i've driven both and the 2 cars are very different.

The R8 is a much more sophisticated car, and the suspension is magical - the car sucks to the ground during cornering and it is an easy car to drive very very fast. The suspension compliance is such that on mountain roads, 1G cornering is easy to achieve without any scary feeling whatsoever.

However, the R8 steering is uncommunicative, the engine is almost silent and the exhaust note uninspiring from the inside. It is so sophisticated that you feel that the car could drive by itself. Not to mention the weight of the R8 is definitely apparent to the driver at all times.

The Cayman is to its credit much more involving machine though less sophisticated.

If anybody were to GIVE me a car free of charge, which I cannot sell for 3 years, thereafter I would have to return it - and that is the only car I could drive for 3 years - I would take the Cayman.