When brands associated with the well-heeled make a more affordable car, the result is often extraordinary value. Can the same be said of Porsche and its cheapest car today and 50 years ago?
Carfection has brought a Porsche 914 and a 718 Cayman together for a test to see if the cheapest car that Porsche makes is worth it. And the comparison is a convincing one.
Although many turn up their nose at the Volkswagen-adjacent 914, its four-cylinder, mid-engine layout means it shares a lot in common with the modern 718 Cayman/Boxster. Some 718s are even made at VW’s Osnabruck factory, where the older car was also produced.
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The price and performance, too, were pretty similar if you adjust for inflation. Power ranged from 79 hp (80 PS/59 kW) for the base model and 99 hp (101 PS/74 kW) for the most powerful four-cylinder model, the 2.0. The 914/6, meanwhile, could push power all the way up to 109 hp (110 PS/81 kW). The 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) sprint took 10.5 seconds for the 2.0 and 8.7 seconds for the six-cylinder model.
That’s quite a long way behind the performance of the lowest trim 718 Cayman T, which makes 296 hp (300 PS/221 kW) and gets to 60 in as little as 4.5 seconds, but 50 years is a very long time in the automotive world and things have progressed – a lot.
What’s best about these cars, though, isn’t the performance figures. It’s that they both offer the Porsche experience for a relatively affordable (for a Porsche) price.
The cheapest model is often the hardest to produce because it relies on much narrower margins than the likes of the 911. Yet these cars remain imbued with the same essence of fun as their more expensive stablemates and more than enough performance, but they represent a much better value. And there’s something enticing about that.