718 Boxster/Cayman (982) [Official] 718 Boxster, Cayman GTS 4.0
The Porsche 982 is the internal designation of the fourth generation Boxster/Cayman (third generation Cayman) made by Porsche. The two models have been marketed as the Porsche 718 Boxster and Porsche 718 Cayman. Production: 2016–2025
martinbo
Staff member
There is no PDK version as yet.
Joelpeyeye
Porsche Perfektionist
TopspeedPT
Track Technician
Rundenzeiten Hockenheim GP:
.............Porsche 718 Cayman GT4: 1.53,9 min
...................BMW M5 Competition: 1.54,2 min
....................................BMW M2 CS: 1.54,8 min
Audi R8 V10 Spyder Performance: 1.55,2 min
.Toyota GR Supra (Japan-Import): 1.55,3 min
......Mercedes-AMG A45 S 4Matic+: 1.55,7 min
........Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0: 1.56,9 min <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
........................Audi RS7 Sportback: 1.57.3 min
.............................Audi TTRS Coupe: 1.58,8 min
.....................................Mini JCW GP: 2.03,1 min
donkeykong
Track Technician
LaArtist
Wunderkind of Wheels
So I drove my cousins spyder 718
For a long time on epic B roads around the archipelago of Stockholm.
manual (ofc), ceramic brakes, bucket seats and all other goodies.
that gear box is such a damn treat, it is glorious the shift from 1-2 sounds like cocking a rifle. The auto blip function makes you feel like a god, I have decided that my next Porsche will indeed be a manual one.
Now the engine is epic it is so linear and stunning, at the start you get abit surprised being used to turbo engines that it doesn’t go ape shit mid rpm. But the way it builds force is so intoxicating. Amazing!
The car is stuff but it’s not unbearable at all, despite the 918 bucket seats.
Oh and one last thing the damn brakes I always said that ceramic brakes are to much to option and pointless. I still feel that they are to expensive but god damn the way they bite and
The confidence they give you as a driver is nothing short of amazing. I wish they were around 5k instead of 7 k euros.
all in all a epic car, but then again this 718 GTS 4.0 is probably enough.
he had the old 718 turbo GTS and that was infact bonkers enough according to me
And him.
For a long time on epic B roads around the archipelago of Stockholm.
manual (ofc), ceramic brakes, bucket seats and all other goodies.
that gear box is such a damn treat, it is glorious the shift from 1-2 sounds like cocking a rifle. The auto blip function makes you feel like a god, I have decided that my next Porsche will indeed be a manual one.
Now the engine is epic it is so linear and stunning, at the start you get abit surprised being used to turbo engines that it doesn’t go ape shit mid rpm. But the way it builds force is so intoxicating. Amazing!
The car is stuff but it’s not unbearable at all, despite the 918 bucket seats.
Oh and one last thing the damn brakes I always said that ceramic brakes are to much to option and pointless. I still feel that they are to expensive but god damn the way they bite and
The confidence they give you as a driver is nothing short of amazing. I wish they were around 5k instead of 7 k euros.
all in all a epic car, but then again this 718 GTS 4.0 is probably enough.
he had the old 718 turbo GTS and that was infact bonkers enough according to me
And him.
donkeykong
Track Technician
BMW M2 CS vs. Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0
The two most hotly anticipated performance cars of 2020, pitched head to head - best get comfy...
It's easy to be a tad despondent as a PHer in 2020. The stipulation for more and more nannying technology has further distanced driver from car, and the car you can have has almost certainly increased in size and weight. Too much of what is new is not really for us. But that doesn't apply to these two. The latest contenders from Porsche and BMW are custom-built with enthusiasts in mind and ideally placed to generate some much-needed enthusiasm about the future of fast, halfway affordable sports cars. Or else just perk up 2020 a bit.
Both Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 and BMW M2 CS come as standard with six-speed manual gearboxes; both produce at least 400hp, rev to more than 7,000rpm, drive their rear wheels through limited-slip differentials and reach 62mph in less than five seconds. They're both a sensible size, weigh an acceptable amount and cost, if a long way from bargain basement money, then also not the six-figure sums that seem to characterise so many comparisons. This test couldn't be more PH if we brought Jason Plato and his dry cleaning along.
Moreover, both have a point to prove. The CS has to justify a £22,000 premium over the already fairly excellent M2 Competition, while the Porsche has to improve upon the old 718 GTS (which, despite sounding like a dishwasher full of breeze blocks, was great to drive) as well as the 3.4-litre 981 GTS - arguably a high point for non-GT Caymans.
It's impossible to consider the M2 CS without first assessing the stats: 1,525kg isn't any lighter than a Competition, 450hp isn't all that much more than standard, and yet £75,320 is a decidedly larger number; to the extent where it cannot make any empirical sense, even to the most devout of BMW heads. And yet, brooding at the kerbside in black with gold wheels and the CS add-ons (bonnet, boot spoiler and diffuser, most notably), those numbers become the calorie count from the dessert menu - a forgotten irrelevance, because what's in front of you now just looks so damn good. A Competition seems if anything a tad undernourished against the CS, it being meaner, moodier and sexier to look at than any previous 2 Series. Or will ever look, given where BMW apparently intends on taking its design...
The interior is familiar for those feeling kind; ordinary and plain for anyone less favourably disposed to it. While jazzed up with excellent seats, Alcantara on the girthy wheel and some CS emblems, it's a cabin easily comparable to a Foxton's 218d. Which may well smart a little for £80k. That said, the fundamentals are decent (bar slightly offset pedals) and, like the Porsche, it all works. Sensibly arranged buttons accompany a decent touchscreen, the steering wheel controls make sense, the ventilation is logical, the dials are clear... all obvious, you'd like to think, though seemingly not always guaranteed with new cars. Both the Cayman and the M2 feel like good driving environments principally because they don't try overly hard to impress you.
Starting the M2 CS is like starting any of the outgoing F8x M cars now that it is fitted with adaptive dampers: press the steering button once for Comfort (and the least gloopy resistance) the power button once (because who drives a M car in Efficient?) and leave the damper button as is - Sport, as it turns out, suits the springing and the car just nicely. Finally, because if you've bought a manual CS there's no damn way the car is blipping your downshifts, the DSC goes off (it's the only way to disable the auto rev-match. Honest).
Thus configured, the CS is a great, great road car, civilised enough for long journeys though never distanced enough to let the driver forget they're in something a little more special. The seats clasp better than any M2 ever has, the steering provides a better sense of connection (most likely through the Cup 2's stiffer sidewalls) and there's a bit more bark from the quad pipes. Perhaps there isn't £20k of fairy dust sprinkled on the experience, but the CS is tangibly more, at any and every point, than just four blingy rims and a lot of carbon fibre.
With more challenge comes, crucially, more reward. Though this CS never feels lighter than any previous M2, it does come across as a more direct, capable and responsive BMW M car. Again, some of that can probably be attributed to the additional adhesion of Cup 2 tyres, yet the fact that the car and the driving experience never feels dominated by them points to a more rounded, thorough development. Furthermore, given the Competition was already about as good as M cars got, that's all intended as extremely high praise.
Most pleasingly, the CS has given the M2 greater bandwidth; you want to saunter around like a boss on a wave of turbo torque in something that looks like a destickered race car? It can do that. Want to attack a road, shifting that knuckly manual as fast as you dare and getting into the excellent bite of the ceramic discs? Go ahead. Want little skids as the flourish to a corner? Happy to oblige. Want bigger ones off roundabouts? This car's mismatched Cup 2s suggested someone had already done plenty, and it's honestly hard not to indulge given the chassis' indulgent balance, progression and accuracy. It feels like peak M car, the CS; and not the M car delusion of a delicate four-cylinder homologation special, because that went out of the window 25 years ago. It's peak M car of the charismatic yet capable hooligan mould, with fun and finesse brewed in equal measure to startling effect. The feel here, and not just because of the colour, is of a BMW in the AMG Black Series mould: track add-ons to a burly kerbweight shouldn't work, but the result is an absorbing, enthralling performance car for the road, punchy and pugnacious and more than a little lovable.
Which renders the Porsche effort a little redundant, doesn't it? If only. On the same stretch of road across Exmoor, the 718 GTS 4.0 is a model of chassis dexterity and cohesion that even the best M car in a generation can't match. While the BMW forces a mode selection to get the very best from it (if not from the dampers, with all modes accommodating, then certainly the steering) the Porsche immediately beguiles in default setting, so much so that the wheel mounted dial goes unturned for hours. There's no need to adjust anything, because the Porsche reeks of finely honed class before walking pace is breached - of course, the driver sits lower, but the pedals are also in a better location, their weighting more natural and the steering blessed with greater feel without requiring a button to modulate it.
On a road that causes the M2 to fidget, the Cayman glides with imperious, impenetrable control; it can be tightened up further with the Sport damper setting, though that robs the experience of some fluency. When the standard mode balances poise and comfort so well, there's precious little desire to change. Here more than ever the benefits of a lower, better distributed kerbweight - the Porsche has near enough 150kg on the BMW - can be enjoyed and exploited; the ability to smother bumps more effectively on larger wheels (while also managing body control better) is quite something to witness. The Porsche highlights inertia in the BMW you might never have noticed, scything into bends and settling its mass, whatever the scenario, spookily well.
That idea of inertia extends from the chassis to the powertrain, too, because for all the world it seemed like the M2 rasped its way beyond 7,500rpm with precious little hesitation, only for the Porsche to show it up fairly comprehensively in throttle response and vim. Put simply, it's very rare for a twin-turbocharged engine to match a naturally-aspirated one for outright eagerness, and for all BMW's sterling work that's not changing here. The new 4.0-litre isn't as memorable as the old flat sixes - the howl is now gruffer, the appetite for revs subdued slightly - but it's sufficiently good to feel jolly exciting in a world that doesn't exactly enjoy a surfeit of similar configurations. The BMW's S55 straight six remains very good; it's simply that the Porsche's flat-six, for a sports car installation at least, is superior. And where you might seek to defend the 'physicality' or 'toughness' of the BMW manual, no such excuses are required for the Porsche gearbox: it feels right from the moment the clutch is depressed.
Right' seems a nice word for the GTS 4.0; right size, right performance, right steering and so on. But the lingering doubt never entirely evaporates that it could be just a little more fun. Those big wheels require big tyres, for example, which a car with such great traction doesn't need; it means there simply isn't opportunity on the road to even cautiously approach what we know are pretty benign, expressive limits for a mid-engined sports car, and which the internet is only too keen to tell us about in skiddy circuit videos. The gearing contributes as well, because 50mph equates to 5,000rpm in second gear, meaning you still have the almost 3,000rpm - and he best bit of the rev range - to go. And it's going to take you beyond 80mph. The brakes are maybe a tad overservoed, too, meaning they only feel really good when using them properly hard.
Imagine Lionel Messi played in your 5-a-side football team. Even in a new environment and at much less than maximum effort, he's going to be vastly better than anyone else on the pitch. But it's not the place to show off his ability. That's the exercise in frustration that the Cayman GTS can be on the road; clearly superb, yet desperate for a track where every gear ratio can reach 7,800rpm and its chassis limits properly explored. It's still wonderful on the road, but it's too easy to feel like you're only scratching the surface. And scratching the surface isn't terrific entertainment.
To criticise the Porsche for being 'too good' would be churlish as well as wrong, because there's no such thing. It should be noted, however, that ability ought not to come at the expense of involvement - and that's where the idea that the GTS is a cut-price GT4 falls short. Recent Porsche GT cars have been modern masterpieces because they perfectly combine everyday usability with the sort of immersion and gritty detail it seemed might have been lost from regular Porsches. A 981 or 718 GT4 fizzes with feedback and captivates you with the experience - yet doesn't allow any of it to overwhelm the novice - which is why they're so highly regarded. For all its rightness and suitability, the GTS is missing, perhaps inevitably, that final bit of interaction which separates the truly great from the merely exceptionally good.
Is it fair to contrast GTS with GT4? Maybe not, but given how much is shared between 981 and 718 - and given the amount of original GT4s available for around £70k with miniscule mileages - the comparison becomes irresistible. And intriguing. Perhaps the more relevant match-up is with the old 981 GTS, if only to establish whether or not Porsche has reinvigorated the flat-six Cayman experience - or merely restored it to where it was.
Of course, if all Porsche has done here is replace an excellent sports car with another excellent sports car a little further down the line, it can hardly be faulted for that. The Cayman still possesses perhaps the best mid-engined chassis out there, and now underwrites its exceptionalism with an atmospheric flat-six. There are very few more compelling combinations on sale anywhere, for any price.
The M2 CS does present an alternative way, though. The suspicion was that the Competition might have been superior to the old four-cylinder 718, and even with its right and true engine restored the BMW runs the Porsche close here as a driving device. Ultimately it is a little unrulier on British roads, lacking that final veneer of sophistication that Porsche does so well - though we're dealing with fine margins here: they're both exceptional driver's cars in their own way.
Truthfully neither is a gobsmacking revelation for their respective brands. What they are is an imperious return to what each is carmaker does best. For BMW, that's front-engined, rear-drive, straight-six mischief with a layer of everyday civility; for Porsche, it's mid-engined dynamic delicacy and flat-six prestige. Both are a thumb in the eye to a generation of plodding, tediously amenable also-rans and are a reminder that fantastic sports cars needn't be a vanishing breed in 2020. And even if the next generation of BMW 2 Series and Porsche Cayman do succumb to electrification and digitisation and excess weight, then the CS and GTS are terrific high points in the long goodbye and absolutely worth buying this instant. The latter nicks this test on account of it being a modestly better for slightly less money. But CS buyers won't care one bit. They'll be having too much fun.
www.pistonheads.com
The two most hotly anticipated performance cars of 2020, pitched head to head - best get comfy...
It's easy to be a tad despondent as a PHer in 2020. The stipulation for more and more nannying technology has further distanced driver from car, and the car you can have has almost certainly increased in size and weight. Too much of what is new is not really for us. But that doesn't apply to these two. The latest contenders from Porsche and BMW are custom-built with enthusiasts in mind and ideally placed to generate some much-needed enthusiasm about the future of fast, halfway affordable sports cars. Or else just perk up 2020 a bit.
Both Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 and BMW M2 CS come as standard with six-speed manual gearboxes; both produce at least 400hp, rev to more than 7,000rpm, drive their rear wheels through limited-slip differentials and reach 62mph in less than five seconds. They're both a sensible size, weigh an acceptable amount and cost, if a long way from bargain basement money, then also not the six-figure sums that seem to characterise so many comparisons. This test couldn't be more PH if we brought Jason Plato and his dry cleaning along.
Moreover, both have a point to prove. The CS has to justify a £22,000 premium over the already fairly excellent M2 Competition, while the Porsche has to improve upon the old 718 GTS (which, despite sounding like a dishwasher full of breeze blocks, was great to drive) as well as the 3.4-litre 981 GTS - arguably a high point for non-GT Caymans.
It's impossible to consider the M2 CS without first assessing the stats: 1,525kg isn't any lighter than a Competition, 450hp isn't all that much more than standard, and yet £75,320 is a decidedly larger number; to the extent where it cannot make any empirical sense, even to the most devout of BMW heads. And yet, brooding at the kerbside in black with gold wheels and the CS add-ons (bonnet, boot spoiler and diffuser, most notably), those numbers become the calorie count from the dessert menu - a forgotten irrelevance, because what's in front of you now just looks so damn good. A Competition seems if anything a tad undernourished against the CS, it being meaner, moodier and sexier to look at than any previous 2 Series. Or will ever look, given where BMW apparently intends on taking its design...
The interior is familiar for those feeling kind; ordinary and plain for anyone less favourably disposed to it. While jazzed up with excellent seats, Alcantara on the girthy wheel and some CS emblems, it's a cabin easily comparable to a Foxton's 218d. Which may well smart a little for £80k. That said, the fundamentals are decent (bar slightly offset pedals) and, like the Porsche, it all works. Sensibly arranged buttons accompany a decent touchscreen, the steering wheel controls make sense, the ventilation is logical, the dials are clear... all obvious, you'd like to think, though seemingly not always guaranteed with new cars. Both the Cayman and the M2 feel like good driving environments principally because they don't try overly hard to impress you.
Starting the M2 CS is like starting any of the outgoing F8x M cars now that it is fitted with adaptive dampers: press the steering button once for Comfort (and the least gloopy resistance) the power button once (because who drives a M car in Efficient?) and leave the damper button as is - Sport, as it turns out, suits the springing and the car just nicely. Finally, because if you've bought a manual CS there's no damn way the car is blipping your downshifts, the DSC goes off (it's the only way to disable the auto rev-match. Honest).
Thus configured, the CS is a great, great road car, civilised enough for long journeys though never distanced enough to let the driver forget they're in something a little more special. The seats clasp better than any M2 ever has, the steering provides a better sense of connection (most likely through the Cup 2's stiffer sidewalls) and there's a bit more bark from the quad pipes. Perhaps there isn't £20k of fairy dust sprinkled on the experience, but the CS is tangibly more, at any and every point, than just four blingy rims and a lot of carbon fibre.
With more challenge comes, crucially, more reward. Though this CS never feels lighter than any previous M2, it does come across as a more direct, capable and responsive BMW M car. Again, some of that can probably be attributed to the additional adhesion of Cup 2 tyres, yet the fact that the car and the driving experience never feels dominated by them points to a more rounded, thorough development. Furthermore, given the Competition was already about as good as M cars got, that's all intended as extremely high praise.
Most pleasingly, the CS has given the M2 greater bandwidth; you want to saunter around like a boss on a wave of turbo torque in something that looks like a destickered race car? It can do that. Want to attack a road, shifting that knuckly manual as fast as you dare and getting into the excellent bite of the ceramic discs? Go ahead. Want little skids as the flourish to a corner? Happy to oblige. Want bigger ones off roundabouts? This car's mismatched Cup 2s suggested someone had already done plenty, and it's honestly hard not to indulge given the chassis' indulgent balance, progression and accuracy. It feels like peak M car, the CS; and not the M car delusion of a delicate four-cylinder homologation special, because that went out of the window 25 years ago. It's peak M car of the charismatic yet capable hooligan mould, with fun and finesse brewed in equal measure to startling effect. The feel here, and not just because of the colour, is of a BMW in the AMG Black Series mould: track add-ons to a burly kerbweight shouldn't work, but the result is an absorbing, enthralling performance car for the road, punchy and pugnacious and more than a little lovable.
Which renders the Porsche effort a little redundant, doesn't it? If only. On the same stretch of road across Exmoor, the 718 GTS 4.0 is a model of chassis dexterity and cohesion that even the best M car in a generation can't match. While the BMW forces a mode selection to get the very best from it (if not from the dampers, with all modes accommodating, then certainly the steering) the Porsche immediately beguiles in default setting, so much so that the wheel mounted dial goes unturned for hours. There's no need to adjust anything, because the Porsche reeks of finely honed class before walking pace is breached - of course, the driver sits lower, but the pedals are also in a better location, their weighting more natural and the steering blessed with greater feel without requiring a button to modulate it.
On a road that causes the M2 to fidget, the Cayman glides with imperious, impenetrable control; it can be tightened up further with the Sport damper setting, though that robs the experience of some fluency. When the standard mode balances poise and comfort so well, there's precious little desire to change. Here more than ever the benefits of a lower, better distributed kerbweight - the Porsche has near enough 150kg on the BMW - can be enjoyed and exploited; the ability to smother bumps more effectively on larger wheels (while also managing body control better) is quite something to witness. The Porsche highlights inertia in the BMW you might never have noticed, scything into bends and settling its mass, whatever the scenario, spookily well.
That idea of inertia extends from the chassis to the powertrain, too, because for all the world it seemed like the M2 rasped its way beyond 7,500rpm with precious little hesitation, only for the Porsche to show it up fairly comprehensively in throttle response and vim. Put simply, it's very rare for a twin-turbocharged engine to match a naturally-aspirated one for outright eagerness, and for all BMW's sterling work that's not changing here. The new 4.0-litre isn't as memorable as the old flat sixes - the howl is now gruffer, the appetite for revs subdued slightly - but it's sufficiently good to feel jolly exciting in a world that doesn't exactly enjoy a surfeit of similar configurations. The BMW's S55 straight six remains very good; it's simply that the Porsche's flat-six, for a sports car installation at least, is superior. And where you might seek to defend the 'physicality' or 'toughness' of the BMW manual, no such excuses are required for the Porsche gearbox: it feels right from the moment the clutch is depressed.
Right' seems a nice word for the GTS 4.0; right size, right performance, right steering and so on. But the lingering doubt never entirely evaporates that it could be just a little more fun. Those big wheels require big tyres, for example, which a car with such great traction doesn't need; it means there simply isn't opportunity on the road to even cautiously approach what we know are pretty benign, expressive limits for a mid-engined sports car, and which the internet is only too keen to tell us about in skiddy circuit videos. The gearing contributes as well, because 50mph equates to 5,000rpm in second gear, meaning you still have the almost 3,000rpm - and he best bit of the rev range - to go. And it's going to take you beyond 80mph. The brakes are maybe a tad overservoed, too, meaning they only feel really good when using them properly hard.
Imagine Lionel Messi played in your 5-a-side football team. Even in a new environment and at much less than maximum effort, he's going to be vastly better than anyone else on the pitch. But it's not the place to show off his ability. That's the exercise in frustration that the Cayman GTS can be on the road; clearly superb, yet desperate for a track where every gear ratio can reach 7,800rpm and its chassis limits properly explored. It's still wonderful on the road, but it's too easy to feel like you're only scratching the surface. And scratching the surface isn't terrific entertainment.
To criticise the Porsche for being 'too good' would be churlish as well as wrong, because there's no such thing. It should be noted, however, that ability ought not to come at the expense of involvement - and that's where the idea that the GTS is a cut-price GT4 falls short. Recent Porsche GT cars have been modern masterpieces because they perfectly combine everyday usability with the sort of immersion and gritty detail it seemed might have been lost from regular Porsches. A 981 or 718 GT4 fizzes with feedback and captivates you with the experience - yet doesn't allow any of it to overwhelm the novice - which is why they're so highly regarded. For all its rightness and suitability, the GTS is missing, perhaps inevitably, that final bit of interaction which separates the truly great from the merely exceptionally good.
Is it fair to contrast GTS with GT4? Maybe not, but given how much is shared between 981 and 718 - and given the amount of original GT4s available for around £70k with miniscule mileages - the comparison becomes irresistible. And intriguing. Perhaps the more relevant match-up is with the old 981 GTS, if only to establish whether or not Porsche has reinvigorated the flat-six Cayman experience - or merely restored it to where it was.
Of course, if all Porsche has done here is replace an excellent sports car with another excellent sports car a little further down the line, it can hardly be faulted for that. The Cayman still possesses perhaps the best mid-engined chassis out there, and now underwrites its exceptionalism with an atmospheric flat-six. There are very few more compelling combinations on sale anywhere, for any price.
The M2 CS does present an alternative way, though. The suspicion was that the Competition might have been superior to the old four-cylinder 718, and even with its right and true engine restored the BMW runs the Porsche close here as a driving device. Ultimately it is a little unrulier on British roads, lacking that final veneer of sophistication that Porsche does so well - though we're dealing with fine margins here: they're both exceptional driver's cars in their own way.
Truthfully neither is a gobsmacking revelation for their respective brands. What they are is an imperious return to what each is carmaker does best. For BMW, that's front-engined, rear-drive, straight-six mischief with a layer of everyday civility; for Porsche, it's mid-engined dynamic delicacy and flat-six prestige. Both are a thumb in the eye to a generation of plodding, tediously amenable also-rans and are a reminder that fantastic sports cars needn't be a vanishing breed in 2020. And even if the next generation of BMW 2 Series and Porsche Cayman do succumb to electrification and digitisation and excess weight, then the CS and GTS are terrific high points in the long goodbye and absolutely worth buying this instant. The latter nicks this test on account of it being a modestly better for slightly less money. But CS buyers won't care one bit. They'll be having too much fun.
BMW M2 CS vs. Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0
The two most hotly anticipated performance cars of 2020, pitched head to head - best get comfy...
www.pistonheads.com
TopspeedPT
Track Technician
TopspeedPT
Track Technician
martinbo
Staff member
OK, so I've test driven a 982 Boxster GTS 4.0 PDK. I wish I hadn't.
I was tootling past the local dealer today on my way to buy a sarmie for lunch when I noticed a GT Silver 4.0 Boxster on the outdoor display lot. I had a feeling it might be a PDK.
As always, friendly and professional service followed my enquiry and not long after I'm behind the wheel beside a knowledgeable sales person who guides me along a good test route.
It's good. Oh boy, it's better than good. All that talk about overly long gearing in the manual? It's matterless with the shorter-geared PDK transmission - this car has grunt.
Incidentally, I happened to be in my 981 which is a rare occasion in the week but I was office-bound and the car hadn't been driven in two weeks. So it was a great opportunity to make some back-to-back observations...
The GTS 4.0 is another level in terms of straight line performance, mid-range to top-end pull and in its ability to put those 420 Newton-meters down onto tarmac thanks to PTV.
There's a lot of opinion out there around the stifled engine note due to OPF fitment, and in cases it's not without merit. Below 3000 rpm, even with sports exhaust active, the engine note isn't anything special. It's still an atmospheric flat-six of course (which makes it nicer than any boxer 4) but the 981's engine has more fizz and character even at such demure rpm. Which, is good because you don't have to be wringing its neck to get a nice, tuneful experience.
Unfortunately, for me, that's about all the 3.4 litre 981 has over the 4.0 litre 982 because at 4000 rpm the GTS 4.0 blows its predecessor into the weeds. The NA 9A2 engine makes a deeper bellow at first followed by its own howl toward the red line. The change in the engine note's pitch is different from the older car but it's no less intoxicating. In fact, it's more engaging because of how quickly the needle swings to 7800 rpm. You definitely feel like you're sat in front of a more special GT division-fettled engine. The GTS 4.0 feels near-as-dammit supercar quick (within reason of course as time and turbocharging have moved the supercar game on considerably).
The PDK 'box feels faster and slicker than I've ever experienced before. There's more refinement, less transmission whine and nary a jerky change anywhere. Coming back down the gears, the downshift is lightning fast and smoother in manual mode than in the 981. It's also less of an event too with pops and crackles from the exhaust being considerably more muted. I'm not sure it's such a bad thing though - it draws less attention and doesn't diminish the overall experience.
Suspension is still the best you can get at the price point (or even higher in some competitors' models), cabin quality is beyond question and the old-school layout with lots more buttons compared to more modern facias is ergonomically great. Maybe the 981's steering is a bit more feelsome and nicer in its weighting but I'm sure that over time one will battle to find fault with the newer, lighter steering setup in the 982.
I shouldn't have driven the 982 GTS 4.0 because now I really, really want one. And no, I didn't end up getting that sarmie either...
I was tootling past the local dealer today on my way to buy a sarmie for lunch when I noticed a GT Silver 4.0 Boxster on the outdoor display lot. I had a feeling it might be a PDK.
As always, friendly and professional service followed my enquiry and not long after I'm behind the wheel beside a knowledgeable sales person who guides me along a good test route.
It's good. Oh boy, it's better than good. All that talk about overly long gearing in the manual? It's matterless with the shorter-geared PDK transmission - this car has grunt.
Incidentally, I happened to be in my 981 which is a rare occasion in the week but I was office-bound and the car hadn't been driven in two weeks. So it was a great opportunity to make some back-to-back observations...
The GTS 4.0 is another level in terms of straight line performance, mid-range to top-end pull and in its ability to put those 420 Newton-meters down onto tarmac thanks to PTV.
There's a lot of opinion out there around the stifled engine note due to OPF fitment, and in cases it's not without merit. Below 3000 rpm, even with sports exhaust active, the engine note isn't anything special. It's still an atmospheric flat-six of course (which makes it nicer than any boxer 4) but the 981's engine has more fizz and character even at such demure rpm. Which, is good because you don't have to be wringing its neck to get a nice, tuneful experience.
Unfortunately, for me, that's about all the 3.4 litre 981 has over the 4.0 litre 982 because at 4000 rpm the GTS 4.0 blows its predecessor into the weeds. The NA 9A2 engine makes a deeper bellow at first followed by its own howl toward the red line. The change in the engine note's pitch is different from the older car but it's no less intoxicating. In fact, it's more engaging because of how quickly the needle swings to 7800 rpm. You definitely feel like you're sat in front of a more special GT division-fettled engine. The GTS 4.0 feels near-as-dammit supercar quick (within reason of course as time and turbocharging have moved the supercar game on considerably).
The PDK 'box feels faster and slicker than I've ever experienced before. There's more refinement, less transmission whine and nary a jerky change anywhere. Coming back down the gears, the downshift is lightning fast and smoother in manual mode than in the 981. It's also less of an event too with pops and crackles from the exhaust being considerably more muted. I'm not sure it's such a bad thing though - it draws less attention and doesn't diminish the overall experience.
Suspension is still the best you can get at the price point (or even higher in some competitors' models), cabin quality is beyond question and the old-school layout with lots more buttons compared to more modern facias is ergonomically great. Maybe the 981's steering is a bit more feelsome and nicer in its weighting but I'm sure that over time one will battle to find fault with the newer, lighter steering setup in the 982.
I shouldn't have driven the 982 GTS 4.0 because now I really, really want one. And no, I didn't end up getting that sarmie either...
Centurion
Apex Apex Predator
Oh no. How will you be able to sleep tonight?
Hopefully Porsche will sell tens of thousands of them so that the car is attainably priced on the used market in 3-5 years.
Does throttle response feel as crisp and responsive as in your Boxster?
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Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, is a German automobile manufacturer
specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs, and sedans,
headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Owned by
Volkswagen AG, it was founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche.
In its early days, Porsche was contracted by the German government
to create a vehicle for the masses, which later became the Volkswagen
Beetle. In the late 1940s, Ferdinand's son Ferry Porsche began
building his car, which would result in the Porsche 356.
Official website: Porsche
Official website: Porsche
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