718 BOXSTER
When equipped with a turbocharged flat-four, does the drop-top 718 have big enough character to win favour over the BMW and Jaguar? Matt Bell gets behind the wheel…
Once upon a time, the Boxster was seen as the ‘poor man’s 911’ and was only really understood by a minority of marque enthusiasts. Moreover, the Boxster was talked about unfairly by those who’d never driven one. Throughout the model’s four generations, Porsche steadily improved its image, moving away from the ‘entry level’ stereotype to a Porsche seen to be a genuinely good sports car in its own right, perhaps even giving the 911 a run for its money. That said, can a Porsche equipped with a four-banger really take on a V8-powered F-TYPE? And can it show the two-litre Z4 a clean pair of heels? I think it can.
Let’s address the elephant in the room. One of the Boxster’s greatest selling points was not only its open-top thrills, but its charismatic flat-six engine, known for producing a scintillating exhaust note. There’s no escaping the fact a force-fed, two-litre, four-cylinder unit fails to deliver the aural satisfaction of a naturally aspirated six-shooter and therefore affects the way the Boxster feels. Stamp on the throttle and hairs no longer stand on end as revs climb. Instead, the four-pot delivers a note which doesn’t excite nearly enough.
One thing that can’t be knocked, however, is the Porsche’s performance. With just shy of 300bhp and 280lb-ft of torque at its disposal, plus the added benefit of the optional PDK transmission (yours for an extra £2,000), what we have here is a Boxster capable of despatching the sprint from rest to 60mph in just 4.7 seconds, while at the top end, it’ll go on to achieve a respectable 170mph. Say what you want about the flat-fourpropelled 718, but it has our Z4 test car and the equivalent four-cylinder F-TYPE P300 well and truly banged to rights in the performance stakes.
Find a quiet back road, put the Porsche through its paces and the appeal of previous-generation Boxsters continues to shine through. Dynamically, this car rides the line between supple and stiff very well, offering enough comfort for day-to-day driving, as well as reassuring damping over questionable B-road surfacing, without being soft enough to create much in the way of body roll through corners. With maximum torque on offer from 2,150rpm up to 4,500rpm, you don’t have to be greedy holding on to gears like you would in the naturally aspirated car, opting to snag up to, say, third on a slightly slower corner, not needing to stretch the extra revs out at the top in second. That being said, be
too forthcoming with shifting and you’ll end up in a dead zone below 2,000rpm, a place where the two-litre engine’s drawbacks are obvious.
BUCKET LIST
The seating position feels bang-on for someone of my height (5ft 10in and a bit, in case you were wondering), with plenty of headroom before touching the fabric roof and enough adjustability in the steering and seat positions to allow you to dial in whatever setting makes you feel you’re in charge of a ‘proper’ sports car. On this point, Porsche has always done well with the seating position in its products. Here, the two-way electric Sports seats offer just enough bolster to keep you in comfortably place. They’re perfect for your daily commute, but those of you keen on engaging in more spirited driving might consider the optional buckets a better choice.
Elsewhere, it’s rather a case of business as usual, the 718 Boxster not developing all that much on the previous generation’s exterior looks, but adding in worthwhile upgrades to the interior, including Apple Carplay and what appears to be the 991-generation 911’s infotainment system. It’s easy to use with just enough tech to keep you happy, but you may find the smaller infotainment screen and physical buttons somewhat outdated. Truth be told, the BMW shines ahead of the F-TYPE and Boxster here, with a bang up-to-date system looking both clutter-free and modern.
Economically, the two-litre Boxster makes sense. On a journey from Reading to Peterborough, the car returned 40mpg without hesitation (something the F-TYPE with its thirsty V8 could only dream of), with the odd blip of acceleration in between to spice up the otherwise mundane journey. The PDK is effortless through its gear selection and offers arguably the best all-round semi-automatic gearbox experience in the business. In this company, with the Z4 and the F-TYPE, which both use a ZF gearbox, PDK is certainly the top performer, snapping gears at a quicker rate of knots without compromising comfort in and around town.
With a base cost of £47,090 on the road (our test car added in £7,552 worth of options, including £632 for the Gentian Blue Metallic paint job and £1,313 for the bigger Boxster S wheels), the 718 Boxster sits right in the middle of this trio, with the V8 F-TYPE obviously being more expensive and the Z4 shaving £6,000 off the Porsche’s asking price. Given I think the Boxster is the best of all three cars here, the Porsche’s price point is sensible. And let’s set the record straight: with the currently underway witch hunt of petrolheads making good ground, a 40mpg, two-litre, four-cylinder engine that’ll develop 170mph and accelerate to law-breaking speeds in little more than five seconds makes a whole lot more sense than a near two-tonne V8 brute. Okay, truth be told, I’d buy a four-litre 718 GTS with manual six-speed gearbox, but it’s the Boxster’s chassis and open-top thrills which win out here. ●