Porsche 718 2024 review: Cayman Style Edition

The 718 Cayman Style Edition lists for $136,700 and this is for the manual version, the auto is $5340 more. All up Porsche is asking $4200 more than the entry-grade Cayman it’s based on. In return you’re getting some nice features you won't find on the standard model. 

There's the chunky black exhaust tips, the full-coloured crests on the wheel caps and inside is the black leather interior package with embossed headrests, illuminated door sills, and floor mats with 'Crayon'-coloured stitching.

There's the chunky black exhaust tips.

Buyers can also specify one of two Style Edition contrast packages - one in Black and one in White -  at no extra cost. Ours had the Black package specified and added the Porsche decals to the side of the car, the stripe on the bonnet and the gloss black 20-inch wheels.

The colour of our car was Crayon which comes as part of the bespoke colour offerings with the Style Edition.

Along with these Style Edition features there are the standard features of the entry-grade Cayman, including LED headlights, proximity unlocking, power adjustable sports seats, media display with sat nav, Apple CarPlay and dual-zone climate control.

Glossy black 20-inch wheels.

If you’ve been driving new cars lately you might be a bit disappointed by the Cayman’s small media display (it’s a 7.0-inch screen which is tiny by today’s standards) there’s also no Android Auto available (just Apple CarPlay) and safety tech is relatively light-on, too. You can read about this further down.    

It should be pointed out here that our car was fitted with a dual-clutch automatic transmission and the optional adaptive cruise control ($2320).

The 718 Cayman is often labelled as the 'junior 911' but that downplays its status as an outstanding sports car in its own right.

It’s not a smaller version of the 911, at all, but it is smaller than a 911. Not by much, though. The Cayman is 140mm shorter in length than the 911 at 4379mm end-to-end. Interestingly, the Cayman has a longer wheelbase at 2475mm and is taller at 1295mm.

The Cayman is 140mm shorter in length than the 911 at 4379mm end-to-end.

The 718 Cayman is beginning to date in its design with this generation of the sports car arriving eight years ago. From the outside it’s holding up well in terms of styling , but inside it feels very 2016 with the small media screen and analogue dials.

It gives me a weird nostalgic feeling I normally only get driving older cars, but in a current model. Which could be why Porsche is jazzing the Cayman up with this Style Edition.

From the outside it’s holding up well in terms of styling , but inside it feels very 2016 with the small media screen and analogue dials.

The Style Edition enhances the look of the entry-grade Cayman with 20-inch 718 'Spyder' wheels in a high gloss black or white finish, and there’s a choice of six special colours ranging from the Crayon hue our car wore to 'Ruby Star Neo', 'Shark Blue', 'Carmine Red' and 'Arctic Grey'.

The Style Edition enhances the look of the entry-grade Cayman with 20-inch 718 'Spyder' wheels in a high gloss black or white finish, and there’s a choice of six special colours.

The Style Edition also adds black sport tailpipes, full-colour Porsche crests on the wheel hub covers, a black leather interior with contrasting Crayon stitching, Porsche crest embossed headrests, illuminated door sills and floor mats with Crayon contrast stitching.  

Buyers can also choose a 'Contrast Package' in black or white which adds Porsche lettering to the side of the car and a strip to the bonnet.

The 718 Cayman doesn’t have back seats -  it's a two-seater sports car. Cabin storage is almost non-existent but is saved by a glove box and pull-out door pockets which are bigger than they look.

The 718 Cayman doesn’t have back seats -  it's a two-seater sports car.

Surprisingly, there are three cupholders - two which pop out of the dashboard above the glove box and another in the small centre console bin.

Cargo space isn’t bad for a two-seater sports car with 184-litre rear boot and a front boot with a 150-litre capacity. That’s roughly one nine-year old child as you can see from the photos. My son wanted to sit in there, which I agreed to, but I said no when he asked me to shut the bonnet.

So, under the bonnet of a Cayman is the front boot, but if it’s the engine you’re after you’ll need to go through the rear hatch because this is a mid-engined car.

Getting to the engine means removing several fixtures and covers which begins to feel like you’re dissembling the vehicle and comes with a rising anxiety that it all won’t go back together.

But it all clicks back in. It’s just a slow and tedious process. Fortunately, oil and water can be added by removing the circular covers you can see in the images. 

Under the layers of covers, deep down just in front of the rear axle, is the Cayman’s 2.0-litre ‘flat’ four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine which makes 220kW and 380Nm. A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission sends drive to the rear wheels. 

It’s not a huge amount of power but the Cayman only weighs 1365kg and so can get from 0-100km/h in 5.1 seconds. Not brutally quick but the way this car handles is what you’ll like.  

Oh, and just to be clear, the Style Edition doesn’t bring any extra power or engine changes. The outputs and performance are the same as the entry-grade Cayman.

Porsche says that after a combination of open and urban roads the Cayman’s fuel consumption should be 7.0L/100km. My 143km fuel test, taking in country roads and school runs, used 21.8L of petrol and equates to 15.2L/100km. Which means I had about twice as much fun as Porsche did when it recorded its fuel consumption.

The 64-litre tanks means in theory you should be able to travel 914km between fills if you’re conservative with fuel.

The 718 Cayman Style Edition doesn’t come with any performance advantages over the already brilliant entry-grade Cayman it’s based on. And it is brilliant to drive. Several big steps above Audi’s TT, Nissan's Z or Toyota and BMW’s Supra/Z4 'twins under the skin' in terms of handling, steering and engagement. 

That said, the Cayman isn’t as easy to drive as any of those cars. The steering is heavy, the accelerator is stiff, the dual-clutch auto transmission feels a bit rough and the turbo lags, then sends in the mumbo a bit too fast and too late. Oh, and and the seats are a tad tight.

The steering is heavy, the accelerator is stiff, the dual-clutch auto transmission feels a bit rough and the turbo lags, then sends in the mumbo a bit too fast and too late.

But I can overlook all of this because on good winding country roads the Cayman feels like a water drop running down a wall, moving naturally and harmoniously around whatever it encounters.

The day-to-day school runs and grocery getting isn’t quite as poetic, and a Cayman proves challenging in the real world over potholes and in supermarket car parks. You’d have to love the Cayman for better or worse, as many do, to live with it daily. If you can't, there's the Audi TT.

The almost complete lack of standard advanced safety technology on board the Porsche Cayman might be a deal-breaker for you. There’s no AEB (forward or reverse), no cross-traffic alert and no lane keeping assistance. But there is blind-spot warning, front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera. Adaptive cruise control is a $2320 option.

The 718 Cayman hasn’t been crash tested and therefore doesn’t have an ANCAP rating, but you’ll be pleased to know there are four airbags covering the driver and passenger.

The Cayman Style Edition is covered by a three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty and servicing is needed every 12 months or 20,000km.

With Porsche, final service costs are determined at the dealer level (in line with variable labour rates by state/territory).

We'd like to see the warranty coverage increased to five years/unlimited kilometres which will bring it in line with more mainstream brands.