2019 Porsche 718 Cayman S - Autocross Drive Video
The new 718 Cayman and Cayman S certainly are not baby Porsches any more! These are proper track stars in any configuration. 90k and up for the big brother. So Cayman seems like a viable, smart choice. Power from the new 718 Cayman S comes from a turbo four for the first time. We were immediately impressed by its rorty shout and strong pace. The Cayman S bumps from 300HP to 350HP, and its sprint pace is as low as 4.0-seconds with the PDK and Sport Chrono packs. Not too shabby on paper, then! Great in the flesh. Even without Sport Chrono and its launch control, the car hops off the line and up its rev range with glee. It feels supremely light at all times, and pin-point accurate around corners. He holds a Journalism JBA degree from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Tom currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his two amazing dogs, Drake and Tank. Mr. Burkart is available for all questions and concerns by email Tom(at)car-revs-daily.com.
Where the Porsche has a firewall, the Audi has two token rear seats that fold down to increase the luggage space. It also sports more head- and legroom, easier-to-use controls, and a more stylish cockpit equipped with more modern materials. While the car from Ingolstadt comes with Quattro all-wheel drive, S-tronic transmission, and 19-inch wheels, the guys from Stuttgart make you pay extra for the dual-clutch gearbox and bigger wheels and tires. When speed is a drug, then this colorful couple will get you hooked for life after a single day鈥檚 hard driving. One is almost always going too fast on those empty B- and C-roads in the Regensburg hinterland, and even on the unrestricted Nuremberg-Munich autobahn, the fast lane was rarely clear enough to reach terminal velocity. The Audi normally tops out at 155 mph, but our test car came with an extra-cost 175-mph speed limit. Even at that velocity, there was still a bit of forward thrust left. Officially, the Cayman S will do 178 mph. We saw an indicated 186 mph moments before another mirror-less and indicator-less holidaymaker pulled out in front.
Slamming on the brakes accomplished reassuring deceleration, but the freeze-frame effect was even more mind-boggling in the TT RS fitted with carbon-ceramic reins up front. The Porsche, which relied on steel rotors all round, is also available with compound stoppers. Sadly, they cost about as much as a small farm in Swaziland. What sets these two cars apart philosophically is one simple fact: The Porsche is a sports car, the Audi is a very sporty car. Compare, for a start, the driving positions. In the 718, you sit low down, close to the road, under a low roof. The TT RS is much easier to get in and out of, the position behind the wheel is more relaxed, the roof peaks at a less extreme height. But the Audi is clearly more A3 than R8, despite the red stitching, the fancy instruments, and that fixed wing in the rearview mirror.
What splits the hatchback coupes dynamically is the steering. The Cayman S uses the same rack as the 911 turbo, one of the most satisfying man-machine interfaces. The TT RS benefits from a variation of the MQB steering, which offers three different settings labeled Comfort, Auto, and Dynamic. Depending on your definition of perfection, the Audi comes close to being one of the easiest cars to drive fast, irrespective of road and surface conditions. Instead of bothering you with too much information, it likes to act as a sublime filter with a twist. The steering is slightly over-damped, over-assisted, and over-eager to step in. Somehow, it seems to have a life of its own, and the mission of that life is to absorb or enhance, depending on the situation. Along with torque vectoring, it will, for example, miraculously pull the car straight again at the exit of a bend or under hard braking into a downhill corner.
But a committed driver might be reluctant to accept any intervention, unless we鈥檙e talking true life-saving devices like anti-lock brakes or skid control. Once again, this Audi struggles to fuse maximum active-safety features and total involvement. The Porsche allows more leeway and provides more freedom, it still inspires confidence despite the longer leash, and it has been engineered for absolute interaction. The steering plots the tarmac with rare accuracy, even though this setup accepts, to a certain degree, vibrations, kicks, and nudges. Since the communication is totally authentic, you always know exactly what the car does, and what it will likely do next. And here鈥檚 the thing: Porsche still champions the fixed steering-calibration strategy en lieu of a variable-this-or-that gadgetry. This parameter can make all the difference. The main active-safety device installed in the Audi is Quattro all-wheeel drive. In foul weather and on slippery turf, a hard-charging TT RS remains relatively unperturbed while the Cayman S has long entered phase-two twitchiness. Does this focus on active safety make your heart beat faster? Probably not. Does it make the drive home less challenging?