Drove A GT4, Wow
This is what I thought lol. Thanks for that. A used GT4 is at the perfect price range right now. Car was just fun, no other way to explain it. Like go cart fun. I guess I was shocked more than anything. It made me research the car a bit and see exactly what it offers. I do plan to get rid of my Hellcat soon, and my wife thinks we are getting a 718 Cayman or Boxster, she prefers the later. But, with the release of the 718 GT4 around the corner, Im hoping the prices of the current model maybe drops a bit more. Then my choice would be easy. But like Bob said, I would have an impossible time replacing my 911, even if it is for a GT4. The 911 means so much to me. Childhood hero of mine. I wish they offered GT3 suspension on a Carrera.
It would be more apples to apples then. The carrera is just more of a cruiser than the GT4 and isn't as involving. No way around it. 35k that a typical GT3 brings as a premium. I didn't grow up dreaming of X car or Y car: I didn't grow up in a car family. 55k and didn't need rear seats, I would rather own a Cayman R over a nice 997.2 C2S; again, I love the involvement. It is the same reason I owned a BMW 135is and thought it was the best BMW I have driven that was made after 2006 (until I drove a 1M). People thought it was ugly and weird: who cares! It was a total driver's car. I will say that a GT4 gets more compliments than a plane-jane color 911, if you are into getting noticed. Most non-car people have a very vague idea what a 911/Cayman/Boxster/GT car is, but they all know Porsche and the cars mean business. My buddy had a bargain-basement 928 for awhile and got nothing but compliments.
The only essential difference between the 2020 718 Cayman GT4 and the 718 Spyder is the body style: the former is a coupe, the latter is a convertible. Both are powered by a new naturally-aspirated, four-liter flat-six that produces 414 horsepower and red lines at soaring 8,000 rpm. The engine comes mated to a six-speed manual that automatically rev matches鈥攁 feature that will come in handy for those who haven't mastered the heel-toe balancing act between throttle and brake. Zero to 60 mph takes 4.2 seconds in each, but top speed for the GT4 is 188 mph, while the Spyder is exactly 1 mph slower. The traction, stability and anti-lock braking systems have all been tuned for the track. As CNET's Road Show notes, both trims are aggressively style with a splitter and spoiler in the front and a diffuser, set of tinted taillights and sport exhaust in the rear. The Spyder has a manually operated fabric soft top. Sport seats and a GT Sport steering wheel, air conditioning and Porsche's PCM infotainment system standard interior features. With regard to the cabins' aesthetics, the GT4 is finished in brushed aluminum, while the Spyder's matches the body.
Porsche鈥檚 919 Hybrid race car just scored a major victory in the World Endurance Championship over the weekend at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. You don鈥檛 have to like or even understand motorsports to appreciate that it takes a lot of automotive ingenuity to win a gruelling six-hour endurance race in the harsh Texas heat. This 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman boasts the biggest increase in performance a Cayman has ever seen from generation to generation, but isn鈥檛 any less friendly or usable. Porsche engineers have made a ridiculous amount of enhancements and they will bore you to death with all the minutiae, but all you need to know is that it results in a dramatically better car. They looked at every single detail and didn鈥檛 leave anything out. Starting with the new engine, the 718 family is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter flat four-cylinder engine with 300 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. S models get an upgraded 2.5-liter unit that boasts 350 hp and 309 lb-ft of torque.
Interestingly, the smaller engine gets more boost, as the bigger one doesn鈥檛 need it because of the increased displacement, and Porsche needs to save something for the upcoming 718 Cayman GTS. Porsche doesn鈥檛 like to use the word 鈥渄ownsizing,鈥?preferring the term 鈥渞ight-sizing鈥?for this engine choice because downsizing might lead people to believe that performance has decreased, when, in fact, the opposite is true. With a more linear torque curve than the flat-sixes they replace (meaning that there鈥檚 usable power available whenever you want it), the new free-revving four-cylinder engines boast far more performance and are much more efficient. Power doesn鈥檛 drop off as sharply and there鈥檚 still plenty of power available even in the higher rpm range. Turbo lag is barely evident, and the smart seven-speed PDK reacts fast enough to get you up to speed faster than you鈥檇 ever need, even without using the paddle shifters. The six-speed manual is still available, and, of course, it鈥檚 still one of the best to use (much better than the Jaguar F-Type鈥檚).