Do you love the Porsche Boxster's performance, styling, and price, but want a hard top? If so, the Cayman is what you're looking for. It's built on the same basic architecture, and in many ways, it's a great stand-in for its bigger, more expensive brother, the 911.
Few changes arrive for the 2012 model year, though a new Cayman R model joins the ranks. Not changing much is good news, however, as the Cayman is already a great car. Sexy lines, classic Porsche details, and the clear look of a dedicated sports car mark the outside, while inside, there's perhaps less Porsche heritage than we'd like, but it's a coherent, well-styled cabin, and highly customizable.
Performance, as you'd expect, is fantastic. Grip is phenomenal, with or without the optional adaptive suspension, and power from the mid-mounted flat six sings. Steering is precise, the brakes deliver pedal feel that's rare outside the brand, and the PDK dual-clutch transmission clicks off shifts with unflappable ease. The 19-inch wheel upgrade adds style without destroying the ride quality, and the Sport Chrono package sharpens the whole car into a truly vivid experience.
Three Cayman models are available: Cayman, Cayman S, and Cayman R. The base Cayman comes with a 265-horsepower 2.9-liter flat six-cylinder, while the Cayman S upgrades that to 320 horsepower and 3.4 liters. The razor-edge Cayman R, which strips out about 120 pounds by reducing features and content, gets a 3.4-liter six rated for 330 horsepower.
Seating is perhaps the one weak point in the base Cayman configuration, with somewhat less bolstering than we'd like given the car's capabilities. The upgraded adaptive sport seats are much better, though the active bolsters during cornering can be distracting. Headroom is great, as the roof is higher inside than it appears to be outside, and the long-haul comfort in general is very high.
Standard Bluetooth connectivity and a universal audio interface make the base-spec features list a bit more thorough, but cruise control is still an option, as is navigation, as are the adaptive sport seats, adaptive headlights, and adaptive suspension. Using some of the higher-tech optional features can be frustrating due to the button-heavy control scheme, but the LCD display is crisp and clear.
The 2012 Porsche Cayman hasn't been rated by the NHTSA or IIHS, but all models include dual airbags for driver and passenger, pre-tensioning seat belts, side-impact protection, standard ABS plus stability and traction control, and optional dynamic cornering lights.
About 9 miles up from the bottom of Glendora Mountain Road in a Porsche Carrera GTS, it hit me: I'm not working very hard. I'm in second gear at about 5500 rpm, meaning I'm out of the torque curve's sweet spot -- 310 lb-ft at 4200 rpm -- and still on my way to the fressed-over 3.8-liter opposed-six's power peak -- a beefy 408 hp at 7300 rpm. Translation: I'm hauling ass. I'm also having the time of my life with both windows and the sunroof open -- to better to hear the nifty sport exhaust - on one of Southern California's absolute top roads. Here's the interesting part: I've been hacking away at this twisted devil of a back road for a good 30 minutes. Earlier in the day I was standing around in 100-degree heat on a dragstrip for five hours clocking the Porsche's numbers. But amazingly, I'm just not tired. "It's refreshing to not have to work so hard," says our handling sensei Kim Reynolds as he climbs out of the Guards Red GTS. By "work so hard," he's referring to the GT3 RS and GT2 RS we tested a couple of months back. Both of those are little more than thinly veiled race cars. Yes, those manly machines deliver astonishingly astonishing levels of performance und grip, but you have to man up to wring the great and mighty numbers out of 'em. "A 911's supposed to be an everyday car," Kim muses. "Those other two, I'd never even dream about owning either. But this one..." he pauses, presumably for dramatic effect. "I could drive this one every day."However, once on the figure eight, the GTS just comes alive. I had the transmission in Sport Plus, the most aggressive setting, but that didn't matter because I was pulling the paddles myself to change from second to third and back again. There's little like the feel of lightning-fast shifts from one of the world's great dual-clutches -- sharp, quick and brutal. PSM (stability control) is switched "off," but the word off is in quotes because you can't really, actually switch it all the way off. If the nanny-computer senses that you're about to kill yourself (for instance, both front wheels suddenly go into ABS) PSM flickers on. Kim complained of a hint of understeer, and a little bit of testing revealed that PSM popped on for a moment under fairly extreme conditions that typically precurse an accident. But who cares? Look, if you're so hairy-chested that you need the computer always off, buy a GT3.Back to that daydream of a mountain road. There's no traffic. I see one Camry, one Prius, one Malibu, and that's it. I keep asking myself, how could this road be so empty? You know what, who cares? Glendora Mountain is deserted and I'm driving what just might be the perfect weapon. You'll find loads of people willing to say nasty things about the 911's rear-engine-ness. Mostly that it's not as mid-engined as they'd like. But pay them folks no mind, which is exactly what Porsche has been doing for nearly 50 years. There's just something magical about that initial tail-out sensation you get when you toss a 911 into a corner, that little hip-flick. It's more like skiing than driving; the whole car feels involved in the turning process, not just the front wheels. I totally love it. And the GTS represents the best version of "it" I've ever had the privilege and pleasure to experience. 
It waited through a discussion of its PDCC (Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control) system, which hydraulically manipulates the anti-roll bars to almost completely delete roll while cornering.
Nearby, Porsche had a number of prior 911s rotating on turntables of their own, making stark the evolution’s progress. Early 911s were characterized by tall windshields, delicate upright greenhouses, and tails that swept close down to the ground. By the time the 997 (the 991's predecessor) appeared, the entire car seemed to have widened, thickened, and melted towards the road; its tail less tapered and bluntly finished. With the 991, however, any vestige of those early cars is now gone. The 911 seems memorable principally for its visual width, lowness, and stretched length. If the 997 was a stalking jungle cat, the 991 is a much, much bigger one, creeping very close to the ground. If I gave it a quick glance directly from the rear, I might not even recognize it as a 911.
Porsche churns out so many run-out editions of the 911 that collectors must be feeling pretty gouged by now. There's the 911 Carrera 4 GTS, the 911 Black Edition Cabriolet, the 911 Turbo S Edition 918 Spyder. Seems like every combination of spec and paint becomes a model in its own right. We were just waiting for a narrow-body 2WD Turbo Targa Orange Stripe edition. Instead, along comes the real deal. Not just the last 911, but the ultimate RS, and the roadgoing swan song for the magnificent Mezger flat-six. The 911 GT3 RS 4.0... now that's what we call a collector's car.
It doesn't just contain a mix'n'match of the very best body, aero, and chassis tweaks from the existing GT3 RS and GT2 RS, plus some competition parts in the suspension. Oh no, that would be the usual Porsche cheekiness. This time you get an actual new engine. A 493 HP [500PS] naturally aspirated 8500-rpm howler, just waiting to propel this sub-3000-pound sled to 100 mph in under eight seconds. While all mainstream 911s now have an entirely different flat-six (even the Turbo does since the 997 phase 2), Porsche Motorsport's Mezger motor powers the GT3 and GT2s, and the track 911s. It began life back with the 1996 Le Mans Porsche GT1. But continuing with two families makes little commercial sense, so it's a sad goodbye to this one.
The new GT3 RS 4.0 shares its block, long-stroke crank, and titanium rods with the track-only four-liter 911 GT3 R and RSR. . It also gets a road cylinder head with variable cam timing and variable manifold, plus a catalyzed exhaust. But those road elements aren't the same as the ones on the RS 3.8 engine - oh, no. They're redesigned for even higher gas flow. Valve timing is different; the inlet manifold has wider, shorter runners, and is a thinner casting; the air filters are track-type items; the compression ratio drops (yes, drops) to 12.6:1 from 13.0; and the exhaust cat has bigger voids, necessitating the use of hideously expensive new metals to keep the gas scrubbed clean. As a measure of the achievement, power output per liter is actually higher than the 3.8.
