Staff Photographer
Experience your internal organs reincarnate, without your consent — That’s what it feels like to drive the new baby Porsches, writes Sukasha Singh
During the technical presentation of Porsche’s updated Boxster and Cayman ranges, the term Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) came up quite a few times. The advantage of not being a cunning linguist meant that PDK registered in my head as Porsche doppelgänger system.
Uncannily, doppelgänger (which is an apparition or a double of a living person) can — in a roundabout way — explain the way the PDK system works. PDK is a double-clutch, semi-automatic gearbox, which is now standard across the two-seater Porsche droptop Boxster and coupé Cayman ranges.
PDK has two separate transmission units: one used to engage the gear you are driving in and the other, which tries to anticipate (based on your driving style) the gear you’ll need next. The second transmission selects the gear and when you accelerate or decelerate, it seamlessly transfers the drive across the units so you’re completely unaware of the car changing gears.
In effect the two transmissions work off each other like ghost systems, sometimes changing up (or down) more than one gear at a time, but you never feel their intrusion.
There are paddles on either side of the steering wheel if you feel the need to change gears yourself and if you’re stupid enough to believe that you’re going to do a better job than the PDK unit, you can have a six-speed manual fitted into your Boxster or Cayman at no extra cost.
If the heavens suddenly open up while you’re enjoying the wind and the bugs in your hair in the Boxster S, you can successfully outrun the rain, (not only because of the sublime seven-speed, sequential gearbox) but because this droptop is designed so that the rain doesn’t enter the cabin while the car is in motion. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but it’s true.
But if you need to slow down to crawl past the ubiquitous South African roadworks scene, you’ll be pleased to discover that the roof can be closed at speeds under 50kph. I tried this out during the launch in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the roof closed in about 20 seconds.
Though once the roof was up and the roads had cleared I stepped on the loud pedal and was rewarded with the sort of blistering performance and confident handling that had me grinning like an idiot throughout the launch.
The strange thing, though, is that I didn’t want to drive particularly fast because the roads were slightly damp and I’m normally a very conservative driver on wet roads, but there I was in a car that hadn’t come close to reaching its grip limit. This was echoed by other journalists who pushed the cars more rigorously than I did.
The baby Porsches, as they’re known, first debuted in the early Nineties — since then both vehicles have become a runaway success.
During the launch Porsche South Africa’s chief executive Toby Venter optimistically said: “There’s a Porsche for every person.” Given the fact that the first four-door Porsche, the Panamera, will be launched here towards the end of the year, there might just be a Porsche for all seasons even if the pricetags put them beyond the reach of most people.
The launch took place at Porsche’s newest dealership in Umhlanga, north of Durban, which is said to be Porsche’s second-largest dealership in the world — the largest is in Johannesburg.
Both mid-engine models feature changes to the exterior in the form of newly shaped headlights, bumpers and such, but it’s under the hood where all four derivatives (Boxster, Boxster S, Cayman and Cayman S) reap the benefits of Porsche’s meticulous engineering.
The bottom-of-the-range models now have slightly bigger 2.9-litre engines (188kW and 290Nm for the Boxster and 195kW and 300Nm for the Cayman) while the S models get the brawny 3.4-litre engine with direct fuel injection (228kW and 360Nm for the Boxster S and 235kW and 370Nm for the Cayman S).
The most impressive sprint time comes from the coupé Cayman, which hurtles from 0-100kph in 5.1s and all models reach a top speed in excess of 250kph with the Cayman S topping out at 275kph.
Despite the bigger engines and outputs, the PDK unit reduces fuel consumption by about 16%. Other new components include optional ceramic brakes, Xenon headlights, tighter suspension, fatter takkies and more, while there are packages such as the Sports Chrono package (for R11 340), which includes launch control and a racing setup that tweaks traction control and the suspension to put the car into all-out track mode. Do this while you’re driving on most South African roads and the tough-as-nails suspension will cause most of your internal organs to reincarnate without your consent.
Porsche has, over the years, produced the sort of seminal sports cars that inspire annoyingly unswerving devotion from those who own them. After extensively driving the baby Porsches I can safely say that the newest additions to the family are focused, exceedingly fun machines, which will unfortunately give their smug owners even more reason to brag.
Q&A with Porsche South Africa chief executive Toby Venter
Where does South Africa rank in global Porsche sales?
15th
Given that Porsche now holds a majority stake in VW, will we ever see VWs and Porsches being sold from the same dealerships?
Porsche holds a 50.6% stake in Volkswagen. Porsche and Volkswagen will retain their independence.
What do you say to people who feel Porsches are overpriced compared with other German and Japanese sports cars?
Porsche is very competitively priced and offers exceptional value for money in the sports car segment.
Why doesn’t Porsche accept the Nurburgring lap time that has been set by two separate Nissan GT-Rs? Why the continued sour grapes about a sports car that has clearly beaten Porsche’s lap times?
I will reserve comment until the next generation Porsche Turbo is available because I feel that the questions will be more relevant and topical at that time.
If Porsche doesn’t accept the GT-R’s lap time, why should the public accept any Nurburgring lap time that Porsche has set?
No comment.
Price tag
Boxster: R595 000
Cayman: R650 000
Boxster S: R695 000
Cayman S: R795 000