New Porsche 718 Boxster arrives with new name, new engines and new look

The Porsche Boxster is now the Porsche 718 Boxster with revised styling and 4-cylinder turbo engines.

Porsche announced the 718 Boxster at the end of last year, and now the brand has taken the wraps off of the car completely. The revised Porsche Boxster is more powerful and more efficient than ever thanks to a new range of turbocharged flat-four engines.

The Porsche 718 Boxster, now taking part of its name from the 718 race car from the 1950s and 60s, gets a 2.0-litre flat-four petrol engine with 296bhp, while the 718 Boxster S will use a 2.5-litre flat-four with 345bhp. You’ll pay a premium for the extra power though, since the S costs £50,695 compared to the standard car’s £41,739 price tag.

Downsizing to four-cylinder engines has big benefits for economy and emissions, with the standard Boxster returning combined cycle mpg figures of 40.9mpg and the S managing 38.7mpg, both with Porsche’s PDK automatic gearbox. That’s an improvement of 5mpg and 4.3mpg respectively over the pre-facelift car – but both engines are also 35bhp more powerful than their previous six-cylinder counterparts.

Torque figures are up too as a result of the new turbocharged engines, with 380Nm in the Boxster and 420Nm in the Boxster S. That means the new 718 models are faster too: the standard car is 0.8 seconds quicker from 0-62mph, at 4.7 seconds, and the S is 0.6 seconds faster at 4.2 seconds.

The most obvious changes to the Boxster are on the outside where the 718 gets a stylish new look. At the front there are larger air intakes at a flatter angle than before, as well as thinner LED light strips and sharp new headlights. There are bigger vents on the sides, larger 19-inch alloys and sleeker door handles, too.

At the back the changes are much more noticeable, looking wider than before because of the redesigned taillights and the movement of the Porsche badge to fit below the small spoiler. There’s also what Porsche calls an ‘accent strip’ that runs between the lights to add to the illusion.

Not much has changed inside, but there are some new air vents, a new steering wheel and the clock as been moved higher on the dashboard. There’s Porsche Communication Management as standard, which adds mobile phone connectivity, a powerful sound system and the ability to add Apple CarPlay and other online services.

You can have your new 718 Boxster looking even sportier when it leaves the factory by going for the optional Porsche Active Suspension Management, which lowers the car by 10mm – on the Boxster S you can go further and have the car 20mm lower. Porsche says the active chassis parts have been tuned for better comfort and responsiveness, too.

As well as the Normal, Sport and Sport Plus modes, there’s also now an Individual setting and a new Sport Response button on the dash – this makes the engine and gearbox even more responsive. Just like many other Porsche models, there’s an optional Sport Chrono Package too.

There are no details on the Porsche 718 Cayman yet, but the cars are closely linked – so we expect to see a similar raft of changes for that car, too. The 718 Boxster is available to order now, with deliveries starting in the spring.

Source: www.autoexpress.co.uk