Push the right pedal and get a move on and there’s an angry, angry sound. With the single turbo delivering 20 psi of boost, it allows for a much higher specific output than even the old Boxster GTS! The numbers, 300 PS and 380 Nm, are similar to what its Bavarian cousin delivers from an in-line four, but here it’s different. It’s wilder. These 300 horses haven’t been to grooming school and seem more untamed leading to quite the tail-happy nature for this new 718 soft-top.
Need numbers? With two on board, the Boxster shattered 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds and smashed the quarter-mile in 14.1 seconds at a shade over 173 km/h. The claimed top speed is 275, but, being where we were, we soon ran out of room. The braking was quite good for a car for its size and weight of just under 1.4 tonnes, even without the ceramic brakes, with a 2.3-second period between 80 km/h and naught, spanning less than 25 metres, too. Speaking of which, the PCCB (Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes) Rs-12-lakh option delivers far quicker and more effortless stopping power with no fade whatsoever. The base price is Rs 87.33 lakh, ex-showroom and without options in Mumbai. There are a slew of choices too. Play around long enough on the car configurator and you can easily double up the cost!
On the efficiency front, too, the 718 Boxster pleasantly surprised with its frugality, hardly wolfing down a litre every 7.5 kilometres in the city, while casually sipping one every 12.5 km on the highway. The standard tank is 54 litres, yielding a range of 475 kilometres considering an overall 8.75 km/l. Put in another 20 grand and you can have the 64-litre tank that increases said range to 560.
What that feels like on the road is a different story. Like the 911, the 718 allows many a moment of that on-the-edge feeling with the way it accelerates with a hint of wiggle. It makes you do a little work to get the goods and, when it delivers, it feels infinitely rewarding and widens the smile you’ve had all the while, taking it in, then getting in, and hearing that boxer fire up for the first time. The way it builds your experience is the key. The fluid feel of the touchscreen on the centre console as you pore through settings. The weight of the steering as you turn in, slow and fast, with its underlying pulse algorithms working hard. The way the suspension feels firmly sprung and agile beyond belief, yet soft enough not to be a bother even on the worst of road surfaces. It all adds up.
As with the 911, there’s an aura of performance, of quality, and, most importantly, of commitment. Every detail and appointment of choice reflects the enthusiast and inner child not just in the driver, but also the makers. You just know that whoever made those parts, sewed the material on those sport seats, and crafted all those aluminium bits of paddle, shifter and trim, knew exactly what feeling they desired from whoever first laid their hands on them and then ran their fingers slowly across. And that doesn’t come by very often. Any way you look at it, Porsche sports cars are exclusive. You don’t see one very often. And if it’s out-of-the-box quick-mix instant fun that you crave, this Boxster and its flat-four motor strike all the right notes.
