The Porsche Boxster was introduced 20 years ago, it was a cute little car with an affordable price of entry, and not too much power. But it did have great driving dynamics and it was/is quite the hit for Porsche, the cash flow from this car funded a lot of the newer cars.
20 years later, the car has grown up, it has more handsome styling, it’s offered in quite a few trims, it even spawned a coupe version, it is offered with more power, and is still relatively affordable. The new car also gets a new name, sort of… it’s now called the Porsche 718 Boxster, and we assume the Cayman will also get the same numerical name treatment.
There is also another piece of news, the new 718 Boxster and Cayman will now be powered by turbocharged 4-cylinder engines. The cars will be offered with with a pair of engine choices. The base engine will be a 2.0 unit, producing 296 horsepower (increase of 35 HP) and 280 pound-feet of torque (increase of 74 lb-ft) between 1,950 – 4,500 rpm. The car will be offered with a 6-speed manual transmission and an optional PDK dual-clutch automatic, when equipped with the PDK, the Boxster will hit 100 km/h in 4.7 seconds, which is 0.8 seconds faster than the car it replaces.
The 718 Boxster S will be powered by a 2.5 liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, producing 345 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque (an increase of 35 HP and 44 lb-ft of torque). With the optional PDK transmission, the 718 Boxster S reaches 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds, 0.6 seconds faster than the car it replaces. Both of the new Boxsters are also more fuel efficient, consuming 13% fuel than their predecessors.
According to Porsche, the styling on the Boxster has been completely reworked, to us it looks very similar to the non-turbo cars. Obviously there are minor changes when you look closely or have the two cars side by side.
The 2016 Porsche 718 Boxster will have a starting price of $56,000, while the Boxster S will start at $68,400 in the United States.
