2020 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Performance Review | The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Sam. So, as you can see, we've got something pretty special today. And you can call me a bit of a fanboy, but ever since I drove my first Porsche a few months back, I just simply. I just simply fell in love. I don't know, it's just something so precise about. Sure, that was only just a 981 Cayman S with the PDK. And yeah, it was yellow, but it gave me a taste of what Porsche was all about. And though I felt like the Cayman S was a bit over refined, maybe a little bit underpowered, perhaps not loud enough, this car here solves all of those problems, because this car is the 2020 Porsche Cayman 718 GT4. It's the purest form of the Cayman, and in my opinion, perhaps the most sensible Porsche available right now. Not only because it costs about half of a GT3RS, or that it's the newest and shiniest thing out right now, but because it's a car that seamlessly blends the line between track and street. It's hard to find things like this nowadays, but you can always count on Porsche to deliver. Because while everybody else is going ham with their digital dashes, autonomy and connectivity, you'll notice that Porsche doesn't care for any of that here. It's only got one real goal, and that's to be a sports car. The interior is quintessential Porsche. The three cluster instrument panel is for the entry level models like the Cayman Boxster or macan, while the 5 cluster is reserved for the more expensive 911 Panamera or Cayenne. Your center console is completely devoid of fancy buttons and distractions. The navigation screen is pathetically small, the interface isn't very inspiring, and the backup camera is kind of lame. But none of that matters because you're not buying one of these things to be pampered by technology or for the computer to dictate your lap times. Nope. You buy a GT4 because you believe that it deserves a higher purpose in life, or that you just really like collecting Porsches. I don't know. Let's start with the engine. It's hidden somewhere back here underneath a whole bunch of stuff. And in typical Porsche fashion, there's no need to flex so it's not in plain view. And they could have just gone the easy way out, used a 2.5 liter turbo four, made a bigger turbo for it, bore it out a little bit, maybe more aggressive tune, you know, the works. But nope, they went and did it the right way and they got a 4 liter high revving, naturally aspirated flat six that goes all the way to 8100 rpm. It makes a healthy 414 brake horsepower and 309 pound feet of torque. Which doesn't sound like a lot anymore. Well, because it isn't. And this car is also heavier than the last generation's GT4 by about £200, so it's hard to believe that it's dramatically faster. Oh, and apparently it isn't the same engine from the outgoing GT3. Rather a new 4 liter platform that Porsche is developing. And the good news is that you can expect to see a detuned version of this engine in the upcoming 718 GTSS. Anyway, on the outside here you get more aggressive aero bits, bigger brakes, GT4 wheels, and a big wing on top of a small wing. You know, normally I'd question how that actually works, but I trust that Porsche has that part all figured out. On the inside, things get a little bit more interesting. So for 2020 you can only get these in a rev matching six speed manual, which would be the gearbox of choice if you wanted a proper sports car. But for the upcoming model year you'll be the option with pdk and that's going to be undoubtedly faster. Probably less engaging to drive. Though come to think about it, it's pretty sad nowadays because car enthusiasts don't even want to drive manuals anymore. Anyway. The most interesting thing about this interior is the fact that there's no sport mode button, just buttons to turn off stability, traction and adjust the dampers. And that's because this car is so dedicated to performance that it is perpetually in sport plus. That should tell you something about the GT4. But what really does it for me is the fabspeed Supercup race exhaust that's bolted onto the car right now. God damn. Sounds pretty freaking good, huh? You know, normally I would complain about Porsche stock exhaust systems and how, you know, they never really tickled my fancy, but this system back there makes it sound almost like a supercar. It's essentially a full catback system. There are two over axle pipes that get rid of those annoying GPFs that European cars have them come with these days. The whole thing is basically an aggressive bolt on system that saves about 17 pounds over the stock PSE Catback. On top of that, it also adds about 15 to 20 horsepower over the entire rev range. But if it's too loud for you, you can also go with the valvetronic system, which adds about 10 to horsepower across the board. The benefit of that Is that you get to retain the factory valve function. Speaking of horsepower, this car dynoed stock 383 to the wheels, which means that there's either very little drivetrain loss or that Porsche sandbag in the numbers. Typical Germans for you. Anyway, before we go any further, let's do the acceleration test so that we can see where it stacks up on the fast list. And to do that, we'll have to hand it over to our resident race car driver. Oh, and fun fact, I don't think this car has launch control. Usually we, we get about three or four runs when we do these kind of acceleration tests, but this ended up being the only run of the day and it was our warm up. So just know that there's definitely a little bit more out of the car. Let's start with one of our favorites. The Porsche 718 GT4 did 40100 in 6.7 seconds, which is impressive considering that doing this range from a dig isn't ideal because of that 12 shift at around 45 miles per hour. Next up is the 60 130, which the GT4 did in 10.82. And that's ridiculously quick for something with only about 400 horsepower. Especially when you consider that it's a track focused car that probably generates a lot of data downforce and drag. With that kind of aero, the Porsche crossed the half mile line at a whopping 145.47 miles per hour. This metric here is a true marker of straight line performance, and it's all about trap speed. That means that this car has a tremendous amount of high end and it's somehow almost up there in real supercar territory. Usually I'm not a believer in exhaust mods, adding a lot of power and naturally aspirated platforms, but I somehow feel that the fab speed race exhaust in this car had something to do with the exceptional performance times, especially when the gains are significant over the entire power band. In terms of quarter mile times, we're looking at 11.76 at a little bit over 118 miles per hour. Normally nothing to write home about, but it came. And running an 11 second time from the factory is kind of a big deal. Especially when the time is almost as quick as a base gen 2 R8 V10. Real Life Zero60 happened in 4.19 seconds, which is right on par with Porsche's claims. Keep in mind that we don't use a one foot rollout in our 060 or 0 100, so our times might be A few tenths slower than our magazine time. Real Life Zero 100 was 9.21. As mentioned, no one foot rollout, but overall it's impressive in its ability to hook up here and beat out some of the other rear wheel drive sports cars that come with a little bit more horsepower. But enough straight line stuff. Let's talk about what it's like to drive. I'll start by saying that the Porsche 718 GT4 is one of those cars that defies a lot of conventional thoughts. When you think about a high performance sports car, you usually think compromises. Razor's sharp handling might translate into a rough ride. Exceptional power to weight may mean it's fast but hard to control. You hear the word Porsche and you might think overpriced, made for old people who like to golf. But none of that is true here. The overall handling characteristic of the car is extraordinarily well balanced, which is surprising because the GT4 is heavier than ever now at around £3,150. I wouldn't consider it lightweight anymore, but even then you don't feel it. The transfer of weight through a corner, the body roll. It isn't noticeably more than the lighter 918. It's planted, precise, yet it has enough punch to get you through a corner the right way. But it never feels like it wants to step out on you. The GT 4 comes with Michelin Cup 2s, which are essentially semi slicks. And that makes it a perfect combination for a car like this. Couple that with the aero and an already brilliant chassis and you have a car that feels like it has limitless mechanical grip. The power curve is extreme linear as well, so delivery to pavement is very predictable. Even when things get a little hairy, it's quite easy to rein it back in. On top of that, the brakes are simply phenomenal. They're easily the best brakes I've driven in so far. The bite is strong, the pedal is firm, there's practically no fade, no matter how many times I brake from 100 miles per hour. And you know, there are not even the carbon ceramics. The one downside is that they do squeal quite a bit. The steering is somewhat lighter than I personally would like to. It's not heavy like an Alpha 4C or even a BMW, but closer to Mercedes, AMG and Audi. However, it is noticeably more precise, and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't amazing. Still, there's a sense of disconnect, but that's probably only because I'm subconsciously comparing it to my Lotus. Ultimately, it feels like a faster, more nimble, louder, leveled up version of the 981 Cayman S that I drove. There's definitely more rawness to the GT4, though, especially when you pair it with the manual gearbox in this exhaust note. But it's still really, really refined. So much so that I often forget that I'm in a track focused machine. This car has the base GT4 seats, not the competition buckets, but they're still incredibly supportive and comfortable for long hauls. Definitely the way to go if you plan on driving this around town. I have no doubt that this car will kill it around a road course, but really, if you wanted to drive it every day, you could do that. In fact, if your wife can drive stick and she wanted to drive it daily, I'm sure she wouldn't complain either. The gearbox is probably one of the best I've ever driven, maybe even besting the one in my gated Gallardo. It feels like a proper bolt action rifle. The throws are deceivingly short compared to how tall the shifter sits. The clutch uptake is super smooth and light, which is unlike a lot of performance cars out there. It also grabs somewhere in the middle instead of very high up near the top. Overall, it makes it quite enjoyable to drive, even in traffic. The rev match, or auto blip as Porsche calls it, is great, but I wouldn't expect anything less here. The throttle is light and responsive. The slightest press of the accelerator is really all you need if you want a rev match yourself. The gearing is perfect as well. The six forward gears are designed only for performance and they didn't even bother to do an overdrive ratio. The top of six is basically the V max of the car, which I think is about 188. Anyway, this makes the overall performance very well rounded, but cruising becomes difficult because you end up maintaining between 3 and 4,000 rpm at highway speeds. Regardless, I think from a pure performance aspect, this car is undeniably brilliant. I can't find a single fault in this department. It handles like a dream. There's a boatload of straight line power, it's a manual, and it rides like a Maybach compared to my Exige, even with the damper set to sport and it sounds just as good as the way it looks. It's hard to find any downside to this car until you think about the price. Even when you consider the value proposition of its performance, it's questionable because there are cars that can come close for much less. The Camaro ZL1 Shelby GT350 in Evora or even a C7Z06 if it doesn't overheat yet none of them feel quite as balanced or refined doing it. I would argue that again, without the race exhaust this car might be a little bit too refined, but some people will say that that's part of what Porsche is about. Understated performance. I do wish it had a little bit more road presence, or that it got louvered fenders or maybe a heads up display, but really, I'm nitpicking at this point. The truth is I had a really hard time describing the GT4 without calling it the perfect driver's car because honestly, nothing is perfect. But this is as close as it gets and even though it's a little pricey, to me it's worth almost every penny. I hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you did, let me know by leaving a thumbs up and comment below. Also, don't forget to take a look at our merch store and support the channel. And if this is your first time here, check out some of my other stuff. I produce high quality cinematic car content, so if you like what you see, hit that subscribe button and ring that bell. Icon for new episodes every Thursday. Thanks for watching.