981 gts

[BIGJake111]

The rumors are out yada yada yada. Should Porsche be making higher performance models of the Boxster and Cayman, if so what models, turbo, gts, gt3 style track package, whatever? Post your opinions. Also what should the performance and price be? I feel that if there is a boxster GTS it should at least be as fast or faster than a 911 S, but if this was the case i would imagine them charging 100k plus for the boxster. Interested in your opinions on price and performance, heck toss in your opinion on a Boxster4, a Boxster E-Hybrid, and a Boxster Diesel.

[rick3000]

Porsche has a very strict hierarchy with their sports car models: the Boxster is at the bottom, the Cayman is the middle, and the 911 is on top, then the 918 at the very top. The Macan, Panamera, and Cayenne are off doing their own thing.

When the Cayman first came out it was widely recognized that if Porsche had given it more horsepower than a 911, it would be the better car due to a mid engine design with a rigid body. But they will never do that, I think the closest you may see is an S, GT, or Spyder version of a Porsche slightly passing the HP of the model above. If they did do a 981 GTS with more HP than a Cayman S, I think it would be a limited edition run.

[Johnny Danger]

Originally Posted by rick3000

Porsche has a very strict hierarchy with their sports car models: the Boxster is at the bottom, the Cayman is the middle, and the 911 is on top, then the 918 at the very top. The Macan, Panamera, and Cayenne are off doing their own thing.

When the Cayman first came out it was widely recognized that if Porsche had given it more horsepower than a 911, it would be the better car due to a mid engine design with a rigid body. But they will never do that, I think the closest you may see is an S, GT, or Spyder version of a Porsche slightly passing the HP of the model above. If they did do a 981 GTS with more HP than a Cayman S, I think it would be a limited edition run.

I disagree with your assumption that the boxster ranks lowest in Porsche's hierarchy of vehicles. In my opinion, the boxster and Cayman are on par with one another in terms of cost and performance - with the main difference being that one is an "open air" vehicle while the other is a coupe. Over time, both vehicles have received equal attention from Porsche with regard to special editions and remodeling.

[BIGJake111]

Originally Posted by rick3000

Porsche has a very strict hierarchy with their sports car models: the Boxster is at the bottom, the Cayman is the middle, and the 911 is on top, then the 918 at the very top. The Macan, Panamera, and Cayenne are off doing their own thing.

When the Cayman first came out it was widely recognized that if Porsche had given it more horsepower than a 911, it would be the better car due to a mid engine design with a rigid body. But they will never do that, I think the closest you may see is an S, GT, or Spyder version of a Porsche slightly passing the HP of the model above. If they did do a 981 GTS with more HP than a Cayman S, I think it would be a limited edition run.

There are actually already spy shots of boxster and cayman gts models, the existence is confirmed, the speculation is HP and price. Remember VW owns Porsche now and that the 981 S is already basically on par with a 991 base. I don't see them sandbagging the cars as much as Porsche used to.

[papasmurf]

Originally Posted by BIGJake111

I feel that if there is a boxster GTS it should at least be as fast or faster than a 911 S, but if this was the case i would imagine them charging 100k plus for the boxster.

As fast as the base carrera maybe... (which it is pretty close already) but the step up in cost to the carrera S is substantial and it would not make marketing sense to have a boxster/cayman variant on par in performance with a 911 that is 30k+ more in cost. I have heard rumors of the GTS variants too and some website reportedly had spyshots but they really did not look all that different from what I could tell. The GTS will probably have a mild performance bump and have some options packaged together with perhaps some mild styling additions that will likely become standard issue in another model year or two across the lineup. I would much rather see them come out with a mini GT3 variant (aka boxster spyder/cayman R) than an options laden GTS variant. I was not really a fan of the GTS 997 (though people say it is one of the best of that series) as the 997 lineup was becoming way too complicated and clogged up with variations and trim levels not to mention that you could get most in a C2,C4,Cab,C2S, etc.