Furious but not fast (enough!): Porsche Cayman S

I guess the title is very telling what the PORSCHE brand is mostly about...you have to pay sinfully BIG bucks (read: 911 Turbo, GT2/GT3 or C2S/C4S with PDK) to be both FAST & FURIOUS!!!! For the record, the porker you see above was kitted to RM735k (in Malaysia) back in 2006, which isn't exactly loose change.

Having had a good run in the 997 new generation (facelift) Carrera 4 and Carrera 4S with twin-clutch PDK in Berlin last year and also experienced the 997 Turbo at Sepang in 2007, it is somewhat a yawning experience driving the above. Yes, it may have a 3.4L boxer-6 pushing out some 295bhp at 6250 rpm and 340Nm at 4200 - 6000 rpm. Truth be told, I have had more fun in a Civic Type-R (FD2R). In a same outing up Ulu Yam, I could hardly push the Cayman S up to speed as quickly or as easily as the Honda. And let us not dwelve on the Mitsubishi Evo X or the twin-turbo BMW 335i coupe. No doubt the Cayman has brilliant chassis balance (midship et al), excellent body control around bends, powerful brakes and highly communicative steering but the 'ageing' 5-speed Tiptronic S-enabled drivetrain leaves much to be desired.

Sorry Pete for being blunt, but my Boxster isn't much slower than yours in overall drive feeling (which can be highly subjective, of course!). Like most will still say: "Whatever it is, a Porsche is still a PORSCHE!" :)