Porsche Cayman

Porsche Cayman

One of the finest of these new offerings is Porsche's forthcoming Cayman two-seater, which is a modified version of the company's Boxster convertible. The Cayman will go on sale on Jan. 14 in the U.S., with a price of $58,900. That's $14,000 more than an entry-level Boxster and $12,000 less than an entry-level, two-door Porsche 911.

Forbes.com recently traveled to Siena, Italy to take the first spin in the Cayman. The Cayman arrives at perhaps the busiest time in Porsche's history. The company now sells an SUV, the Cayenne, in addition to sports cars. It recently announced that in 2009 it will offer a sedan, the Panamera, which will take on BMW's 6 Series and Mercedes-Benz's CLS-Class in a segment that blends sports-car performance and styling with luxury-car interiors. The Panamera will have a front-mounted engine, unlike Porsche's sports cars, the engines of which are behind the passenger compartment. It will have rear-wheel drive and a new platform, or basic mechanical architecture.

The 3.4-liter version of Porsche's M96 flat-six engine family from the Boxster and the 911 does duty here and is tweaked to deliver 295 hp and 255 lb-ft of torque, versus the 280 hp and 236 lb-ft in the Boxster S's 3.2-liter engine. (And versus the 325 hp in the 3.6-liter base 911 Carrera.) It propels the Cayman S from 0 to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds and on to a top speed of 171 mph. Porsche's famed test driver and former World Rally champ Walter Rhrl gets the Cayman S around the Nrburgring's Nordschleife track in eight minutes, eleven seconds, which is four seconds faster than a published time for the base 911 Carrera, again with Rhrl driving.

All of the Boxster's chassis systems, which themselves are largely shared with the 911, have, of course, migrated to the Cayman S, including PASM, which is an option, and Porsche Stability Management (PSM), which is standard. The Cayman also will be offered with the Sport Chrono package and its nifty lap-time counter built into the dash. Without PASM, Rhrl's trip around the 'Ring would be three seconds slower. The ceramic brakes are another option. At 13.2 pounds each, the ceramic brake discs are exactly half as heavy as the standard cast-iron units, but that particular decrease in unsprung weight also decreases your net worth by about eight grand. In general, the Cayman's brakes are identical to those of the Boxster, but Porsche modified the front dam to bring a bit more cooling air to the discs, and the ABS has been mildly tweaked.

The Cayman's exterior is very clearly derived from the Boxster's, and in fact most body panels back to the haunches are identical. Prominent round foglamps distinguish coupe from roadster in the front profile, and the Cayman side view--not its prettiest angle, we feel--is notable for the domelike steel roof and the unique side air intakes. The rear quarter-windows are the same shape as the 911's but are turned on end. When you move to the rear, there is no mistaking the Cayman for a Boxster, a 911, or anything else on the road. The rapidly sloping hatch dives deeply between the rising hip lines of the rear wheel arches in obvious homage to the 550 Spyder of James Dean fame. At the trailing edge of the hatch lid, just below the "Cayman S" script, a subtle rear wing is ready to deploy once the car reaches 75 mph.

The Cayman will be a hit. As a classic two-seat, mid-engined Porsche sports car, it is as safe as the Cayenne was risky, and the company is too conservative to build it if they weren't sure the demand was there. Its executives speak candidly about the gap it will fill.