Car and Driver - USA (2019-10)

27

$72 ,600 for the same number of cylinders
as a Fiat 500 has. Compared with the
intensity of the M2’s inline-six and the
drama of the Shelby’s V-8, the Cayman’s
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and makes 300 horsepower, but the power
delivery doesn’t feel any more special than
that of a $28,000 Volkswagen Golf GTI.
We prefer our Porsches with three ped-
als, but the PDK dual-clutch autobox is tal-
ented enough to make us think twice. Set
the steering-wheel-mounted dial to Sport
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gear for every corner as if it were reading
rally pace notes. The Sport Chrono pack-
age’s launch control allows for a seemingly
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with computerized consistency. Paying the
$3210 for the PDK is almost like squeezing
another 50 horsepower from the engine.
Note that the GT350’s mill is saddled with
just 7.3 pounds for every horsepower to the
718’s worst-in-test 10.5:1 ratio, but the Ford
beats the Porsche by a mere 0.3 second in
the quarter-mile. Straight-line accelera-
tion is the one place where the Cayman’s test results are better
than the experience. This Porsche deserves an engine as excep-
tional as the chassis and the price.

2nd Place: The Toyota
The Supra is to the Cayman what the Chevrolet Corvette is to
Porsche’s 911. Toyota’s reborn sports car is an unpretentious over-
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ure discount, and yet most Porsche buyers won’t ever consider it.
The Supra drives like a Mazda Miata rendered one size larger.
As in the Miata, there’s more body motion than you might
expect—certainly more than you experience in the other cars
assembled here. But the roll and jostle comprise a form of feed-
back that’s too often engineered out of modern cars. They
amplify the sensation of speed and are the chief reasons that the
Supra feels so playful, even well below the 1.05 g’s of lateral stick
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lively, delicate feel of a car that faithfully abides trail braking and
midcorner jabs at the throttle. That said, the Toyota’s controls
don’t have the same neurological connection as the Cayman’s.
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creating the sensation of a dead spot that’s not really there.
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Toyota Supra Playful in a way that few sports cars are, Toyota’s

tuning ensures it’s still fun even when you’re not driving stupid fast.

Snug-feeling cockpit, hard to see out of, it-came-from-beneath-

the-sea styling. At $57,4 00 , this Toyota is a screaming deal.

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ner exit. The stability control is shrewdly calibrated, though. It

permits just a skosh of tire slip, keeps the car pointed in the right

direction, and still allows the engine to build speed, even in its

most vigilant, fully active setting. The ZF eight-speed automatic

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downshifts can be abrupt, though, as the conventional automatic

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The Toyota’s skin has more warts than a frog—are the fake

vents supposed to be cooling the door strikers?—but it often

seems as though we’re the only ones to see this. People notice, rec-

ognize, and gawk at this car the same way they do Lamborghinis.

And they don’t seem to care that Toyota’s icon was largely reani-

mated by BMW. “They stopped making this when I was eight!” a

stoked hitchhiker exclaimed. “I cried!”

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Toyota’s passenger’s seat to a shirtless,

full-grown male stranger. The Supra’s

cabin is nearly as intimate as a Tokyo train

car during rush hour. Obstructed sight-

lines don’t help the crowded feeling, either.

On the driver’s side, the large mirror and

If déjà vu hits when

you’re in the Supra, it

could be because the

interior is basically

from a BMW, or maybe

you had a Z4 in a past

life. Possibly it’s both.