A Porsche 718 Boxster Spyder Is On The Way With The GT3's 4.0 Flat-Six

The incoming Cayman GT4 will be joined by a Boxster Spyder, both powered by the same 911 GT3-sourced N/A six

21 Nov 2017

A Porsche 718 Boxster Spyder Is On The Way With The GT3's 4.0 Flat-Six

We’ve been fairly sure for a while that Porsche is cooking up a 718 Cayman ‘GT4’ with a naturally-aspirated flat-six, but now we know it’ll have a cousin: a 718 Boxster Spyder.

Autocar reports that Stuttgart is developing a successor to the ‘981’ Spyder (pictured above and below), which will shirk the 2.5-litre, turbocharged flat-four used in the 718 Boxster S and GTS in favour of an N/A six. It’ll trump the 3.8-litre 911 Carrera S unit used in the previous Spyder, too: like the next Cayman GT4, it’ll use a detuned version of the 911 GT3’s incredible 4.0-litre flat-six, hooked up to a manual gearbox.

As far as power goes, that’s open to speculation. In the GT3, the motorsport-derived six-banger is good for 493bhp, while the old Boxster Spyder made a more modest 370bhp. So, the output should be somewhere in between those figures, albeit closer to 370 than 493. Let’s take an educated guess of 420bhp and see how right we end up being.

Along with the shoutier engine, we can also expect overhauled suspension, stickier tyres and various weight saving measures to make this the most potent Boxster ever seen.

The question is, would you have the 718 Boxster Spyder, or the 718 Cayman GT4?

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

They will put a cvt there

And, of course, they’ll be in limited edition, at super high prices.

This is why I love porsche. Theyre just crazy but in a good way.

I would have a Boxster Spyder so I can put the roof down and listen to that awesome engine.

What’s the point? I’m sure they’re limited production and already sold out.
Credit where due though.. Porsche does actually listen to it’s customers.

I’d like both, but if I had to choose I’ll take the Boxster. We don’t have too many Boxsters around in my area of living! Who doesn’t love a 4.0l flat 6 with a stick and 3 pedals?

Why can’t more companies take this direction with their sports cars?

Neither for me…I’ll stick with my 718 Cayman S PDK turbocharged variant. It’s going to be hard to be this car in overall performance, regardless of the 718 aspirated variant.