  2015 Porsche Cayman GTS, Boxster GTS. Click image to enlarge |
Review by Justin Pritchard, photos by Justin Pritchard and courtesy of Porsche
A properly set up mid-engine car can feel as though it’s fist-punching the laws of physics square in the mouth. When the heaviest masses of the vehicle like the engine, transmission, fuel supply and occupants are concentrated centrally, the foundation is laid for a machine with higher-than-average responsiveness, agility, and high-speed stability.
Many of the world’s fastest, best-handling cars are built around this mid-engine premise, with less weight on the front wheels for enhanced steering feel and urgency, and more mass in the middle to make the car less prone to oversteer or understeer, and more prone to locking onto its line, even when pushed to the absolute limit. Weight is transferred with precision and grace between the axles in a mid-engine car under braking and acceleration giving drivers easy access to steering via the throttle and brakes.
It’s been over 20 years since the most recent mid-engine Porsche superstar, the Boxster, was revealed in concept form, before spawning a hard-top brother called the Cayman. Other examples exist in history. Porsche has built mid-engine cars for ages.
Porsche has offered GTS models for ages too – even some five decades ago with the mid-engine 904 GTS, and more recently, special variants of the 911, Panamera and Cayenne. These models intended to be the most athletic, high-value units available without going into each model’s range-topping Turbo variants. Now, for the first time in a long time, the GTS principle has been applied to the latest mid-engine Porsche model range.
It’s a simple principle. Add a little more power, a little more wheel and tire, and bundle it with the latest Porsche must-have performance tech as standard, and you’ve got the hottest versions of the Boxster and Cayman available. For GTS duty, these mechanical twins also get exclusive interior and exterior visual treatments and their own exclusive range of add-on options for customization.
   2015 Porsche Cayman GTS, Boxster GTS. Click image to enlarge |
They promise good value too, thanks to thousands of dollars of savings on the standard bundle of up-level go-fast goodies included with both. You’d spend plenty more adding the bigger tire and wheel kit, the newly-refined PASM suspension technology, Sports Exhaust with push-button bypass, and Sport Chrono package with launch control and dynamic transmission mounts to a standard Cayman or Boxster as individual options. Doing so still wouldn’t add the exclusive visuals either, or the boost of 15 horses apiece that bump Boxster GTS and Cayman GTS output to 330 and 340 horsepower respectively. So, these are some high-value performance models.
