2009 Porsche Cayman S PDK - Specs - First Drive

Stopping the car are bigger, 911-size brakes (ceramics are available-at $8150) necessitating a half-inch widening of the standard wheels; together, they're suspended by recalibrated springs and shocks. Available in the back is a mechanical, limited-slip differential ($950), though lighter-effort steering is at the ready to help you stave-off any directional confusion that still manages to escape the diff.

Meanwhile, new software aids include brake-based hill-holding and launch control (we saw a two-way zip-to-60 average of 4.5 seconds without even trying -- way faster than the 4.9 seconds Porsche is officially stating). Porsche claims a 171-mph top speed.

On the damp roads we encountered along Spain's southern coast (no doubt, it was raining on the plains), the Cayman drove as if there were an asphalt-dryer inches ahead of it. This thing is simply exquisite -- a thoroughbred racehorse in metal, a partner in road-gobbling that borders on the magical, more a 320-horsepower driving glove than a car. Stare as hard as you like, you'll never find the grooves that just gotta be there in the road to make an automobile handle like this. The risk Porsche engineers have taken all along with the Cayman is that, sooner or later, they'd dial its performance up so high its natural advantage in mid-engine balance and trimmer-scale would finally propel it into outshining the iconic 911 Carrera. Personally, I think that moment has arrived. Lithe on the road, fluidly seductive in appearance, and positively alive in your hands: It's now, in my humble opinion, very simply the best sports car in the world.