Porsche Cayman 718 Review (2016-present)
Porsche Cayman 718 cars for sale
5.0
Expert review
Pros
Sublime to drive
GTS and GT4 have a tremendous six-cylinder engine
Much more reliable than older Porsche models
Cons
Tuneless four-cylinder engines in more affordable models
GT4 is too narrowly focused for some
Parts and servicing won't be cheap
The CarGurus verdict
One of the best real-world performance cars on sale today. Some will find the tuneless four-cylinder engines in lower-spec models intolerable, but the majority of buyers will think their flexible, torque-rich performance more than makes up for an uninspiring soundtrack. Meanwhile, the high-revving six-cylinder engines fitted to the GTS 4.0, GT4 and GT4 RS, while not without their flaws, are among the most evocative sports car power units in the sub-£100,000 price category.
Engines aside, all 718 Cayman variants are supremely capable and enormously enjoyable sports cars. As well as being fantastic to drive with great steering, delicious balance and limitless poise, they offer surprising practicality. They’re built tough, too, all of which means the 718 Cayman hits all the right notes whether you’re after a weekend plaything, a track day toy, an everyday sports car or your first Porsche. It’s all the mid-engined sports car you’ll ever need.
The Porsche 718 Cayman is a near flawless sports car. In fact, it can only really be faulted in two ways. The first is that the turbocharged four-cylinder engines that power entry-level variants are not the soulful, characterful motors you’d expect of a Porsche. The second is that all models have unusually long gearing, which is particularly frustrating in cars with manual gearboxes.
Those two shortcomings aside, the 718 Cayman has it all – great styling, usability, desirability, badge appeal, performance, handling precision… It is as complete a sports car as any on sale today. With highly-equipped and well-appointed cabins, they are effortless to live with (as long as you need no more than two seats), while two stowage compartments give the 718 Cayman more luggage space than appearances might suggest.
There’s also a fairly wide range of versions on offer, from an entry-level 2.0-litre model through to the raw, thrilling and track-honed GT4 and GT4 RS. None are particularly cheap, but strong build quality, excellent residuals and five-star driving experience mean the Cayman feels like it’s worth every penny.
If you’re in the market for a spacious and versatile family runaround, then I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place. With its mid-engined engine layout and relatively compact dimensions, the Cayman has been built with performance rather than practicality in mind. However, as sports cars go, the Porsche is actually one of the more usable ones, and few owners will have any complaints if they plan on using their car for more than just special occasions.
Yes, the Cayman is low so you have to stoop down to get in, but relatively narrow sills and long doors mean it's easier to clamber aboard or get out than you’d think. Once inside you’ll find there’s a decent amount of room for you and your passenger, while even taller occupants won’t feel shortchanged by the amount of headroom. Better still, the Porsche has one of the best driving positions in the business, with a wide range of seat and steering wheel adjustment, plus a perfectly placed steering wheel, gear lever and pedals.
Like its drop-top Boxster brother, the Cayman isn’t exactly over-endowed with handy cabin storage, with a shallow compartment between the seats, a decent glovebox and narrow door bins. That said, there is a large parcel shelf behind the seats, plus a pair of deep cubbies either side, although they’re a little awkward to get at and smaller items can be hard to retrieve once they’ve gone in.
One area where the Cayman scores over its sports car rivals is carrying capacity, its mid-engined layout offering both a ‘frunk’ and versatile hatchback tailgate.
The former holds a reasonable 130 litres, while there’s 275 litres to play with in the latter. Use squashy bags rather than suitcases and you should have no problem packing for a two-week holiday away.
The 718 Cayman is mechanically identical to the 718 Boxster. All that distinguishes one from the other is the type of roof: fixed and metal on the former, folding and fabric on the latter. Roofs aside, both models deliver much the same invigorating sports car driving experience. The bigger, faster and costlier Porsche 911 may be the more highly-regarded sports car, but it isn't any more thrilling to drive.
Being mid-engined, the 718 Cayman is beautifully balanced and you really feel that in corners. The steering is precise and detailed, there’s strong and consistent grip, the suspension on all models deals cleverly with uneven road surfaces and body control, whichever variant you’re considering, is rock solid.
The standard Cayman, Cayman T and Cayman S are powered by four-cylinder turbo units. These are more powerful and more fuel efficient than the six-cylinder units in the 718’s predecessor, at least on paper, but their soundtracks are clattery and their characters bland. Further up the range is a naturally aspirated six-cylinder that features in the GTS 4.0 as well as the limited-run GT4 and GT4 RS models.
Whichever engine you choose, the 718 Cayman is very quick in a straight line. Even the most basic model has close to 300bhp, meaning it will reach 62mph in just 5.1 seconds, while its top speed is 170mph. The most powerful model in the line up, the 718 Cayman GT4, is significantly faster. With 414bhp from a 4.0-litre flat-six, it’ll crack 62mph in 4.4 seconds and not stop accelerating until 188mph. All versions feature six-speed manual gearboxes as standard, while seven-speed PDK twin-clutch units are offered on all variants.
All would be more accelerative still were it not for their very long gearing. Run second gear all the way out to the redline and you’ll bust even the motorway speed limit. It means you tend to hold onto one gear when clipping along a B-road, rather than revelling in one of the best manual gearshifts in the business as you shift up and down the ratios. Cars with the dual-clutch PDK gearbox also have long gearing, but the extra gear (seven rather than six) helps to disguise that fact.
For the ultimate in driver thrills the GT4 and GT4 RS are hard to beat, boasting razor sharp track car handling, sensational performance and a spine-tingling soundtrack from their tuned flat-six engines. However, these models are built in limited numbers and cost a lot more to buy, plus their stripped-out, hardcore nature means they’re harder to live with day-to-day. As a result, the GTS 4.0 gives you 95 percent of the fun and performance, but costs less to buy and is much easier to live with.
Speaking of which, the Cayman is a remarkably easy-going companion when you simply need to get from A to B. The low-speed ride is a little stiff, but it gets better the faster you go, while wind- and engine noise are well suppressed on the motorway. Only the slightly intrusive roar from the wide tyres shatters the peace.
You don’t get something for nothing when it comes to the Cayman’s equipment levels, which like the open-topped Boxster is rather stingy in its standard guise. You get alloy wheels, air-con, half suede-trimmed seats, electric windows and powered windows, but anything else will require you to open your wallet a little wider.
In fact, get carried away with the options list and it's possible to nearly double the price of a standard Cayman. From a relatively modest upgrade such as cruise control, through to carbon ceramic brakes, Porsche offers almost every upgrade you can think of. The only limit is your imagination and your bank manager’s sense of humour.
On the plus side, all versions do get the firm’s touchscreen infotainment system as standard, which is easy to use and packed with all the features you’re likely to need. A DAB radio, Bluetooth, USB connectivity and Apple CarPlay all feature.
No brand new Porsche sports car will ever cost peanuts to keep on the road. Porsche parts and servicing, for instance, don’t come cheap. However, fuel costs needn’t be frightening. The four-cylinder models will return a realistic 30mpg or so in mixed driving, while the six-cylinder cars should achieve an mpg figure in the mid 20s. Of course, however, if you drive these cars like they're meant to be driven, then your fuel economy will take a sizeable hit.
Even the most basic 718 Cayman falls into insurance group 42 (out of 50), rising to 48 for the more powerful models. Similarly, you should budget a reasonable sum for Vehicle Excise Duty each year: all models incur the same premium rate charge of £475.
The cost of a full set of tyres will vary depending on model. A basic 718 Cayman might only set you back £600 when the time comes to replace all four tyres, while the hard-edged GT4 and GT4 RS models will cost at least £800. But be warned: the GT4 and GT4 RS tyres are made using a softer compound, which means they’ll wear out quicker, costing you more again.
Porsche has earned itself an enviable reputation for reliability in recent years. Its cars are very well built, too, which you appreciate every time you open the door and settle into the cabin. With high-grade materials, excellent fit and finish and top-drawer touchscreen infotainment systems, all Porsche sports cars exude the same sense of quality and durability.
They’re covered by Porsche’s standard three-year, unlimited-mileage warranty, which can be extended at additional cost (for up to 10 years). Porsche says its cars should be serviced every 20,000 miles or two years, whichever comes sooner, although it does recommend annual health checks.
The 718 Cayman has only been on the road for a handful of years and reliability issues may be waiting in the wings. As yet, however, none have reared their heads. Some owners experienced issues with PDK transmissions on very early cars (any such problems should already have been rectified under warranty), while others have grumbled about the quality of the paintwork. Otherwise, though, for now at least, the 718 Cayman gets a clean bill of health.
- Porsche 718 Cayman engines range from flat and tuneless to soulful and exhilarating, so it’s worth knowing exactly what you’re looking at. The base model, the 718 Cayman, uses a 2.0-litre flat-four turbo. It develops 296bhp and though it’s the smallest engine in the line up, it delivers plenty of performance. The 718 Cayman S also uses a turbocharged flat-four, but it produces 345bhp and displaces 2.5 litres. Neither one sounds especially pleasant, but the bigger option is a fraction more tuneful.
- If you want a naturally-aspirated flat-six in your Porsche sports car (and who wouldn’t?), you’ll need to spend more. From 2020 onwards, a 4.0-litre unit was offered in the GTS 4.0, It develops 395bhp and has the kind of free-revving character you can never replicate with turbos. The hardcore 718 Cayman GT4 uses the same engine, but with power lifted to 414bhp. Joyful though these 4.0-litre flat-sixes unquestionably are, the need to fit environmentally-friendly gasoline particulate filters in the exhaust system does muffle their soundtracks to some degree.
- Along with all the usual paint colour and interior trim options, most Porsches, the 718 Cayman among them, can be upgraded with all sorts of additional extras that will materially influence the character of the car. The dual-clutch PDK gearbox, for instance, costs £2000 and brings quicker gearshifts and keener acceleration than the manual transmission, but it also removes a layer of interaction between car and driver. Other items on the options list include adaptive dampers and a torque vectoring limited slip differential at around £1000 each, and carbon ceramic brakes at upwards of £5000.
- On a budget: the 718 Cayman replaced the 981-era Cayman in 2016. It’s therefore been on sale for several years, meaning the earliest cars have slipped in value quite significantly. An early 2.0-litre model can now be yours for around £32,000. It will have covered 30,000 miles or so.
- Must be brand new: the line-up starts with the £45,000 718 Cayman. You’ll pay around £54,000 for the more powerful 718 Cayman S, a sizeable leap in price for an additional 50bhp and some extra kit. Very few brand new Porsches leave the showroom with no optional extras whatsoever, so expect to pay more than these list prices.
- The sweet spot: many commentators have described the 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 as the sweet spot in the range, because it features the howling 4.0-litre flat-six engine but is far easier to live with day-to-day than the uncompromising GT4 and GT4 RS. All that lets the GTS 4.0 down is its very long gearing.
- No holds barred: the daddy of the line up is the 718 Cayman GT4 RS. It’s a ferocious, track-ready sports car, although if you’re willing to put up with a brittle ride and tyres that aren’t at their best in the wet, you could live with a GT4 RS every day. Just. One of the great modern performance cars.
