Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS review

Overview

What is it?

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Porsche stuffed the stupendous 4.0-litre, naturally aspirated, flat six from the latest 911 GT3 into the back of its mid-engine baby-brother, the Cayman… the GT4 RS is your answer. This is Porsche’s GT department letting its hair down, saying ‘hold my Stein!’, and producing the car that we’ve all dreamed about, but never thought they’d have the nerve to put into production.

Yes, it’s the most hardcore, powerful and track-hungry Cayman Porsche has ever made, but with the new 911 GT3 already in existence and a nut-job GT3 RS coming later this year, its remit is a little different. In the words of Andreas Preuninger, head of Porsche’s GT department: “It was high time to have a big party on the 718 platform. This car is a live concert on four wheels, it’s such an entertainer and it was such a fun project to make. It’s something that came from our heart and we’ve wanted to do it for a long time.”

Doesn’t it, y’know, step on the GT3’s toes a bit?

We can see why you might think that. At £108,370, the GT4 RS is roughly £15k cheaper than a GT3 with the same gearbox, 20kg lighter, only six seconds slower around the ‘Ring, has an identical 0-62mph time and has the same number of seats with a roll cage behind you (if you tick the no-cost Clubsport package box, which you should). But Preuninger insists they are entirely different beasts: “We are eager to give the GT3 everything we can to let it stay on pole position, like the double wishbone front axle, the rear-wheel steering. On the GT4 RS we didn’t look too much into super aero and eking out the last 10th of a second on the track. We tried to find the perfect compromise between road and track driving.”

Numbers, gimmee gimmee gimmee…

We have 493bhp (that’s 79bhp more than the standard GT4, but 10bhp less than a GT3 due to the exhaust needing to take a more tortuous route around the rear suspension), while torque gets a slight bump to 332lb ft and it’s PDK-only – as per the ‘RS’ doctrine. No manual gearbox here. Boo. Still, 0-62mph takes 3.4 seconds (a GT4 with PDK takes 3.9secs) and the top speed is 195mph. Perhaps more impressive is the Nürburgring lap time (on the optional Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres) of 7mins 4.511sec, over 23 seconds quicker than the standard GT4… which is light years around the ‘Ring.

Any other tricks up its sleeve?

Errrr, it’s easily one of the best-sounding cars we’ve ever driven. Ragging a GT4 RS is like having thick treacle poured into your ears… and then an entire wasp colony crammed in after it. It’s just ridiculous. And each journey to 9,000rpm isn’t merely a sound, it’s laced with sucking, vibrations, rattles and spikes of adrenaline. A low-end warble that hardens in the mid-range and becomes silkier until it decomposes into a frantic shudder between 7,000 and 8,000rpm, before a magnificent ear-gasm for the final 1,000rpm that makes your soul sing and your face muscles hurt.

And that’s just when you’re chasing the redline. The rest of the time you’ve got a musical instrument to play with using your right foot on the pedals and fingertips on the paddles. Normally I’d berate anyone who thought deleting the infotainment system (a no-cost option) in the name of saving a few kgs was a good idea, but here it might just make sense. Who needs infotainment when you can summon thunder with the throttle?

And that’s not even the best part. With most fast cars the best noises come from the exhaust pipes – which can sound wonderful from the cabin, but you know it’s sounding even better to whoever you just drove past. You’re effectively providing a public service. But not here, because what you’re listening to is induction noise from the carbon-fibre intakes where the rear quarter windows are normally found. So while it’s a rock concert turned up to eleven for driver and passenger, it’s no more antisocial outside the car than a standard GT4. It’s a trick Singer deployed to great effect on the DLS, but that’s a car that costs about a gazillion pounds more.

Does the world really need a GT4 RS when we already have a more-hardcore-than-ever 911 GT3? Yes. Yes it does; goodness are we happy this car exists. With an all-electric Cayman on the horizon, you can tell Porsche’s GT department senses the combustion engine’s demise and wants to build these types of cars while it still can, these monuments to what’s possible when you mix extraordinary engineering with a bit of fun.

Porsche isn’t limiting numbers of the GT4 RS, just the amount of time it builds them for, so get in there while you still can. Silly quick on track, surprisingly usable on road and a sonic sensation everywhere. Believe the hype… this is likely to go down as one of the all-time greats.

Driving

What is it like to drive?

What’s it like to drive?

Dwelling on facts and figures isn’t really the GT4 RS’ style, the measure of success here is how much you’re grinning like a chimp… and it’s impossible not to get wrapped up in the experience. Throttle response can be a little flat at low revs, but keep the engine on the boil and it’s instant. The incentive is always there to drive it hard, and with peak power and torque way up in the rev range, you have to pin it to get the most out of it.

Do so and the brakes (ceramics on the car we drove) are unflappable, while the steering feels so natural you quickly forget you’re operating a wheel at all… just picking the line you want to hit, leaning on the front end and creaming it up the next straight. It’s all so organic – each control feels like the weight’s been tailored to you, each response from the car is precisely what you’re expecting. To be fair, it’s the stuff we already knew Porsche does better than anybody, the surprise package is the suspension. No double wishbones at the front, like the GT3, but a stiffer set up with the same spring and damper rates as the 991 GT2 RS…

And the result is…?

Well, you could have fooled us, because in the softer of two settings there’s a compliance that belies the track-rat looks. An ability to round off cracks and holes and bring the car back under tight control in a single oscillation. This is quality damping, and as a result it’s a brilliant road car because it moves with the road surface rather than pinging off it. On the motorway, closing the flaps on the sports exhaust reduces a chunk of background drone, so it even settles into a quiet-ish seventh-gear cruise. You could do big distance in this, definitely wasn’t expecting that.

Why no manual gearbox?

OK, let’s address the elephant in the room: would this car with a manual gearbox be something we’d all enjoy? Unquestionably, but Porsche is adamant it’s not an RS thing, and given how feral the performance is at no point were we ungrateful for having two hands on the wheel. Anyway, the gearshift on this seven-speed PDK is an event in itself – all hydraulic hiss and mechanical wallop.

Pinging an upshift at 9,000rpm might not be as taxing as a perfectly timed clutch dip, but it’s a thing of extreme satisfaction, nonetheless. And there’s more good news, it has the shortest gear ratios of any GT model to date. Second takes you to 72mph at 9,000rpm, compared to 79mph at 8,100rpm in the GT4. In practice that means you can leave it in second for tight hairpins, and third can demolish everything else. On the public road at least.

And on the track?

God this chassis is good. More naturally playful than a 911, it wants to rotate – slightly as you turn in on the brakes, and slightly more when you feed the power in on the exit – but it’s never anything but wonderfully balanced. It’s a car you drive with your fingertips, not your shoulders. If your name’s The Stig then 90mph bonfire drifts are there for the taking, of course, but I’d argue that a 493bhp Cayman’s ability to eviscerate a set of rear tyres is the least surprising thing about it. What sets it apart is there are layers here. Enough grip, enough depth of talent in the chassis and enough performance to keep a pro-driver amused on their days off, but enough approachability and bombastic character, even at relatively low speeds, for a complete novice to be blown away.

Interior

What is it like on the inside?

This is the moment to mention a strict weight-saving regime that includes lighter, thinner glass for the rear screen, carbon-fibre reinforced plastic for the bonnet and front wings, lightweight carpets, fabric door pulls and less insulation… it all adds up to a kerbweight of 1,415kg. That’s 35kg less than a PDK-equipped GT4.

Then there’s the huge, manually adjustable swan-neck rear spoiler and manually adjustable front diffuser that offer 25 per cent more downforce than you get in a GT4. If you want to go all the way, there’s the optional £8,913 Weissach Pack, as fitted to ‘our’ car, that includes a titanium exhaust system with tips inspired by the retro-tastic 935, logos on the headrests, Porsche lettering on the rear screen and exposed carbon weave on the enlarged induction ducts, airbox cover, mirror trims, rear wing and bonnet (the body-matched stripe is an option).

A Clubsport pack that includes a steel roll cage and brilliantly comfy and grippy bucket seats is a no cost option, but you can swap in a titanium roll cage for £2,273, add ceramic brakes for £5,595 and only if you buy the Weissach pack, you can swap out the 20-inch forged aluminium rims for 20-inch forged magnesium wheels that save 10kg… but cost £10,521.

Our test car had the infotainment screen deleted (another no cost option), leaving a chasm in the middle of the dash. It’s a controversial move because it suits the car’s commitment to kg-saving, but given how usable it is on the road, we’d keep it in so you can use Apple CarPlay and listen to music on longer trips. The air-con cannot be deleted, by the way, which is entirely sensible. Unless you enjoy stewing in your own sweat. 

Buying

What should I be paying?

Bizarre as it sounds, paying less than £110k for a car with an engine this special, a chassis this talented and a sense of mischief as vivid as this is actually great value. With nearly 500bhp it’s a mid-engined supercar in all but name, but half the price of admittedly-more-powerful Italian rivals. As with all Porsches though, getting too enthusiastic with the options list can be costly.

Our recommendation would be as follows: go for the £9k Weissach pack, the carbon bits look great and save a bit of weight, the titanium exhaust pipes are gorgeous and the investment will pay off if and when you come to sell. Ceramic brakes at £6k are worthwhile too if you ever plan to take the car on track, and for an extra £2k a titanium roll cage over a steel one is tempting. The 20-inch forged magnesium wheels, which save a chunky 10kg of unsprung mass, will make a tangible difference, but at £10.5k we’d stick with the standard rims. Oh, and the Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres are brilliant all-rounders, there’s really no need for the Cup 2 Rs unless you’re chasing lap records at your local track day.

Now go forth and get your name on that waiting list…

Keyword: Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS review