I’ve been harping on and on about the new Porsche 718 GT4 and for good reason, it is a really great car. I love it and if they ever dropped about $25,000 off the sticker price, I’d find a way to make that happen. I doubt that will ever be the case, so they just aren’t worth it to me yet. However, there is a really great option if you want a 718 to feel special without spending over $100,000 just to get in the door. The 718 Cayman T. The best part? It starts at $69,000. Nice.
Usually when manufacturers start pumping out ‘special editions’ it is either at the beginning of the generation or knocking on death’s door as a last grasp to get people to buy the aging model before retooling for the next model. Today, we have the former. This Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 is already a huge hit for Porsche fans as everyone guessed, and the European-market already has a ‘special edition’ to go with it. What is it? The Sports Cup Edition. You might be looking at that photo and thinking it is a track-focused model with a bunch of lightweight parts and more hardcore suspension. That would make total sense, right? Nope. Just some stickers.
I think sometimes I take for granted the freedom Porsche gives us on configuring cars. When it comes down to it, they’ll basically give you anything you want for the right price, and then even more if they really like you. In the modern era of lean manufacturing and just-in-time production, doing one-off builds for customers probably doesn’t make sense on paper. Yet if someone wants “Kills bugs fast.” on a door sill, they’ll do it. It gets even more complicated and time consuming when it comes to interiors with order special leathers then having someone hand-stitch the turn signal stocks. The ROI has to be enormous for Porsche both in profit and customer loyalty to continue this practice in 2020.
However, it is one thing to do it when customers are paying extra for it, and another when doing it on dealer stock cars. This 2020 718 Spyder on a dealer lot in California has a wild Bordeaux Red and black interior that is mirrors the interior of the previous Boxster Spyder nearly 10 years ago. Truth be told, this color combo isn’t for everyone.
Everyone wants options. Not the options in terms of life, I’m talking about optional equipment for cars. “Fully loaded!” “Every option!” I’m sure you’ve seen those phrases throw around a million times when looking at cars when the reality of it is it’s configured like the majority of them for sale. Naturally, Porsche takes this to another level by offering a boat load of options that you didn’t even know were possible and then ever went a step further by offering their special customers whatever they wanted, as long as they paid an eye-watering amount of money.
But what if you ordered a car with no options? Crazy. Who would go into a Porsche dealer and specifically order a car with nothing? Just standard equipment and that’s it. Well, that seems to be what happened with this new 718 Cayman GT4.
With the launch of the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4, we were also offered a topless version with the 718 Spyder. We’ve seen the Boxster Spyder before, but never like this. This Spyder was developed under the guidance of Porsche GT boss Andy Preuninger from the GT department, thus making it a real “GT car,” just not badged as such. It literally is just a Spyder version of the 718 GT4 with the same suspension, engine, and tuning, just with the little folding top similar to that of the GT3-based 991.2 Speedster. So if you want a GT4, but also want the open-air feeling, here you go.
Well, that didn’t take long. A few weeks ago I took a look at the new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 in England in anticipation of them finally hitting US dealers, and it looks like they are here. Production is in full swing and it even looks like Porsche added the paint to sample option to the configurator (a $12,830 option!), so it won’t be long until we start seeing some wild colors. However, we knew these cars were due soon. What I didn’t expect were dealers already playing their games and getting off on technicalities to skirt to rules. Let me explain.
Well, they are here. Sort of. The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 is on public roads and do they look appetizing. There are a handful of them already in the hands of US buyers and even more in Europe as 2019 model years. The US production was halted for reasons we all need not be reminded of, but word is customers who put in orders for them should start seeing them on dealer lots in the next month or two. For those lucky Europeans, you can have your pick if you have the money. This 2019 up for sale in North Yorkshire, England is finished in with always classic Black with the new Satin Aurum wheels and just 950 miles. Worth it over the 981 GT4?
I keep coming back to this 2017 Porsche 718 Boxster. It’s very eye-catching. I like eye-catching. It’s pretty new so still looks in nice shape and the price, while probably not really discounted enough relative to new, isn’t too bad. You get an outstanding open-roof performance car for not a ton of money. As someone who’s always looking at 911s that’s a nice thing to see.
But the reason I keep coming back to it and why I’m just now posting it both stem from its eye-catching nature. I love a bright red interior; I love a bright yellow exterior. Combine them and…I’m not so sure. Bright colors always are walking a fine line between exciting and garish. For me this one crosses that line and I don’t know that it works. But that line is highly subjective. For some a bright yellow car always will seem overly showy no matter what; for others it works just fine. So while this may not work for me, it might work for you. There’s no doubt it’ll turn heads.
I don’t think I have featured one of the new 718 Cayman/Boxsters yet. They’re still fairly new so that’s probably not too surprising, but I see them all the time. And I have posted a couple of the new turbocharged 911s so I can’t put all of this down to newness. Maybe those I’ve seen haven’t seemed special enough? I think this one might be special enough.
This is a paint-to-sample Brewster Green 2018 Porsche 718 Boxster GTS. It has the 7-speed PDK transmission and Carmine Red stitching in the interior. While the car itself is excellent, mostly this is about the color. To my knowledge, with one exception Brewster Green has never been a production color available from Porsche, but has been available as a paint-to-sample option for a while. The one production exception was the extremely limited edition 2013 911 Club Coupe. So when we’re talking about rare Porsche colors Brewster Green is very rare. It’s one of a handful of non-metallic greens Porsche has produced. It’s similar in appearance to the more well known Irish Green and British Racing Green, though not quite the same as either one. Brewster is a darker and deeper shade of green. In shade you might think it black, but in the sun its green shines forth and is unmistakable.
