Kozhikode, Kerala. The sun is still below the horizon as I walk past the Alladin’s cave of supercars in Ashique Thahir’s garage. I have met Ashique before but I haven’t been to this concentrated hit of petrolheadedness in the past. I know from Ashique’s Instagram handle that one, he is co-host of a show on Amazon Prime called ‘Car and Country’ and two, this fellow is very particular about the cars he owns. Each one of these cars is here not because it is a special edition or because it is the only one in India with that spec. No, for Ashique, each car has to make him feel something special and that’s why there is a sinister looking Huracan Performante here. He tells me it will nonchalantly creep up to 200kmph rock solid and then when you think it’ll take that sweeping corner at that speed, quickly remind you that it will bite if you take too many liberties with it. He says he loves that feeling and he also tells me that is the exact reason he won’t let anybody else drive it.
There’s a Ferrari 458 here because he says he absolutely loves the way the last naturally aspirated V8 from Ferrari revs. He says he will never sell it because he knows it is the last of its kind.
It is also why the 718 Cayman GT4 is here. It’s here because he couldn’t resist the lure of a six-cylinder, naturally aspirated, mid-engined Porsche GT with a manual gearbox.
This car is also why I am here today.
In no time, with Ashique at the wheel, we howl through Kozhikode’s narrow streets — the destination for the morning is Ashique’s award-winning office building where we are supposed to meet the photo and video crew.
We’ve got a 15-minute race against the sunrise and with Ashique’s smooth (and quick) driving style putting me at ease, I have a rather distracted chat with him — distracted because the howl of the Porsche 4.0-litre flat-six invades conversation mid-sentence and shatters meaningful thoughts. It really is hard to concentrate on anything else when a flat-six is singing.
Ashique has been a Porschephile for as long as I’ve known him. He told me that he’s always wanted to have a Porsche and when Porsche finally came to India officially, he ended up buying a Cayenne. The Cayenne convinced him that he could use a Porsche the way he wanted to use it and what better everyday supercar than a 911 eh? That’s how the 997-generation 911 Cabriolet landed up in his garage. But, unlike most others I know who pamper their cars, Ashique used his 911 as a daily driver — he used to take it to the barber, to the movies, to restaurants.
That car went on to cross 1,00,000 kilometres and when I saw it last, it had all the scars of a war veteran who has lived a full life on Indian roads. The wheel nuts had a bit of rust on them, some of the hubcaps on the BBS alloy wheels had been lost to the great Indian roadside puncturewallah and I remember being shocked by the story of a Maruti 800 that rammed into the back of the 911.
It is as we pull into the Team Thai office building that I realise what an actual Porsche nut he is! I’ve seen people hang certificates or milestone achievements on their office walls — Ashique has hung that 1,00,000 kilometre 911 on the wall, oily bits and all. He says he likes looking at it the first thing in the morning as he drives into work. I make a mental note of what to do with my Triumph Tiger once I’m done with it.
A quick shoot of a horizontal Cayman GT4 and a spiderman 911 later, we are on our way. I’m still in the passenger seat when Ashique talks about about how he discovered Porsche’s GT cars. He was still using the 911 Cabriolet as his daily driver when he decided to see what the GT3 RS was about. He said there were no test drives of the GT3 available but he booked one based on sheer faith and reviews and he wasn’t disappointed. He put about 40,000km on that car! Jeez!
It’s then that the Cayman GT4 caught his attention and more specifically the fact that it had a manual gearbox option and to cut a long story short, here we are quite a way out of Kozhikode and upshifting at 8500rpm out of third gear.
I am itching to ask him if I can have a go at it but before I work up the courage, he stops the car and motions for me to get in the driver’s seat.
So, I have to remember to push the clutch in before I select a gear — I’ve never driven a manual Porsche before. The six-speed manual has my heart as soon as I move through the satisfying mechanical action into first. Ashique presses a button on the centre console that activates an automatic rev-matching function and, as I discover later, makes me look more professional than I am.
The 718 Cayman GT’s 4.0-litre flat-six makes 414 horsepower, and it winds all the way up to its 8000rpm redline in a manner that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I tell you, that engine and manual just makes the whole experience more exciting, more involving. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for quick gearshifts and improved lap times that the PDK is better at but I’d pick the manual any day. I wouldn’t buy a GT4 any other way.
The Cayman GT4 uses the same front axle setup as the 991.2-gen GT3 and the rear suspension is bespoke in that no other Porsche uses the same setup. The GT4 rides an inch lower to the ground than the Cayman GTS and it has aerodynamic enhancements that help it stay flat as a pancake over undulating roads but what really gets me about the GT4 is how it immediately makes me feel at home. Porsches have always been very communicative driver’s cars but this one is on a whole new level. Five minutes behind the wheel and I know exactly how it will respond to steering, brake and throttle inputs. So now I know why Ashique went for the Cayman GT4.
But, he has a different point of view. He tells me Porsches are practical and robust. He says you can use them like any other everyday car and that they will always get you to your destination even in tough conditions like we have in India.
He says that with all the Porsches he’s owned, he doesn’t really have to worry about taking care of the car because in his experience, the car takes care of him. What more could you ask of a sportscar, eh?
Engine: Flat-six, 3995cc
Power: 414bhp @ 7600rpm
Torque: 420Nm @ 5000-6800rpm
Weight: 1420kg
Power-to-weight: 296bhp/tonne
0-100kmph: 4.4sec
Top speed: 303kmph
Price: ₹1.8 crore (base, ex-showroom)