Porsche 718 Spyder, Loch ness Monster

Stop your wailing. You can now get a 718 Spyder with a 4.0l, flat-six, naturally aspirated motor and manual transmission. Happy now? I certainly am. The new Spyder is essentially a GT4 that has gone topless. Now lift your jaw off the floor. All the underpinnings and power you’ve just read about are correct and present here. Performance figures remain largely the same too with the Spyder now (just) in the rarefied league of 300+ top end, but some 3kph slower than the GT4. Porsche 718 Spyder, Loch ness Monster

It’s a different car though; a different expression designed to serve up a broader experience. Thanks to Braveheart, I’ve got a vague idea of the rolling hills of Scotland, blanketed in clouds and greenery and sheep droppings. The only thing missing from Braveheart was a network of serpentine tarroads that allow you to explore what is one of the most dramatically beautiful places on earth, from one of the most evocative cars on earth. Despite the misty weather and Siri’s warning of rain, my South African co-driver unanimously agreed that open-top motoring was the only option here and so we quickly set the roof in its cradle behind the seats where it stayed for the 250 kilometre journey from Pitlochry to Edinburgh.

A short stint on the Scottish highway is enough to uncork all 309kW as that venerable engine wails into the red, its raucous sound unencumbered by a closed roof. It is spine-tingling stuff and we celebrate in unison as I shift into fourth gear, uncontrollably laughing and calling out silly expletives in sheer delight. We turn off the main highway onto a damp and twisty mountain road. We’re into new territory here on cold tyres and I’m quickly reminded of that with a few snap-oversteers happening in quick succession, all of them catching me by surprise as I bury the throttle out of a tight corner. Ignoring my co-drivers sudden silence I push on, getting to grips with it – the tyres warm up and soon, the most powerful Boxster Spyder ever made is entirely underneath me. The confidence is back and once again there’s a connection to the car responding to every input of brake, throttle, steering, clutch and gear shift - the latter equipped with a new feature which automatically blips the throttle on downshifts. We carve through the hills passing a series of ‘Lochs’, Loch Tay and Loch Earn and towns called Lochearnhead, Killin and the tiny hamlet called Middleton. Eponymous segue, but no relation.

As we stop to breathe and admire the car from every angle it’s undoubtedly the best-looking of the two. The fact that its fifty grand cheaper is the cherry on the top. Another Boxster first is the adaptive rear wing, functional in adding downforce in tandem with the rear diffuser.

Spyder is a pure driving machine and can be specified with a number of extras for that tailored experience. I’d personally opt out carbon ceramic brakes in the 718 Spyder, unless you’re intimating towards track days with it. Spyder was meant to be driven hard, with the top down through mountain passes and the most spectacular roads. It’s an attack on all the senses fusing into an unforgettable truly GT sportscar experience. At under R1,4m, tantalisingly priced between 718 GTS and 718 GT4, could it just be the purist sportscar experience money can buy?

Sources:

https://sharpmagazine.com/2019/10/16/how-the-new-porsche-718-spyder-outpaces-its-own-myth/

https://www.topgear.com/

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