The latest generation of Porsche Boxster, the 718, is a looker. Its lines are clean, purposeful, and, well, damn fine. Many have accused Porsche’s design team of being a bit lazy with new cars, but you have to admire a team that refines already fresh designs to make them even more… fresh. Still, over time they need a nip, tuck, and a bit more go, enter the GTS cars. More power, lower springs, Sport Chrono pack, Porsche Active Suspension Management as standard, and some natty trim bits as well.

Mind you, all of that will cost you more than £61k, which makes the forthcoming Alpine A110, or the much more practical BMW M2 look distinctly good value.

First impressions

There are two members of the 718 family, the drop-top Boxster and the hard-top Cayman. Of the two, the Cayman looks smarter, a touch more complete. With its black hood, our Boxster’s blue/grey body looked a touch underwhelming – colour makes a huge impact here.

The interior is standard Porsche loveliness – aside from a few GTS badges here and there you could be in any Boxster. Fit and finish is top notch, so you needn’t worry about trim bits falling off at the lightest prod. It’s got Porsche’s latest infotainment system on board which is quick to respond and easy to use. The navigation especially shines – where others can be overly optimistic about ETAs, Porsche’s system appeared to accurately adjust timings based on up to date traffic reports. A huge bonus.

There’s no need to be worried about awkward driving posit...