The Goodwood Test: Porsche 718 Boxster – No Longer The Junior

Heritage

We won’t dwell too much on the Boxster’s heritage for the 20 year old design is well known. It’s the ‘718’ component that is more interesting here in this context. This was the internal code number designated to the 1957 RSK Spider, the car designed to replace the highly successful 550 series.  Its story is extraordinary and in no facet more so than the fact that the RSK that came fourth at Le Mans in 1958 two weeks later took on the cream of the world’s Formula 2 constructors at Reims and won. You read that right: the same 1.5-litre sports car that drove twice around the clock was converted to a central driving position and at Reims humbled the works Ferrari, Lotus and Cooper teams.

By 1960 the 718 had become the 718/2 and a massively successful Formula 2 car at that thanks in no small part to the presence of one S Moss at its helm before becoming a fully fledged F1 car in 1961, bringing Dan Gurney home in second place three times in eight races. Not bad for a four year old design that started life as a sports car… These are the shoes the new 718 Boxster has elected to try to fill.

Design

The Boxster has been so extensively restyled, the bootlid is the only panel to survive the transition unscathed. The changes are fewer inside and relate mainly to the new and very welcome navigation and information system. The suspension has been revised but the biggest change of all lurks unseen behind the driver: the flat-six configuration engines that have powered every 911, Boxster and Cayman ever built have been replaced by smaller four-cylinder units, their reduced capacities compensated for by the fitment of a single turbocharger.

On paper it’s a win/win solution: the 2.7-litre Boxster is replaced by a 2-litre 718 Boxster S, its power rising 35bhp to a solid 300bhp as a result. The 2.5-litre 718 Boxster S replaces old 3.4-litre engine and makes a similar additional power gain, meaning it now had 350bhp. More important however are the gains in torque. Not only is the more of it – an additional 44 lb ft for the 718 Boxster S, far more significant is the fact it’s developed at just 1,900rpm, compared to the 4,500rpm of the old engine. And, says Porsche, these new engines even use a little less fuel and produce lower levels of CO₂.

Performance

No question, the new engines transform the performance of the Boxster. The basic 2-litre car is now as quick as was the old Boxster S, the new Boxster S offering 911 levels of shove. In an instant, a car that always felt like a toy has been transformed into a serious weapon.

The new engines also rectify one of the old Boxster’s few flaws. By offering a flood of torque at not much more than idling speed, the car no longer feels overgeared. You don’t need to change down a gear (often two) to make sure that when you put your foot down the engine is in the right position to respond, now you just plant your hoof and it takes off.

Passion

For all its benefits, there was always going to be downside to adding a turbo and removing two cylinders from the Boxster. It’s not the throttle response, which is impressive for a turbocharged engine, but the noise. To some the fact the Boxster now sounds like it’s trying to do a Subaru impression will matter very much, to others not at all. To us for whom the voice of a flat-six Porsche engine at better than 7,000rpm is akin to music from the Gods, it is a considerable pity.

Just as well then that Porsche has improved the car in other areas over which there can be no contention. The Boxster always did have the best chassis in the class, and now it’s been improved further. Better, because the engine is so much stronger, it gives the chassis far more work to do, a challenge it takes up with relish. When the Boxster was unveiled 20 years ago, it was very much a Porsche-lite, a junior stepping stone to the bigger, faster, proper, 911-shaped Porsche you really wanted. Now it has progressed so far, the standard Boxster has half as much power again and point to point speed that 20 years ago you’d have needed a fully fledged supercar to match. Most importantly and for two decades, if you wanted a two seat roadster to indulge your love of driving, a Boxster was always the best thing you could buy. And while you can argue both for and against the new engine strategy, it does nothing to upset that essential status quo.

Price tag of our car £50,695  (718 Boxster S)