Autoblog

Bones. Bucks. Dinero. Whatever you call cash, you’re going to 58,900 units of it to put a Porsche Cayman S in your garage, according to Stuart reporting from the L.A. auto show. As we’ve reported before, what you’ll get is a baby 911 packing a 3.4L flat-six with VarioCam Plug making 295 hp and 251 lb-ft of torque, as well as a dynamic and balanced chassis underpinning what will undoubtedly be judged as one of the best handling vehicles of 2006.

What don’t you know about the Cayman S yet? It achieves 20 mpg in the city and 28 mpg on the highway. It will go on sale January 14th. Oh yeah, and if you live in Canada you’ll have to scrounge up $83,900 worth of loonies to buy one.

Many pics and full press release after the jump.
LOS ANGELES – You don’t need a celebrity map to find the home of the newest star in Southern California. Just visit Porsche’s display at the Los Angeles Convention Center to see one of the automotive world’s most anticipated premieres—the 2006 Porsche Cayman S sports coupe—which makes its North American debut at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show.

While this newest Porsche shares much of its underpinnings with the acclaimed Boxster® roadster, its sleek and unique design and exceptional, mid-engined dynamic capabilities earn the Cayman S the right to its own name, as well as its own—and fast-growing—reputation.

Some may look at the 2006 Porsche Cayman and be reminded of the Porsche 550 Coupe or the Porsche 904 Carrera GTS Coupe, both legendary, mid-engined racecars from previous eras. Others will notice how Porsche designers incorporated elements of the Boxster roadsters and the 911 Carrera models into the new two-seat, fixed-roof coupe. Still others will see the Cayman for its unique design, purely Porsche but with distinct styling elements such as rocker panels which sweep up to the side-mounted air vents like a hockey stick, or the graceful, complex curves of the sloping roofline as it plunges between the voluptuous rear fenders.

To take full advantage of its more rigid body structure and its expanded dynamic potential, the 2006 Porsche Cayman S is equipped with a larger and more powerful 3.4-liter, horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine. By unleashing this 295-horsepower mill in a ligh tweight but extremely stiff chassis, and coupling it to a supple yet athletic suspension, the 2006 Porsche Cayman S establishes a new benchmark in the two-seat sports coupe category.

And yet the 2006 Porsche Cayman S is more than a high-performance sports car. It was designed with a particularly well-appointed passenger compartment and impressive luggage space, making it perfect for spirited long-distance travel—whether on two-lane mountain roads, wide-open stretches of Interstate or even the congestion of urban roadways.

The engine in the 2006 Porsche Cayman S features cylinder heads with the same VarioCam® Plus technology as the heralded Porsche 911® Carrera.®  VarioCam Plus carefully and constantly adjusts camshaft timing and valve lift to optimize power output. The 2006 Porsche Cayman S is the first car other than the 911 Carrera to benefit from this Porsche technology.

Equipped with VarioCam Plus, the flat-Six punches out 295 horsepower and 251 lb-ft of torque, propelling the Cayman S from a standing start to 60 miles per hour (96 km/h) in just 5.1 seconds. Though powerful, the new Cayman S is impressively efficient, earning a rating of 20 mpg city and 28 mpg highway, while also qualifying as an LEVII (low-emission category two) vehicle in the United States.

The Porsche Cayman S goes on sale in the United States and Canada on January 14, 2006. U.S. and Canadian retail pricing is $58,900 (USD) and $83,900 (CAD).