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Porsche 718 Boxster Review by Consumer Reports Ends With Ridiculous Price

Thanks to Porsche's infuriating options list, a 718 Boxster with all the features you want is over $80,000. That's a hard pill to swallow with the sweet-sounding 6-cylinder they used to have, but impossible with the 4-cylinder.
Porsche 718 Boxster Review by Consumer Reports Ends With Rediculous Price 5 photos
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Porsche 718 Boxster Review by Consumer Reports Ends With Rediculous PricePorsche 718 Boxster Review by Consumer Reports Ends With Rediculous PricePorsche 718 Boxster Review by Consumer Reports Ends With Rediculous PricePorsche 718 Boxster Review by Consumer Reports Ends With Rediculous Price
Sure, the turbocharged 718 is faster than the old Boxster, but a new Honda Civic is faster too, and they didn't have to add $5,000 to the price tag.

We have no problem with the 4-cylinder. In fact, it makes a lot of sense if Porsche wants to make some room in the range. But they should have downsized the price as well. After all, you can get a boxer turbo engine in the Subaru WRX for about $30,000.

Consumer Reports' first focus of attention is the sountrack, which is noticeably different. At idle, the 718 Boxster rattles away, like most modern cars with fuel injection. The rest of the time, the car make a sound that's similar to the WRX.

718 might refer to a classic race car with a four-cylinder engine, but nostalgia sure costs a pretty penny because the automatic gearbox alone will set you back $3,200. Sure, PDK is the most amazing gearbox ever, but $3,200? Powered seats and 19-inch alloys push the price to nearly $70,000 for this car, which isn't even the Boxster S. Wow!

I mean, I'm not surprised, but that is not to say that Porsche isn't robbing us blind. Unlike with the early Boxsters, this 718 model will never become affordable enough as a second-hand car during its first decade of existence.

And if I bought a Boxster or Cayman, these aren't the options I would ask for. Everybody needs the Chrono pack because it gives you things to play with, followed by PTV Plus, which is torque vectoring and PASM, the suspension magic.

The only bright side is that for the first time, the lighter, sportier Cayman is cheaper to buy, the way it should have been all along. But, I'd still try to find an older Cayman GT4, which stickered for just $85,595 and was one of the greatest Porsche of all time.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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