► 2016’s most wanted cars: #13 Cayman/Boxster
► The six-cylinder engine is gone, here comes the four-pot
► Smaller capacity, bigger power
Move along now, nothing to see here? While the imminent new Boxster might display the trademark, modest facelifted Porsche tendencies – new bumpers, tweaked front and rear lamp graphics – this early 2016 car is a very big deal. That’s because it’s running a four-cylinder engine. It’s not a V4 like Porsche’s 919 Le Mans-winner’s, although the base Boxster’s opposite piston engine does share its 2.0-litre capacity. The advanced, direct-injection design gets only one fixed-vane turbo. The outgoing Boxster six makes 261bhp: expect the new flat-four to best that with up to 300bhp, and monster its 206lb ft of torque thanks to its forced induction.
Pricier Boxsters will also run a turbo four, a 2.5-litre, with up to 365bhp for the GTS edition. Theoretically, the high-end four is brawny enough to replace all six-cylinder units bar the Boxster Spyder/Cayman GT4’s spiciest 3.8-litre.
There’s another development: Porsche will switch the range hierarchy, with the fixed-head Cayman becoming the entry-level model. Sources say it will be priced more aggressively (it currently starts at £39,694), to boost awareness and sales. The revamped 911’s upgraded infotainment system will complete the package.