THE VICTOR

Porsche 718 Cayman GTS PDK

Another Shootout, another GTS on the top step.

Judged purely on the number of first-placed votes it received, the Cayman should swap places with the M2 Competition. Where the latter garnered three wins, the 718 scored just two.

The difference, however, is in the consistency of those votes; it never scored lower than fourth, and netted a second and two third places. And consistency is key when discussing the Cayman. It’s consistent in how it deals with any road surface. Take Gydo Pass, for example. A mishmash of smooth asphalt mixed with cross scars; long sweeps and switchbacks; sighted and blind corners. It’s a stern test for any vehicle, and proved so when many of this year’s contenders struggled to respond to the pass’ challenges. The Cayman had no such issues. Deftly applying its mid-engined power no matter the speed, surface or circumference of a corner, the baby Porsche was always consistent, always alert, always fantastic. Wonderful steering, progressive body control, stellar brakes and the industry’s best dual-clutch transmission saw it trounce its competition (cough-cough) time and again.

It’s not perfect, though. The engine, while powerful enough to give the 911 T a fright in a straight line, sounds unpleasant. Many team members elected to turn off the sports exhaust, not usually something we do. It dialled down the racket, which helped, but there was never any doubt the four-pot is so far removed from the pre-facelift Cayman’s glorious flat-six that there were musings the GTS would have scored first spots from every voter had the six still been in place amidships.

But that, reader, is pretty much all that’s wrong with the Cayman. Its virtues are so varied and plentiful that it’s a deserving winner of Shootout 2019.