OCTOBER 2006 (ISSUE 151)

October 2006? Doesn’t seem like that long ago really does it, but it’s getting on for two model cycles in the world of the 911, for example. And talking of which, we were putting the newly launched 997 Turbo through its paces for a UK first drive, with current Dep Ed, Brett Fraser, at the wheel. He somehow managed to get himself out to Watkins Glen in the good old US of A, to drive it there, too.

Sticking with new things, the then new base Cayman 2.7 starred on the front cover. Other mags had given Porsche a bit of a kicking for pricing the Cayman over the Boxster at £36,000, a premium of £3500, with a leading monthly declaring: ‘Don’t buy this car.’ We were slightly less emphatic, urging buyers to perhaps ‘think carefully’ when doing the sums, but then viewed against a Cayman S, which was £8k more, then perhaps it wasn’t too pricey. Of course, with the arrival of the 718 Boxster and Cayman, Porsche has flipped the two and the Cayman is the de facto entry level Porsche, so perhaps there was an element of cynicism in the model range and pricing back then. Whatever, a 2.7 Boxster 987 is a bloomin’ bargain right now.