2024 Porsche 718 Cayman

The volume 2024 718 Cayman carries the same 2.0L turbocharged flat-four at 300 hp that the 982 launched with in 2016 — a modest headline figure against a 495 hp Corvette, a 480 hp Mustang GT or even the 400 hp Nissan Z, all of which undercut it on price. The 718's case has never rested on peak output; the flat-six cars where the power lives are low-volume and priced far above the $68,300 base car.

280 lb-ft is mid-band for a coupe in raw terms, but the delivery flatters it: peak arrives at 1,950 rpm and holds to 4,500, so the base car pulls hard in the mid-range where the naturally aspirated flat-fours it replaced were thin. The number still trails the big-displacement Americans by a wide margin, and against a sub-3,000 lb curb weight it is the specific output rather than the absolute figure doing the work.

For 2024 the six-speed manual is still the standard transmission — PDK did not become the default until 2025 — so the representative figure is Porsche's 4.9 seconds, falling to 4.7 with the optional PDK and 4.5 with Sport Chrono. That is quick without being remarkable in a class where a base Corvette is under three seconds, but the mid-engine layout makes the number repeatable rather than a once-per-session launch-control trick, and instrumented tests routinely beat the claim.

The 2.0T is a responsive turbo engine — Dynamic Boost holds the throttle plate open through brief lifts so boost is still there when you get back on it, and the mid-range pull is strong and linear — but it is not a smooth one. There is real hesitation below about 2,000 rpm, and the flat-four's coarse, thrashy voice under load is the most-criticized single aspect of the 982, exactly the "coarse notes under load" the middle band describes. The naturally aspirated flat-six in the GTS 4.0 and GT4 RS is a 95-point engine by this measure; the volume car simply doesn't get it.

Both gearboxes are benchmarks. The standard six-speed manual is among the best on sale — short throws, clean gates, and a clutch light enough for traffic while still communicating through its whole arc — and the optional seven-speed PDK shifts imperceptibly fast, picks the right gear without hunting, and is unusually smooth at parking speeds for a dual-clutch. Held just below the 911's newer eight-speed PDK. Note that PDK is a paid option in 2024 rather than the standard fitment it becomes for 2025; that is an equipment/pricing fact, not a behavior one, so it is not scored here.

There is no all-wheel-drive 718 and never has been — every 2024 Cayman from the base car to the GT4 RS is rear-drive only, so unlike the 911 there is no "4" model to step up to at any price. The mid-engine layout puts roughly 55% of the mass over the driven axle, which buys real traction off the line and makes the car far less compromised in the wet than a front-engine RWD coupe, but this item measures availability and it is a hard zero. Scored alongside the other RWD-only sports cars in the set rather than below them.

Four genuinely distinct engines sit under one nameplate for 2024 — two turbo flat-fours of different displacement and two states of tune of the naturally aspirated 4.0L flat-six — layered over a real transmission choice on every trim but the GT4 RS. That is more mechanical variety than most rivals offer and well clear of a one-engine car like the Nissan Z. What caps it in the middle band is that nothing in the range is electrified: no hybrid, no PHEV, no EV, and the promised battery-electric 718 slipped past this generation entirely. 2024 is also a narrowing year — the Cayman T and the track-focused GT4 were both dropped — so the practical choice is a 300 hp base car or a large step up to a $95,200 GTS 4.0.

2024 is a carry-over year for the 982 powertrains — the same 300-hp 2.0-litre turbo flat-four, and EPA figures identical to 2025's. 24 MPG combined is the best number in Porsche's two-door range and comfortably ahead of a 911 Carrera's 21 or a Corvette's, but the coupe normalization band runs to 60 MPG because it also holds economy coupes and hybrids, so a figure barely above the 22 MPG floor scores near the bottom regardless.

21 MPG in town sits a single mile per gallon above the coupe band's 20 MPG floor. Auto stop-start is fitted, but there is no hybrid assist to lean on in traffic, so the flat-four's city figure is close to its worst case — even though it still beats every other two-door Porsche sells and most of the sports-car field.

27 MPG cruising is the payoff for a 2.0-litre engine, a tall seventh PDK ratio and roughly 3,050 lb of curb weight — the base Cayman is the most efficient highway car in Porsche's sports-car range. Against a coupe band topping out at 58 MPG it still lands near the floor, because that band is set by economy coupes rather than by mid-engine sports cars.

The efficiency gain is undone by the tank: the 718 carries only 54 litres as standard, so even 24 MPG combined buys just 341 miles — less than a 911 Carrera covers on worse economy, purely because the 911 holds more fuel. The 64-litre extended-range tank is the cheapest fix for the car's one real touring weakness, but the volume configuration ships with the smaller one.

$3,150 a year clears the coupe band's $2,800 ceiling and scores zero — the arithmetic of premium fuel more than of consumption. At 24 MPG the Cayman burns fewer gallons than most of its rivals, but every one of them is an expensive gallon, and EPA scores it $4,750 worse than the average new vehicle over five years.

Premium is required rather than recommended — EPA lists the fuel type as Premium Gasoline, and Porsche specifies 98 RON (93 AKI) for rated output with 95 RON (91 AKI) the minimum. There is no E85, no diesel and no plug, so every mile is bought at the most expensive pump on the forecourt. The one mitigation is that the 14.2-gallon tank keeps any individual fill-up small, even as the cost per mile stays high.

NHTSA holds a record for the 2024 718 Cayman but has never crash-tested it — every field in the agency's rating file reads "Not Rated", including overall, frontal, side barrier, side pole and rollover. The 982 generation has gone its entire nine-year run untested, and 2024 is no exception; low-volume six-figure sports cars sit outside the NCAP program. Estimated at the segment-typical 4 from the car's full POSIP airbag complement and stiff mid-engine structure, but there is no tested figure behind the number.

IIHS has never crash-tested a 718 Cayman of any model year, so 2024 carries no Top Safety Pick, no TSP+, and not one individual crashworthiness result — the nameplate has never entered the Institute's program. Untested with no known structural deficiency, and with a full Porsche Side Impact Protection system (dual-stage driver and passenger front airbags, driver and passenger knee airbags, seat-mounted thorax airbags and door-mounted head airbags) plus standard ESC behind it, earns the middle of the no-award band. Scored a shade under the 911 because the 982 bodyshell dates to 2016 against the 992's 2019 architecture, and level with the other untested sports cars in the set.

Of the five features this item measures — AEB, adaptive cruise, lane keeping, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic — the 2024 718 Cayman has none standard, and only two of the five exist anywhere on its order sheet. NHTSA's own equipment record for the car is unusually blunt: forward collision warning "Optional", lane departure warning "Not Available". Porsche sells adaptive cruise with Porsche Active Safe (optional, PDK only) and Lane Change Assist (optional, alert-only); there is no lane keeping, no rear cross-traffic alert, no traffic-sign recognition and no surround view at any price. The standard safety content is airbags, belts, TPMS, ESC, front and rear ParkAssist sensors and the federally mandated reversing camera. That is the thinnest ADAS provision in this segment — below the 911, whose Warn and Brake Assist is at least standard, and just above the Corvette only because the 718 offers ACC as an option. Some dealer marketing pages credit the 2024 car with lane keep assist and traffic-sign recognition; NHTSA's "Not Available" for LDW contradicts that outright and the manufacturer record wins.

The only collision-braking function on the 2024 718 is Porsche Active Safe, and it is not standard, not available on manual cars, and not a modern AEB system. PAS ships only bundled with the optional adaptive cruise control, which Porsche restricts to PDK — order the 6-speed manual that defines this car and there is no forward-collision intervention available at any price, which is exactly what NHTSA records as forward collision warning "Optional". Where fitted, PAS gives an audible and visual warning, a brake jolt and targeted braking with driver brake-force boosting, all vehicle-to-vehicle; Porsche's description names no pedestrian or cyclist detection and no low-speed city function. IIHS has never run front crash prevention on the 718 in either protocol. Well below the 911's standard pedestrian-capable Warn and Brake Assist, above the Corvette's nothing-at-all.

Blind-spot coverage on the 2024 718 is Lane Change Assist — radar-based, mirror-panel warning only, explicitly non-intervening, active from about 20 mph — and it is a paid option, bundled into the Premium Package on upper trims rather than sold as standard safety content, despite dealer copy that sometimes calls it standard. Rear cross-traffic alert and safe-exit warning are not on the 2024 718's option list at all. Optional alert-only monitoring with no cross-traffic function is the top of the bottom band, level with the 911 and behind the Corvette, which offers cross-traffic coverage. The thick rear buttresses that make blind-spot monitoring genuinely useful here are what keeps this from scoring higher.

The 2024 718 Cayman has no lane assistance of any kind — no lane departure warning, no lane keeping assist, no centering, no traffic-sign recognition, on any trim, at any price. NHTSA records lane departure warning for this exact vehicle as "Not Available", the strongest possible confirmation, and Porsche's 718 assistance list runs to ACC/PAS, Lane Change Assist and ParkAssist with none of them touching lane position. Lane Keep Assist is sold on the 911, Macan, Cayenne, Panamera and Taycan but was never offered on the 982 718. Floor of the band alongside the Corvette — this is an outright absence, not a weak implementation.

Adaptive cruise control is a competent full-speed-range radar system on the 2024 718 — roughly 650 ft of forward scan, coasting permitted while active on PDK cars, PAS distance warning layered on — but it is optional, and Porsche gates it behind the PDK, so a buyer choosing the 6-speed manual gets plain fixed-speed cruise control and nothing more. No highway assist exists because there is no lane-centering function to combine with it, and Porsche InnoDrive is not offered on the 718. A capable option that a large share of the volume configuration cannot even order lands in the basic-cruise band rather than above it — behind the 911, where ACC is available on every car with InnoDrive above it, and well ahead of the Corvette.

No hands-free highway driving system is offered on the 2024 718 Cayman, and Porsche sells no BlueCruise or Super Cruise equivalent anywhere in its 2024 range — the 718's assistance list tops out at hands-on adaptive cruise, itself optional and PDK-only. Floor of the band, matching the other sports cars in the segment.

In 2024 the 718 Cayman still left the factory on Bi-Xenon HID headlights with integrated LED daytime running lights — a generation behind essentially every rival in this price class, where LED is standard and matrix systems are common, and that is why this sits at the bottom of the middle band rather than in it. The mitigation is real but has to be paid for: LED headlights with Porsche Dynamic Light System Plus add four-point LED daytime running lights, camera-based automatic high-beam dipping and intersection illumination, and are cheap enough relative to the car's price that most examples are so equipped. Dynamic cornering lighting is standard. IIHS has never rated 718 headlights, so there is no Good/Acceptable result behind either configuration.

Forward and three-quarter visibility is a genuine strength — the mid-engine layout gives a short nose, a low cowl and slim A-pillars, and the car is easy to place on a road in a way the long-hood AMG GT and the C8 Corvette are not. The penalty is behind: thick rear buttresses and a shallow rear window create real over-shoulder blind zones, which is why reviewers single out the optional blind-spot monitor as worth having, and Porsche offers no surround-view camera on the 718 to compensate. Standard front and rear ParkAssist sensors plus the standard reversing camera cover the parking case well. Better than the Corvette and AMG GT, a little short of the 911 and GR86.

The 982's mid-engine layout puts the flat-four directly behind the bulkhead, so unlike the 911 there is no rear bench to option — every 2024 718 Cayman is a two-seater, which clamps this item to the floor of the 4–5 seat coupe band.

Porsche does not publish US interior dimensions for the 718 and the aggregators carry the field blank, so this is estimated from the car's 51.0 in overall height and its very low seat mounting — packaging reviewers consistently say clears tall drivers despite the low roof. Lands mid-band for coupes.

Also unpublished, so estimated from the 718's long footwell and generous seat travel — the driving position is a recurring praise point and accommodates a wide range of body sizes. Mid-band, and marginally behind the front-engine two-seaters whose footwells sit further forward.

Two separate luggage compartments front and rear are the mid-engine layout's one genuine practicality dividend, and 15.0 cu ft combined is the most usable luggage space of any two-seat sports car in this dataset — ahead of the Corvette's 12.6 and the Supra's 10.2, and more than three times the 911's frunk. The rear compartment sits over a warm engine, which is the practical caveat.

The dual-trunk packaging is the clever part and it is genuinely useful — a carry-on fits up front and a weekend's worth of soft bags goes behind. Inside the cabin itself the provision is thin: narrow door bins, a shallow lidded console cubby, a modest glovebox and the fiddly pop-out dash cupholders Porsche has used for a decade. There is no rear parcel shelf and no fold-down seatback to extend the cabin, which is exactly what the 911 uses to beat it on flexibility.

The driving position is one of the best in the segment and the seats are firm but well shaped, holding up over long stints; the option book runs to 14-way and 18-way adaptive sport seats with memory and ventilation. What keeps it just under the 911 and the Corvette is that the $68,300 base car ships with two-way manually adjusted partial-leather sport seats — the adjustment range and lumbar support most owners want are paid-for upgrades.

For a car this focused the 718 rides remarkably well — the standard passive steel setup is firm but supple over broken pavement and body control is exemplary, which is a large part of why a Cayman works as an everyday car. It falls short of the 911 because PASM adaptive damping is a paid option rather than standard equipment, and on the PASM Sport setup fitted to most press cars larger impacts come through hard.

This is the 718's clearest comfort weakness. The turbocharged flat-four sits immediately behind the bulkhead with only a thin firewall between it and the occupants' ears, and its coarse, boomy voice was criticized more or less universally by the motoring press. Wind isolation is genuinely good and there is no rear-seat cavity to drum, but road roar on coarse asphalt is intrusive and the engine is never out of earshot.

Two-zone automatic climate control is standard and the option book covers ventilated seats and a heated steering wheel, so a well-specified 718 wants for nothing. The score is capped because the comfort kit most buyers want is bundled into the $2,510 Premium Package rather than fitted, and the two-seat packaging rules out a rear climate zone or any remote pre-conditioning on a gasoline-only model.

The entry 982-generation 718 Cayman opens at $68,300 before Porsche's $1,650 delivery and processing charge for 2024 — roughly $15,000 past the top of the coupe pricing band, so this item bottoms out. It is still the cheapest way into a mid-engine Porsche and about $55,000 below a base 911, and unlike 2025 the six-speed manual is standard equipment rather than a no-cost swap out of PDK.

The base Cayman is the volume car, but essentially none leaves a dealer at sticker — Porsche's a-la-carte structure bills metallic paint, the Premium Package, Sport Chrono, PASM, Bose and heated seats separately, and the $3,730 PDK is a line item in 2024 rather than standard as it became in 2025. A normally specified car lands between the Style Edition and a stripped Cayman S.

The 4-year/50,000-mile warranty absorbs repairs for most of the window, so the bill is dominated by Porsche dealer service — roughly $1,000–$2,500 in a routine year and $2,000–$4,500 in a major-service year — plus two sets of performance tires and a brake job at 15,000 miles a year. It lands past the top of the coupe band but modestly under the 911, whose larger rotors and staggered tires cost more per replacement, and a shade under the 2025 car because the manual-standard 2024 avoids PDK clutch-pack and mechatronics service.

This single line is what keeps the category from collapsing. The 718 Cayman has the strongest measured 5-year retention of any vehicle sold in America, and 2024 sits one year short of the end — combustion 718 production ran out in October 2025 and the replacement is electric, while the plain GT4 and the 718 T were already dropped for 2024. A late-run car with a standard manual and, in GTS 4.0 form, a naturally aspirated flat-six is exactly the profile that resists depreciation. Projected above the top of the coupe band, so the item maxes out — pegged marginally under the final-year 2025 car, which carries the last-of-the-line premium outright.

Porsche's New Vehicle Limited Warranty is 4 years / 50,000 miles, matching the German luxury norm and Lexus and beating the 3/36 that Ford and Chevrolet give the Mustang and Corvette. Mid-band, and unchanged across the 982 run.

Porsche does not offer a standalone extended powertrain warranty in the US — drivetrain components are covered by the same 4-year/50,000-mile New Vehicle Limited Warranty and nothing beyond it. That falls below the 5-year floor of the band, so the item scores zero: the turbo flat-four is out of warranty at four years while a Corvette's LT2 is covered for five and a Lexus LC's V8 for six.

Porsche includes no complimentary scheduled maintenance in the US at all — every service visit from the first one is billed, which at $1,000–$2,500 a pop is the most expensive version of that policy in this segment. What is included is 24/7/365 roadside assistance for the full 4-year/50,000-mile warranty period and a Porsche Connect services trial, which is real but thin. That is the bottom edge of the prompt's 'basic roadside only' band rather than the 'no complimentary coverage' floor, and slightly under the 911 because the 718's PCM 6.0 connected-services bundle is narrower than the current 992's.

$80,000 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (68% retained, or about $54,400) leaves about $25,600 in depreciation. Add the projected $9,700 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $35,300 in total.

The best-evidenced reliability case of any sports car in this calibration set, and stronger for 2024 than for the final 2025 car. The 982 has been on sale in the US since MY2016, making 2024 its ninth model year and a near-pure carry-over: the only changes are the new Style Edition trim, Ruby Star Neo paint, 19-inch wheels standardized on the Cayman S, updated GT4 RS brake pads, and the deletion of the GT4 and 718 T — no new hardware anywhere in the volume car. J.D. Power publishes a 90/100 Quality & Reliability score for the 2024 718 Cayman, and in the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study the 718 was named Most Dependable Model in the Premium Sporty Car segment — an outright segment win, measured on three-year-old MY2021 cars running the same 982 platform and 2.0T engine as this one. Scored above the 2025 718 Cayman (84), whose J.D. Power score is 86 and which has no segment award, and above the 2026 911 (82), the Corvette (70), Nissan Z (65) and AMG GT (65). Held under the low 90s because sports-car survey samples are thin and the 2.0T carries the documented wastegate and carbon-buildup wear items noted in 6.1.4.

Porsche is the German luxury brand that actually earns its dependability reputation rather than borrowing it from desirability, and the studies contemporaneous with the 2024 car are among its best. Porsche placed second among premium brands in the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study at 175 PP100, and posted the largest year-over-year improvement of any brand in the study at 33 PP100; in the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Initial Quality Study it ranked highest among luxury brands and seventh in the industry overall. Held identical to the 2025 718 Cayman and the 2026 Panamera, Taycan and 911 (all 86) — this is a brand-level judgment and must not diverge between Porsches. The 2024 VDS placement is marginally stronger than 2025's (2nd premium at 175 PP100 versus 3rd at 186), but that gap sits inside study noise and does not justify breaking the brand-level tie. Materially better than BMW (76), Mercedes-Benz (65) or Audi (65) as scored elsewhere in this dataset.

The volume car's record is spotless; one low-volume variant is not. NHTSA returns zero recall campaigns for the 2024 718 Cayman, Cayman S, Cayman GTS 4.0 and Cayman Style Edition — the trims a buyer actually chooses — continuing a clean run that stretches across the late 982 years, with everything on the generation's record front-loaded into 2016–2019 airbag and fuel-system actions long since resolved. The exception is real and severe: campaign 24V809000 explicitly names the 2024 718 Cayman GT4 RS, a park-it recall for center-lock wheel bolts that may fracture and let a wheel detach, with owners told not to drive until repaired. It reaches only cars on center-lock wheels — the GT4 RS and Spyder RS, alongside 2021–2024 911s and the 2025 Panamera — and not the volume Cayman on conventional bolt-on wheels. Scored three points under the 2025 car (86) for a concrete reason rather than sentiment: for 2025 that campaign merely overlapped early GT4 RS production, whereas here NHTSA names the 2024 model year outright.

Proven but not spotless. The volume car's 2.0L turbocharged flat-four has been in service since MY2016 with no systemic failure mode, and it carries none of the IMS-bearing or bore-scoring history that dogged the older M96/M97 Porsche sixes — buyers' guides single the 718 out as the mid-engine Porsche that escaped both. What keeps it out of the high 80s is a pair of well-documented, engine-specific wear items: the turbocharger's low mounting position exposes the wastegate actuator to water and road debris, so it corrodes and develops play, producing the metallic idle rattle that is the single most common 718 complaint and which Porsche remedies by replacing the whole turbo with a revised housing; and direct injection means intake-valve carbon buildup, typically noticeable around 50,000–75,000 miles and cleared by walnut blasting. Scored a point above the 2025 car (80) because the 2024's standard six-speed manual removes the PDK's mechatronics unit and clutch packs from the durability picture entirely, where 2025 made PDK the standard fit. Buyers stepping up to the GTS 4.0's naturally aspirated 4.0L flat-six get the more robust engine. Below the 911's 3.0L twin-turbo six (88), above the Corvette and Mustang entries in this set.

Excellent materials wrapped around visibly old architecture. Reviewers are consistent that the surfaces, switchgear weighting and craftsmanship are exemplary — leather throughout with Alcantara, carbon-fiber and brushed-aluminum upgrades, an ergonomic driver-focused layout, and a bank of physical buttons under the screen that current Porsches have given up. What holds it to the low 80s is that the cabin architecture and PCM 4.0 hardware date to the 982's 2016 launch and read as distinctly last-generation next to the 911's newer cockpit: the center screen is the smallest and lowest-resolution in the range, slow to respond, and Apple CarPlay is standard while Android Auto is absent entirely. The base car ships with partial leather and more hard plastic in low-touch zones than a $70,000 Porsche implies, and the richest finishes sit behind expensive options — the 2024 Style Edition bundles black leather with contrast stitching, illuminated scuff plates and a heated steering wheel, but that is a trim walk, not the volume car. Held level with the 2025 718 Cayman (80), which has the identical cabin, eight points under the 2026 911 (88), and below the Lexus LC, the class benchmark for a coupe interior; comfortably above the Corvette, Mustang and Nissan Z.

The strongest item in the category. Nine model years of build refinement on an unchanged body give tight, consistent panel gaps, strong paint and very low rattle and squeak reporting, backed by Porsche ranking highest among luxury brands in the J.D. Power 2024 Initial Quality Study — exactly the initial-quality signal this item asks for. Two small deductions rather than one. First, Porsche moved overflow 718 assembly from its own Zuffenhausen line to the Volkswagen plant at Osnabrück from mid-2023, so a 2024 car may have come from either plant; Osnabrück has built Porsche two-doors including the Cayman and Cayenne for years with no notable quality fallout, making this a minor caveat rather than a red flag. Second, the contemporaneous initial-quality signal is a shade weaker than the one behind the 2025 and 2026 cars: in the 2024 IQS Porsche led the luxury brands but placed seventh industry-wide, where by 2026 it ranked highest overall of all brands. Scored a point under the 2025 718 Cayman (90) on that second point and four under the 2026 911 (93), which is still assembled at Zuffenhausen.

Quality over coverage. Porsche runs roughly 200 US dealers — the thinnest network of the German luxury brands, well behind Mercedes-Benz (~380), BMW (~350) and Audi (~300) — so owners outside major metros travel real distances for service. Offsetting that, Porsche consistently ranks at or near the top of luxury brands in J.D. Power's Customer Service Index, and the 718 shares its service infrastructure, technicians and parts channel with the 911. Scored a point above the 2025 718 Cayman (73) and level with the 2026 911: in 2024 the 718 was still a current, in-production model with a full trim ladder in the showroom, so it carries none of the end-of-life drift that justified docking the 2025 car, whose nameplate ended in October 2025 with an electric successor pulling dealer familiarity and technician focus elsewhere. The 2024 deletion of the GT4 and 718 T narrowed the range but left the line in production.

Expensive to keep, and the independent data says so bluntly. RepairPal rates the Porsche Cayman 2.0 out of 5.0 for reliability, ranking it 16th of 17 luxury compact cars, at roughly $1,135/yr average annual repair cost, and explicitly notes that repairs are both more frequent and more likely to be severe than the average car. Consumer Reports ranked Porsche second-to-last of all brands for maintenance and repair costs. Porsche includes no complimentary scheduled maintenance in the US at all, so the owner pays from the first visit (see 5.3.3), with real-world guidance running $1,000–$2,500 in routine-service years and $2,000–$4,500 when a major service lands. Parts are Porsche-priced and largely dealer-gated, and mid-engine packaging makes clutch and several driveline jobs engine-out labor — a live concern on a 2024 car, where the manual is the standard transmission. The mitigations are real but partial: the base 2.0T runs smaller brakes and tires than a 911 Turbo-class car, and Porsche has a genuine independent-specialist network charging 20–30% under dealer rates. Scored a point above the 2025 car (51 versus 50), consistent with cat5's marginally lower five-year maintenance estimate for the 2024, and a point under the 911 (52), which has the deepest enthusiast aftermarket in the brand.

The 982-generation 718 launched with a 7-inch PCM 4.0 touchscreen in 2016 and never grew it; the 2024 car — a carry-over year whose only new content is the Style Edition trim — ships the same 7.0-inch display on every trim from the base Cayman to the GT4 RS. That is the smallest center screen of any coupe in this dataset and sits at the absolute floor of the segment normalization band.

PCM 4.0 is quick and logically organized, and — unlike most rivals — the 718 backs the screen with a full row of physical climate controls and hard shortcut keys, so the fundamentals of daily use are sound. What sinks it is age and size: a 7-inch display with 2016-era graphics running a software generation Porsche had already replaced with PCM 6.0 everywhere else in the 2024 lineup.

Apple CarPlay is standard on all 2024 trims but wired only, and Android Auto is not offered at all, at any price, on any trim — the 718's PCM 4.0 head unit never had it enabled. Half the phone market gets nothing and iPhone owners have to plug in, which lands this below the wired-standard band rather than in it.

Native navigation is an extra-cost module rather than standard equipment, so a volume-spec 2024 718 Cayman leaves the showroom with no built-in maps — and because Porsche Connect is bundled to that same navigation option, most US cars have no connected search or live traffic either. Voice is the old PCM 4.0 command-word system, not the natural-language "Hey Porsche" assistant the rest of the 2024 range uses; in practice owners default to Siri through CarPlay.

The one category-7 area where the 718 is genuinely competitive: the optional 12-speaker Burmester High-End system is a legitimately excellent 821-watt fully active setup and the 10-speaker Bose Surround Sound option is strong. The standard 8-speaker Sound Package Plus is only adequate and both good systems cost extra, which keeps this below the Mercedes and BMW coupes that ship branded audio as standard.

The 2024 718 keeps the classic Porsche three-dial cluster: an analog center tachometer flanked by an analog speedometer and a single 4.6-inch TFT screen on the right. Enthusiasts like it, but as a technology item it is mostly analog with one small auxiliary display, and no full-digital cluster is available anywhere in the 2024 718 range — while the 911 of the same year offers a far more configurable digital display.

There is no meaningful over-the-air update path on the 2024 718's PCM 4.0-generation electronics. Software and map updates are dealer-installed or side-loaded from downloaded media rather than pushed to the car, and no vehicle-function updates arrive remotely — the 982's architecture predates the OTA capability Porsche built into its PCM 6.0 models.

Connectivity is optional rather than built in — Porsche Connect rides on the extra-cost navigation module, so the typical US-spec 2024 718 has no app pairing at all. Where it is fitted, the My Porsche app covers vehicle status, remote lock/unlock and vehicle finder, but there is no remote engine start, no remote climate and no phone-as-key on this platform.

Outdated even allowing for a strict two-seater with no rear row to serve: the 2024 718 still uses USB-A ports rather than USB-C, factory wireless phone charging is not offered in any form, and there is no household outlet or onboard power. Buyers routinely retrofit aftermarket chargers to fill the gap.

Remote keyless entry via the fob is standard, but the volume-spec 2024 718 still uses a traditional key inserted into a slot left of the steering column and twisted to start — keyless (Porsche Entry & Drive) proximity entry with push-button start is a cost option. There is no phone-as-key on the 982 and no remote start on the gas engine; being a two-door with no liftgate, hands-free tailgate functions are moot.

The strongest of the convenience items: ParkAssist with both front and rear sensors plus a reversing camera is standard equipment across the 2024 718 range, which matters in a low, wide mid-engine car with poor over-the-shoulder visibility. It stops there — Porsche never offered Surround View or any automated parking system on the 982, both of which the 911 and the German coupe rivals have.

No head-up display is offered on the 2024 718 Cayman at any trim or price — the 982's low cowl and cockpit packaging leave no room for the projector unit and Porsche never engineered one for the platform. A total absence, not a trim restriction.

Every 2024 718 Cayman is a strict two-seater — the mid-mounted flat-four sits where a rear bench would go — so there are no LATCH lower anchors or top tethers anywhere in the car and the front passenger seat is the only possible child-seat position. Wide frameless doors and a low sill make lowering a child into the car awkward rather than easy, and the two lockable trunks are the only stroller space.

There is no crash-test evidence at all — neither NHTSA nor IIHS has ever rated a 718 Cayman — and the aids families rely on are optional or absent: no lane keeping at any price, no rear cross-traffic alert, no rear-occupant reminder, and blind-spot monitoring only as a paid option. The 2024 car is a notch worse than 2025 on this specific point: adaptive cruise with Porsche Active Safe is PDK-only, and in 2024 PDK is itself a $3,730 option rather than standard equipment, so a buyer taking the standard six-speed manual cannot order any forward-collision intervention at all. ParkAssist front and rear with a reversing camera is the one meaningful standard item.

With two seats there is no second row to assess — no rear vents, no rear amenities, no entertainment — so a family road trip is physically limited to one adult plus one passenger. The 15.0 cu ft split across a frunk and a rear trunk is genuinely the most luggage space of any two-seat sports car in this segment, and that alone is what keeps this above the floor.

The 718 is one of the easiest mid-engine cars to live with — the 2.0T's torque plateau starts at 1,950 rpm so it pulls cleanly from walking pace, forward visibility is unusually good for the layout, and the compact body is easy to place. What separates 2024 from 2025 is the transmission: the standard fitment here is the six-speed manual, with the seamless seven-speed PDK a $3,730 option, so the representative car asks for clutch work in every traffic jam and is locked out of adaptive cruise. Add the flat-four's coarse drone — the car's most-criticized trait — and a low nose that demands care at every driveway. Specify PDK and this is a ~70-point commuter; as delivered it is not.

The base 718 is the most economical car in this peer group and its base 18-inch wheels wear far cheaper rubber than a 911's staggered 20/21s, but every mile is bought with required premium fuel at Porsche shop rates. The 2024 wrinkle cuts both ways: the standard manual is thirstier than the PDK (22 vs 24 MPG combined, $3,450 vs $3,150 a year), while the car itself is about $6,500 cheaper to buy than the 2025 model. Fuel is only part of the bill — scheduled service and brakes run near $10,000 over five years, and insurance adds roughly $2,850.

The best urban sports car in this set, and unchanged for 2024: 172.4 in long on a compact footprint, a 36.1 ft turning circle that beats every rival here, and — unusually for the class — ParkAssist with front and rear sensors plus a reversing camera as standard rather than an option. The low front splitter at 4.3 in of clearance still scrapes steep driveways unless the optional front-axle lift is specified, and the thick rear buttresses hurt the over-shoulder view.

Porsche publishes no towing capacity for the 718 Cayman in the US market and sells no factory hitch, and a two-seat cabin with no folding surfaces rules out payload or work-gear duty. The only thing separating it from the segment floor is that its 15.0 cu ft of lockable, weather-sealed trunk space is genuinely more than any rival two-seater offers.

The 982 chassis and its powertrains are proven hardware with a strong track-abuse record — the same platform underpins the GT4 Clubsport race car — so this is no fragile exotic. But nothing about it is built for work abuse: leather and Sports-Tex interiors with no washable surfaces, low-slung bodywork that meets curbs badly at 4.3 in of clearance, and a parts-and-labor structure that makes any incidental damage expensive. There is no fleet or commercial variant and no work-spec interior option.

There is no 120V household outlet, no hitch, no bed access hardware and no tie-downs beyond a luggage net — and the 2024 car's USB ports are type A, so even device power is dated. The one provision worth crediting is a real factory roof transport system, a rarity in this class, but it is a 165 lb lifestyle carrier rather than a work upfit ecosystem.

Two-up touring is one of the 718's better missions — the sport seats draw long-distance praise, the optional PASM keeps the highway ride settled, and there is real luggage space for a week away. The 2024 car is a step behind the 2025 on endurance, though, because its standard manual returns 22 MPG rather than 24: that is 312 miles between fills on the standard 14.2-gallon tank versus 341 for a PDK car, roughly 406 with the optional extended tank. Adaptive cruise is not merely optional but unavailable with the standard transmission, so there is no fatigue-reduction tech at all on the representative car, and the flat-four drones at cruise.

Rear-wheel drive in every 2024 configuration, 4.3 in of ground clearance behind a low splitter, summer performance tires and no tow rating make this a pavement car — there has never been an all-wheel-drive 718 to step up to the way there is with a Carrera 4. The genuine adventure credit is the factory roof transport system with ski, snowboard and bike modules, something the Corvette, Supra and Z simply cannot fit, plus Porsche winter wheel-and-tire packages.

Best-in-class for a two-seat sports car: 15.0 cu ft split between a deep, squarish frunk that swallows two carry-ons and a rear hatch trunk that takes another plus soft bags, both lockable and weather-sealed, with a 165 lb roof carrier available on top. What it lacks is flexibility rather than volume — no seats to fold, no pass-through, no hitch, and the rear compartment's shape around a warm engine punishes hard-sided luggage.

The 982's mid-engine layout puts the mass between the axles, and the resulting rotational balance is something no front-engine rival in this set can match — a fair number of reviewers rate it above the 911's own. Body control is exceptional even on the 2024 base car's passive setup (PASM adaptive damping with a 10 mm drop is a stand-alone option, 20 mm on the GTS 4.0), turn-in is immediate, and grip sits at the top of the segment despite modest 235/35 front and 265/45 rear 18-inch rubber on the base car. Held level with the 911 rather than above it because the 992 counters with optional rear-axle steering and PDCC anti-roll control the 718 was never offered.

The 718's variable-ratio electromechanical rack is the reference point for how good EPAS can be: quick and linear off-center, weighting that builds honestly with cornering load, and enough texture returning to the rim that you can feel the front tires approach their limit. Having no engine over the nose helps — the 718 arguably reads the road better than the 911 does. It sits just below the handling score only because no electric system fully recovers the granularity of the older hydraulic Porsche racks, a gap evo explicitly acknowledges.

Four-piston aluminum monoblock fixed calipers at all four corners clamping 13.0-inch vented and perforated front discs and 11.8-inch rears, stopping a car that weighs under 3,000 lb in manual form — the pedal is firm, short-travel and easy to modulate down to the last few feet, and fade resistance on the road is a non-issue. What holds it just under the top of the band is that the base car's cast irons are the component that eventually complains over sustained track laps (which is why PCCB carbon-ceramics stay on the options sheet at roughly $7,500), and evo notes base models lack the bite and pedal solidity of the GT variants.

Judged purely on calibration the base 718 is good but not top-band. Tip-in is crisp, Dynamic Boost holds the throttle plate open through brief lifts so boost is still there when you get back on it, and the optional 7-speed PDK is the benchmark dual-clutch for both shift speed and low-speed creep manners. Two things keep it out of the top band, and both are sharper in 2024 than in 2025: there is genuine hesitation below roughly 2,000 rpm from the single-turbo 2.0-liter flat-four, and the standard transmission for 2024 is still the six-speed manual (PDK only became standard for 2025), so the representative car exposes the engine's tall gearing and soft bottom end rather than papering over them with an automatic's ratio choices. The naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six in the GTS 4.0 and GT4 RS shares neither trait. Sound character is scored separately in 9.2.2 and is not double-counted here.

This is the base 718's one real failing and the single most criticized attribute of the entire 982 generation. There is no vibration through the wheel or pedals and the engine is mechanically smooth, but the turbo flat-four's voice under load is coarse and boomy, and in a mid-engine car it plays directly behind the driver's head with nothing to filter it. Scored at the bottom of the middle band rather than in the failing band because the objection is tonal character rather than mechanical roughness, and the optional sport exhaust helps — the naturally aspirated flat-six cars in the same 2024 range would score in the mid-90s here.

A 36.1-foot circle is mid-pack for a compact coupe — respectable in absolute terms but no better than a mainstream sedan despite the 718's 97.4-inch wheelbase and small footprint, because a wide front track and fat front rubber consume the steering lock a short wheelbase would otherwise buy. The 718 never offered the rear-axle steering that shrinks the 911's low-speed circle.

One of the best driving positions offered on any car at any price: you sit very low with the wheel falling straight into your lap, the pedals are squarely aligned for heel-and-toe (which matters more in 2024, when the manual is the standard gearbox), and the seat and column adjust through a wide range. The 982 kept an analog center tachometer and a bank of physical buttons and rotary controls for climate and chassis functions, so nothing needs a submenu — an ergonomic advantage over the newer 992.2. Points come off for the deep sill and low bucket that make ingress and egress awkward, over-shoulder blind spots from the rear buttresses, and near-zero cabin storage.

The 718 Cayman is the car enthusiasts reach for when the 911 is out of budget, and plenty of them argue it is the more rewarding chassis regardless of price. It is fast enough to be exciting on a public road at legal-ish speeds rather than needing a track to come alive, it stays playful without ever feeling nervous, and in 2024 the standard six-speed manual — one of the best on sale — is the default rather than a delete option. It sits below the 911 for two reasons: the base car's flat-four soundtrack undercuts the occasion in a way the flat-six cars do not, and there is no back seat or usable practicality to make the long way home an everyday proposition.

A 2016 equipment list at a 2024 price, though a lower one than the car would carry a year later. The $69,950 base 718 Cayman ships with Bi-Xenon headlights rather than LEDs, a 7.0-inch touchscreen with wired-only Apple CarPlay and no Android Auto at any price, an analog three-dial cluster, a twist key, no built-in navigation unless the module is bought, and — the real outlier at this money — not one standard driver-assistance feature, with only blind-spot warning and PDK-gated adaptive cruise even on the order sheet. What is included is genuine but thin: 18-inch wheels, partial-leather heated sport seats, two-zone automatic climate, an eight-speaker system, power heated auto-dimming mirrors and ParkAssist front and rear with a reversing camera. Unlike 2025, the 7-speed PDK is a $3,730 line item rather than standard equipment, so on pure content 2024 includes less — but it also asks $4,845 less, and the standard 6-speed manual is the configuration most buyers of this car actually want. Net a shade above the 2025 car and still the sparsest base spec in this coupe field: a $69,950 sports car cross-shopped against a similarly priced Corvette Stingray that includes far more.

The best-value model year of the 982's late run, and the reason this sits above both the 911 and the 2025 Cayman. The product is identical to 2025 — same 300 hp 2.0T, same chassis, same 10Best-winning dynamics — but the entry price is $69,950 rather than $74,795, and the car still took Car and Driver's 10Best for 2024, an award explicitly restricted to vehicles under $110,000 and judged on value as well as driving. On raw paper it remains poor value: $69,950 buys 300 hp and 4.9 s to 60 with the manual when roughly the same money buys a 490 hp Corvette Stingray that does 2.9 s with a fuller spec, and Porsche's option book pushes a normally specified car near $80,000. What redeems it is that the money buys chassis rather than content, and that the 718 holds the best five-year retention in this coupe field, so cost-to-own over an ownership cycle undercuts the sticker gap badly.

Five US Cayman trims for 2024 — base, Style Edition, S, GTS 4.0 and GT4 RS — spanning $69,950 to $162,350 across four power levels and two fundamentally different engines, with the 6-speed manual standard and the 7-speed PDK optional on everything but the PDK-only GT4 RS, plus Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur and Paint to Sample personalization no rival matches. Two qualifications hold it off the 911's score and keep it level with rather than above the 2025 car: this is the year Porsche deleted the Cayman T and the standard GT4, which removes the sub-base sport variant and leaves a $65,000 hole in the ladder between the GTS 4.0 and the GT4 RS; and the nameplate has no drivetrain or body-style axes at all — rear-drive only, one body (the Boxster is a separate nameplate), no entry point under $70,000.

Small absolute numbers on a sharply rising line, and 2024 is the year the rise began. US 718 deliveries jumped 26% to 5,698 — the nameplate's best year since 2016 and enough to outsell both the Panamera and the Taycan in America, on an eight-year-old design in the model year Porsche started dismantling the lineup. That is real market acceptance, but the driver is a farewell rush ahead of the announced combustion shutdown rather than underlying growth, and the volume is still well under half the 911's. Scored as a healthy niche seller with strong terminal demand: above the Z, BRZ and Supra, well below the Corvette, Mustang and 911, and a notch under the 2025 car whose volume climbed higher still.

Among the strongest badge positions in the dataset, and unusually it is backed by hard commercial evidence rather than sentiment: best-in-class five-year retention, and demand that accelerated 26% in the very model year Porsche began cancelling variants — the mark of a nameplate buyers want rather than tolerate. Porsche is a perennial J.D. Power APEAL leader with a deep repeat-buyer base. Held just under the 911 for two reasons that are structural rather than year-specific: the Cayman has always been positioned as the junior Porsche, deliberately kept from overshadowing the 911, and the turbo flat-four's widely panned engine note is a genuine image liability on exactly the volume trims scored here, which the flat-six GTS 4.0 and GT4 RS do not share.

Scored on buyer benefit, and 2024 offers slightly less of it than the leftover-heavy 2025 market. Porsche put no factory cash or subsidized financing on the 718 — Edmunds lists no incentives or rebates — and the year's 26% demand surge, driven by buyers chasing one of the last combustion Caymans, tightened dealer discounting rather than loosening it. Real negotiating room does exist on base and Style Edition cars, with invoice roughly $2,700 under sticker on the base coupe and forum-reported walks of several thousand on well-specified GTS 4.0 examples, but the GT4 RS is the opposite case entirely and routinely carried dealer market adjustments. Middle of the band: some dealer discounting, zero manufacturer help, and a demand curve working against the buyer.

The oldest proposition in this coupe field, and 2024 is the year the end became official. The 982 generation went on sale in 2016 and never received a facelift — the only significant change across nine model years was the 2020 arrival of the naturally aspirated 4.0 flat-six in the GTS, and the base car's platform electronics are unchanged since launch, which is exactly why it still carries a 7-inch screen, Bi-Xenon headlights and no driver assistance. In March 2023 Porsche confirmed the Cayman T, GT4 and Boxster Spyder would run out of production with the 2024 model year and that the successor would be all-electric, so a 2024 buyer was knowingly buying into a wind-down. Scored a hair above the 2025 car only because 2024 was not yet the final year and the range still had two model years of production ahead of it; the usual redesign-risk penalty is partly inverted here, since nothing newer is coming to devalue the car and last-of-the-combustion-Cayman status supports values rather than eroding them.

The most decorated car in this dataset and the reason the 718 survives every other criticism in this category. The 718 Boxster and Cayman took Car and Driver 10Best for 2024 — the 19th consecutive year for the mid-engine pair, an unbroken run no other nameplate in this field approaches — and KBB ranked the 2024 car the #3 best sports car of the year at 4.7/5 expert. The Cayman remains the fixed reference point reviewers measure every new sports car against. The one honest counterweight is Edmunds, which scored the 2024 car 7.1/10 after road and track testing, and the recurring press criticisms are exactly the ones the rest of this category already prices in: the flat-four's engine note, the ancient cabin technology and option-sheet inflation. Nobody argues with how it drives. Placed a point under the 2025 car, whose 20th-consecutive 10Best milestone and end-of-line retrospectives drew unusually amplified praise.