awards, prove Porsche has come full circle.

I’m in an S model, meaning it’s got a hotter engine and an MSRP of $58,900 plus $795 delivery charges. But wait. The bottom line on my car is $70,895, a result of numerous “must have” Porsche options. So it ain’t cheap. (And I direct your attention once again to the second sentence in this test.

Among those numerous options is a high-tech suspension that is as adjustable as a contortionist in a carny freak show. But it plays like a Stradivarius in its precision and tuning. I’m using the normal setting here on my way up north to the GW Bridge and New Jersey (Gees, I’m starten to sound lika NewYawker). The Cayman’s response to my every steering and braking request is laser-like. And it’s accompanied by instinctive seat-of-the-pants road feel that morfs the driver and car “as one.”

“I am Porsche. See me corner!”

Diving into and through this mid-Manhattan mayhem is also a great test of the Cayman’s ride. You can’t possibly miss all the potholes. I have worried that the Cayman might disappear into one of them. Yet despite what is a firmly damped suspension and what would seem to be minimal ground clearance and suspension travel, the Cayman survived unscathed. Some Teutonic tuning wizardry is obviously at work here.

The S’s 295 horsepower, flat 6-cylinder, which is derived from the 911’s similar engine, makes all the right sounds. Bellowing with authority when the pedal is to the metal and emitting that characteristic mellow but guttural melody that is the sheet music Porsches have played to since the first 911 was introduced in 1961. Flexible to the extreme, this 3.4-liter “boxer” engine can be lugged down to 2500 rpm in 6th gear and still pull strongly.

Performance? A 0-60 mph time of 5.4? seconds is flat-out moving. And it’s hard to knock the fuel economy: An estimated 20 mpg city and 28 highway.

The Cayman is endowed with the expected Porsche excellence in ergonomics, in-bred from years of competition. Seats are firm and supportive and the steering wheel adjusts for reach as well as rake. But the biggest news here for those who accepted a cheap plastic interior to get the early Boxster’s uniquely Porsche driving experience, is that the Cayman isn’t sack cloth and ashes. There’s a look, feel and sense of quality to every surface you can see or touch. Soft materials, excellent fit and finish. The sort of quality touches that mark the Cayman as truly the Porsche of mid-engine Porsches.

Bottom line? Read my second sentence for a third time.