Gadgetory

I've said at different points that both the Porsche Boxster and Cayman are the best cars the company makes and now there's a new version of each the GTS supposedly the ultimate drivers version of each car so I can finally find out which is best but first a small history lesson on where the GTS name came from this is a Porsche 904 Carrera GTS around a hundred of them would hit the road as part of a homologation program to get the race ready version the 904 on track and competing at the time the Porsche 718 racer was swiftly becoming obsolete and Porsche needed something to further its efforts on the world circuit while the 904 and its later evolutions went on to do quite well the name given to the first of the so called plastic Porsches thanks the material that made it became quite the legend the 904 itself was a smart piece of design not only was it penned by the incredible Bootsy Porsche the same pen behind the 911 it was also damn near finished on the first go thanks to enormous time constraints to get the car finished in time for homologation the design team didn't have all that much wiggle room to refine and redesign the car as such it would remain pretty similar to blitz C's original draft later Bootsy will go on to say that the 904 was his favorite design the Nano force named GTS was something of a necessity Peugeot owned the number zero number naming convention the same thing that stops the 911 being called the 901 so the naming bods at Porsche needed something to make the car stand out GTS or Gran Turismo sport Porsches are the cars that offer the best driving experience possible they're not about outright power like a turbo or a turbo s if a Porsche has got GTS on its deck is gonna offer you the ultimate driving experience at least that's what Porsche says the GTS badge can be seen on the current cayenne and Panamera and featured on the best version of the 997 generation 911 now though there's a new brace of GTS is in town the Cayman and the Boxster have been given a spit polish and some extra everything so what has GCS off' ocation done to the Boxster and the Cayman well I no I said GTS is aren't about all-out power but they are actually the most powerful in their respective lineups Porsche has added 15 horses over the S models of each car which means the Boxster now has 330 and the Cayman 340 and when you can see the S versions aren't exactly underpowered these things are going to be quick the power gives each car some pretty impressive numbers they both shave nought point three seconds of their S versions nought to sixty two times where the boxes are managing the dash in 4.7 seconds and they came and doing the same in four point six that's with the PDK gearbox and launch control their top speeds 174 on 177 miles an hour depending on the choice of roof but power does not a GTS make they have to handle as well and Porsches added a few toys to make sure that happens they both care as standard the sports chrono pack which adds a few fun little toys such as launch control and a it also has by Namek engine mounts now they're really smart because they stiffen when the car does anything so under acceleration under braking under cornering they make sure that the engine mass doesn't travel too far that's smart there's also fortunate active suspension management now what that does is well it allows you to tune the car suspension at the press of a button if you want a sharper or more comfortable ride for the aesthetically minded both cars come with natty black spoilers bi-xenon lamps and all that jazz the cars are also lower for a sporty a driver I don't really care about any of that I just want to find out which is best so the Cayman GTS first up I will tell you what I love the bass cave and it's such a complete sports car it feels so plant it's so good at any given opportunity this just ups the game I've been earning it around these mountain roads and I'll tell you what it grips and grips and grips and grips and grips the steering is really good it feels really nice you do feel so connected to the car however program the noise did a bloody good job because in Sport+ if you rest in second just give it a try a little bit and then liftoff and get this awesome gurgling noises there the cars going pop time for some more fun because it just wants to be driven and thrashed and played with getting into the Boxster you realized just how sharp the Cayman is and that thing it's very weighty you can feel your hefting round something that's very very focused designed to get round corners as as quickly and as efficiently as possible and the box does just so much lighter the steering's lighter the suspensions a little bit softer so it feels more floaty gets a bit more mobile in the corners it's not quite as razor sharp it's not quite as GT se as the Cayman GTS if that makes sense but it does have a wonderful advantage this while not being quite as hardcore as the Cayman has more drama it's more accessible fun so without the roof you can hear it more and the engine in this thing sounds incredible the sound engineers did a stonking job we know that from driving the Cayman but because you don't have a roof and because there's the engine right behind you then the exhaust bang it into Sport Plus and you can hear every crack every girl every rev so much better and if you don't have a roof and say have a tunnel you can do this the noise this thing kicks out is amazing Portia's very keen on saying that within each of their cars there's a racing car tech that's been developed on the track and then filtered into each car with this year there's lots of underbody stuff but most immediately it Britain is the noise I cannot stress how good it is it sounds like a racing car from way backwards so really it comes down to what do you prefer do you prefer a car that feels super hardcore very agile very very sporty or do you prefer a car that is a bit more dramatic it's a bit more accessible a bit more of a giggle and that's entirely down to you I suppose it also falls down to whether you prefer roof or not with the box from the Cayman GTS if you look at their name where it came from from the 904 that was a mid-engined quite accessible sports car yeah they didn't make that many of them but Porsche says it was affordable when it was new about 30,000 marks but still when you look at the other GTS models available the Panamera the Cayenne those wear the badge they they have the name and yeah they keep the ethos but really the books from the Cayman GTS a proper successors to it their mid engines their proper sports cars they're accessible and their bloody good fun and I bet you any money the people are going to go mad for these they really are because they've there came and and Boxster S Plus there's that little extra feeling that you're sitting on something just a little bit more focus a little bit more hardcore and a little bit more rewarding it feels so wonderful just to bounce from corner to corner to corner in these things and because it's so good to drive because the steering is so good and because the gearbox make sure you don't do anything too stupid you can have all the fun in the world having driven both cars is safe to say they are utterly brilliant but you'd expect that from something bearing the GTS name whichever you go for you won't be disappointed the Boxster witnessed driving the Cayman with its sharp run but for me there can only be one winner the Cayman as a drivers cast it's going to be tough to beat