Characteristics have greatly improved, giving up nothing in the way of driving satisfaction.

There’s a lot to be said for the meditative quality of a long drive on a good road by yourself, but sharing this experience is always better. Especially when the car is the Porsche Cayman GT4, arguably the finest expression of the 718 Cayman line-up, nevermind that it is also the quickest in a straight line, and the most agile in the bends.

With its massive fixed rear wing and lightweight components, the GT4 looks astoundingly aggressive – like it wants to tear you limb from limb at every opportunity. Yet, what Porsche has managed to achieve with the new GT4 over the previous generation car, is that the coupe’s everyday driver

The new GT4’s 4.0-litre flat-six engine is shared with the 718 Spyder, as well as the Boxster and Cayman GTS models. It is not, however, the same 4.0-litre engine from the 911 GT3. Wouldn’t that have been something?

The good news, however, is that the new 4.0-litre has both a stop/start function and cylinder deactivation, to improve efficiency – a bit of a misnomer for a car that was created for driving hard. The not-so-great news is that this 4.0-litre