The 2018 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS hardtop and Boxster GTS convertible are high-performance variants of the German automaker’s compact mid-engined sports cars. It’s safe to assume they’ll both be fun to drive, but we’re finding out for ourselves this week. So what do you want to know?
We’ll get to spend a little time with both the Cayman and Boxster on the roads of Northern California, hopefully with both PDK automatic and traditional three-pedal manual transmissions, too.
Yes, a stick is still the 718 GTS’s standard transmission. And that’s hooked up to a 2.5-liter flat-four cylinder engine which is turbocharged and, according to Porsche, good for 365 horsepower and 309 lb-ft of torque. But apparently if you do order the PDK, that torque figure moves up to 317 lb-ft.
The new GTS is rated to make 15 HP more than a Cayman S, and 35 more than the outgoing GTS.
Porsche promises that the fastest version of the 718 GTS, a PDK car with a few more optional extras, can do 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds and hit a top “track speed” of 180 mph.
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Otherwise, the new versions of the cars are supposed to come with more chassis stiffening than the last one and more driver aids than ever.
I’m excited to get some seat time, as I once spent a night putting 200 miles on a 2015 Cayman GTS doubling back through the windy backroads of Bear Mountain in New York and still think about it today. The feeling of the shifter was just unforgettably satisfying. And the balance, I’m telling you, that car felt like it could move in any direction at any moment. Interestingly though, I drove the 911 GTS more recently and had trouble really appreciating that car. So I’m going into this next experience with an open mind.
Regardless, I can’t to see what the new high-output Cayman and Boxster are like. If you leave some questions, I’ll try to get them answered as we publish our findings.
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