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      The 2023 Porsche Cayman GT4 RS is the best sports car on sale today

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Saturday, 29 July, 2023 - 11:00 · 1 minute

    A yellow Porsche Cayman GT4 RS

    Enlarge / Everyone always said Porsche would never put its best flat-six engine in the Cayman or it would overshadow the 911. Maybe that's exactly what's happened. (credit: Bradley Iger)

    Judging by recent projects like the Mission R and 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance , Porsche looks poised to introduce an electrified version of the Cayman in the not-too-distant future. While it's likely that such a sports car will raise the bar for certain measures of performance, it's also safe to assume that the driving experience will be altered significantly. Thus far, high-performance EVs have struggled to deliver the kind of emotional connection that enthusiasts have grown accustomed to from their ICE-motivated counterparts—a factor that's undoubtedly top of mind for the designers who are working on the next generation of the automaker's lineup. In the meantime, though, the folks in Porsche's GT division have ensured that the current era of the Cayman will not go gentle into that good night.

    A vocal contingent of the Weissach faithful long insisted that a model like the GT4 RS would never be produced. Since its introduction in 2005, the Cayman has been positioned as Porsche's entry-level sports coupe relative to the 911, and many posited that this mid-engine platform would never realize its full potential due to concerns that it might upstage its iconic older brother. Although the debut of the 981-generation Cayman GT4 back in 2016 was arguably the first piece of evidence that effectively refuted this theory, the 718 GT4 RS puts the notion to bed. Not only is this the most visceral and capable Cayman ever produced, it also makes a strong case for itself as the most compelling sports car on sale today, full stop.

    The GT4 RS benefits from a wide variety of upgrades, but the engine is undoubtedly the star of the show. While it shares the same displacement as the naturally aspirated 4.0 L flat-six in the standard 718 GT4, it's actually an entirely different engine that's borrowed from the latest 911 GT3 . Output is down slightly from that rear-engine application due to the backpressure created by the Cayman's longer exhaust system, but peak figures of 493 hp (368 kW) and 331 lb-ft (449 Nm) of torque still make this the most powerful factory-produced Cayman ever offered by a wide margin and bestow it with a searing 9,000 rpm redline.

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      Four-point-whoa: The 2021 Porsche 718 Boxster GTS

      Jonathan M. Gitlin · news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 7 January, 2021 - 19:00 · 1 minute

    • The weather wasn't great during my days with the new 2021 Porsche 718 Boxster GTS, so you'll only be seeing Porsche's photos here. [credit: Porsche ]

    Accidentally scheduling two different appointments for the same time slot is probably something all of us have done at least once or twice. In my case, that meant mistakenly booking a pair of test cars for the same week late last year. And they couldn't have been more different cars. I've already written about the Toyota Venza— it's an attractive and efficient hybrid crossover that charmed me far more than I expected after I drove from DC to upstate New York and back. I was already expecting good things from that week's other car—a 2021 Porsche 718 Boxster GTS—yet it too exceeded them.

    The 718 Boxster is the entry point into the Porsche sports car range, but there's nothing entry level about the $88,900 GTS. It sits almost at the top of the tree, between the cheaper, more everyday 718 Boxster S and the more expensive 718 Spyder, a car with which it shares an engine. Which in this case is a 4.0L flat-six, an engine that makes Porsche nerds get a little weak at the knees.

    Most of Porsche's power units have turned to turbocharging in the past few years—including the lesser variants of the 718. But not this four-liter lump, which remains resolutely naturally aspirated. Installed in the GTS, it makes 394hp (294kW), 20hp less than in the stripped-out Spyder. (Both GTS and Spyder make an identical 309lb-ft/420Nm). Although the engine isn't quite as rev-happy in the GTS as in the Spyder, it's not far off—the torque peak is between 5,000-6,500rpm, and peak power arrives at 7,000rpm, with a 7,800rpm redline to call time on things.

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