Porsche Finally Gives The Cayman GT4 And Boxster Spyder Something More Than The 911

The release of the 718 Cayman GT4 and Boxster Spyder proves that the only thing sacred at Porsche is keeping the soul in their sportscars. Drained and paved over is the performance moat that once separated the precious 911 from its mid-engined younger sibling. The range topping 718 now has things that even the Neunelfer doesn’t receive.

Ball-joints For All

The new 718 GT4 and Boxster Spyder now share all of the pieces in their chassis and powertrain. In the 981 GT4 and Boxster Spyder, Porsche graced the GT4 with many suspension components straight out of a GT3, but kept the Boxster Spyder as a more road-biased setup. The previous generation Spyder certainly would never be described as lacking, but given the fanfare around the Speedster it is clear that there is a market for an open-topped GT driving experience. Thus it was, Porsche developed both cars to have the same lightweight spring-strut suspension that rides 30mm lower than the standard cars. A mechanical locking differential is managed by a typically Porsche-named Porsche Torque Vectoring system. Enthusiasts rejoice.

Extranatural Aspirations

A six-speed manual translates the motivation coming from a 4.0 liter naturally aspirated flat-six. The free breathing engine produces 413 bhp and 309 lb-ft of torque. Those are very healthy figures for the 3130 lb (1,420 kg) car, but roughly one Kevin Hart short from the 500hp 339 lb-ft provided by the GT3. Porsche says that this engine is based on the same engine family as the current turbo engines in the Carrera family, distinguishing it from the 4.0 liter engines found in the Speedster, GT3, and GT3RS models. Unless this is for some sort of packaging issue, I say that this is a missed opportunity for Porsche to provide the same engine in a proper mid-engine layout. Apparently there is still someone at Porsche who enjoys the pained cry of internet conspiracy commenters. Cracking a smile and raising their villainous eyebrows every time they see a sentence starting with, “Why can’t Porsche just give the Cayman…..blah, blah, blah!” Delightful pain.

Update

When asked why they did not use the 4.0 liter engine from the GT3, a representative from Porsche said that they did not want to create a rival to the GT3. In addition to potential sales cannibalism, they said that they could not create a GT4 with a GT3 engine with the rigid valve-train and all the other motorsport kit for under 100.000 Euro.

With that said, I still think they could find a real audience for a GT4RS with a 500 hp unit. That is just an idea, but one that they may look to build with another variant of the newly created 4.0 liter. We will see.

Something More Than Any 911

What those Porsche Conspiracy Theorists (or as Porsche refers to them on an option list as PSV for Porsche Special Verschwörungstheoretiker) miss is that the 718 GT4 and Spyder offer things that the 911 simply cannot. Because of the unique mid-engine layout, Porsche was able to use a rear diffuser in the 718 twins. Installing a diffuser large enough to provide 30% of downforce on the rear axle required the development of a new single-chamber arch rear silencer. Something that is possible in a mid-engined car, but simply unavailable when you have an aluminum pancake hanging off the end of the car. The packaging challenge of a rear diffuser in a rear-engined car is precisely why Porsche has transitioned the 911 RSR to a mid-engine platform. Something missing from all of the road-going 911s today.

Quite the tunnel for that diffuser

homologatedSHIFT openly welcomes the new generation of 718 GT4 and Boxster Spyder. New owners of 981 GT4 owners who just bought their GT4 for a few thousand under the sticker price may be in need of professional counseling in the next few months. The birth of another NA adrenaline rush may finally help 981 prices lay along a more natural depreciation curve. The buyers of $75K sportscars rejoice!