Porsche 919 prototype race car\u2019s<\/a> appearance at Austin\u2019s Circuit of the Americas World Endurance Car race. Its battery-assisted turbo V-4 engine is a technical marvel, pumping out an astonishing 900-plus horsepower which propels it to lap times just north of Formula One cars.<\/p>\nBut the WEC series played to half-empty stands in Austin. Like struggling Formula One, it has been forced by the nannies to nix ear-splitting rockets for battery-powered drones.<\/p>\n
Racing is as much about the visceral experience as it is about speed. So, too, elite sports cars.<\/p>\n
Big-brother 911 has also gone turbo, but it\u2019s still a six-pot. The boxer-4 is tarted up with a growly sport exhaust and rev-matching downshifts, but purists will be reluctant to give up their sixes.<\/p>\n
So Porsche has tried to make the four irresistible by mating it to a comprehensively reworked platform \u2014 rear bracing, half-inch-wider rear rubber \u2014 that produces staggering performance numbers. It even gets a new name: the 718 Boxster-Cayman (the numbers are tattooed on each car\u2019s lower back), a reference to the early-1960s 718-badged Porsche racers that punched above their weight.<\/p>\n
Despite two fewer cylinders, the 718 milks 300 horsepower from its base, 2.0-liter engine. That\u2019s 35 more than the outgoing 2.7-liter six. For the S model\u2019s 2.5-liter four, output soars to 350 horses (over the retired 3.4-liter six\u2019s 315).<\/p>\n
With so much power on tap in the familiar 2,900-pound, aluminum-intensive chassis, my 2.0-liter $68,390 Cayman exploded from corner to corner through Austin\u2019s hill country (an area not dissimilar from Hell, Michigan \u2014 an oasis of twisties in the midst of Lone Star prairie). More than once, I found myself rushing apexes carrying waaaaay too much speed.<\/p>\n
Cayman shrugged. No problem. Where mere mortal sports cars would push through the corner, taxing momentum, the 718 rotated as if on rails, displaying an organic goodness baked into the cars from hours of Nurburgring cooking.<\/p>\n
Cayman vehicle dynamics engineer Daniel Lepschi and his team spend six to eight weeks a year at the famed, 154-turn German track putting this production car through race training. Then he drives it home at night.<\/p>\n
The mid-engine Boxster has always been a special athlete. But only in its last generation did aesthetics catch up with the goodness within. The 2017 continues that evolution.<\/p>\n
Though more sculpted with sharper creases defining the wheel wells, the front is still easily mistaken for big brother 911. But the hindquarters are uniquely Boxster-Cayman. The thin \u201cPorsche\u201d strip across the rear makes the car look more planted. And the black side air-scoops are more elegant than the awkward ribs that used to scar the Cayman.<\/p>\n
The topless thrill of the full flat-6 made the Boxster my pick of the litter in previous generations. But with 718, I like the Cayman very much \u2014 especially as it is now cheaper (a first) than its topless sister, $54,950 to $57,050 base-to-base. Get it in white with black rims and you\u2019ll attract more paparazzi than Angelina Jolie.<\/p>\n
From there, buyers can pay another $12,400 for the 350-horse S. But for my money, the best upgrade is the $3,200 PDK transmission and the $2,440 Sport Chrono package. I\u2019m a manual romantic, but the PDK-Chrono marriage is dynamite. Think 100-millisecond upshifts, hair-raising launch control, barking downshifts, and a push-to-pass button that will slingshot you past slower traffic. Sad about the loss of the flat-6? This high tech package will put a smile on your mug.<\/p>\n
Porsche gets zinged for its a la carte pricing (my Cayman tester up-charged $140 for an extended fuel tank). But the advantage of a la carte pricing is you can pick what you want, nothing more. My ideal PDK-Sports Chrono base car tops out at a nice $65,000 that will give you joy for hours.<\/p>\n
If only I could choose the 911 Carrera\u2019s six-pack soundtrack.<\/p>\n
2017 Porsche 718<\/strong><\/p>\nBoxster-Cayman<\/strong><\/p>\nspecifications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
\n\n\nVEHICLE TYPE<\/strong><\/td>\n| MID-ENGINE, REAR-WHEEL<\/p>\n DRIVE TWO-PASSENGER SPORTS CAR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \nPower plant<\/strong><\/td>\n| 2.0-liter turbocharged flat-4;<\/p>\n 2.5-liter turbocharged flat-4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \nTransmission<\/strong><\/td>\n| 6-speed manual or 7-speed,<\/p>\n dual-clutch \u201cPDK\u201d automatic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \nWeight<\/strong><\/td>\n| 2,944 pounds base Cayman<\/p>\n (3,054 Boxster S as tested)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \nPrice<\/strong><\/td>\n| $54,950 base Cayman ($93,535<\/p>\n Boxster S as tested)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \nPower<\/strong><\/td>\n| 300 horsepower, 280 pound-feet<\/p>\n torque<\/p>\n (2.0L); 350 horsepower,<\/p>\n 309 pound-feet torque (2.5L)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \nPerformance<\/strong><\/td>\n| 0-60 mph, 4.0 second Boxster S<\/p>\n (manufacturer, as tested);<\/p>\n top speed: 177 mph<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \nFuel economy<\/strong><\/td>\n| EPA 21 mpg city\/28 mpg highway<\/p>\n \/24 mpg combined (2.0L base Cayman);<\/p>\n 21\/28\/24 mpg combined (2.5L Boxster S)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n report card<\/strong><\/p>\n\n \n\n\nHIGHS<\/strong><\/td>\n| KNIFE-LIKE HANDLING; EASY ON THE EYES<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \nLows<\/strong><\/td>\n| Six-cylinder withdrawal, cluttered console<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Overall:<\/strong>\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why do prudes always take the fun out of life? Determined to save polar bears from (global warming, global freezing, climate change or whatever they\u2019re calling it this week) bureaucrats have tightened auto emissions screws so tightly that even mighty Porsche has cried uncle and silenced the world\u2019s most glorious musical pipes this side of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19296,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19295\/revisions\/19296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} | | | | | | | | | | | |
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