The Cayman GT4 RS was spellbinding on track but a bit much on road - can the Boxster version even up the score?
When Andreas Preuninger, the wiry, wily head of all things Porsche GT, bounded on stage last month to present the new 718 Spyder RS to the lucky few sods invited along to drive it, he didn’t oversell it. The new model was primarily about ‘old school driving vibe’ we were told, and, unlike the, was intended as a road car first and foremost.
For a division periodically charged with replacing the 911 GT3, Porsche’s Flacht-based employees are well accustomed to the weight of expectation - but there’s no denying the Spyder RS is a special case. There has never been a Boxster quite like this before, and because there will never be another, there is plainly no requirement to hold anything back. Conveniently, much of the hard work was already done: up to the beltline, the Spyder shares much with the trailblazing GT4 RS.
And that’s if you bother taking the roof with you. Leave it at home and you’ll be 13kg to the good. Small change, perhaps, as Preuninger himself grinningly accepted, but the rationale speaks for itself: the manufacturer has not stinted in taking the Spyder RS concept the extra mile, and it lends additional credence to the idea that the ‘most puristic and emotional derivative ever’, was a deeply-held ambition.
Well - that and the prospect of a 9,000rpm redline dead ahead. And the noise when you fire it up. Yes, the Spyder is still loud. Stridently so and right from idle. Preuninger suggested some of the GT4’s cold air-gargling excess has been gently reigned in, but there’s no mistaking the clamorous presence of the A-list flat-six or its scene-setting charisma. It ferments at low revs until the throttle opening is wide enough for it to break out the serrated, snowballing howl.
The most notable change - and undoubtedly the point of difference its maker was pursuing - is the welcome return of genuine, bump-moderating fluency. The last 718 Spyder possessed this trait in spades, and the engineer responsible for the RS chassis tune conceded that the more permissive damping rate was not too far distance from the one it applied previously.
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