The Cayman R gets the usual stripped out treatment which Porsche does for its ultra-performance versions. This means that the car will have no air-conditioning (although you could opt for it again – and it would be quite ridiculous not to have it in this region), no audio system (just road and engine noise – although you could opt for it too), simple door pulls instead of proper door handles, lightweight seats (in carbon fiber), lightweight 19inch alloy wheels (less than 10kg per wheel). Other lightweight goodies include a lightweight (and quite expensive) lithium ion battery option, a smaller, therefore lighter and range affecting fuel tank. All of this and some other weight losing stuff make the Cayman R weigh 1295kg or a good 55kg lighter than the standard Cayman S.
The chassis for the Cayman R includes a sports suspension upgrade that lowers the car's ride height by 20mm compared to the Cayman S and includes a limited slip differential. Some have stated that with the LSD, the Cayman S would be faster than even the Carrera S, and therefore it is the reason why Porsche never launched a Cayman with one, till now. Customers can also opt for a set of ceramic brakes as a very pricey option.
The Cayman R gets the Porsche's 3.4liter 6cylinder engine seen in the Cayman S but it now produces 330bhp instead of 320bhp. Torque remains the same at 368Nm. All this power goes through a 6 speed manual gearbox or the 7 speed Porsche Dual Clutch System gearbox which Porsche calls Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe or PDK in short. Everytime I type Doppelkupplungsgetriebe I smirk a little. This is because I always try to pronounce it and my 'German' goes badly wrong after '….Kupplung....'.
Anyway, the PDK is faster to 100km/h from zero. It gets the Cayman R in 4.9 seconds instead of 5.0seconds for the manual. But then Porsche tells us that if we opt for the Sports Chrono Package the time goes down to 4.7seconds. This is because this extra couple of thousand Euro option has launch control. Top speed for the manual is 282km/h and 280km/h with the PDK. It also gets 9.7ltr/100km on the manual and 9.3ltr/100km on the PDK. The choice is yours of course, PDK for efficiency or the manual for ultimate car-driver interaction.
On the looks factor, the Cayman R gets a 'R' specific bodykit with a rear wing, front lip spoiler, black framed headlights and the usual garish graphics that we've come to see on performance focused Porsches.
The Cayman R will be on sale in Europe by February 2011 and prices will start at 69,830Euro over at Germany.
Porsche, Cayman, Cayman R and 2 more...
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