The Audi beckons you with its cheeky style, sultry cabin and delivers a handy flow of power and grunt. It must be noted however that TTS, like many of its higher-stressed TFSI siblings, has a tendency to quite annoyingly run on after the throttle is released and our tester came back muttering about not being able to launch the car quite as he would liked to have?

The Merc is a no-nonsense aspirated V6, it sounds great and although it is still a bit of a barge it runs excitingly well even though that 7G Tronic does steal a bit of driver involvement.

The Porsche likes to be revved, but do that and it rewards and then some ? don?t get caught in the wrong gear with a TTS alongside you on the freeway though ? you?re likely to get a hiding.

Our test kit confirmed how close these cars really are ? albeit that all three are quite a way off their claims even though we test up here in the thin air of Gauteng?

The Porsche and the Audi can hardly be split in straight line acceleration ? Cayman pipping the Audi to 100 by 0.1 seconds at 6.6 seconds, losing out by the same margin on the quarter, but clocking a terminal speed 1km/h slower at 160km/h. The Merc is right in the ballpark when it comes to 0-100 but as they accelerate on, it loses out slightly.

That Audi?s force feeding sees to it that it is supreme in the lower overtaking measures, although the Merc and its auto box shows well there too but loses out again at higher speeds, where the Porsche almost overcomes the Audi?s turbo advantage ? even at altitude.

So, knowing how they run at altitude, we now have a very tight tussle between the Audi and the Porsche, with the Merc a still impressive third. But we expected the Audi to trump the others up here in the sky and it didn?t. Maybe the ?Use Super 98 Octane Unleaded Only? sticker inside TTS? fuel Flap can help explain that one?

So, it?s down to driving them now and that?s where the star began to shine?

The Audi is far better than Audis of old ? it?s wieldy and driveable and possesses a chunky and positive power delivery. But that run-on bugs the crap out of us and you can still feel that AWD baggage that?s now even overridden by a nanny net that prevented us from launching it like we wanted to.

The Merc proved quite a surprise, but look, it?s still a bit of a barge. It handles well and they have really sorted out that turn-in and it has what we?d call an almost BMW M-like steering feel. A quantum leap indeed. The Merc has the best engine for sure ? full of grunt, free revving and no vices at all, even though its bulk sees to it that it fails to quite match the others on the drag strip.

But the Porsche is the car you need if you want to drive. Even when you sit in the car and hold onto that wheel for the first time, it?s clear that this thing is built for the kill.

All you need to remember is to keep the revs up and the rest is paradise on wheels ? it does nothing wrong ? handling is on another planet as that feeling you get standing still is transcended into probably the finest driving experience you can get today ? at any level.

There is no other car out there that interprets your inputs into sublimely accurate driving action like this Porsche Cayman S Sport does, it takes the already sublime handling traits of the basic car and shoves those to another level ? at the same time as letting its aesthetic advances over the somewhat sombre stock car telegraph the extreme excitement that awaits you in this car.

The Audi too, promises much through its dramatic style - and it delivers handsomely on that promise ? although it has one or two little vices that get in the way and measured against the Porsche, it can?t quite do it.

The SLK is a somewhat different proposition and does something that Merc has become so good at ? it doesn?t quite match its rivals here in terms of dynamics and pace, but it does it all in such a sophisticated and suave manner.

Which leaves us with value for money and prestige to wrap this thing up.

The Audi is without doubt the bargain here ? more than enough to make those little foibles disappear forever to the driver who may be stretched to afford it.

The Merc enjoys the middle ground in pricing albeit at a R130K premium over the TTS. But you get that drop-top bonus and this thing is packed with every bit of luxury and a gizmo menu to die for. The person who buys this thing is also a completely different animal to the fellow or the lass into the other two ? in SLK they have a car that?s close enough but it?s still enough of a cruiser and has more than just the kitchen sink going for it.

Which leaves us with the Porsche with its R150K premium over the Merc and R300K over the Audi. A hard pill to swallow, or your licence to exclusivity and perhaps the best handling car you can drive?

We reckon the latter for sure. There re only a handful of these that will ever run around so you are guaranteed that exclusivity of being the first in one of these to ride past the cafe that?s seen a dozen of the others drive past before you came by.

And when you?re behind the wheel of the car built for the kill, who cares about the prey? So if you?ve got it, flaunt it ? the Cayman still wins this one hands down, even though it may break the bank?