Downsizing at Porsche goes on: After the 911 receives in April and the entry-level Roadster Boxster in the course of his facelift small turbo engines. While the brand icon, after all, remains faithful to the six-cylinder, mutated his little relative to four-cylinder sportsman. However, there are no performance losses due to the downsizing - on the contrary, the turbocharger used for the first time already makes the 53.646 Euro expensive base variant 220 kW / 300 PS strong.
For the mid-engine in boxer design enough for two liters of displacement. The old model without turbo required 195 liters for 265 kW / 2,7 PS, distributed over six combustion chambers. Even the stronger Boxster S is beefing up: the displacement is shrinking from 3,4 to 2,5 liters, the performance increases from 232 kW / 315 PS to 257 kW / 350 PS. In both cases, the torque increases, now 380 Nm or 420 Nm are available, each already at just below 2.000 tours.
Correspondingly fast sprint both models from zero to 100 km / h: Who instead of the manual six-speed gear selects the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission reaches the three-digit speedometer range ideally in 4,2 seconds. The weaker model requires similarly fast 4,5 seconds - both are significantly more powerful than their predecessors. However, the most important change - at least for the company Porsche - is the lower standard consumption: Theoretically, the Roadster now only needs 6,9 or 7,3 liters of fuel per 100 kilometer. In the old six-cylinder model, the values were still at 8,4 and 9,0 liters.
The CO2 emissions of the open two-seater thus fall below the 160-gram mark for the first time. And thus, for the manufacturer, the risk of high fines from 2020 decreases, if the strict EU limits apply. Ultimately, this is by far the most important reason for the downsizing, even if performance plus and weight reduction for the performance of the Boxster and its coupe brother Cayman will not be a disadvantage. Critical customers and skeptics of engine charging are also likely to have calmed down since the widely regarded as successful 911 downsizing - the abandonment of naturally aspirated engines must not be a renunciation of character.
In order not to let the feeling of renunciation even arise, Porsche has also missed the Boxster a name addition. The number "718" will in future be prefixed to the name of the two models in the series. It is to remember the eponymous racing car from the late 50er years. There is a juicy markup: 53.646 Euro costs the 718 Boxster for launch, just under 3.000 Euro more than the old model. The 718 Boxster S is available from 66.141 Euro.
Recently there was a Porsche with four-cylinder engine at the beginning of the 90er years. In the 968, however, the combustion chambers were conventionally connected in series. The last four-cylinder boxer engine had in the 70er years of "folk" 914 on board; the engine came then from the VW shelf. The recourse to the four-cylinder is above all a reaction to the stricter consumption requirements, especially in Europe and the United States. The new, smaller displacement engines are likely to be much more economical than the current six-cylinder, even in the most modest version according to standard 8,4 swallow (195 grams CO2 / km).
