Move Over, Carrera GT: New Boxster Spyder Will Be One Seriously Hardcore Porsche Roadster

Porschephiles have been eagerly awaiting the return of the Cayman GT4. But that’s not the only model in the Porsche 718 series to which we can look forward. As you can see from these latest spy shots, Zuffenhausen is also hard at working preparing a new Boxster Spyder.

Though the last one may be the best remembered, Porsche has been applying the Spyder treatment to each iteration of the Boxster to date.

There was the 550 Spyder 50th Anniversary Edition based on the first-generation 986 model, the RS 60 Spyder and Boxster Spyder based on the second-gen 987, and the last Boxster Spyder based on the 981. The new 982-based 718 Boxster Spyder, however, promises to carry forward that tradition of adding power and reducing weight even more proudly.

These spy shots from CarPix show an undisguised prototype with some rather large-looking exhaust tips protruding from the diffuser. Rumor has it that the new Spyder will (like the Cayman GT4) adopt a de-tuned version of the 911 GT3’s engine: a 4.0-liter flat six producing around 430 horsepower (instead of 500 in the GT3).

That would stand not only as the most powerful Boxster to date, but match the output of the previous 911 GTS Cabriolet (and eclipse the last 911 Speedster) to make it, by our count, the most potent naturally aspirated Porsche roadster since the Carrera GT.

We won’t be completely surprised to see it match that hypercar’s 3.9-second 0-60 time, too. The last Boxster Spyder (with 370 horsepower) was quoted for a 0-60 time of 4.3 seconds and top out at 180 mph. (That was just one tick and three mph slower than the more potent Cayman GT4.) With another 60 horses or so on tap, there’s no telling of what the new one will be capable. But one thing’s for sure: the Boxster is no longer content being the “baby Porsche.”