OT: A tale of two Porsches

Earlier in the year, I opened discussion to the floor for suggestions around the quest for a different, tactile driving experience – a sort of cathartic break from the increasingly numb efficiency of modern cars. Most of the responses suggested that as usual, the answer was Miata; Miata is unfortunately not an easily accessible proposition in my country, and especially not a manual. For that matter, there are few manuals available outside the truly woeful econoboxes so bad that the dealers don’t even keep demo cars in stock (think the cheapest cars from the local manufacturers; so cheap that airbags and ABS are marketed as headline features). Needless to say, these did not prove to be pleasant motoring. What I did manage to find, at around the price of a new Honda Civic for the former, and a base 3-series for the latter – were two rather interesting Porsches.

First, a quick recap of the criteria: the car had to be enjoyable for the sake of driving; the kind of thing that’s entertaining and engaging enough to be a temporary mental respite for the hour or two you’d take it out late at night or early in the morning, and in doing so, occupy the vast majority of your attention. It should make you revel in the feel of the steering and feedback of the chassis; the engine note should be interesting enough that you don’t miss Tidal and Bluetooth audio streaming. It has to be affordable to run as a second car, or practical enough to be a primary one (and preferably still affordable). This ruled out older exotics such as Ferrari 360s and 430s, even though they weren’t far out of the ballpark. And it ruled out anything vintage on the grounds of availability of parts and expertise.

For the car to meet these criteria, it would basically have to be a) manual; b) passively damped; c) hydraulically steered and perhaps d) naturally aspirated, and of a sporting disposition. A bonus for a convertible top, since we all know that gives another level of direct intimacy with one’s environment (though admittedly, having owned a convertible previously, I found it to be a mixed bag in the tropics).

Car number one was a Porsche Boxster. There have been several generations – the 986s suffered from fried egglights, slightly dumpy styling that made the body feel too big for the chassis, and engines with potentially fatal IMS bearing issues. They were cheap, but getting on in age to the point where a lot of the wear and tear items would need attention. At this point, it’s important to remember that maintenance costs are still decidedly Porsche, and in Malaysia at least – these cars were $150k or more back in the day. The 987 generation sorted out the cosmetics, and the midlife refresh (987.2) – the engine issues. My Boxster was a bare-bones spec base model with the 2.9L flat six and a manual gearbox, and nothing else. It got some new shock bearings, rubbers, tires and minor cosmetic touch ups.

I suspect this engine is one of the underrated ones, forever living in the shadow of the 3.4L ‘S’; but it has nice, linear power delivery and likes to rev to its 7,000+ redline. And given the relatively low power – ‘just’ 255bhp – you could also use it all of the time, though beware monstrously long gearing that means 3rd gear tops out at 120km/h or so. You could drive it easily at 8/10ths and feel like a hero; 9/10ths or more would require balls of steel and fast reactions to manage understeer and then catch oversteer if you overcooked it into a corner. But the lack of weight, mid-engined layout and low center of gravity made it a very nimble, agile car; it felt like it always wanted to play and would change direction at the merest flick of the (thin, but telegraphic) steering wheel.

The dampers felt pretty soft – but oddly, I think it suited the personality of the car. It never felt like a hardcore sports car so much as one of those ‘traditional’ English b-road roadsters, breathing with the surface changes and remaining fairly comfortable. The stance certainly suggested this – a large amount of clearance between wheels and arches could probably benefited with some slight lowering, though I admit I never had ground clearance issues. I suspect the suspension geometry wasn’t ideal, but there wasn’t a lot of adjustment latitude, either. I also felt the brakes were pretty weak; initial bite at the top of the pedal was, let’s say, gentle. But the depth to which you’d have to press the pedal made heel-toeing very easy, and given the nature of the engine – you tended to heel-toe at every opportunity.

I actually sold the car after a few months because of the roof. On one hand, it was one of the best things about it – driving with the roof down on a cool evening or early morning and listening to that engine was sublime, especially in the higher rev ranges once the Variocam system switched to the second cam profile. That flat six sounded somehow very Porsche; the noise I associated with the various generations of 911 I’d either been driven in or driven myself over the last few years*. On the other hand, my apartment car park has a stray cat problem, whose collective claws present obvious problem for a car with a cloth roof. And the country has a bit of a rain problem, which personally made me feel never 100% confident with a convertible of that age – no matter how well maintained and treated regularly with silicone spray.

*I have to admit I am not a fan of the 911’s driving dynamics. I’ve tried to like one, but really can’t. I find the weight behind the rear axle to be too noticeable, too dominant. Then there’s the amount of other technology they had to throw at the car to overcome this, leading to unnecessary complexity. All so that it could have four seats, two of which are not really usable for anything other than small children or your worst enemies. I admit I find the 991 GT3’s (either version) powertrain absolutely spectacular, but the way the back pendulums over expansion joints makes me deeply uncomfortable.

Car number two was – and still is – another Porsche; this time a Cayman R. Made for one year (2012) in very small numbers at the end of the 987 generation, the R benefitted from the final run of 3.4L flat six engines without IMS bearing issues and with a bit more power; tweaked suspension geometry with firmer dampers and lower ride height; a whole load of lightweight aluminum parts making it one of the lightest modern Porsches; a limited slip differential and sufficient rarity that values have bottomed and already started to rise again. (Estimates put RHD production in the range of 300 or so split equally between manual and PDK gearboxes for the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Japan; we got our cars from the UK’s production, either new or parallel-imported later). It’s gotten to the point there’s a sort of ‘ideal spec’ amongst the cognoscenti – remember, everything is a paid option with Porsche, keeping them amongst the most profitable automakers. I agree with most of the choices except the fixed back bucket seats; these just don’t work for me ergonomically and give me a backache fairly quickly.

But luck was on my side, and a 17,000km example with manual gearbox, sport chrono, sport (but not bucket) seats, optional exhaust and unhinged AP Racing brakes off a touring car was available. It hadn’t been driven much by the previous owner, and needed some work – total fluid changes, a new clutch, some bushings, a really good polish and removal of a very bad half-body protection film. Let’s just say, first impressions parked up under a car porch, it looked like one of the rattiest modern Porsches I’d ever seen – except the interior was immaculate, and mechanicals unworn. It didn’t speak to me the first time I drove it, but I kept thinking about it and eventually went back a few weeks later. Back to back against the Boxster it was clear that at low to normal speeds you’d gain mostly from sharper handling and feedback (probably also due to the smaller steering wheel, larger tires and firmer suspension) – but noise and limits at higher speeds were something else.

I took possession of the car about six months ago. In that time, I’ve put several thousand kilometers on it. I still find it mind boggling that the previous owner would buy such a focused car (i.e. knowing what he was getting into) and then barely use it, but I’m not complaining. This is clearly a very fast car with limits that I’m still cautiously exploring; limits much too high for the public road and require a track to fully appreciate. It doesn’t understeer at the limit but tends towards neutral to mild oversteer, especially after I fitted a slightly larger front tire for more bite on initial turn in, and increased the front negative camber and toe out. The suspension is firm, but not crashy; and that’s on the old stock dampers before switching to adjustable Bilstein coilovers with camber plates and spherical joints on the toe links. (The Bilsteins, of course, are even better at controlling mass, but with almost no compromise to comfort.) it’s controlled and telegraphic of grip levels that makes the M2 feel a bit like a mattress. It feels controllable because the wheel and your posterior is always telling you what’s happening, but with such a low moment of inertia, my fear is always that it might snap on me – so I’m cautiously progressive with the throttle, but long for the last thousand RPM where the engine sings a tune most turbocharged engines can’t match.

Fortunately, I’ve got those phenomenal brakes to reign in the speed – the pedal is firm, but so easy to modulate that you can scrub off tenths of a kilometer per hour, or lock the tires at will. The Cayman R just feels precise – it does what you tell it to; no more and no less. It isn’t so intimidating for a relatively new driver, but it has the breadth of ability to reward skill. I suppose you could call it a driving tool, in the most complimentary way. Like all good tools – it enables you and inspires you; it’s a car I just want to drive. Put another way: I drive the M2 somewhat reluctantly, but then remember how good a car it is; I want to drive the Cayman R, but always feel somewhat intimidated if I’m not fully in the mood, because its personality requires – no, demands – your full attention. And I think that’s what I was looking for… MT

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