Porsche 718 GTS 4.0
The 718 GTS was pretty much perfect … aside from its gruff four-pot. Porsche has now rectified its, ahem, mistake
Price: R1 164 000 (Cayman); R1 175 000 (Boxster) Engine: 4,0-litre, flat-six, petrol Transmission: 6-speed manual Power: 294 kw @ 7 000 r/min Torque: 420 N.m @ 5 000-6 500 r/min 0-100 km/h: 4,5 seconds* Top speed: 293 km/h* Fuel consumption: 10,8 L/100 km* CO2: 246 g/km Rivals: BMW M2 Competition; Jaguar F-type P300
1963 was the year Philips launched the rst audio cassette, revolutionising how people listened to music in their cars. Like so many things today, the cassette has disappeared, consigned to a box in the shed that contains the mixtape made by a teenage crush. Now we stream music from the Internet, accessed via a touchscreen in our car, on our phone or even by asking some
arti cial intelligence to nd our favourite track for us.
For Porsche, 1963 was about a different tune: the 904 Carrera GTS. It was the rst car to wear the Gran Turismo Sport badge and it went on to win the famous Targa Florio race. Over the following decades, the GTS badge appeared on a few models but it was only in 2007 that it became a major part of the Porsche line-up when it was
sported by the Cayenne. A 911 GTS followed in 2010 but then, in 2014, Porsche gave the Boxster and Cayman the GTS treatment. They were great cars with fantastic sound and performance in equal measure.
That has been harder to say of the latest-generation 718 Boxster and Cayman models. Their fourcylinder turbocharged engines are raspy and, while the performance and engineering are superb,
they’ve lacked the soundtrack enthusiasts really want to hear.
Not surprisingly, Porsche is not going to admit it made a mistake; that would not be very German at all but passionate drivers can get excited because the 718 models are now available in GTS spec with a 4,0-litre, at-six engine. They will