Monday 28th February 2011   An extreme performance badge
revived, but in name only?  Ever since the Cayman was launched
in 2005, there's been a persistent clamour for a faster, leaner,
harder version. Given the base car's talents it seemed an
opportunity too good to miss, but the debate wasn't so much
whether it was possible, but more whether there was the will to
launch a car that would surely threaten at least the lower
levels of the 911 range.  Porsche has made us all wait for it,
but finally there's a car that might quench that desire: the new
Cayman R. Until now, the rarely-used 'R' badge has signified an
extreme racing Porsche, whether for the original recipient in
1967 - the first stripped out, hardcore 911 - or with the
current 'GT3 class' competition 911, the GT3-R. But for this
Cayman, Porsche has resurrected the 'R' badge to sit below the
RS moniker applied to 911s in the company's performance
hierarchy - and that's an important point when you're setting
your preconceptions of what this car will be