Rejoice! The 718 GT4 Has An N/A Flat Six

With the rest of Porsche’s 718 range switching to turbocharged flat fours, Petrolheads everywhere were waiting to see how Porsche would power the 718 Cayman GT4 and Boxster Spyder. Well the wait is finally over and thankfully, the long awaited successors are powered by naturally aspirated flat sixes.

It’s still a different motor to the last iteration however, but as before, It’s essentially the engine from the latest 911; although breathing atmospherically and with an extra litre to play with. Even without the turbos, power is still a very respectable 414bhp. A 4.4 second 0.62mph time won’t break any records, but it’s by no means slow especially when you consider the 3 pedal handicap. What will be interesting to see is if they throttle the cars with overly long gear ratios like they did on the previous generation. My guess would be not, as lobbing the tubos off should be disadvantage enough to not worry even the base 992 911.

Alongside the 718 GT4, Porsche has unveiled the roofless brother; The 718 Spyder. The previous generation Boxster Spyder was my guiltily pleasure car. A two seat sports car I still to do this believe to be Porsche’s best design, but sadly it wore the ‘Boxster’ badge. So my inner snob would forbid me from openly loving it. This time round though, I have no excuse as Porsche has dropped ‘Boxster’ from the name.

Unsurprisingly, the appearance of both 718 gen cars is pretty much identical to their respective 981s. Both sport more aggressive looks than the standard cars on which their based and a smattering of aerodynamic improvements; chiefly for the GT4, the huge rear wing. The most notable change under the skin is that the cars share the same chassis this time around. Yes, the Spyder has now been taken under the GT car devision’s wing which if you look at their track record, is no bad thing. 

The aggressive set up features a hefty 30mm drop over the standard cars, Active Suspension management and a torque vectoring steering system which works with the mechanical diff to make the small cars even more agile, all this while the rest of the systems have been tuned to be less intrusive than before. 

Prices start at £73,405 for the Spyder and £75,348 Cayman GT4, but as ever, you’ve got to me a very good friend of Porsche to get on the list and chances are but the time you’re reading this, they’ll all be sold out. But don’t panic, no doubt Autotrader will have plenty in 6 months with a 20% premium.