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Ten years ago Porsche was dying. Its cars were overpriced and out of favour. Finding a credible voice who thought the Stuttgart firm would survive as an independent was harder than finding one today who thinks Gordon Brown won’t be our next prime minister.

Now look at it. Porsche is the most profitable car company in the world, it recently announced that it will soon build a saloon rival to the Mercedes S-class and just last week declared its intention to buy 20% of Volkswagen.

Confidence and pride oozes from its executives and so it should, for they have discovered that good cars sell. Increasingly, and especially in the sports car arena, the public is showing resistance to being fobbed off with well-presented mediocrity.

Indeed, one of the many delights of attending a Porsche launch is the disdain with which its representatives view its marketing department. One of very few criticisms I have of this new £43,930 Cayman S (think Boxster coupé with more power) is that it lacks a limited slip differential, a device that improves grip, particularly traction. When I asked at the press conference why this was missing, the car’s chief chassis developer said simply: “The car needs it, but marketing says it cannot have it.” Why not? Because if it did it would be quicker cross-country than the Porsche 911, a car more expensive to the tune of £15,000.

The new car itself is a masterpiece. On paper it doesn’t look too exciting: a hard-topped Boxster with a 3.4 litre 295bhp to plug the gap between the 3.2 litre 280bhp Boxster S and the 3.6 litre 325bhp 911. It’s not that quick — its 0-62mph time of 5.4sec would be beaten with ease by a Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG.

None of this matters. All you need to know in performance terms is that the Cayman S is plenty quick enough; but that could never, on its own, make it the exceptional car it is.

You’ll know what makes the Cayman S great in your first mile, before you’ve even thought of flooring the accelerator. Greatness is there in the way it makes every gearchange so smooth your passenger will think you’re a seasoned professional. It’s there in the suspension, which keeps the Cayman’s body under total control yet will traverse broken sections of Italian B-road without ever allowing harshness into the cabin.

And it’s there in the steering. Once during my two days driving it in Tuscany I was pushing on a bit, safety systems turned off and, I’m delighted to say, having a splendid time on clear, deserted roads. Up ahead lay a corner much like any third-gear curve I’d just been through. Except this corner was treacherously slippery. But in the micro-second in which I started to turn the wheel, the clear message came through to my fingers on the steering wheel: “Back off now.”

I’ve been doing this long enough not to ignore Porsche-powered warnings, so I eased off, negotiated the bend without trouble, and snarled off up the road. Had that message been slightly blurred, or delivered fractionally later — as it would have been in countless other cars — I would have had my hands full of an uncomfortably slithering machine.

Legend has it that cars with their engines behind the driver are inherently more dangerous to drive fast. The Cayman S proves that, with proper design, the legend is nonsense. In fact the only really annoying thing about it is that there is precious little to complain about. It looks a little awkward from some angles; the standard brakes don’t feel as nice as the optional and hideously expensive carbon ceramic discs; the centre console is an ergonomic nightmare; and tall drivers will find it lacking a little legroom. Compared with its mighty talents it’s not much of a list.

Yet despite all this I’ll be surprised if the Cayman S is a runaway sales success. The market suggests that if you are building a small coupé it has to have rear seats, and a two-seater needs to have a convertible roof. Personally I’d have the Cayman S over the slower, less practical Boxster, but that’s not the question all true Porsche fans want answered. So I’ll tell you: no, the Cayman is not as good as a 911, for ultimately it lacks both the challenge of the 911 and its sublime reward. But for the money it’s at least as great an achievement. And in my eyes that’s about as good as a sports car can get.

VITAL STATISTICS

Model Porsche Cayman S
Engine type Six cylinders, 4308cc
Power/Torque 295bhp at 6250rpm / 251 lb ft at 4400rpm
Transmission Six-speed manual
Fuel/CO2 26.6mpg (combined), 254g/km
Performance 0-62mph: 5.4sec. Top speed: 171mph
Price £43,930
Verdict Who needs rear seats anyway?
Rating 4/5

THE OPPOSITION

Model Nissan 350Z £25,500
For Strong performance, modern appearance, handling
Against Uncompromising ride, lacks Porsche/Mercedes image

Model Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG £50,530
For Fabulous engine, great looks, convertible roof
Against Automatic only, not cheap

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