2022 Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman: Car and Driver 10Best (2024)

The Porsche 718's special gift is speed. The 718 looks fast and is fast. Blur-the-scenery fast. Effortlessly fast. Fast times two, actually, because the 718 line consists of fraternal mid-engine twins, the Boxster droptop and the fixed-top Cayman, both of which we honor here once again. Their performance heroics have been handed down through four generations; clearly, it's in their DNA, which seems to come from a place only the engineers in Zuffenhausen know about and have access to. In the 25 years since the Boxster went on sale in the U.S., it and the Cayman—which arrived from planet Porsche in the 2006 model year—have earned our 10Best award 23 times.

For 2022, the 718 Boxster models that get the key to our city are the base four-cylinder roadster, the T, and the S. They're joined by the Cayman coupe, T, and S as well as the six-cylinder Cayman GTS 4.0. Unfortunately, the Cayman GT4, 718 Spyder, Boxster GTS 4.0, and 25 Years commemorative edition all sticker above our 10Best price cap.

If you've followed these cars' story arc through the years, you know that the kind of speed they're famous for goes far beyond drag-strip performance. Of course these are quick cars—the least swift version that we've tested in recent times, a 2020 Cayman T with the standard 300-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter flat-four and six-speed manual gearbox, scampered to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds. The six-cylinder model dips into the mid-three-second range. But the 718s are more than grown-up Hot Wheels cars, capable mainly of short bursts of speed and acrobatics. Rather, the Porsches' performance is multidimensional, a result of a shimmering combination of poise, grace, and grit.

We've said it before: In this digital age, the 718s feel like analog throwbacks—and we mean that as the highest of compliments. Nobody does electrically assisted power steering better than Porsche; your hands feel exactly what the front tire patches are doing, just like in the days of hydraulic assist. Virtually all 718s corner at 1.01 g or better, but the ride is supple enough to invite thousand-mile jaunts. Their manual shifters scythe through the gates without resistance, and their dual-clutch automatics are lightning quick yet also flawlessly behaved around town. Even the base flat-four, thumpy and grumbly at low speeds, sounds sonorous at its 7400-rpm redline; the sixes envelop you in a high-rpm yowl that you'll never tire of. The brakes resist fade more stubbornly than a kid faced with eating a plateful of broccoli.

Yes, 718s are expensive, but we've yet to meet anyone who's driven one and doesn't think they're worth every penny. And yes, Porsche's usurious options list is scarily seductive. But every 718 on this list—as well as, truth be told, those too pricey to earn a spot—makes going fast easy, comfortable, and confidence-inspiring. It doesn't matter what speed you're going, though. More than most anything else on four wheels, the 718s will make you feel better about how well you're driving. Any car that can do that is definitely a hero.

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