Review and test Porsche Cayman GT4: PDK vs manual transmission

One of the protagonists in the online #savethemanuals movement is now also available with a pinball transmission. And if the 911 GT3 is a good indication, the vast majority of Porsche Cayman GT4 buyers (718) will tick that option. Since the GT4 legend started with wanton simplicity – compact size, power and grip in combination with rear-wheel drive and a manual gearbox – this seems like a big plot twist. But look at the sales ratios between the manual and automatic versions of performance cars available with both transmissions, and you may wonder why the penny count department at Porsche didn’t force this decision sooner.

Porsche Cayman GT4: PDK vs manual transmission

In the GT4 with PDK you will find a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, paired with the standard 4.0-litre six-cylinder boxer. The peak power (400 rpm before the red line at 8,000) is still 420 hp, but the torque is 10 Nm higher, at 430 Nm. The PDK adds 30 kilos to the weight – that is now 1,450 kilos – but nevertheless manages to record much faster sprint times. It cuts off half a second from the 0-to-100 time to dip below four seconds (3.9 vs 4.4) for the first time, while the PDK’s top speed of 302 km/h is just 2 km/h. you are lower.

We hope that these numbers will not be the convincing factor to go for the automatic right away. We hope that transmission will mainly be ordered by people who have always wanted a Cayman GT4, but may not be able to drive a manual transmission or are looking for more usability to use the car for their daily miles. Because if you look at it outside the spec list, something is missing.

Objectively, it’s quite brilliant and vividly reminds you just how special this car really is – from the moment you step in. Nylon loops on the doors are an exciting gimmick and we’ll never tire of the view to the rear, split in two by that fixed rear spoiler and teasingly framed by bits of roll cage.

The PDK doesn’t quite fit

Perhaps it’s these little hints to the GT4’s street racing character that make the smoothness of the PDK transmission so out of place. The force with which you have to depress the clutch pedal of the manual transmission, the firm and precise way you put the lever into one – they prepare your mind and your muscles for what’s about to happen. Pressing a brake pedal while shifting from P to D doesn’t quite bring things into focus in the same laser-sharp way. Due to the seventh gear, the ratios are somewhat shorter than those of the manual gearbox, although the advantages are not enormous. In pairs you tap the red line about 11 km/h earlier, but still on the wrong side of the Dutch limit. On the highway, the engine runs about 500 rpm less, just above 2,000 rpm.

The slickness of the Porsche Cayman GT4 PDK – the lack of any gap between gears – makes it tangibly faster. This goes hand in hand with a simple calculation: there is more of your thinking power available, so you arrive at most corners with a higher number on your dashboard. We wonder if that extra speed won’t kill the GT4 sweet spot pushes it has occupied since its launch in 2015 – the idea that its performance isn’t over the top, making it even more satisfying in some ways than a 911 GT3.

Disappointing flippers

This is not a rant against pinball transmissions, by the way. Many of the recent performance greats have only two pedals. Maybe it would have helped if the flippers themselves had been upgraded. The GT4 now has the same small catches behind the wheel as every other Porsche, while Alpine, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari, among others, score points here with beautifully tactile slices of metal that make the lack of a manual gearbox more bearable. Strange that Porsche, which usually sets the tone in the field of ergonomics, fails here.

While some two-pedal sports cars give you the chance to focus more on the chassis, the GT4 manual transmission turns this idea upside down. Its handling is so transparent that you have the time and space to perfect your gear changes. That’s why we can’t shake the feeling that the older, yellower car operates on a slightly different level after all.

Spotify vs the long play record

This is something that tireless fanatics like ourselves like to whine about, a bit like people who swear by LPs will claim ‘this is how Dylan really meant it’, while waving the convenience of Spotify away. It’s the feel of three pedals balanced as nicely as the steering and gearshift, making it your mission to control everything in one smooth sequence of synchronized movements.

The fact that the GT4 is notorious for its long gears, which means you’ll be taking most turns in twos or threes, won’t hinder the experience. Fine-sharpening your two-to-three-and-back with a precise dot of intermediate throttle—whether it’s yours or the car itself—is what sports cars used to be all about. It says a lot about Porsche that even their automatic intermediate throttle function can make your arm hairs stand on end.

more satisfying

But the successful execution of a whole & bye-gear shifting is infinitely more satisfying, and also a lot more morally responsible than having the rear step sideways when exiting a corner. Porsche has spent decades perfecting the placement of the pedals and the shifting action of the poker to make this type of activity irresistible. Do you think you are immune to it? Let the GT4 experience absorb you and it will pull itself out of you: the automatic intermediate throttle acts like a gripping trailer, so you’ll switch it off to enjoy the full movie.

Porsche Cayman GT4: PDK vs manual transmission – the conclusion

The 718 transition made the Cayman GT4 a little less fizz, most of which is due to the stricter emissions regulations. The PDK may shine a brighter light on the somewhat soft edges of this second generation. But if you downshift from three to two in the manual gearbox once, you forget that those edges are there at all. We give the Porsche Cayman GT4 with manual gearbox 18 out of 20 points. The version with PDK gets 16 out of 20 from us.