2015 New York Motor Show: Porsche Boxster Spyder Concept

The wraps have been taken off the sultry Porsche Boxster Spyder that melds Boxster, artistic canvas and a Porsche 911 flat-six engine into one salivating package

THE Porsche Boxster Spyder has been revealed at the New York motor show and it’s one stunning sports car. Following the launch of the Porsche Cayman GT4 that uses component – and an engine – from the Porsche 911 GT3 model, the Spyder is aimed at making it even harder to walk past a Porsche and into rivals such as the Jaguar F-Type Convertible or Audi TT Roadster.

Taking its front and rear-end treatments from the Cayman GT4, the Boxster Spyder sports smoked headlamps and larger air intakes, as well as more aggressive rear bumper. It follows the theme set by the previous Boxster GTS Spyder, with rear turrets behind the headrest that Porsche says are inspired by the 718. Like its predecessor, the ornate soft-top is manually operated, while inside there’s a 360mm steering wheel with the same three-spoke design as that 918 hypercar.

The new Spyder takes over from the Porsche Boxster GTS as the range flagship with the biggest engine ever fitted to the open-top model: the 3.8-litre flat-six from the iconic 911. With 276kW, it easily outpunches the 243kW Boxster GTS and lops off 0.4sec in the 0-1000km/sprint with an official 4.5sec claim – and the German maker is typically conservative with its acceleration figures.

The Porsche Boxster Spyder arrives in Australia in the third quarter of 2015 at a starting price of $169,000 before on-road costs, making it less than $2000 more than the GTS model.

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