A few years ago, Porsche introduced the Boxster Spyder, a lightweight hardcore version of their entry level roadster with a tent for a roof. People loved it. And now, with the gorgeously wonderful Cayman GT4, an open topped hardcore variant has returned. Welcome back, Boxster Spyder.
As before, the new Boxster Spyder is lighter and more powerful, a pretty regular recipe for a faster Porsche roadster. It’s also worse in weather conditions that aren’t typically called ‘lovely.’
And that’s because it has this roof that’s more tent than one touch luxury operation. This isn’t something you can do at a stoplight, you need to be a parking lot for a solid few minutes just to get settled and psyched up to put the top back on.
It’s lighter than the regular Boxster, coming in at 2,900 pounds, and it’s also taken this opportunity to add a healthy helping of horsepower. Like the Cayman GTS versus Boxster GTS, the Spyder is down 10 horsepower to the Cayman GT4, which means 375 horsepower from the 3.8 liter flat six. Yes, it’s manual only, and Porsche is claiming a 0-60 time of 4.3 seconds.
Of course, a car fettled by Porsche’s GT division wouldn’t be what it is without some trick suspension and body mods, including a front end pulled from the GT4 and a GTS-based suspension with PASM.
Like the Cayman, this is another car that Porsche has built to satisfy the brand faithful before natural aspiration goes away and nearly every single car that comes out of Germany has turbos attached to it. The era of downsizing may be coming, but it isn’t here yet.
We’ll have more soon and we absolutely can’t wait to drive it.