In 2019, the cloth over the Porsche 718 Spyder — the most focused of the 718 Boxster — and with it came a glorious six-cylinder naturally aspirated boxer. However, recently, a 718 Spyder was caught in “green hell” with a very distinct voice: that of a four-cylinder turbocharger. After all what is it about?
Well, we have to go to the other side of the world first, more precisely to China. At the Shanghai Motor Show (currently taking place) one of the novelties presented by Porsche was a new 718 Spyder specifically for the Chinese market.
Unlike the 718 Spyder we know, the Chinese version of the model does without the naturally aspirated six-cylinder boxer. In its place we have the well-known four-cylinder boxer turbo 2.0 l and 300 hp that equips the 718 Boxster. And as we can see (image below), the differences do not end there, with the Chinese 718 Spyder having a more contained appearance, in line with the other 718 Boxsters, inheriting from the Spyder, above all, its manual opening hood.
Why launch a 718 Spyder with the least powerful engine in the range? In China, as in Portugal, the engine capacity is also fiscally penalized — even more than here... It is not uncommon to see versions of our well-known models there with engines much smaller than those we are used to — a Mercedes- Benz CLS with a small 1.5 Turbo? Yes there is.
Porsche's decision to put its smallest engine in the most radical variant of its model is a way to guarantee a much more affordable price, although the appeal of this version is also greatly diminished due to its powertrain.
However, the fact that a test prototype of this four-cylinder 718 Spyder was picked up at the Nürburgring could indicate that Porsche is considering marketing this four-cylinder variant in more markets than just the Chinese. Will be? We will have to wait.
718 Spyder with four cylinders. The numbers
The Porsche 718 Spyder equipped with the 300hp boxer turbo four cylinders sold in China comes with the PDK dual-clutch transmission and is capable of delivering the classic 0-100 km/h in just 4.7s (Chrono Package) and achieving the 270 km/h. That's 120 hp, 0.8s more and 30 km/h less, respectively, than the 718 Spyder with the six-cylinder boxer.
If the appeal of this version pales in relation to what we already knew, the truth is that, if Porsche decides to go ahead with its marketing in Europe, its price will also be substantially lower than the more than 140,000 euros requested (with PDK) for the 718 Spyder in Portugal.
