New Porsche 718 Boxster Gets Official

And to place the cars in line with the brand’s historic mid-engined, four-cylinder racing machines, Zuffenhausen announced late past year that the new cars henceforth would be known as the 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman. The “718” designation is an hommage to the famous mid-engined race cars of the 1950s and 60s, with Porsche aiming to give all of their sports cars a model number designation: think 718, 911, and 918.

Plenty of torque on tap. That’s a gain of 74 lb-ft of torque for the smaller engine, and 43 extra lb-ft for the larger one vs. the current engine. In the 2017 Porsche 718 Boxster, a 2.0-liter turbo engine makes 300 hp and 280 lb-ft, up from 275 hp and 207 lb-ft in the old base Boxster.

Porsche has also given subtle aesthetic upgrades to the new gen Boxster, inside-out, while retaining the essence of the previous Boxsters.

The model – whose name revives nomenclature from Porsche’s history books, “718” was a street legal racer in ’57 – debuts in two variants, the base 718 Boxster and more powerful 718 Boxster S.

Both cars are faster than before.

The standard Boxster with Sport Chrono and PDK will come with 380Nm of torque and a 0 to 60 time of 4.7 seconds, the Boxster S will come with 420 Nm of torque and a 0 to 60 miles per hour time of just 4.2 seconds. The 0-100km/h sprint is disposed of in 4.2 seconds and full tilt boogie is quoted at 285km/h, while both models slurp an estimated 13 percent less fuel – a nominal 6.9 litres per 100km for the 718 and 7.3 for the 718S in the NEDC combined cycle. These cars can reach top speeds 170mph and 177mph, respectively. The Porsche turbo concept is boosting driving performance while improving fuel economy.

Each comes standard with a six-speed manual gearbox; a dual-clutch transmission is an option.

The most obvious changes to the Boxster are on the outside where the 718 gets a stylish new look. The old Boxster S in India costs INR 1.02 crores (ex-showroom, New Delhi). Additionally, the coasting function disengages the clutches when coasting at speed, leaving the engine at idle and the vehicle in neutral. This package sharpens the responsiveness of the engine and transmission to offer best possible acceleration.

Not too hard to tell a 718 apart from the pre-facelift. New design of the Bi-Xenon headlights feature integrated LED daytime running lights. Keen eyed viewers can see LED available headlights in press photos which should be optional. The steering wheel has also been reshaped for the 718 and sports new switchgear, but the rest of the cabin is similar to the 981 Boxster range. Back here is a new rear fascia that includes a black insert with a “Porsche” logo, totally restyled LED taillights with four-point brake lights, new bumper reflectors, and a new rear bumper insert with integrated center-mounted exhaust.

Inside, the Boxster features a completely redesigned dash panel, along with the Porsche Communication Management touchscreen infotainment system as standard and optional sat-nav. For instance, the navigation module with voice control is available, which makes it easy to input driving destinations.