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Meet the new Porsche 718 Boxster and Boxster S

The rumors were mostly true. Porsche had already confirmed that the Boxster and Caymans would receive a "718" appended to their badges, in honor of their famous mid-engined racecar of the 1950s and '60s, but the mechanical details were left up in the air. We were almost certain both would be powered by turbocharged flat-fours of a couple of displacements and outputs, and now we can confirm that this is the case. Porsche has revealed the official specs for the 718 Boxster, which will go on sale in Europe this April. The biggest news concerns the flat-fours. The regular 718 Boxster will get a 2.0-liter, turbocharged flat-four producing 300 hp. The 718 Boxster S will get an extra half-liter of displacement and a variable-geometry turbocharger to produce a total of 350 hp. This represents a 35 hp gain over the current Boxster and Boxster S, respectively. Porsche also claims the turbo fours improve fuel economy by around 13 percent. By the NEDC European test cycle, the 2.0-liter gets roughly 34 mpg and the 2.5 gets 32 mpg, although rest assured that EPA test results will yield different numbers than the optimistic European test. Torque gains with the new boxer fours are significant. The 2.0-liter gains 74 lb-ft of torque for a total of 280 lb-ft from 1,950 to 4,500 RPM. The 2.5 gains less, 43 lb-ft, for a total of 309 lb-ft over the same rev range. The extra torque and wide torque band make the 718 Boxster quicker to 60 mph, at least when equipped with the PDK gearbox and the Sport Chrono Package. The 2.0-liter car does the deed in 4.5 seconds, a 0.7-second improvement, and the 2.5-liter car is claimed to hit 60 mph in 4.0 seconds, a 0.5-second improvement. 2016 Porsche 718 Boxster View 11 Photos Inside, a new dash houses the latest Porsche Communication Management infotainment system with a touchscreen, included on all 718 Boxsters as standard – although nav is an optional extra. The buttonless, capacitive-touch center stack we just spied on the next Panamera does not make it inside the 718 Boxster, which makes do with a very similar button layout to the current car. Both cars will come with a six-speed manual as standard, which is great news, and a PDK will be optional for both. Porsche also claims to have made the electrically-assisted steering more direct, and retuned the suspension. An optional PASM package lowers the car by 0.4 inches while providing the benefits of active dampers. From a styling standpoint, this is an evolution of the current theme.

Lightspeed Classic 911 rocks out with its sprockets out

Singer does a pretty damn good job re-imagining the Porsche 911, but the faithful will aptly tell you that it's not the only name in the business. Munich-based Autoaktiv Motorsport also does a pretty compelling rendition of the classic German sports car. It's called the Lightspeed Classic, and this video clip casts it in light as good as we've ever seen. The brainchild of former Porsche engineer Ralf Skatulla, the Lightspeed Classic is based on the 964 but upgrades some key components while keeping the classic style. Power comes from a 3.8-liter flat-six from the 964 RS (albeit rebuilt with titanium components) that's been retuned to deliver 340 horsepower. It's got the gearbox from a 996 Turbo, the clutch from a 997 GT3 RS, and the brakes from a 996 GT3 Cup, along with Michelin Pilot Sport rubber coating a set of Fuchs-style BBS alloys. The result, as you can see, is lovely. Especially with Tim Schrick behind the wheel. The German racing driver is also a television personality, co-hosting D Motor – Germany's equivalent to Top Gear – alongside Sabine Schmitz and Carsten van Ryssen. Which is all well and fine, but what you really want to do is scope out the footage for yourself. If you dig Porsches (or even if you don't), it'll probably be the best 49 seconds you'll spend all day. Related Video:

Call it a TurBoxster | 2017 Porsche 718 Boxster First Drive

With the sun setting over Circuit of the Americas, the magnificent new Ford GT Le Mans racecar roars, snarls, and pops as the driver lifts going into a series of chicanes flanked by broad red, white, and blue stripes. A bald eagle flies overhead. Maybe. It's quite the spectacle. But it's all rather put to shame when a four-cylinder Porsche blitzes past the GT at full throttle as if it was a rental Mustang that took a wrong turn out of the nearby Austin, Texas, airport. Sure, they were in different racing classes and the four-cylinder Porsche in question was a 919 Hybrid Le Mans Prototype with a 900-horsepower hybrid powertrain and all-wheel drive that weighs about 1,930 pounds. But the fact remains that a four-cylinder engine need not disqualify a car from being an incredible performance machine. And indeed, many of those pretty classic Porsches that festoon posters, calendars, and the well-groomed lawns of swanky car shows have a mere four cylinders pumping into each other in a horizontally opposed formation. Which brings us to the 2017 Porsche 718 Boxster that is the real reason we're in Austin. It's the latest version of the brand's 20-year-old mid-engine roadster, now featuring a numbered middle name borrowed from one of those pretty classic Porsches from the late 1950s and early '60s. Tucked just behind the cockpit, slung ever-so-low in the revised chassis is one of two turbocharged four-cylinder engines – a 2.0-liter in the base Boxster and a 2.5-liter in the S. In a move to improve fuel economy, these engines replace the old 2.7- and 3.4-liter naturally aspirated flat-six engines previously found in the Boxster and its Cayman coupe sibling, which receives the same updates and 718 name for 2017. Those flat-sixes were responsive, made beautiful mechanical noises, and were unmistakable, fundamental elements of the modern Porsche. To lose them would be like drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa or something, at least according to the turbo four prognosticators. That the change in engine results in a change to the Boxster's character is perhaps obvious. It does. One could also, quite fairly, say that something has been lost. However, something else entirely has been gained, and just because the Boxster is different doesn't mean it has been made worse. For starters, both new engines feature sizable output increases.