Lightweight Caymans go head-to-head as 987 Cayman R takes on the hardcore 981 Cayman GT4
Two lightweight Cayman specials – an R and a GT4 – manifestations of the ultimate midengined coupe. Separated by four years, which one delivers a better driving experience? We air the pair on the Fenland flats
The truckie dropping off the Vantage does a double-take: ‘not seen one of those before,’ he says, eyeballing the white GT4. ‘You on a road trip?’ ‘No, a shoot for a Porsche mag,’ I reply. ‘A back-to-back on these Cayman lightweights. We’ll see which one tips the scales…’ He chuckles…
We’re at Autostore in rural Cambridgeshire. They don’t just store cars, they have a showroom of humdingers, too, including the 987 Cayman R and the 981 GT4 Clubsport we’ve got here, one four years older than the other, and both stateof-the-art trackable Porsches. Things happened apace in the model’s evolution.
Launched in 2005, then, four years later, following a minor facelift, the gen 2 model appeared, and in 2012 out came the 981 model. Predictably, in keeping with Porsche tradition, press-on drivers could select a hot version, and that’s what we’ve got to play with today, courtesy of our high-end car stashers. Firstly, the black bomber, a 2011 gen 2 Cayman 987 R, and the white whizzer, the 981 GT4 from 2015. Stood side by side, they look years apart: one’s squat and chunky (the car, that is) while the other contrives to be long and lean. They are rare, too. According to Porsche Club GB, production of Cayman Rs totalled 1400 units, with 220 registered in GB. And at launch,
Porsche claimed that production of the GT4 would be limited to 2500 units. But what does the spec tell us?
Released in Spring 2011, the R is 55kg lighter than the Cayman S that begat it. Slimline 19-inch wheels from the Boxster Spyder – the lightest wheels in the whole line-up – light aluminium door skins in the idiom of the 991 Turbo; lighter sports bucket seats, and 15kg is saved by the deletion of the ICE and air-con. The 3.4litre flat-six engine develops an additional 10bhp, having new exhaust manifolds and reprogrammed ECU, making maximum power 325bhp at 7400rpm. A limited-slip diff is standard, though Porsche's PASM active suspension system is not fitted, and
shorter and stiffer springs make the Cayman R 20mm lower than the Cayman S. It also boasts a lighter power-to-weight ratio than the 991, as well as a better torque to weight ratio. Revised aero front and rear brings about an amazing 40 per cent more downforce at the back, and 15 per cent up front.
It gets better. Being a gen 2 car, the 981 Cayman ‘R’ has direct injection and Variocam Plus, which, as Autostore proprietor Jonathan Sturgess points out, ‘means it’s more reliable, because there’s none of the headaches of bore scoring.
I like the Cayman R,’ says Jonathan, ‘partly because I’m used to 993s and 964s, and it feels more that sort of size, chuckable on a small country road, whereas the new ones, 981s and 718s, feel almost like SUVS by comparison!’ Indeed, the significant size disparity between the 987 R and the 981 GT4 is evident when they’re parked up, back-to-back. Physically, the GT4 is a heftier car and has a longer front, while the length of the rear three quarter windows is another obvious difference, as is the swage line along the Caymans’ flanks. A matter of scales…
This Cayman R has PDK transmission. ‘We’ve got a couple of clients with Rs, and they’ve chosen manuals because they track them. We frequently fit brake pads and tyres in our workshop because they work them hard. On the other hand, the PDK works quite well because there’s a subtle side to it, where you can just cruise along in top, and then if you put it into Sport Plus, it does get quite exciting.’ Indeed. Having driven a Cayman R with PDK around Porsche’s Silverstone test track I can confirm that you couldn’t go any quicker with any other transmission. Jonathan finds that, transmission-wise, they both sell equally well.
The GT4 is a benchmark Porsche for a rather peculiar reason, and that’s because it’s the first one that’s permitted to be more powerful than a 911. It borrows its 3.8-litre flat-six from the 991 Carrera S, revolving it through 180 degrees so the engine is amidships with the gearbox to the rear. The GT3 motor, which would have perhaps been the desired powerplant, would not fit in the Cayman engine bay due to its induction system. However, the Carrera S unit’s power and torque remain the same at 380bhp and 310lb ft. Despite the extra capacity over the 3.4-litre Caymans, this engine is only about 7kg heavier, and a sixspeed manual gearbox, EX-GTS, is the only option: no PDK. The suspension is also largely sourced from the 991 GT3 parts bin, so the front and rear set-ups are adjustable. It’s also 30mm lower than the standard Cayman, and the front track is 13mm wider. Its brakes are also carried over from the
GT3, and the PCCB ceramic versions are available for an extra £5000. Our feature car is a Club Sport, and the extra spec includes the half cage, the 918-style onepiece carbon bucket seats from the 918 Spyder – worth £1907 each – and plumbing for a fire extinguisher.
The GT4 is owned by John Statham – though his plan is to replace it with the 4.0litre 718 version later this year, and that’s why it’s currently gracing Autostore’s showroom. John was on hand for the photoshoot, and keen to eulogise. He’s had the GT4 for a year, and he’s also got a 987 Cayman S, bought new in 2007. I put it to him that he must be infatuated by the shape of the Cayman: ‘We went to the Cambridge PC dealership in 2007, and we didn’t know whether we were going to buy a Cayman or a 911, and the 911 was about £20,000 or so more expensive than the Cayman. So, we test drove both, and we preferred the Cayman – and, in all honesty, had the Cayman been more expensive than the 911, we would still have bought the
Cayman, because in 2007, the Cayman was a significantly more competent car.’ Prior to acquiring the GT4 John also bought a new 981 GTS, which he kept for three months before putting his name down for a new GT4. ‘They told me last October (2018) that I’d been allocated a GT4, so at that point I thought, well, rather than keep the GTS, I’d buy this white GT4 and see how I liked it.’ And as well as the styling, performance and aural soundtrack, the things that John likes specifically about it include the cabin ergonom ics. ‘It’s extremely comfortable on a long journey,’ he says; ‘you feel good driving it, and it’s not one of the best, I think it’s the best car I’ve ever driven. And I’ve had a few cars in my time!’ Around 20 at the moment. ‘It’s a beautiful car, I love the way it goes, it handles extremely well, and it’s got a lovely exhaust note. It sounds and rides beautifully.’
John does a lot of track days, but hasn’t so far done any with the GT4. He prefers to use his 987 Cayman S, though he also has a Mini Cooper which is prepared for track work. He quite often attends track days at Snetterton and might be tempted to take the GT4, ‘just to see how it behaves on track. I’m a bit scared to do it because it’s worth a lot of money and I don’t want to damage it. You’ve got to be 100 per cent committed. The Cooper S is worth a couple of thousand pounds so it doesn’t matter if you spin off, whereas with an eightythousand-pound car it’s a different ball game.’
In Jonathan’s opinion, ‘the Cayman R is a bit softer, a bit more rounded. Just like with the 996 and 986 generation, they brought out the 987 gen 2 and introduced the R. The first one had a nice smooth wing, a bit more power, but they didn’t bother with the brakes. It’s Porsche sticking its toe in the water to see if there’s a market for it, and saying, well, it looks like there is, and then going full-on with the GT4.’ There was a stepping stone, of course, and that was the Cayman GTS that came out in 2014, which had 11bhp more power than the R, prefacing the GT4. Judging by the way they demonstrate their performance, the GT4 is a level higher than the R; it’s like contrasting an RS with a GT3: the Cayman R is the GT3 and the GT4 is the RS. That said, the cabin, controls and driving environment of the GT4 are so accomplished that there’s no question you would think twice about using it as
I think it’s the best car I’ve ever driven. And I’ve had a few in my time
your daily driver.
Prices? Well, the GT4 has clocked just over 9000 miles and is on sale for £80,000. It’s a Club Sport, which makes it a bit rarer and adds a little more value. The Cayman R is up at £40,000, half the price of the GT4, and it’s done nearly 30,000 miles, plus Autostore give two years’ warranty. Given the five years between them, that is a substantial price gap, though the GT4 is quite a bit more special all round than the R, from controls and cabin ergonomics to performance, ride and handling. Jonathan reckons that, even if the GT4 had racked up a mileage closer to the R’s, it would still command maybe £70,000. In fact, they both retain their values pretty well: the standard 718 GT4 is stickered at £75,300, while the R was a shade over £51,000. Colours? Well, Marmite is black and not to everyone’s taste (though I have owned one black Alfa and one black BMW), but you can’t argue with a white GT4. In the marketplace, Jonathan perceives a different ownership: ‘They tend to appeal to slightly different people; we’ve sold Cayman Rs to guys that want to use them as their oneand-only everyday car, some as a weekend toy, but on the other hand, we’ve got four or five Cayman GT4S in storage, and nobody uses them that way; they’re all second, third or fourth cars, do a low mileage each year, the odd little tickle round the racetrack, but not really pushing it. So, I think they’re slightly different people, not just because of the price difference, because nowadays you can buy a 991 GT3 for £100 grand, or you can buy a Carrera 4 from Porsche for the same sort of money, so, even though they’re the same price they appeal to a slightly different market.’
It’s time to go motoring! I slip into the Cayman R’s tight-fitting bucket seat. Unremittingly black cabin, black carpeting and headlining, so a no-nonsense black-onblack, tempered with Rs-style red fabric door pulls and matching red seat belts. Mileage is 34,500 and average mpg reads 24. Having recently spent a week with a GTS on our Mosel road trip, I’m a big fan of PDK: you have to regard it as your ally in the driving process because it augments the competence of the car. But. Superglue that left foot to the floorboards! I ease out of Autostore’s compound and cruise for a short while to play myself in. The driving position is perfect. Accelerating in the Cayman R is a dramatic business, and it kicks off vigorously, violently almost. And then I back off and let it go through its
ratios, and that’s kind of mesmerising, playing a tune as it goes up and down the scale. The steering is completely accurate and nicely weighted, turn-in as sharp as you could wish for. It is astonishingly fast when I really try with it, and I can feel the sports suspension puttering over the bumps on this country road. And that’s the thing: the ride is hard and uncompromising, probably harder over the undulations than the MO30 set up on my Boxster. I’m seeing 6000–7000rpm through the gears, powering it through the S-bends, and it’s fantastic, and the uncompromising ride generates a feeling of confidence – if any were needed. I wouldn’t call it wrestling, but I am certainly strong-arming it through the turns. Heart beating faster and slightly breathless, I return to the compound. Swapsy.
One of the dispiriting horrors of schooldays in the Fens was obligatory cross-country runs, over terrain so flat that the finish could be anticipated in days rather than miles, so far was the line of sight. Now, though, one of this region’s plus points is that, if you choose your road right, oncoming traffic can be spotted miles away. This allows one to wind up the GT4 without fear of adverse encounter, and, at John Statham’s behest, I take off accordingly. The sports exhaust sounds absolutely superb as it soars and pitches through the rev range. This is a phenomenal car performance-wise, capable of colossal velocity – or at least giving the impression of such – and as I dive around the bendy bits it is perfectly poised, soaking up the curves so regally, almost dismissively haughty. The GT4 Cayman doesn’t seem to manifest its weight more, but it does feel a more substantial car than the R. Going for it on these country roads, the R feels nimbler because it’s smaller and slightly lighter, while the GT4, with its bigger brakes and greater power, urges you to go that little bit harder. The GT4’S suspension gives a softer ride than the Cayman R, and it’s more supple, too – subtler and less hard-edged. It has rosejointed front suspension and steering, set up in a very safe way by the factory so that it won’t oversteer markedly, but the point is that it’s all adjustable, whatever set up you give it, but with rose-jointed suspension that’s where the set-up stays because there’s no flex in the bushes, which you get with regular bushed suspension. It gives the impression of total invincibility, that nothing could faze it, and the driver quickly picks up on that. Switching to Sport mode, it’s not just the ramping up of the exhaust noise and extending the revs for longer to up the power delivery, you definitely feel the dampers firm up, too. It’s a very exhilarating car. They both are. You’d take the GT4, if push came to shove – of course you would – but then it is double the price of the R. Does it give twice as much satisfaction? In a way it does, yes. And in the final analysis, these are trackable thrill machines; on the road, a GTS or an S, or, for that matter, any Cayman, would serve just as well. But, even in this more mundane context, what’s not to love about a pukka lightweight?