2018 Porsche 718 Boxster / Cayman GTS: The Usual Formula, Now for Fours

The Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman’s abstinence from six continues. Six cylinders, that is. The mid-engined roadster and coupe traded their predecessors’ naturally aspirated flat-sixes for turbocharged flat-fours last year, and Porsche purists haven’t stopped yowling since. They’ll need to drink a glass of water and lube up their pipes for more: The 2018 718 Boxster and Cayman are now available in GTS form, and those models, too, use the 2.5-liter turbo four found in the 718 S models.

That means rumors that Porsche will bring a naturally aspirated flat-six back to the Boxster and Cayman models are running out of possibilities to become reality. We can still hope that a revived Cayman GT4 or Boxster Spyder might be gifted such an engine.

For now, though, the latest GTS-badged Boxster and Cayman are here, and they boast the familiar and appealing alchemy of extra power and standard performance features that are optional on lesser variants. It’s the same formula used in the GTS-badged 911 and Macan, as well as the on-hiatus Panamera and Cayenne models.

This year’s Boxster and Cayman GTS receive the same 15-hp bump over their S-badged siblings as did the old flat-six models. That vaults the GTS’s 2.5-liter flat-four to 365 horsepower, which is a significant 35 ponies stronger than the previous-generation GTS’s flat-six. Porsche credits a new intake and turbocharger revisions for squeezing out the extra power. Torque is up 8 lb-ft to 317, but only on GTS models equipped with the optional seven-speed PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission. Six-speed manual customers get the same 309 lb-ft as the S-spec engine.

There is no need to put much stock in Porsche’s claims that the new 718 GTS models will accelerate from a rest to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds with the optional PDK transmission. They’ll surely be quicker in our testing, as are most Porsches relative to their factory performance estimates. To wit, a 2017 718 Boxster S with the quick-shifting PDK reached 60 mph in just 3.6 seconds by our measure; expect the stick-shift GTS’s time to land just above four seconds, given the stick-shift 718 S’s 4.3-second run in our hands.

Porsche fits its 718 GTS models with the torque-vectoring feature, the Sport Chrono pack that adds a Sport Plus drive mode and a dashtop stopwatch, and an adaptive sport suspension as standard. These three items add a combined $5490 to the price of a 718 Boxster S or Cayman S. There’s also a standard sport exhaust ($2540 on the 718 S), Sport Seats Plus ($810, here wrapped in faux suede you can’t get on an S), and 20-inch black wheels that, replicated through the 718 S configurator, add a whopping $3020. And then there are the GTS’s signature black-colored accent items inside and out. Porsche tints the lenses for the taillights and front turn signals and paints the exhaust outlets, lower rear fascia, and badges black.

All in, Porsche charges $82,950 for the 718 Boxster GTS and $80,850 for the Cayman GTS. Those prices are exactly $12,100 higher than the 718 Boxster and Cayman S, a premium that nearly covers the included extras relative to the S. That is, spec a 718 S to match, and you’re about $12,000 into Porsche’s extensive option selection—only you’ll be short 15 horsepower and “GTS” script on the doors and trunklid. We know which choice we’d make.