Did Porsche listen and give us the Flat-6 we asked for?
So for those of you that know me personally, you’ll know that the 981 Porsche Cayman GT4 has been my favourite car for a long while now, so to finally see the brand new 2020 718 Cayman GT4 unveiled is amazing and on my birthday too!
The 718 Cayman GT4 obviously takes its styling cues from the already gorgeous 718 Cayman but has the added new bumpers front and rear to give it that Porsche GT car appearance and of course it’s got the bigger rear spoiler too which looks a little smaller than the previous models spoiler, but still a great touch! The new 718 Boxster Spyder also shares much of the same design as the 718 Boxster with the same extra touches the GT4 receives, however rather than a high rise spoiler the Spyder receives a larger ducktail spoiler like the previous model and humps on the rear that somewhat resemble the 991.2 Speedster.
The concept of the styling though has been floating around the internet for quite some time now, with the questions going along with it being “will it have a flat-6 again?” And “will it have a manual transmission? Since the 718 Clubsport GT4 doesn’t”, the answers to those questions have now officially been answered!
The new 718 Porsche Cayman GT4 will have a 4.0L Flat-6 naturally aspirated power plant, but it isn’t the motor from the GT3 either, the engine being utilised for the GT4 and it’s sister car the 718 Boxster Spyder will be the 3.0 twin turbo motor from the new 992 generation 911, except the turbo chargers will be removed and the displacement increased to make it a naturally aspirated 4.0L that will produce 414bhp which is 29bhp over the previous generation’s 385bhp coming from its Carrera S derived 3.8L naturally aspirated flat-6 engine, the torque however remains the same at 420nm. Not only though is it a stroked out 911 motor without the turbos, it also has forged crankshafts and pistons, piezo fuel injectors, an aluminium intake system and the engine has also been dry-sumped with an oil pump that is supposed to prevent fuel starvation at high speed cornering.
Another mentionable feature is the new redline, the older 981 Cayman GT4 revved to 7500rpm which was great, but the new 718 Cayman GT4 revs all the way out to an 8000rpm redline, which I find absolutely phenomenal!
Some may be wondering though, why Porsche didn’t just put the 911 GT3 4.0L motor in the new Cayman GT4, in theory you’d think it’d be easier. However Porsche has said that there’d be issue with packaging the engine since it’d be converting from a rear-engined to mid-engined layout, which would also cause a fluctuation in price. As well as that, they also stated that by keeping the 718 Cayman GT4 and Boxster Spyder in the lower-400-bhp range it’d make it more accessible on the street, enabling the driver to wring the car out a bit more without being to excessive.
The second question was asking about the transmission; in which the 718 Cayman GT4 and Boxster Spyder only come with one option, and that is thankfully a 6-speed manual, and it shouldn’t be any other way since this is a renowned drivers car. With the manual transmission the new GT4 is able to lap the Nurburgring only 5 seconds under that of the PDK 992 Carrera S at a very impressive 7:30 which is also 10 seconds faster than the outgoing 981 model, the Boxster Spyder hasn’t lapped the Ring since that is not the cars intended purpose; just like the Speedster vs a regular GT3.
Chassis wise the 718 Cayman GT4 sticks to the original philosophy of the 981 GT4, although this time it has the front axle from 991.2 GT3 with a rear axle that has been made specifically for the GT4 and Boxster Spyder.
Adaptive dampers also come as standard with manually adjustable toe, camber, anti-roll bars and ride height. The electric power steering has also been overhauled to give a better overall feel after learning from the systems used in the GT3 RS and GT2 RS. Behind the newly designed 20-inch wheels are larger brakes and callipers than before, apparently very similar to what is used on the current GT3.
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This new 718 Cayman GT4 and Boxster Spyder are looking to be serious contenders for my all time favourite car if they are as good as they sound, which would make them next level from the previous generation. Lets also hope that the gearing has been shortened as well, since that was the one persistent complaint about the 981 Cayman GT4 and Boxster Spyder that stopped the car from being the perfect 10/10 it deserved to be.
So I think we can say with ease that Porsche is seriously listening to their customer base and constantly delivering with each new anticipated reveal and for that all of us car enthusiasts cannot thank Porsche enough. Everybody lets get ready to welcome back a flat-6 in a Cayman chassis in 2020, I myself cannot wait!
