US talk show host Jay Leno says “Washing a Jaguar is like giving a woman a bath”. Well, the visceral driving experience and sensual allure of the Porsche Cayman will compel its keeper to wash his car with no less amorous enthusiasm!
During my 32-hour long journey to the south of Spain recently to drive the revised Cayman S, I had a lot of time to catch up on some reading. Seeing as I’m currently hunting for a classic car, much of my reading focused on oldies. In one particular magazine, Leno’s famous line “is like giving a woman a bath” was quoted, complete with the cheeky postscript “Your hands end up going to interesting places.”
Leno (a renowned automotive aficionado) was apparently referring to the cleansing of a curvy XK120. I couldn’t help but chuckle, as I daydreamed about acquiring a curvaceous classic of my own.
I think its fair – if somewhat dangerous – to say that as long as there have been women, men have loved them (at least partly) for what makes them women. And, as long as there have been cars, men have been comparing them with women. Sorry, ladies, but that’s how we are. It could also go the other way, of course. Taking the sponge to a SsangYong Kyron is as desirable as giving Jimmy Abbot a rubdown.
But back to sensuous machinery, and more specifically, the Cayman. I drove (and washed) the original when it came out about two years ago and thought the car was dangerously close to perfection. The rigid platform gave it a hewn-from-granite feel, the handling was scintillating and, importantly, it had curves in all the right places.
It’s no wonder that, cosmetically at least, Porsche didn’t give the new model a substantial facelift. The head and tail lamps are different, incorporating LED technology, and there are also small changes to the bumpers and grilles. But visually, it remains just as much the looker it was before. That’s not a bad thing, few other cars can pack as many curves in such tight dimensions.
But Porsche says it has improved the Cayman in other ways. The new models all push out more power, while using less fuel. The Cayman’s revised 2,9-litre engine pumps out 195 kW (previous model’s 2,7 produced 180 kW) and consumes a claimed 8,9 litres per 100 km in the mixed fuel cycle. The Cayman S, on the other hand, has an all-new 3,4-litre unit that delivers 235 kW and uses only 9,2 litres/100 km when equipped with the new PDK dual-clutch transmission.
Ah, PDK. On the plane I read another British magazine slamming Porsche’s PDK for the placement of its buttons on the steering wheel. Okay, it takes getting used to, but slamming the entire system for that is a typical motoring journalist approach.
After all, people who buy the car will quickly get used to them, and it won’t be an issue. I’m no Sarel van der Merwe, and I got used to them during one day of spririted driving – push for up, pull for down. How difficult can it be, guys!?
If you ignore the buttons, you’re still left with a stunning transmission, which shifts seamlessly and smoothly under load like no other similar system I’ve tried before. It also largely avoids the nodding effect when left in full automatic mode. Brilliant.
There are small detail changes elsewhere too (read all about it in an upcoming issue of CAR magazine), including bigger brakes, but for the most part, Porsche didn’t mess with a winning dynamic recipe.
The roads around Jerez were patchy, twisty and dirty. The Cayman S lapped it all up, again being the scintillatingly effective all-round junior supercar nobody expected it to be when it was originally launched, and not just a Boxster with a roof.
But to me, a big part of its appeal remains the visual. Gazing at it parked outside our Jerez hotel, all splattered with bugs and grime, my hands itched for a car wash kit.
I didn’t get a chance this time, but I have before, and as a result I can tell you this. I have never met Salma Hayek. But because I’ve washed a Cayman, I have a good idea what it feels like to give her a bath. The driving experience is a mere bonus.
Watch the new Cayman and Cayman S in action here .
