"This gearbox is designed to be most responsive and easy to use — and remember, it's not sequential so it can drop three or four ratios at a time..."

That was immediately noticeable on the road — shifts are instantaneous when you use the paddles and just as responsive to the throttle. In fact if you drive it effectively in auto mode, then the 'box thinks for you like no other I have driven — run along cruising in sixth or seventh at low revs and prod the throttle and it drops a cog or two to the appropriate gear.

Floor it and it'll drop to second — even first and then pump the limiter in each gear it changes up through. Drive into any corner and by the time you're ready to plant it, it's in the right ratio. The level of aggression is dependant on the level of sportiness you select if the car is equipped with the Sports Chrono kit, too. Or you can drive it off those switches to your heart's content. Brilliant.

The new direct injection boxer six is also a gem in the S models — torquey, sensitive and responsive, it revs well and has more than ample grunt that works so well with that PDK 'box and perhaps the best tuned chassis in the business.

Dynamics and comfort

According to Porsche, the suspension with its new set-up gives the new models a combination of even greater driving dynamics and enhanced comfort all in one. Modification of the valve control map on the steering transmission serves furthermore to reduce steering forces, giving the Boxster and Cayman even more agile and spontaneous steering behaviour.

The wheels come in new design and are half an inch wider on the 'basic' models than in the past in order to accommodate the larger brake system of the S-models on the front axle.

The chasis has also been improved in terms of comfort and 'feeling' and that means the cars now sound even better than before — the Cayman in particular, is now easier to live with in an everyday sense with much of the boom and roar present in the prvious one now replaced pretty much by proper driving noises.

But the star turn in these cars is that new PDK gearbox and the direct-injection boxer 6 in the S models...