The 2020 Porsche Cayman GT4 Is My Favorite New Porsche

this is a 2020 Porsche 718 Cayman gt4 and it's simply awesome the 911 has the reputation of being the flagship Porsche the ultimate Porsche sports car but this is my favorite new Porsche and it's not even close and today I'm going to review this car and explain why before I get started be sure to check out cars and vids which is my new online car auction platform aimed at enthusiast cars from the modern era anything from the 1980s 90s 2000s or now we want to see on cars and bids right now there is a great selection of cars if you're looking for something cool from that era so check out cars and bids cars and bids.com by clicking the link in the description below first a little overview the Cayman and Boxster are Porsches entry-level sports cars they start around $60,000 for 300 horsepower or if you want more you can upgrade to the S versions which have 350 horsepower for a starting price of around $70,000 but if you want a real thrill you'll have to go for the top of the range in the Boxster that means the Boxster Spyder but in the Cayman it's this the new Cayman gt4 the original Cayman gt4 came out back for the 2016 model year I reviewed it a few years ago and I absolutely loved it but that version had 385 horsepower this one has 414 thanks to a naturally aspirated 4 liter flat 6 Porsche says it'll do 0 to 60 in 4.2 seconds and it has more downforce than the outgoing model meaning it's faster around a race track no surprise of course it's also really expensive this came in GT 4 starts around and $1,000 with shipping and that's before options and since this is Portia there are a lot of options the sticker price on this particular car is just under a hundred and twenty thousand dollars now that's well in to 9/11 territory but to me this car is better than any 911 yes better than a 911 I know that will upset some Porsche freaks who just have to have the newest gt3 with the coolest deviated stitching that's better than their friend's gt3 which is the old version that nobody can actually distinguish except for 27 guys in a Porsche meet but if they're honest with themselves this is a more enjoyable car it is the perfect size it's the perfect horsepower the perfect speed the perfect performance without having some grotesque rear wing or way too much power to actually use anywhere this is the car and today I'm going to review it first I'm gonna take you on a tour of this GT 4 and I'm going to show you all of its interesting quirks and features then I'm gonna get it out on the road and drive it and then I'll give it a dug score all right I'm going to start the quicksand features on the outside of the gt4 and discuss some of the styling touches that distinguish this from a regular came in it's not really all that much especially compared to some other new Porsche models like the gt3 RS s that have these giant wings and scoops and vents and really go out of their way to make sure you know you're looking at something different in the GT four one of the big distinguishing features is up front you can see the bumper is far more aggressive than what you get on a normal Cayman as you might expect it's lower with larger intakes so air can get in and it just looks more aggressive and bolder same deal with these vents on the side of the car you can see they're larger than what you'd get in a standard came in and of course they say GT four on them to distinguish them just a little bit more but by far the biggest difference between the GT four and a standard Cayman on the outside is the wing this giant rear wing back here not quite gt3 RS level not even close but still big for a car like this and it does help this stand out from the traditional Caymans of course it also provides extra downforce for serious track use now speaking of upgrades on the outside of this car I mentioned earlier that the GT 4 has a starting price of around a hundred and one thousand dollars but this one has a sticker price of just under a hundred and twenty thousand dollars one big reason for that increase is the brakes this car has the optional Porsche carbon ceramic brakes which are an $8,000 extra so they really add to the price carbon ceramic brakes dissipate heat better than standard steel brakes which is better for people who want to seriously use the car on the track so the brakes cost eight thousand dollars extra the other really big option on this car is these seats these type sport bucket seats are six thousand dollars extra if you want to make the car seat racier and sporty-er to match the whole GT thing so the base price one hundred and one thousand this car sticker is around 119 but those two options make up about fourteen thousand dollars of that price increase as for the seats themselves they certainly do look sporty but that also means they're pretty tight especially on the bottom they were for most body types but they really grippy in place and they make getting in and out of the car harder frankly it's hard to imagine paying six grand extra for these tighter less comfortable seats especially because they're not even power these are manually adjustable seats that you have to pay way more money for and yet these seats are highly desired in the used market I guess because this is what people want in their racy sporty Cayman these racy sporty seats as well if you want to maximize comfort ditch them then again you probably wouldn't want a GT four in the first place now speaking of the sporty seats may I turn your attention to the center console which I love because virtually every button is performance-related no automated parallel parking button here no ventilated seat button instead you just have sport stuff one button is marked Auto blip if you turn that on it will automatically blip the throttle as you downshift just like a sports car should below that you have a little suspension control button you push that and sport suspension goes on which makes the car ride even rougher than regular I'll get to that when I Drive it below that you have two buttons that can turn off various electronic driver aids the top one ESC off turns off stability control the lower one ESC plus PC also turns off traction control in case you think you know better than your cars electronic systems those could come in handy on the racetrack and beyond that another important button in the center console on the other side is your exhaust button you press that and it turns on the sport exhaust which sounds a lot better than the normal one I'll listen to that in a few minutes next up one thing I absolutely love in this center console among all of these sporty related buttons one thing you won't find in here is a sport button there isn't one all modern sporty cars have a sport button but not this car I guess Porsches thinking is the whole car is a sport button if you get a GT 4 you're not exactly going to want to cruise around in comfort mode so you might as well it just always make the car in sport mode and I love that now one drawback to these buttons in this our console is you still have blanks I always complain about blank buttons and here they are again staring you in the face in this case it's relatively okay given this cars character arts a sports car stuff has been removed to save weight I especially don't like seeing blanks on luxury cars but I wish you could just not see them at all that would be nicer than looking at blanks for options that you couldn't afford or didn't get and of course the last thing in the center console worth mentioning and probably the most obvious is the gear lever this car has a manual transmission even in this push 2 automatics with Porsche and they're ultra fast dual clutch PDK this thing still has an old-school manual although PDK will become an option for this car in a few months but for now you want one of these you got to get a manual this is the best way to get this car and next up I want to move on to something that I find absolutely hilarious in here which is the bizarre combination of ultra lightweight track-focused weight savings but also modern comfort and convenience features for instance on the door panel there is a fabric loop you pull to open the door the door handle has been eliminated it is too heavy instead you get this fabric loop which I'm sure saved three pounds now the especially funny thing here is this HR weight saving fabric loop door handle is placed right next to the controls for your power windows and your power mirrors if you really wanted to save weight you'd go to crank windows and manual mirrors along with that fabric loop but you don't really want to save weight you just want to look like you're saving weight hence the loop next to the electronic stuff and this bizarre sort of show of weight savings continues all throughout the car for instance you have a full infotainment screen with all the usual functions navigation and it's a touchscreen but you don't have lights on your visor mirrors you just have the mirrors they've removed the lights to save weight but they gave you a full screen with a navigation map that can guide you across town tell you what the weather is and let you know what route to take for the best traffic conditions seems questionable and another great example of this these seats these $6,000 ultra tight sport seats for maximum track usability and then you have a full dual zone automatic climate control system so you can perfectly set the temperature to whatever you want and the car will automatically blow air until your desired setting is reached so your butt sits here in this tight minimally padded seat a sacrifice for the ultimate performance on the track but at least you'll be a nice comfortable temperature and another example this car when all of its track focus still has cup holders there over on the passenger side above the glove box these famous Porsche cupholders that everyone hates but me I love that you can pull out the cup holder and then put the trim back in place so it doesn't all show the inner mechanism I think this is brilliant but most people seem to think these cup holders are flimsy or poorly positioned either way this trap car hasn't so you can have your drink with you on the racetrack really this is a big reason why I love getting into these Porsche GT cars I always find it funny what Porsche feels like they can remove and still make people think they're sporty versus going too far and just annoying people crank windows would annoy people but a fabric loop door handle well that's just cool weight savings and Porsche seems to have mastered precisely the line between sporty weight savings you can charge more for and just downright annoying people but anyway moving on to some other interesting quirks in here one is the gauge cluster you have two traditional analog gauges the tach in the middle the speedometer on the left over on the right you have a gauge screen and you can scroll through various different screens here that show all sorts of data your trip information tire pressures the music you can also get to the navigation map which shows a google satellite image of where you are personally I think that looks really really cool next to the other gauges it's sort of like new meets old and it could be helpful and next up another interesting quirk in the glovebox we have the owners manual inside this pouch although it's not just the owner's manual in fact it is called the good to know owner's manual find that to be kind of interesting we all get what an owner's manual is you don't have to tell us it contains things that are good to know but I actually find a different item in the owners manual pouch to be even more amusing and that would be the maintenance supplement specifically the cover with this guy cleaning his Porsche and like worshiping the Porsche badge this photograph perfectly sums up most of the Porsche enthusiasts I know obsessed with keeping their Porsche clean worshipping the Porsche Crest dreaming about deviated stitching that guy's probably about to run inside and post on read list but he had some great idea for deviated air vent slat colors finally the last interesting item worth discussing in here is the infotainment system which is of course the screen in the center I have to say it's pretty good nothing particularly unusual or special in here it's just fine very intuitive responds very quickly to your touch it's a good and easy system to use with that said it feels a little outdated compared to newer Porsche models and especially compared to Tesla Mercedes Benz with much better systems and larger screens this screen for instance can't display two things at once so if you have the navigation system going but you want to change the radio station you have to leave the map behind go to the radio tab change it then go back to the map or scroll through various different menu items in your gauge cluster to get them both showing two things a lot of modern screens can show two or even three different things at once so you don't have to do that but generally I would say this is a good system especially in a sports car where that's not gonna be the focus of the reason that you buy the car and next up we move on to the outside of the GT 4 there are a few interesting items worth mentioning one is these brake lights I really like the clear look of them very distinctive very modern I especially like the turn signal though which is this bar right in the middle kind of bisecting the brake lights it's a nice look for this car now speaking of the brake lights another interesting item back here are these little red things in the bumper at first glance they look like reflectors but they do more than that this is also the location of the rear fog light turn on the rear fog light you can see it lights up down here you turn on this light in heavy fog so drivers coming up behind you know you're there so this little piece in the bumper is part reflector foglight and speaking of rear lighting another interesting quirk all of the newer Porsche models are migrating to a full light bar across the back but it's been a few years since the Cayman was redesigned they're not ready to do that yet so it has kind of a fake light bar across the back this little black piece that joins the two brake lights I think is intended to look like a light bar and get the design in keeping with the other portion models but it's not a light bar at all it doesn't light up it just sort of looks like one and next up I want to talk engin around back since this is a mid-engine car now base model versions of the latest Boxster and Cayman use a turbocharged four-cylinder instead of flat six engines like they have in the past and this has generated a lot of controversy and a lot of negativity a lot of people think it negatively affects the character and the driving experience of the car as a result for the performance versions that came in GTS and the GT for Porsche went in the opposite direction and quite far this car has a flat six not just that it's a four liter flat six quite a large engine and it's naturally aspirated no turbo charging here like basically every other modern sports car so you get a GT four you get a four liter flat six naturally aspirated 414 horsepower 309 pound feet of torque and like I said zero to sixty about 4.2 seconds I'm not sure how long Porsche can continue to get away with making engines like this large naturally aspirated flat sixes and the world of fuel economy regulations and turbo charging but it's good while it lasts and it sounds pretty good take a listen to this engine in sport exhaust mode and finally let's talk practicality and specifically storage which is something I have always liked about the Cayman because there are two rather large storage areas press this little button on the key fob pop open the rear hatch and you can see the rear cargo area which is large and long not especially deep but big enough that you can easily stick stuff in here and frankly a lot of stuff and you even have these little cubbies behind the seats over to the side Portia said eh we got some extra room why not give people more storage so that's on either side in the back here in case you have a smaller item you don't want it to roll around with the rest of your cargo while you're driving you can stick it in one of your rear cubbies but like I mentioned this car has two rather large storage areas I just showed you the rear one but you also have one up here press a different button on the key fob you can pop open the front to here and then open it right up and you have another rather large storage compartment which really does enhance the practicality of this car you have two places where you can put bags luggage whatever for a trip which makes this a nice weekend getaway car with your sport bucket seats and so those are the quirks and features of the new Porsche 718 Cayman gt4 now it's time to get it out on the road and see how it drives alright driving the Cayman I gotta tell you I've driven a lot of cars from these videos and there is never been a car that I was so excited to go and drive throughout the filming of the video I'm just like let's get this over with slowing their Drive and people say well the xj220 f40 those cars all make me nervous this car is just fun I'm gonna make a big one here I really believe this is one of the greatest sports cars and I haven't ever driven in my entire life it is like on the real clock it is so much fun to throw around it feels so quick it is so exciting I am absolutely in LA and it's the perfect size it's such a little go around I am one of those people whose lovely opinion that the 911 has gotten a little too big to really be what it once was this is the car and if it wasn't for guys like me we gotta have 4 GTS cuz they're cool if they would just get over the god I have the cool fast expensive thing that everybody looks at this would be the car it doesn't get any attention every time you pull up at a meat or novello it's not a 911 oh it's a GT boy that's pretty cool but when you're on the road and when you're pushing it and when you're on a curvy road there is nothing that drives quite like this car and in my opinion it is one of the great sports car experiences I have ever had driving this car so let's talk about what makes it so great I already mentioned the size it's tight its little perfect to toss around and I really loved that another good one is the power yeah the car is powerful and it feels really fast but it's not an aggressively overpowering that you drive an f8 you floor it and you're way over the speed limit two seconds this thing you got to work the gears you if you want to pass somebody you gotta go down the gear here that Aldo blip feel that amazing clutch and shifter and that's another thing that makes this car so great not only is it a manual but this is one of the best manuals in the world one of the best clutches one of the best gear levers it is a fantastic enjoy to shift these gears then there's the steering and handling unbelievably sharp just incredibly well-balanced amazing it just feels perfect the car feels like an extension of you a go-kart to quote cliches but in this case those cliches are actually true it is unbelievable but then the car changes directions and how quick do you feel like one twin futur I want to say here I'm not one of these Porsche obsessed freaks who freaks out over the deviated stitching and that gt3 touring or the gt3 regular the gt3 RS or the RS 4.0 or whatever I don't care there's so many versions there's so much obsessive speculation and rent less posting it's not my thing but I love a car that drives love and this is a car that drives well and maybe better than just about any other car that I've ever driven I truly believe this is one of the great sports cars and so that's the 2020 Porsche 718 Cayman gt4 I love this car love love love love and I know some people just have to have a 911 because that's the top-of-the-line model the flagship Porsche but if people were really honest with themselves and didn't care what their neighbors or their friends think they would agree this is the best drivers car this is the Porsche to have and I would buy this over any 911 and I sincerely mean that and now it's time to give the new GT for a dug score starting with the weekend categories and styling this car looks nice but with a huge wing and giant front end it's more purposeful than beautiful and it gets a six out of ten acceleration does 0 to 60 in 4.2 seconds think it's a 7 out of 10 handling is wonderful magical just a little light in front and it gets a 9 out of 10 fun factor is amazing the car is just so exciting ly thrillingly wonderful to drive this is a huge decision but I'm giving it a 10 out of 10 cool factor is lower to most people it's just a Cayman even though it's the came in and it gets a 6 out of 10 for a total weekend score of 38 out of 50 next up are the daily categories and features this car is reasonably well equipped but there's no big standout and it gets a six out of ten comfort is below average it's pretty rough riding especially with these seats and it gets a 4 out of 10 quality is excellent it's got a fantastic interior and Porsche enjoys a good reputation it's a nine out of ten practicality if only two seats it gets the usual two out of ten finally value and I think this is a great one this is a fantastic fun car for half the money of many supercars that frankly aren't even as enjoyable these also don't lose value like many other new cars and it gets a 7 out of 10 for a total daily score of 28 out of 50 add it up and the dugs score is 66 out of 100 which places it here against some other new Porsches and modern sports cars the GT for edges out the BMW m2 competition the GT 4 wins in the weekend categories which makes sense the GT 4 also beats out the new 911 in the weekend categories which is huge where the GT 4 lags is behind the new c8 Corvette the c8 is nowhere near as precise or as fun but it's faster and right now it's way cooler but to me the relative subtlety of the GT 4 is kind of a selling point to most people it's just a Cayman to me it's some of the most fun you can have in a new car today [Music]

Channel: Doug DeMuro

Views: 1,625,083

Rating: 4.8674293 out of 5

Keywords: porsche cayman gt4, cayman gt4, 718 cayman gt4, 2020 cayman gt4, porsche cayman gt4 review, cayman gt4 review, 718 cayman gt4 review, 2020 cayman gt4 review, gt4, gt4 review, new cayman gt4, doug demuro, demuro, doug de muro

Id: N4fHEYKVyuE

Length: 24min 12sec (1452 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 23 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Brandisi23]

4.0 Inline 6 motor? Looks like my 2005 Wrangler is a Porsche /s