What's the news?
Porsche has bestowed GTS treatment on its four-cylinder 718 twins - the Boxster and the Cayman - for the first time. The badge means a little more power, a little sharper handling and a little more money to buy, but as compensation GTS Porsches are normally superb to drive as a result.
Exterior
What typically marks out a modern GTS Porsche is black detailing and the 718 Boxster and Cayman models are no exception. The front bi-Xenon lights, the rear lamp clusters, the logos, the rear apron, the centre-exit, standard sports exhaust finishers and the 20-inch alloy wheels are all dark of hue, while at the front there's a new Sport Design splitter. On the base of the doors, you might also spot black GTS logos.
Interior
As standard, the GTS 718s have the Sport Chrono Package that is normally a cost option, so there's a stopwatch integrated into the fascia, while the GTS-branded, two-way electrically-adjustable Sports Seats Plus have Alcantara centres. There's more Alcantara around the cabin to further heighten the ambience, so you'll spot it on the steering wheel, the centre console and the armrests, for example. Also included in the GTS package is the Porsche Track Precision App, which enables the driver to automatically record, display and analyse driving data on a connected smartphone.
Mechanicals
Porsche takes the 2.5-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged boxer unit of the Boxster S and Cayman S models and subjects it to a few tweaks that raise the outputs by 15hp and 10Nm. This is achieved via the use of a new intake system and an optimised turbocharger, resulting in 365hp at 6,500rpm and 430Nm from 1,900- to 5,000rpm. While a six-speed manual is the standard transmission, fitted with the PDK and the launch control of the Sport Chrono Package, 0-100km/h takes just 4.1 seconds on both cars and they'll also run on to 290km/h.
That power output is up to 35hp in advance of the older, six-cylinder GTS Cayman and Boxster models, so there is plenty of extra equipment added to cope with the increased grunt. As well as the Sport Chrono Package, buyers will enjoy Porsche Torque Vectoring (PTV) with a mechanical rear-axle limited-slip differential and Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), which lowers the body by 10mm. It's not all about the speed and handling, though, as the Porsche GTS pair can do 34.4mpg (8.2 litres/100km) while emitting 186g/km CO2.
Anything else?
Although Irish prices are not yet confirmed, the GTS variants of the 718 Boxster and Cayman will likely carry a significant premium over and above the S models of each, which are €86,057 and €82,898 respectively.
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