New Porsche 718 T – Boxster and Cayman stripped

Porsche has revealed the new Porsche 718 Boxster T and the 718 Cayman T. As in the 911 T of 1968, the ‘T’ stands for ‘Touring’ in Porsche models, and is synonymous with driving pleasure in its purest form – the new duo is most at home on winding country roads, Zuffenhausen says.

The same recipe used for last year’s Porsche 911 Carrera T – base engine, manual, stripped of unnecessary equipment, performance-enhacing added – is being repeated here for the 718 T range. It’s powered by the base 2.0 litre turbo flat-four engine with 300 PS and 380 Nm, paired to a six-speed manual gearbox (PDK dual-clutch automatic is an option) and Porsche Torque Vectoring.

The 1,350 kg (PDK adds 30 kg to that) 718 T accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 5.1 seconds if you row the gears yourself, or 4.7 seconds with a PDK. Top speed is 275 km/h, but this model isn’t really about bare figures – there’s a lot of goodies for the enthusiast who’s not merely after sprint times or big horsepower.

The Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) sports chassis that lowers the car by 20 mm is being offered with the base engine for the first time here. The equipment package also includes 20-inch alloys, a shortened gearshift (red markings on the knob) and the Sport Chrono package. The latter offers Normal, Sport, Sport Plus and Individual driving modes, which can be selected from a steering wheel switch.

Sport and Sport Plus activate sportier characteristics in both the engine management and the accelerator, with the automatic dual-clutch function supporting the driver as you move down the gears in the manual gearbox. Sport Plus turns on a sportier configuration of the PASM, Porsche Active Drivetrain Mounts (PADM) adaptive body positioning and the PDK, if the latter is specified. PDK also adds Launch Control and Sport Response button functions.

The PADM dynamic gearbox mount minimises vibrations in the engine/gearbox area and reduces movements that could affect driving dynamics. Porsche says it combines the advantages of hard and soft gearbox mounts: driving behaviour becomes noticeably more precise and stable during changes in load and on fast curves, while comfort is unaffected on uneven roads.

Besides the visual impact of the 20-inch rims (in high-gloss titanium grey) and lowered body, the 718 T duo sport Agate grey mirror shells and ‘718 Boxster T’ or ‘718 Cayman T’ lettering on the bottom of the doors. Logos are repeated on the rear, which also has a central sports exhaust with black, chrome-plated twin pipes.

Unlike the exterior, the cabin has a pared down theme featuring door pulls and a big hole in the centre stack. Lightweight is cool, but we reckon that most owners will be opting for the Porsche Communication Management module that can be fitted at no extra charge. If you’re wondering, there’s no net savings, but these measures balance out the additional weight from the new gasoline particulate filter.

The sports seats have electric two-way adjustment, black Sport-Tex centre sections and the ‘718’ logo embroidered on the headrests. The steering wheel is a 360 mm GT sports item with leather and Mode switch. Boxster/Cayman T logos can found on the black dials and door entry strips.

There’s a bonus – on top of the model-specific touches, Porsche says that adjusted for equipment, 718 T buyers enjoy a price advantage of 5-10% compared to a similarly equipped base Boxster/Cayman. This is my kind of 718, but is it yours? Check out the standard car (Boxster here, Cayman here) and the higher performance GTS and decide.

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