Porsche 718: 2018 Motor Trend Car of the Year Contender

We Like: The S models’ pure driving experience

We Don’t Like: Sticker shock; 2.0-liter’s flatulent sound

The Porsche Boxster and Cayman are all grown up, and both have come together to form the 718 family. Although the Boxster and Cayman names live on to denote roadster and coupe models, respectively, Porsche’s revamped entry-level sports car gets some pretty extensive changes underneath the tweaked sheetmetal.

The big change in the 718 family: the two new engines mounted behind the driver’s seat. Gone are the flat-six engines, and in their place sit your choice of turbocharged flat-fours, either a 300-hp 2.0-liter or the far superior 350-hp 2.5-liter. Both engines power the rear wheels through either a six-speed manual or a PDK seven-speed twin-clutch automatic.

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The base 718 Cayman makes good power, but it’s the less charming of the two engines. The gearing on our PDK-equipped example felt a touch too tall for the engine’s power output, and more than a few judges commented that the 2.0-liter isn’t the sweetest-sounding engine. “Not really a pleasant engine note,” Frank Markus said. Added Ed Loh: “The fartiness is much more apparent from the outside.”

We were kinder to our perfectly specced manual 718 Boxster S, whose performance options included the sport suspension, torque vectoring transaxle, and sport exhaust. “Could there be a more pure sports car?” Chris Walton asked. “Mid-engine, delicate steering, growly engine, and perfectly placed pedals.”

The 718 is a phenomenal sports car, but its hit-or-miss new engines and tricky value proposition (options ramp up the sticker price far too quickly) mean that this baby Porsche just misses out on a finalist nod.

	2017 Porsche 718 Cayman	2017 Porsche 718 Boxster S
BASE PRICE	$54,950	$69,450
PRICE AS TESTED	$70,635	$85,170
VEHICLE LAYOUT	Mid-engine, RWD, 2-pass, 2-door hatchback	Mid-engine, RWD, 2-pass, 2-door convertible
ENGINE	2.0L/300-hp/280-lb-ft turbo DOHC 16-valve flat-4	2.5L/350-hp/309-lb-ft turbo DOHC 16-valve flat-4
TRANSMISSION	7-speed twin-clutch auto	6-speed manual
CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)	3,140 lb (43/57%)	3,079 lb (45/55%)
WHEELBASE	97.4 in	97.4 in
LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT	172.4 x 70.9 x 51.0 in	172.4 x 70.9 x 50.4 in
0-60 MPH	4.1 sec	4.3 sec
QUARTER MILE	12.5 sec @ 111.2 mph	12.7 sec @ 112.3 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH	100 ft	98 ft
LATERAL ACCELERATION	1.03 g (avg)	1.10 g (avg)
MT FIGURE EIGHT	23.7 sec @ 0.85 g (avg)	23.1 sec @ 0.89 g (avg)
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON	22/30/25 mpg	20/26/22 mpg
ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY	153/112 kW-hrs/100 miles	169/130 kW-hrs/100 miles
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB	0.78 lb/mile	0.87 lb/mile

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