Porsche launched the new 718 Cayman and 718 Boxster in India, with the Cayman being priced at Rs 81.63 lakh and the Boxster being priced at Rs 85.53 lakh. These replace the older Cayman and Boxster that featured the flat six-engines. The cars are nearly identical, with the only difference being the Boxster is a soft top convertible, while the Cayman is a coupe.
Both the 718 Cayman and Boxster are powered by the same turbocharged 2-litre flat-four engine that makes 295bhp and 380Nm. This is a bump of 25bhp and 90Nm for the Cayman, and 35bhp and 100Nm for the Boxster over the previous gen car, even though the new ones have smaller engines. Both come with Porsche’s 7-speed automatic PDK gearbox as standard, while the 6-speed manual is not offered in India, currently. Performance of the two cars is identical as well, with naught to 100kmph coming up in 4.9 seconds (5.1 on the manual) and a top whack of 275kmph.
However, performance can be upped by speccing your car with the optional Sports Chrono package — the 0-100kmph time drops to 4.7 seconds when specced with the package, courtesy launch control, which isn’t available on the standard car. What this package also gives you is a switch on the steering wheel that allows you to change driver modes between Normal, Sport, Sport Plus and Individual. You also get a stopwatch on the dash and dynamic transmission mounts. Porsche has a long list of options you can equip your car with, in addition to the Sports Chrono package.
The ‘718’ tag is a reference to the highly successful race car built by Porsche in the late 50s and 60s. Called the 718 RSK, it had a spaceframe chassis with a flat-four engine. The car has won iconic races like Targa Florio and Le Mans, and is steeped in Porsche’s racing heritage. These new Boxsters and Caymans are also mid-engined flat-fours and so Porsche has decided to revive the name.
Unlike before when the Boxster was more affordable than the Caymans, the 718 Cayman is now the more affordable of the two cars. This is the first launch for Porsche in India this year, but it won’t be the last and you can expect the updated Panamera to be launched in the country later this year.