Porsche 718 VS Aston Martin DB11

The 718 Cayman is often labelled as the 'junior 911' but that downplays its status as an outstanding sports car in its own right.

It’s not a smaller version of the 911, at all, but it is smaller than a 911. Not by much, though. The Cayman is 140mm shorter in length than the 911 at 4379mm end-to-end. Interestingly, the Cayman has a longer wheelbase at 2475mm and is taller at 1295mm.

The 718 Cayman is beginning to date in its design with this generation of the sports car arriving eight years ago. From the outside it’s holding up well in terms of styling , but inside it feels very 2016 with the small media screen and analogue dials.

It gives me a weird nostalgic feeling I normally only get driving older cars, but in a current model. Which could be why Porsche is jazzing the Cayman up with this Style Edition.

The Style Edition enhances the look of the entry-grade Cayman with 20-inch 718 'Spyder' wheels in a high gloss black or white finish, and there’s a choice of six special colours ranging from the Crayon hue our car wore to 'Ruby Star Neo', 'Shark Blue', 'Carmine Red' and 'Arctic Grey'.

The Style Edition also adds black sport tailpipes, full-colour Porsche crests on the wheel hub covers, a black leather interior with contrasting Crayon stitching, Porsche crest embossed headrests, illuminated door sills and floor mats with Crayon contrast stitching.  

Buyers can also choose a 'Contrast Package' in black or white which adds Porsche lettering to the side of the car and a strip to the bonnet.

For a while there it looked like Aston Martin had fallen into the ‘everything looks the same’ trap, with Ian Callum’s breakthrough DB7 design in the mid-‘90s writing the script for the DB9 that followed, and heavily influencing everything else in the brand’s subsequent portfolio.

But in 2014, Aston’s design chief Marek Reichman sent a message with the DB10 Concept that things were about to change.

James Bond had Q and MI6 to thank for his DB10 company car in Spectre, but real-world Aston Martin customers were soon offered the DB11, which combined the muscularity of Reichman’s work on the ultra-exclusive One-77 from a decade earlier with the swooping, long-nosed proportions of his track-only Vulcan hypercar.

The hallmark of a well executed 2+2 GT is that it looks bigger in photos than it does in reality, and the DB11 is a perfect case in point.

Appearing limo-sized in our accompanying images, the DB11 is in fact 34mm shorter end-to-end than a Ford Mustang, but it’s exactly 34mm wider, and no less than 91mm lower in overall height.

And as any fashionista worth their salt will tell you, dark colours are slimming, and our ‘Onyx Black’ AMR, with gloss black 20-inch forged rims and black ‘Balmoral’ leather interior accentuated the car’s tightly drawn, shrink-wrapped surface treatment.

Signature elements in the shape of a broad, tapering grille, divided side vents, and sharply curved, two-level (smoked) tail-lights clearly identify the DB11 as an Aston Martin.

But the smooth integration of the car’s broad haunches (very One-77), gently tapering turret (optional exposed carbon) and flowing bonnet is masterful and fresh. The dash-to-axle ratio (the distance from the base of the windscreen to the front axle line) is Jaguar E-Type-esque.

And it’s all subtly aero-efficient, For example, the door handles fit flush to the body, the mirror housings double as mini ‘wings’, and the Aston Martin ‘Aeroblade’ system channels air running from carefully crafted openings at the base of the C-pillar, through the rear of the car to generate downforce (with minimal drag) across a lateral vent on the trailing edge of the bootlid. A small flap rises at “high speed” when more stability is required. 

The interior is all business, with a simple instrument binnacle showcasing a central 12.0-inch digital speedo-within-tacho combination, flanked by configurable engine, performance and media read-outs on either side.

Aston has form with squared-off steering wheels and the DB11’s is flat on the bottom and decidedly straight on the sides, affording a clear view of the gauges without compromising purpose. A leather and Alcantara trim combination is (literally) a nice touch. 

The teardrop-shaped centre stack sits in a slightly recessed section (optionally) lined with ‘carbon-fibre twill’, while the form and function of the 8.0-inch multimedia screen at the top will be immediately familiar to current Mercedes-Benz drivers, as the system, including the console mounted rotary controller and touchpad, is sourced from the three-pointed-star brand.

A band of proudly illuminated buttons across the centre includes gear settings for the transmission and a winged stop-starter in the middle. Strange, then, that the plastic knobs on the adjustable air vents look and feel so cheap and bland. This a $400k-plus Aston Martin, where’s the knurled alloy? 

Other highlights include elegant sports seats trimmed in a combination of premium leather and Alcantara. Aston offers various levels of leather and our car’s black ‘Balmoral’ hide is taken from the top shelf.

The key accent colour inside and out on our test example was a screaming lime green, picking out the brake calipers, centre strips on the seats, and contrast stitching throughout the cabin. Sounds awful, looks amazing.