Over the years I have driven a large number of Porsches for relatively short periods, and I have enjoyed most of them. In none of those cases, though, have I ever thought, "Yes, I really want this car and I'd like to keep it." The cars have been fun, but I have never wanted to live with any of them. The Cayman is different. I really like the Cayman. This is a car I would like to own when I grow up.Long-standing enthusiasts might find this puzzling. Eyebrows may be raised, and perhaps the hint of a sneer will darken the well-groomed features of those who feel that the Cayman is not quite a true Porsche.This is, after all, the budget option, the cheapest new hardtop Porsche you can buy. In standard form it costs a mere £36,220 (though if you want to spend more money on it there is plenty of scope to do so), and its 245bhp 2.7-litre flat-six engine is the least powerful in the Porsche repertoire. A top speed of 160mph and 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds may seem quick, but virtually ever other sports car built in Stuttgart is substantially quicker still.Nevertheless, the Cayman is better than all of them. Like its big brother, the 295bhp Cayman S, and like the open-topped Boxster, it scores over the classic 911 in that its engine is mounted ahead of the rear wheels rather than behind them. All these cars use flat-six engines, but in the case of the 911 the benefits of the resulting low centre of gravity are entirely masked by the fact that the unit is simply in the wrong place.Combine the boxer layout with the mid-engined positioning, though, and you are already halfway towards achieving a car that handles superbly. This is why the 911 - for all its drama, history, desirability and so on - needs so much more power than the Boxster or Cayman to offer a comparably interesting driving experience.This works to the benefit of the more powerful Cayman S just as much as it does to the entry-level Cayman tested here. What I really like about the Cayman is that it has just enough power for a fast road car. The greatest performance you need (which may not be the same as the greatest performance you want) is available by pressing the accelerator pedal as far down as it will go. Extra power might create more excitement, but it won't actually help.It's fair to say that on a race circuit the Cayman doesn't feel very quick. Compared with the Cayman S and the 911 Carrera 4S I track tested at Donington on the same day, the Cayman takes quite a long time to get down the straights. On the other hand, the conditions varied from bad to appalling - at one point there were at least half a dozen rivers running across the track - and although no official timing was done the visual evidence suggested that the Cayman's lap times would have been comparable with those of all the other models present.The simple explanation for this is that the Cayman is beautifully balanced. The weight distribution is as near to ideal as makes no difference, and there isn't enough power to get you into serious trouble. It was a similar story on the road - on bumpy tarmac the Cayman has a slight tendency towards the front-end bounce that is almost unavoidable with mid-engined performance cars, but in all other respects it seemed absolutely foolproof.During the road part of this test I shared the Cayman with a colleague, and we were in the middle of a conversation about the adequacy of the available power when an overtaking opportunity arose. My colleague reacted quickly, flooring the throttle and zipping past the car in front with ease, returning to the correct side of the road long before any other hazards arose. We glanced at each other and laughed. "Well, that pretty much proves the point!" we agreed.Before I drove the car I read another road test report which criticised the Cayman for having only a five-speed gearbox. Frankly, there has never been a road-going Porsche which needed six gears, but for marketing reasons most of them have just that. There may indeed be Toyota Corollas with more gears than the Cayman has as standard, but five are enough for this car and there's no point in getting into a tizz about it.If there is a problem with the transmission, it's that the change is sloppier than you might expect. This is the one disadvantage of the mid-engined layout: in the 911, the gearlever is only a couple of feet away from the gearbox, and there's nothing of significance in the way. In the Cayman and Boxster, the linkage has to get round the engine, and that's a more complex problem than you might imagine; a chap I know who used to build single-seater racing cars once told me that getting the gear linkage right was by far the hardest part of the job.If you really want a six-speed box you can specify it as an option, or you can choose the Tiptronic automatic transmission instead. These are both part of Porsche's investment opportunities portfolio which, if used freely enough, can send the cost of a Cayman skyrocketing. The car I drove was so festooned with extra equipment that it was worth over £45,000, a long way above the £36,220 list price.You can pay for bigger wheels, and leather interior, the Porsche Active Suspension Management system (lower ride height, adjustable damper settings), various upgrades to the standard audio system, and - if you really think there's a need for it - a timer on the centre of the dashboard which allows you to measure your lap times on a track day, or perhaps to see if you've broken your personal record for getting to the office.I'm sure a lot of people will go for that, but personally I feel that a lot of the options (especially this one) are little more than expensive fripperies. The core of the Cayman is its ability to provide an excellent driving experience at realistic speeds, and for that reason I believe that this is the best car Porsche currently builds. Engine 2687cc, 6 cylinders Power 245bhp Transmission 5-speed manual Fuel/CO2 30.4mpg / 222g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 6.1 seconds Top speed 160mph Price £36,220 Details correct at publication date
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