The 2020 718 Porsche Boxster Spyder is Finally a Roofless GT4! - One Take 

10:45 "If the top is up, you can't really open the trunk" Thank you for pointing it out. I appreciate difference from a pure product plug. Great channel.

Now one week later we have a 4.0 in the GTS! Bless Porsche.

Beautiful car and that gentian blue colour is stunning

Particulate filters on gas engines is silly. The brakes probably create more heavy particulate matter than the exhaust does. Maybe the enviro-nutcase regulators in Europe should demand filters around wheel wells now.

End of 3rd is 112. End of 4th is 144. -- Type 981 Boxster Spyder owner.

I live in the uk. I have just taken delivery of a 718 Spyder. Totally agree with all the comments but in reality the car has loads of torque so you can short shift and still really enjoy it. It’s the best car in the Porsche range at the moment.

Would be great to hear comparisons of suspension and ride quality to the 981. We already know the sound is far superior on the 981. 200 lbs weight gain seems to offset the added hp

I love that you have handwritten notes in your journal. Its becoming a lost art. I still do it. With the long gearing, does it negate the need for a manual really?

Matt, part what makes you so good is your absolute honesty. Great work. You and Zack are killing it 🤘

As a 981 Spyder owner with plenty of track days, you'd get to 5th on long straights (Phillip Island) in the mountains of Australia (lol) you'd spend most of the time in 2nd and 3rd with occasional drops into 4th. 6th I highway overdrive and 5th really only high speed on tracks.

The Cayman/Spyder is the perfect size, and paired with a great 6 cylinder it's everything the 911 should be, especially if it wasn't factory handicapped.

I can't wait for spring to take my Spyder out from hibernation. SPRING please come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bruh that filter removes so much soul from the engine sound

More quality, less volume, worth watching, thanks Matt!

981 Spyder was better for road use. It had much more oversteer due to narrower, non-UHP rear tires and "standard" suspension and did roll a bit more, which made it much more fun when you pushed it really hard on a windy road. 981 was just more of a riot, felt a bit more nervous, while this is more planted, understeers more (like a GT4) and therefore at least to me feels a bit more boring. That makes a good track car, but not always a good road car. 981Spyder was a bit more like a Toyota GT86 if you know what I'm all about. Not even considering the sound. Still seriously cool car, but if you have a 981 Spyder I strongly recommend driving the 982 before you buy it, maybe you do feel the same as I do.

When I eventually move on from my 981S it will be for this car. So glad they brought back the flat 6.

Insane beautiful OMG what more to say in that in a manual now a days, Porsche nailed it.

i love how you keep it real. so many reviewers go "gaga" over the cup2 tire but its not great for daily street driving

You can tell when Matt vibes with a car, he was hauling here

I understand this video is a year old but I’ve just specc’d a 718 Spyder for delivery this year and I have to take issue with your comment at the end that the car you were driving ‘didn’t have much other than the PCCBs’. That car had the following extras that I could see. Metallic paint (£1,600), Carbon seats (£3,000), extended leather & Spyder interior (£4,100) PCCBS (£5,000) parking sensors, interior accents painted body colour (£1,500), fire extinguisher (£200), individual climate (£300) I was unable to get the car set up how I wanted it without adding almost £18,000 in options (including PCCBs).

In an interview with JWW, the head engineer for this car has said that this is the new engine for Euro emission standards and it will be used in other cars further down the road. I guess the old 4.0 from the GT3 will be retired rather soon.

OMG.......A 4 liter flat 6 in a small body like a Boxter with 416HP and ceramic brakes???? Its official....This ain't the poor man's 911 anymore. Love these drives Matt. Keep em coming. Beautiful footage, crystal clear. Dunno what camera you're using but WOW.

So the filter makes it sound like a 911 Turbo without the turbos.

FYI for anyone watching this now (like 2022) the exhaust on this car *is* the same as the US and CDN models. The US cars aren’t louder, and have the same particulate filters.

Love this Boxster, but the gearing would drive me nuts

It's insane these are $97k. Such good value. Sexier than any 911, in my opinion.

I'm one of the few that is disappointed by the announcement of this generations GT4 and Spyder for multiple objective reasons. (#3 is my biggest gripe, I really hoped the gearing changed): 1. It's been 4 years since the last GT4 and GTS. This new engine even without the filter, doesn't actually better by much. 2. The specs are just sad for anyone who isn't a race car driver or track enthusiast. Numbers have bumped up but still a 4.2 second 0 to 60. Yes, the suspension and the set up of the car overall has made them insanely fast on the ring and track, but for 90% folks buying this, they can't utilize those aspects by much anyways 3.Torque is only about 20 to 30 more than even a 981 GTS, *with the same unjustifiably long gearbox,* you're doing your daily, or doing run of the mill, spirited driving won't feel much much different in terms of power delivery and speed. Sure it has longer legs and the extra horsepower will make it go more, but who is driving over 200miles all the time to have fun? The delivery won't feel like it's significantly faster as an experience to care due to that gearbox. A decimal second difference, you won't even feel it in reality unless the method of power delivery is different, which it isn't here with the same gears. Disappointing. 4.its literally the same car as the 2012 Cayman. Sure body panels are all redone for 718 but it drives, looks, and feels pretty much the same. This car could have launched in 2013 and it would have made just as much sense...

Dealers should just sell re-geard cars because that's just insane, I remember motortrend complaining endlessly about the gearing on the GT4

When you hear the flyby sound at 4:07 I thought it was a faster car coming in for an overtake 😂

I hope I am chosen in our local allocation. It doesn't matter how much money one has to be chosen. I would get mine in silver with a red top. Keep up the great work Matt!

Damn that Zenith looks aggressive! Sick piece. Great car too.

Great review and perspective, Matt. I love how you got to live with the car for a week and could take it to all of the places you would normally go and treat it like a "real" car. The Boxster and Cayman have always had decent practicality and I drive my 718 Cayman as often as possible and anywhere I can just because it is fun and easy to live with. Interesting that a PDK + Sport Chrono base car can put up a 0-60 of around 4.5 as compared to the 4.2 in the 718 Spyder!

This is the best car Porsche makes today.

Give me an exhaust and a 100k, can't think of a better drop top with a six speed. Love it in blue on silver.

The 918 seats that they put in the T, and I believe in that boxter/Cayman, are definitely better than the gt3's. Glad you mentioned that. Also this was the most hilarious example of how long the gearing is. still in 3rd.lol it's like pdk for people who kinda want to shift but kinda don't.

"I put in a thousand miles on this vehicle this weekend. Went to Sonoma and back. Shifted gears twice." - inexact quote.

6 cylinder engine in a Boxster? Interesting idea, Porsche should try it ;) If Porsche has been messing up the gearing on GT4s and Boxster Spyders for at least two generations now, surely someone in the aftermarket has figured out a numerically higher (shorter) final drive ratio...

Car Matt drove is about $115K pre tax.

That stock exhaust sounds strangled.....maybe Akrapovic will probably have a fix for that

Porsche announced the GTS will now be coming out with a 6 cylinder engine as well. Despite Boxster/Cayman sales always being a minor part of total Porsche profits, the 718 numbers have been a disaster. Handling dynamics of the 718 is great but that engine not only sounds bad, it is horribly laggy and there is like a two second pause if you downshift to pass a truck. The good news is for people that want a weekend Boxster the 718 can be found for (Porsche level) cheap.

Matthew, this was the best and only ad I listened to completely that had meaning and purpose.

I think Porsche are maybe waiting to release the new GT3 before fitting the PDK to the GT4/Spyder this year. So they can unleash its full potential without making the current GT3 look slow.

Main reason why I didn't settle for a 718 model was because of the 4cyl, This car seems so much better.

Hi Matt! ❤️the videos! I have a 1995 993 with NO flywheel and it idles perfectly. Revs like a motorcycle. The computer adapts to lack of flywheel. Mark Tashijan at Formula Motorsports NYC set it up. Mark was a Porsche Racing mechanic in Europe in 1970s. He says that the sports racing cars ran races with no flywheel. This does not work with later 993s as they have OBD2 so it throws a CEL code. Oh, another advantage of no fly wheel is the car creeps in 1st gear in traffic mush more smoothly than the DM flywheel.

I own the 2013 981 Boxster S with porsche sport exhaust. This car is before the filter. The exhaust sounds amazing. Great cars cayman/boxster.

The gearing on this car is absurd. I don’t understand why they do it...where does it make sense? On what track or road would this benefit? At this rate, you might as well get the PDK. This is the same exact complaint that I have in my 991.1 C2 S. The manual is almost pointless. Top of second is good for over 70 MPH. And yet, peak power is only 400 RPM away from redline! I can’t ever use the car properly except on track. On the road it’s a total waste. It’s completely stupid since with SEVEN gears, there are already THREE overdrive gears. So why not make 1-3 shorter?

Gorgeous amazing new car from Porsche. You can't go wrong with the new GT4 or Spyder for the money.

I have one on order. Supposed to be getting it in April, May here in U.S. Apparently very limited. My dealership is getting only 1 allotment and guess who’s getting it :)

Great review Matt. I’m extremely interested in this car but the gearing is a big turn off as I enjoy shifting almost as much as I would enjoy touching/hearing the car at the 8k redline. One correction, carbon ceramics are not the only option on that car you drove. Unlike the first gen Spyder, the carbon buckets in this car are an optional extra ($5,900).

The roof isn't a problem when you're guaranteed no rain the whole day. Unfortunately in England a beautiful summer day can quickly become a grey winters day within a few miles haha!

I love how Porsche likes to screw over speculators. People who dumped money into GT4s for quick cash now face GTS 4.0.

The 4.0 from the gt products doesn’t fit in the cayman without spending stupid amounts of money. It’s because it’s mounted backwards in the 911s...

It looks amazing!!!!!

Sharkwerks can give You re-gearing for 3rd, 4rth, 5th and 6th. They don't have solution for 1st and 2nd because of how 2nd is placed on main shaft...

Thank you Matt for the detailed explainer of the experience. The Boxster Spyder may be my favorite new car, and one I hopefully can afford some day. For the market it is in, it looks like a value and the 'low-output' 4.0L may be strongly driven by the 'Cayman Complex', but at 414bhp, I think it is just right for a car you an enjoy on the street while mobbing on a track. Just needs those shorter gears to be perfect.

Such a great looking vehicle... Unfortunately I'm more on a used ND2 Miata $25k budget than this.

When will Sharkwerks offer the 718 gearbox mod and remove the filters? I'm waiting for that to be offered to get one of these.

I lived in the Antelope Valley for 3 years with the Angeles National Forest and some of the best canyon roads at my disposal. Back in Texas now and it is the one thing I miss the most about SoCal. I hardly ever just go for a drive here like I used to living there.

You can also get the flat 6 in the GTS which I drove brand new. This is is a slightly detuned version of the spyder

Because of cars like this Boxster Spyder is why Porsche is one of my favorites

Loved the rolling Cali stop at 11:00. Great car. I love mine tall gears and all

1:36 best view

"The Cayman complex" lmao

I've noticed a lot of the design cues from the 918 Spyder trickling down to this 718 Spyder and even the 991.2 GT3RS.

Make mine Silver and black, and I'm good to go. Matt, as always, great feedback on the driving experience.

Sunday morning, coffee , TST 👍🏽

Stunning; the most 'want' normal car for me right now.

5th and 6th leave em alone ~ Matt Farah

Good on Matt for buying one!

A master class in driving and journalism

Love the look of it now. Great to hear Porsche thinks the 4 cylinder was a mistake and looking to bring back a 6 to the main line.

Very well presented. You do the test in real world conditions

Save yourself $ get a 2016 regular boxster, 6 cylinder. Nice improvement from my 2003. 1st automatic trans in a long time. Faster but sometimes miss the manual trans.

Of course it's not THE 4.0... Porsche will always keep the Boxter Cayman gimped to artificially inflate the 911's ego.

Hey Matt sorry for the confusion but I thought that all 2020 718 models get a particulate filter regardless if it's a North American or European model. I'd love to be wrong though! If North American models have no filter I'm even more excited!

Living the married poor man’s life I can’t even dream of owning this car. I would love to have it. Just the look of it. Very beautiful car

Great Video Matt! Reminds me of Classic Matt Farah! The Boxster is my dream car, in any year. Who needs the fastest car anyway? I've never seen a Boxter Safari... that would be fantastic.

The reality is that most of the people who own this car want to cruise in it, with an occasional track day once in a while. The long gearing makes sense 90% of the time, it lowers the revs on the highway.

curious how the price on these will hold up compared the the GT4....

For Switzerland I prefer the GT4 and I can't wait for the roads to re-open. But in SoCal, the Spyder might be it. Awesome cars!

Hopefully the PDK that’s out this year has shorter ratios. If it doesn’t I’m cancelling my GT4 order.

Being that my favorite water-cooled Porsche is the 996 GT3 RS, the GT4 is as close to it in performance as any car Porsche make today. So a topless version is just all the better (S2000 in my garage). Shame about that 2nd-4th gear deal, though.

Great flywheel, but they really need to work on those gear ratios.

I like the manual roof, one less problem and future high cost repair.

Does the .2 gt3 not have equally long gearing?

that is a bad ass looking Boxster😳

So good Matt ordered one, but it burned in the container ship. 😭

Gorgeous color combo. Wish they offered yellow calipers without carbon ceramics though. Not practical for the street in my opinion.

I agree the "cayman complex"is at work regarding the new 4.0 liter though I heard elsewhere on the web that the motor will be used in other cars as well...didn't say which.

Impressive car! I would definitely go for one!

thanks for making great videos with good depth

I have placed a deposit for one of these here in Canada. I may not get the car depending on whether I am included in the dealers allocation. If I am not chosen I may get the new GTS instead as that car will have about 390 HP. If that car has a power top it would be a great car. Hopefully they go ahead with the GTS.

I'm trading my 2016 GT4 for this car as I miss my previous 09 Boxster S. I need a convertible. My GT4 is garaged from Halloween until mid March as I live in a snow belt. Carry on Matt.

Great video. One correction, the ceramic brake option is actually $8K and not 5K as the driver said.

The only bad thing is that it costs almost the same as a base model 911. On the track tho, the GT4 will definitely win. Daily driver... 911 perhaps.

THANKS MATT!!!!!!!

I know that the 981 Cayman GT4 didn't use the GT3 engine because it wouldn't fit, which is why we haven't seen anyone roll out a swapped one yet. I hope that isn't the case here because I would love to see someone build one with the GT3's 4.0.

Love the review! Can we get a review of the cayman GTS 4.0?

What a great car, great video, keep it up Matt I've been a fan since the start always learn something new

@ 7:00 he says the Cayman complex sounds better than the Boxster complex because of the illeteration. Guess he meant iteration. He needs word check..