- this new high-performance version of the porsche 718 boxster is called the 718 spyder.
- it uses a naturally aspirated flat-six engine with 414 horsepower, cementing its place atop the lineup.
- the 2020 718 spyder will go on sale next spring with a starting price of $97,550.
with more power and torque than the last-gen flat-six cars, every variety of the porsche 718 boxster we’ve tested reaffirms that this mid-engined master pulls harder with its new turbocharged four-cylinder engines. but porsche’s gt customers—some of the most nitpicky people in the sports-car universe—demanded that the hottest boxster, the spyder, return with the engine they think the cars deserved. porsche listened.
the new 718 spyder takes the 992-generation 911’s 3.0-liter flat-six 9a2evo engine, bores and strokes it out to 4.0-liters, and strips off the turbos. to get this kind of rev range, new heads, valves, pistons, connecting rods and crankshaft were also fitted. so was a new intake manifold with two resonance flaps. altogether, this engine makes 414 horsepower at 7600 rpm—39 more than the 2016 boxster spyder—and 309 pound-feet of torque from 5000–6800 rpm, identical to the 2016 car. the only transmission is a six-speed manual.
unlike the previous-generation spyder, which used a more street-friendly suspension and brake package than the corresponding cayman gt4, the new spyder is just as hard-core as its hardtop brother. it boasts a new front bumper with larger air intakes, a ducktail rear spoiler, and an aggressive diffuser to keep it grounded at its claimed 187-mph top speed.
both the spyder and the gt4 borrow the 911 gt3’s front suspension and brakes—15.0-inch rotors all around with six-piston calipers up front and fours in the rear, or 16.1-inch front units and 15.4-inch rears with the optional carbon-ceramics—and the adaptive dampers are from the gt3 rs. the abs and stability-control programming are rs-spec, too.
the anti-roll bar end links, camber, toe, and ride height can all be manually adjusted, though the nominal ride height is 1.2 inches lower than a standard 718. a clutch-type limited-slip differential with brake-based torque vectoring pairs with electric power steering. the spyder has wider tires than in lesser models, with 245s at the front and 295s at the rear; porsche fits either michelin pilot sport cup 2 or dunlop sport maxx race 2 tires wrapped around new 20-inch wheels. at roughly 3300 pounds, the spyder is porkier than before; it's also nearly 200 pounds heavier than the current-generation boxster gts by porsche’s figures, though fans of the flat-six will likely forgive the extra weight.
the new spyder’s manual roof unclips from its moorings on the spyder’s windshield header and rear haunches and simply folds into a space below the rear decklid, making it much easier to deal with than the original boxster spyder’s pup tent, which required five minutes of fumbling. the fabric flying buttresses ensure that no one will mistake this for an average boxster. a special package dresses the spyder's interior in black-and-red leather that is paired with a two-tone black-and-red fabric top. aluminum or body-color interior trim are the only other choices, unless you’re the paint-to-sample type. safety nannies such as blind-spot monitoring and lane-keeping assist are not available.
the 718 spyder will go on sale next spring at a starting price of $97,550, which is $13,500 more expensive than a manual boxster gts but $2900 less than the new cayman gt4.