Porsche Cayman Driving Experiences

Following on from the first successful production run of their Boxster sports car, Porsche launched their Porsche Cayman model in July 2006. Designed by Pinky Lai, who was also behind iconic car designs for Ford and BMW as well as Porsche, it is heavily indebted in styling to the second generation of the Boxster models.

That’s not the only thing it shares in common with its big brother either; like them, for its first six years in production the Cayman was assembled at Valmet Automotive’s plant in Finland, up until Volkswagen took up ownership of the Porsche name from 2012 onwards, when it moved to their operations in Osnabrück, Germany.

A mid-engined, two seater sports car, the Cayman is kitted out on a 2.9 litre 6 cylinder engine, powering out 261 bhp. This, as you might expect, helps it turn in a creditable performance once you take to the wheel, with swift acceleration from 0 - 60 mph in 5.8 seconds, and it can reach speeds of up to 160 mph.

Given its name, many people assume that the Porsche Cayman is so dubbed after the Cayman Islands, but not so. It actually derives its name the same as the islands do, which is after the caiman, which is a reptile from the alligator family.

In fact, when the first run of Cayman models were delivered to their dealerships, Porsche actually adopted four caimans at the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart, Germany.

The Cayman was also the subject of another amphibious venture, when Porsche bought a lawsuit against the popular rubber shoe manufacturer Crocs in 2009, over one of their clogs bearing the Cayman name, meaning that it had to be renamed outside of European markets!