First Drive: Porsche 718 GTS 4.0

First Drive: Porsche 718 GTS 4.0

For four years, we’ve groused, grumbled, and groaned; in 2016, Porsche replaced the Cayman’s naturally-aspirated flat-six with pair of small-displacement, turbocharged flat-fours. Enthusiasts raised hell – the Boxster and Cayman’s very identities grew synonymous with flat-six power, they said. The market agreed. Those four-pot 718s generally sold like month-old milk. And while I’ll stick by the virtues of those four-cylinder engines (punchy, livable, oddly charismatic), the brass in Stuttgart capitulated. The flat-six has returned to the 718 Cayman and Boxster’s mainstream lineup, available as the red-hot heartbeat of the 2021 718 GTS 4.0. Zealots rejoice. First Drive: Porsche 718 GTS 4.0.

The flat-six serves as the GTS 4.0’s centerpiece, of course. It’s borrowed from the range-topping (and low-production) 718 GT4, detuned slightly, then wedged between the front and rear axles. Engine specs, as follows: four liters, natural aspiration, 7800 rpm, 309 lb-ft, and a 394-hp dropkick just before redline. It’s a brilliant mill, begging to climb high along the tachometer, where the power lives. The exhaust coughs out a gruff note down low, fills its midrange with Porsche’s tinny flat-six husk, then yowls up top, raging against redline. First Drive: Porsche 718 GTS 4.0.

The 4.0-liter six pairs with a six-speed manual transmission. The ‘box feels tidy and accurate. Snap shifts between the compact gates arrive as if by intuition. Next to Porsche’s own seven-speed manual (used in the 911), which can jumble quick changes between higher gears, this six-speed is choice. Porsche tells us a PDK gearbox will be available for the GTS around 2022. With a six-speed this good, we couldn’t care less. First Drive: Porsche 718 GTS 4.0.

Porsche loosed our GTS horde on the backroads of Sintra, a sun-bleached town on the outskirts of Lisbon, Portugal. The GTS’s six-speed, paired with a 3.89:1 final drive ratio, proved long-legged there; I watched my drive partner slot the GTS into second gear, then leave it there for almost 30 minutes as he charged our 718 GTS down the coiled backroads of Portugal’s Sintra-Cascais national forest.

But that’s not recommended. While there’s little feedback from the clutch or throttle pedals, the engine is eager to rev, and the gearbox just wants to dance. Blipping throttle and matching rpms while diving into a corner is precise, fulfilling work. First Drive: Porsche 718 GTS 4.0.

Equipped with this charismatic flat-six, the GTS trim should genuinely be cross shopped with Porsche’s 911 Carrera. You can’t say that about the four-cylinder cars.

So First Drive: Porsche 718 GTS 4.0

Source : https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/first-drives/a30965444/first-drive-porsche-718-gts-40/