2025 Porsche 718 Boxster

The volume 718 Boxster runs the 2.0L turbocharged flat-four at 300 hp, unchanged for 2025 and unchanged since the 982 arrived in 2016. That is a modest headline number in a class where a Mustang GT convertible makes 480 hp and a Corvette convertible 495 hp for similar or less money. The 718's argument has never been peak output — it is mass, balance and specific output (151 hp/litre, the highest in the range) — and the flat-six cars that do have the power are low-volume and priced far above the base roadster.

280 lb-ft is mid-band in raw terms, but the delivery flatters it: peak arrives at 1,950 rpm and holds flat to 4,500, so the base roadster pulls hard through the mid-range where the naturally aspirated flat-fours it replaced were thin. Against a sub-3,100 lb curb weight the specific figure does more work than the absolute one, though it still trails the big-displacement American convertibles by a wide margin.

Porsche quotes 4.7 seconds to 60 for the base car with the 7-speed PDK that became the standard transmission for 2025, dropping to 4.5 with Sport Chrono and rising to 4.9 with the no-cost manual. As usual the claim is conservative — Consumer Reports instrumented a 300-hp PDK Boxster at 4.4 seconds. Quick rather than remarkable in a segment where a base Corvette convertible is under 3 seconds, but the mid-engine layout makes the figure repeatable rather than a once-per-session launch-control trick.

The 2.0T is a responsive turbo engine — Dynamic Boost keeps the throttle plate open through brief lifts so boost is still there on the way back in, and mid-range thrust is strong and linear — but it is not a smooth or a tuneful one. There is real hesitation below about 2,000 rpm, and the flat-four's coarse, thrashy voice at load is the single most criticized aspect of the 982, exactly the 'coarse notes under load' the middle band describes. The roadster arguably exposes it more than the Cayman does, since with the roof stowed there is no glass between the driver and the engine bay. The naturally aspirated flat-six in the GTS 4.0 and Spyder RS is a 95-point engine by this measure; the volume car simply does not get it.

Both gearboxes are benchmarks. The 7-speed PDK — standard across the range for 2025 — shifts imperceptibly fast, picks the right gear without hunting, and unusually for a dual-clutch is genuinely smooth at parking speeds. The 6-speed manual remains a no-cost option on every trim except the PDK-only Spyder RS, bundled with Sport Chrono and its rev-matching, which is a more generous arrangement than the 911's, where the volume Carrera has no manual at all. Held just below the 911's 8-speed PDK, which is a generation newer with an extra ratio.

There is no all-wheel-drive 718 and never has been — every Boxster from the base car to the Spyder RS is rear-drive only, so unlike the 911 there is no '4' model to step up to at any price. The mid-engine layout puts roughly 55% of the mass over the driven axle, which buys real traction off the line and makes the car far less compromised in the wet than a front-engine RWD convertible, but this item measures availability and that is a hard zero. Scored alongside the other RWD-only sports cars in the set rather than below them.

Four genuinely distinct engines are on sale under one nameplate for 2025 — two turbo flat-fours of different displacement and two states of tune of the naturally aspirated 4.0L flat-six — layered over a real transmission choice, with the manual a no-cost option on all but the top car. That is more mechanical variety than most rivals offer and well clear of a one-engine convertible like the BMW Z4 M40i. What caps it in the middle band is that nothing in the range is electrified: no hybrid, no PHEV, no EV, and the promised battery-electric 718 slipped past this generation entirely. The two flat-six cars are also low-volume and priced far above the base roadster, so the practical choice for most buyers is narrower than the trim sheet suggests.

24 MPG combined is genuinely good for a 300-hp mid-engine roadster — identical to the hardtop Cayman despite the fabric roof, better than a 911 Carrera's 21, and far clear of a Corvette or AMG SL convertible. But the convertible normalization band runs 22–60 MPG because it also holds the Mini Cooper and hybrid-capable soft-tops, so a figure two MPG above the floor scores near the bottom. The downsized turbo flat-four is doing exactly the job it was adopted for; the band is calibrated on absolute efficiency, not on efficiency-per-horsepower.

21 MPG in town sits one MPG above the convertible band's 20 MPG floor. Auto stop-start is standard and the 2.0-litre displacement helps, but with no electrification to lean on there is nothing to recover in traffic, so the city figure is close to the car's worst case — even though it still beats every other Porsche two-door bar none.

27 MPG on the highway is the payoff for a 2.0-litre engine, a tall seventh PDK ratio and a curb weight barely over 3,000 lb — and notably the roadster matches the Cayman exactly, because the 718's fabric roof stows flush enough not to cost a measurable MPG in the EPA cycle. Against a convertible band topping out at 58 MPG it still lands near the floor, the band being set by economy soft-tops rather than sports cars.

The efficiency gain is undone by the tank. The base Boxster carries only 54 litres, so 24 MPG combined buys roughly 341 miles — less than a 911 Carrera manages on worse economy, purely because the 911 has a bigger tank. That is a real weakness in a car whose best use is a long road trip with the roof down; the 64-litre extended-range option pushes it past 400 miles and is the cheapest fix on the order sheet, but the volume configuration is the small tank.

$3,150 a year lands above the convertible band's $2,800 ceiling and scores zero, which is the arithmetic of premium fuel more than of consumption — at 24 MPG the Boxster burns fewer gallons than most of its rivals, but every one of them is bought at the most expensive pump. EPA scores it $4,750 worse than the average new vehicle over five years, and the manual, which most enthusiast buyers want, is $300/yr worse again.

Premium is required, not merely recommended — EPA lists the fuel type as Premium Gasoline and Porsche's driver manual specifies 98 RON (93 AKI) for rated output, with 95 RON (91 AKI) accepted only as an emergency substitute at reduced performance and economy. There is no E85, no diesel and no plug, so every mile is bought at the highest grade on the forecourt. The one mitigation is the small 14.2-gallon tank, which keeps any individual fill-up modest even as the per-mile cost stays high.

NHTSA has never run an NCAP test on the 982-generation 718 Boxster, and 2025 — the final gasoline model year, with 718 production ending October 2025 — is no exception. The agency's ratings API returns zero results for the model, and every 2025 Boxster variant appears in the make listing only as a recall/complaint entry with no NCAP rating attached. Estimated at the segment-typical 4 from the car's POSIP airbag complement, reinforced windshield frame and dual roll-over protection, but there is no tested figure behind the number.

IIHS has never crash-tested any model year of the 718 Boxster, so there is no Top Safety Pick, no TSP+, and not one individual crashworthiness result on record — Consumer Reports docks the car explicitly for that absence rather than for a poor result. Untested with no known structural deficiency, and with Porsche Side Impact Protection (dual-stage front, knee, and door-mounted side airbags), a reinforced windshield frame and dual roll-over protection behind it, earns the middle of the no-award band. Scored a notch under the mechanically identical 718 Cayman (56) because an open-top car gives up the coupe's fixed roof structure and its roof-rail curtain airbags — head protection comes from door-mounted units and the roll-over bars instead — and because the 982 bodyshell dates to 2016.

Of the five features this item measures — AEB, adaptive cruise, lane keeping, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic — the 2025 718 Boxster has none standard, and only two of the five exist anywhere on its order sheet. Porsche's own US assistance-systems page for the 718 lists exactly three items: adaptive cruise control with Porsche Active Safe (optional, PDK only), Lane Change Assist (optional, alert-only), and ParkAssist plus reversing camera (standard). Consumer Reports' 2025 Boxster driver-assistance grid says it plainly — blind-spot warning Optional, rear cross-traffic warning Not available, AEB with pedestrian detection Not available, highway-speed AEB Not available — and fails the car on both its Core and Advanced safety requirements. Dealer marketing that calls Lane Change Assist standard is contradicted by the option sheet, where it arrives inside the paid Premium Package. That is the thinnest ADAS provision in this segment, level with the 718 Cayman (17) and below the 911 (55), just above the Corvette (15) only because the 718 offers ACC as an option.

The only collision-braking function on the 718 Boxster is Porsche Active Safe, and it is not standard, not available on manual cars, and not a modern AEB system. PAS ships only bundled with the optional adaptive cruise control, which Porsche restricts to PDK — order the 6-speed manual that most Boxster buyers take as a no-cost option and there is no forward-collision intervention available at any price. Where fitted, PAS gives an audible and visual warning, a brake jolt and targeted braking with driver brake-force boosting, all vehicle-to-vehicle; Consumer Reports classes both pedestrian-detecting and highway-speed AEB as "not available" on this car. IIHS has never run front crash prevention on the 718 in either protocol. Level with the 718 Cayman (22), well below the 911's standard pedestrian-capable Warn and Brake Assist (62), above the Corvette's nothing-at-all (5).

Blind-spot coverage on the Boxster is Lane Change Assist — radar-based, mirror-panel warning only, explicitly non-intervening, active above 19 mph — and it is a paid option bundled into the Premium Package rather than standard safety content. Rear cross-traffic alert and safe-exit warning are not on the 718's option list at all; Consumer Reports lists rear cross-traffic warning as "Not available." Optional alert-only monitoring with no cross-traffic function is the top of the bottom band, level with the 718 Cayman (40) and the 911 (42) and behind the Corvette (60), which offers cross-traffic coverage. It matters more here than on the coupe: with the fabric roof raised the over-shoulder view is genuinely poor, which is exactly why reviewers call the option worth having.

The 2025 718 Boxster has no lane assistance of any kind — no lane departure warning, no lane keep assist, no centering, and no traffic-sign recognition, on any trim, at any price. Porsche's own 718 assistance-systems page runs to three entries and none of them touches lane position; Lane Keep Assist is sold on the 911, Macan, Cayenne, Panamera and Taycan but not the 982 718, and dealer copy claiming otherwise is repeating a generic Porsche-range feature list. Floor of the band alongside the 718 Cayman and the Corvette (5) — this is an outright absence, not a weak implementation.

Adaptive cruise control is a competent full-speed-range radar system on the 718 — 650 ft of forward scan, coasting permitted while active, PAS distance warning layered on — but it is optional, and Porsche gates it behind the PDK, so a buyer choosing the 6-speed manual that defines this car gets plain fixed-speed cruise control and nothing more. No highway assist exists because there is no lane-centering function to combine with it, and Porsche InnoDrive is not offered on the 718. A capable option that a large share of the volume configuration cannot even order lands in the basic-cruise band rather than above it — level with the 718 Cayman (42), behind the 911 (58) where ACC is available on every car with InnoDrive above it, and well ahead of the Corvette (8).

No hands-free highway driving system is offered on the 718 Boxster in 2025 or in any prior year, and Porsche sells no BlueCruise or Super Cruise equivalent anywhere in its range — the 718's assistance list tops out at hands-on adaptive cruise. Floor of the band, matching the other sports cars in the segment.

In 2025 the 718 Boxster still left the factory on Bi-Xenon HID headlights — Porsche's own copy says all 718 models are so equipped — with LED daytime running lights and cornering lighting. That is a generation behind essentially every rival in this price class, where LED is standard and matrix systems are common, and it is why this sits at the bottom of the middle band rather than in it. The mitigation is real but has to be paid for: LED headlights with Porsche Dynamic Light System Plus, which add camera-based automatic high-beam dipping and intersection illumination. IIHS has never rated 718 headlights, so there is no Good/Acceptable result on either configuration. Level with the 718 Cayman (52).

Visibility here is two different cars. Roof down, the Boxster is close to best-in-class — the mid-engine layout gives a short nose and a low cowl, the A-pillars are slim, nothing sits above shoulder height behind the seats, and over-the-shoulder checks are trivial in a way no coupe in this set can match. Roof up, the fabric top's wide rear quarters and shallow heated glass window create real over-shoulder blind zones, which is why reviewers single out the optional blind-spot monitor as the thing to tick, and Porsche offers no surround-view camera on the 718 to compensate. Standard front and rear ParkAssist sensors plus a standard reversing camera cover the parking case well. Netting the two states puts it a shade below the 718 Cayman (64), whose fixed rear glass is at least consistent, and above the Corvette (58) and AMG GT (55).

The mid-engine layout puts the flat-four immediately behind the seat backs and the folded soft top stows in the space a rear bench would occupy, so every 2025 718 Boxster is a strict two-seater — which clamps this item to the floor of the 4–5 seat convertible band.

Porsche does not publish US interior dimensions for the 718 and every aggregator carries the field blank, so this is estimated from the roadster's 50.4 in overall height — 0.6 in lower than the Cayman coupe — and its very low seat mounting. Reviewers at 6'1" report fitting with room to spare, so it lands just below mid-band rather than at the bottom.

Also unpublished, and identical in packaging to the Cayman — same 97.4 in wheelbase, same footwell, same seat rails — so the estimate carries across. The long footwell and generous seat travel are a recurring praise point and the item sits mid-band for convertibles.

Two compartments front and rear are the mid-engine dividend, but the roadster gives up more than a third of the Cayman's luggage space because the folded fabric top eats the rear compartment — 9.7 cu ft against the coupe's 15.0. It is still generous for an open two-seater (a Miata carries 4.6), yet it falls below the 10 cu ft floor of the convertible normalization band, so the item scores zero on an absolute measure.

The dual-trunk layout is the clever part and a carry-on still fits up front, but the rear compartment is shallow and sits under the stowed roof, so the roadster loses the Cayman's genuinely useful rear hold. Inside the cabin the provision is thin and unchanged for a decade: narrow door bins, a shallow lidded console cubby, a small glovebox and the fiddly pop-out dash cupholders — with no parcel shelf and no seatback to fold, there is nowhere to put anything that will not slide around top-down.

The driving position is among the best in the segment and the sport seats are firm but well shaped, holding up over long stints; the option book runs to 14-way and 18-way adaptive sport seats with memory and ventilation. What keeps it below the 911 and Corvette is that the volume car's two-way seats are comparatively basic — the adjustment range and lumbar support most owners want are paid-for upgrades on a $74,900 car.

For a car this focused the Boxster rides remarkably well — the standard passive steel setup is firm but supple over broken pavement and body control is exemplary, which is why a Boxster works as an everyday car. It sits a notch under the 911 because PASM adaptive damping is a paid option rather than standard, and a hair under the Cayman because the open body is marginally less rigid, with the odd shimmy over expansion joints that the fixed-roof car does not show.

The 718's clearest comfort weakness, and the roadster body makes it worse than the coupe. The turbo flat-four sits directly behind the bulkhead with a coarse, boomy voice the motoring press criticized almost universally, and a three-layer fabric roof cannot match a steel one for road and powertrain isolation. Wind sealing is genuinely good for a soft top — magnesium stiffeners in the roof keep flutter down and buffeting at freeway speed is mild — but road roar on coarse asphalt is intrusive and the engine is never out of earshot.

Two-zone automatic climate control and heated front seats are standard for 2025, and the power fabric roof cycles in about nine seconds at up to 31 mph with a heated glass rear window — real everyday convenience in a convertible. The score is capped because ventilated seats, the heated steering wheel and even the wind deflector are extra-cost options, and the two-seat gasoline packaging rules out any rear climate zone or remote pre-conditioning.

The entry 718 Boxster opens at $74,900 before Porsche's $1,995 delivery charge, about $2,100 above the fixed-roof Cayman and roughly $22,000 past the top of the convertible pricing band, so this item bottoms out. The 2025 increase is largely structural rather than inflationary — the 7-speed PDK became standard equipment for 2025, with the 6-speed manual demoted to a no-cost option that bundles Sport Chrono.

The base Boxster is the volume car, but almost none leaves a dealer at sticker — Porsche's a-la-carte structure bills metallic paint, the Premium Package, PASM, Bose, heated seats and the wind deflector separately, and a normally specified roadster lands right about where a stripped Boxster S starts. 2025 being the final combustion model year compounds it: remaining US inventory is pre-built, so buyers take the options that are on the car rather than the ones they would have chosen.

The 4-year/50,000-mile warranty absorbs nearly all repair exposure, which is why the repair line is small — the damage is done by Porsche dealer service, roughly $1,200–$2,500 in a routine year and more in a major-service year, plus performance tires and brakes. At roughly $16,200 it is nearly double the top of the convertible band, so the item scores zero; this is the single largest running-cost penalty in the category.

This line is what keeps the category from collapsing entirely. The 718 Boxster is among the strongest value-retaining convertibles sold in America, and 2025 is the last combustion model year — 718 ICE production ended in October 2025 and the replacement is electric — so a final-year car with an available manual and, in GTS 4.0 form, a naturally aspirated flat-six is exactly the profile that resists depreciation. It retains less than the fixed-roof Cayman, which is the usual coupe-over-convertible pattern.

Porsche's New Vehicle Limited Warranty is 4 years / 50,000 miles, matching the German luxury norm and Lexus and beating the 3/36 that Ford and Chevrolet give the Mustang and Corvette convertibles. Mid-band, unchanged for 2025.

Porsche does not offer a standalone extended powertrain warranty in the US — drivetrain components are covered by the same 4-year/50,000-mile New Vehicle Limited Warranty and nothing beyond it. That falls below the 5-year floor of the band, so the item scores zero: the turbo flat-four is out of warranty at four years while a Mustang's Coyote V8 is covered for five.

Porsche includes exactly one scheduled service — the first one, generally due at 1 year / 10,000 miles on combustion cars — and bills every visit after it, which at $1,200–$2,500 a stop is the most expensive version of that policy in the segment. Alongside it are 24/7 roadside assistance for the full 4-year/50,000-mile warranty period and a Porsche Connect services trial. That is genuinely a 'short included-maintenance period' rather than the no-coverage floor, but only just, and it is a fraction of what BMW Ultimate Care or ToyotaCare deliver.

$87,000 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (61% retained, or about $53,070) leaves about $33,930 in depreciation. Add the projected $16,245 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $50,175 in total.

About as good as a German sports car gets, with one structural caveat the Cayman does not carry. The 982 has been on sale in the US since MY2016, so 2025 is the tenth and final model year of a fully mature design introducing no new hardware — the only changes are the 7-speed PDK becoming standard fit (6-speed manual still a no-cost option bundled with Sport Chrono, except on the Spyder RS which is PDK-only), 11 new paint colors and minor PCM refinements. Consumer Reports' 2025 brand work placed Porsche in the top four for reliability, and J.D. Power's model-level Quality & Reliability scores for the 718 family run in the high 80s (86/100 for the 2025 Cayman). Marked three points under the twin Cayman (84) for the power fabric roof: the top motor, microswitches and locking mechanism are a documented failure mode with no coupe equivalent, severe enough on 2018–2022 cars to attract organized lemon-law solicitation. Placed just under the Mazda MX-5 (81.6), which is the segment's reliability benchmark on far simpler and cheaper hardware, and well above the BMW Z4 (77.2), Mustang Convertible (71.6), Mercedes CLE (69) and Mini Cooper Convertible (64.3).

Porsche is the German luxury brand that actually earns its dependability reputation rather than borrowing it from desirability. It ranked third among premium brands in the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study (186 PP100) and third again in the 2026 VDS (182 PP100), took the top spot overall in the 2026 U.S. Initial Quality Study (138 PP100, best of all brands and best premium brand), and has been the most appealing premium brand in APEAL three years running. Consumer Reports put Porsche in its top four for reliability in 2025. Held identical to the 2025 718 Cayman and the 2026 Panamera, Taycan and 911 (all 86) — this is a brand-level judgment and must not diverge between Porsches. Materially better than BMW (76), Mercedes-Benz (65) or Audi (65) as scored elsewhere in this dataset.

Clean where it counts, but not the spotless record the coupe shows. NHTSA has filed nothing against any 2025-model-year 718 Boxster variant — the 2025 Porsche recall model index lists only Cayman-badged 718s, and no Boxster or Spyder entry appears. The immediately preceding model years, however, carry four low-volume campaigns that do touch Boxster variants: 23V813000 (Dec 2023, 53 units) for a rear ECU that lets the spoiler raise too high on 2024 Boxster S and Boxster GTS 4.0; 24V343000 (May 2024, 14 units) for a PDK shift-cable safety clip that could stop the transmission locking in Park on 2024 Boxster and Cayman; 24V809000 (Oct 2024) for center-lock wheel bolts that may fracture, covering the 2024 718 Spyder RS among others; and 21V200000 (Mar 2021, 193 units) for connecting rods that may crack on the 4.0L cars including Boxster GTS 4.0 and 718 Spyder. Everything else on the 982's record is front-loaded into 2016–2019 airbag, fuel-system and windshield-bonding actions, all long resolved. Scored four points under the Cayman (86) because the Boxster genuinely accumulated more campaign activity in the run-up to 2025; held in the low 80s rather than lower because every one of these is a tiny, precisely-scoped build-window action with a straightforward remedy, none is systemic, and the scored model year is itself clear.

Proven but not spotless. The volume car's 2.0L turbocharged flat-four has been in service since MY2016 with no systemic failure mode, and the 7-speed PDK — standard fit for 2025 — is among the most durable dual-clutch transmissions in production; none of the IMS-bearing or bore-scoring history that dogged the older M96/M97 Porsche sixes applies here. What keeps it out of the high 80s is a pair of well-documented, engine-specific wear items: the low-mounted turbo's wastegate actuator corrodes and develops play (the metallic rattle that is the single most common 718 forum complaint, largely handled under warranty with a superseded part), and direct injection means intake-valve carbon buildup on higher-mileage cars, with scattered reports of exhaust manifold and catalyst cracking. Scored a point under the Cayman (80) because the naturally aspirated 4.0L flat-six that buyers step up to in the Boxster GTS 4.0 and Spyder is not a clean escape here either — NHTSA 21V200000 recalled 2021 Boxster GTS 4.0 and 718 Spyder cars for connecting rods that may crack, and the 2024 PDK shift-cable campaign is a second, if trivial, driveline action. Still comfortably above the Corvette, Mustang and Nissan Z entries in this dataset.

Excellent materials wrapped around visibly old architecture, and identical to the Cayman's cabin ahead of the seatbacks — scored the same 80. Reviewers are consistent that the surfaces, switchgear weighting and craftsmanship are exemplary, with leather throughout and Alcantara, carbon-fiber and brushed-aluminum upgrades available, but the cabin design, switch panels and PCM hardware are inherited from the 981 era and read, in KBB's phrasing, as distinctly last generation next to the 911's Porsche Driver Experience cockpit. The base car ships with partial leather and more hard plastic in low-touch zones than a $74,900 Porsche implies, and the richest finishes sit behind expensive options. Scored eight points under the 2026 911 (88) on the strength of the 911's newer, better-materialed cabin, and below the Lexus LC, the class benchmark; still comfortably above the Mustang, Z4 and CLE convertibles.

Still a strong item, but the roof costs it the coupe's near-perfect mark. Ten model years of build refinement on an unchanged body deliver tight and consistent panel gaps, strong paint and low rattle reporting, backed by Porsche ranking highest of all brands in the J.D. Power 2026 Initial Quality Study — exactly the initial-quality signal this item asks for. Two deductions against the Cayman's 90. First, the fabric roof: the tensioning mechanism brings the fabric into direct contact with the side frame through every cycle, producing visible chafing with use, and the seals, headliner and latch hardware are wear items a fixed roof simply does not have — plus an open body shell is inherently less rigid than the Cayman's, so cowl shake and secondary rattles over broken pavement are a real if minor complaint. Second, and shared with the Cayman, 2025 718 production had moved out of Porsche's own Zuffenhausen line to the Volkswagen plant at Osnabrück, which took over 982 assembly from mid-2023 through the model's end in 2025; Osnabrück has built Porsche two-doors for over a decade with no notable quality fallout, so that part is a small deduction rather than a red flag.

Quality over coverage, with a small end-of-life caveat. Porsche runs roughly 200 US dealers — the thinnest network of the German luxury brands, well behind Mercedes-Benz (~380), BMW (~350) and Audi (~300) — so owners outside major metros travel real distances for service. Offsetting that, Porsche consistently ranks at or near the top of luxury brands in J.D. Power's Customer Service Index, and the 718 shares its service infrastructure, technicians and parts channel with the 911. Held identical to the 2025 718 Cayman (73) and a point under the 2026 911 (74), because the 718 is the discontinued model in the showroom: with the nameplate ending in October 2025 and its successor going electric, dealer familiarity and technician focus drift toward the 911 and the EV lineup over the ownership horizon.

Expensive to keep, and the roof adds a line item the coupe does not have. Consumer Reports ranked Porsche second-to-last of all brands for maintenance and repair costs in its 2025 analysis, and RepairPal rates the Boxster 2.5 out of 5.0 for reliability — 15th of 17 luxury compact cars — at roughly $952 a year against $801 for the class, noting that both the frequency and the severity of repairs run higher than normal. Parts are Porsche-priced and largely dealer-gated, mid-engine packaging makes clutch and several driveline jobs engine-out labor, and a power fabric roof eventually needs a four-figure fabric or mechanism repair that a Cayman owner never faces. Porsche includes only a single complimentary scheduled service in the US, so the owner is paying from the second visit onward. The mitigations are real but partial: the base 2.0T runs smaller brakes and tires than a 911 Turbo-class car, and Porsche has a genuine independent-specialist network. Scored a point under the Cayman (50) for the roof, three under the 911 (52), and far below the cheap-parts Corvette and the mass-market convertibles in this segment.

The 982 launched with a 7-inch PCM display in 2016 and never grew it. 2025 is the generation's final model year and a carry-over, so the base Boxster, Boxster S, GTS 4.0 and Spyder RS all still ship the same 7.0-inch screen. It sits at the absolute floor of the convertible normalization band.

PCM 4.0 is quick, logically laid out, and — unlike nearly every rival at this price — backs the screen with a full row of physical climate controls and hard shortcut keys, so the fundamentals of daily use are genuinely sound. What sinks it is age and size: a 7-inch display with 2016-era graphics running software Porsche has already replaced with PCM 6.0 everywhere else in the lineup.

Apple CarPlay is standard but wired only, and Android Auto is not offered at all — at any price, on any trim, in any model year of the 982. Half the phone market gets nothing and iPhone owners have to plug in, which lands this below the wired-standard band rather than inside it.

Native navigation is an extra-cost module rather than standard equipment, so a volume-spec 2025 Boxster leaves the showroom with no built-in maps at all — and because Porsche Connect is bundled to that same navigation option, most US cars have no connected search or live traffic either. Voice is the old PCM 4.0 command-word system, not the natural-language "Hey Porsche" assistant the rest of the range moved to; in practice owners use Siri through CarPlay.

The one category-7 area where the 718 is competitive: the optional Burmester High-End system is a legitimately excellent 12-speaker, 821-watt fully active setup and the 10-speaker Bose is strong. But the Boxster's standard system is weaker than the Cayman's — Porsche fits the roadster a six-speaker, 110-watt Sound Package Plus against the coupe's eight-speaker, 150-watt version, there being no rear parcel shelf to mount in — and a fabric roof is a worse acoustic environment than a steel one. Both good systems cost extra, which keeps this below the BMW and Mercedes convertibles that ship branded audio as standard.

The Boxster keeps the classic Porsche three-dial cluster: an analog central tachometer flanked by an analog speedometer and a single 4.6-inch TFT screen on the right. Enthusiasts prefer it, but as a technology item it is mostly analog with one small auxiliary display, and no full-digital cluster is available anywhere in the 2025 range — while the 992.2 911 now ships a standard 12.6-inch curved digital display.

There is no meaningful over-the-air update path on the 718's PCM 4.0-generation electronics. Software and map updates are dealer-installed or side-loaded from downloaded media rather than pushed to the car, and no vehicle-function updates are delivered remotely — the 982's architecture predates the OTA capability Porsche built into PCM 6.0 cars, and with production ending in October 2025 it will never receive it.

Connectivity is optional rather than built in — Porsche Connect rides on the extra-cost navigation module, so the typical US Boxster has no app pairing at all. Where it is fitted, the My Porsche app covers vehicle status, remote lock/unlock and vehicle finder, but there is no remote engine start, no remote climate, no phone-as-key, and notably no app-based operation of the convertible roof. Owners of earlier 982s also lost Remote Services to the 3G sunset.

Outdated even allowing for a strict two-seater with no rear row to serve: the 2025 Boxster still uses USB-A ports rather than USB-C, factory wireless phone charging is not offered in any form, and there is no household outlet or onboard power. The $560 "smartphone compartment" option is a signal booster, not a charging pad — a distinction that catches buyers out and drives a steady aftermarket in MagSafe retrofits.

The volume-spec Boxster still uses a traditional key inserted into a slot left of the steering column and twisted to start — Porsche Entry & Drive proximity entry with push-button start is a cost option, bundled into the $2,520 Premium Package. There is no phone-as-key on the 982 and no remote start on the gas engine. It scores a few points above the Cayman on one genuinely useful roadster-only function: the roof can be opened and closed from outside the car by holding the key-fob button.

The strongest of the convenience items: ParkAssist with both front and rear sensors plus a reversing camera is standard across the 718 range, which matters more in the Boxster than the Cayman because the raised fabric roof pinches rear three-quarter visibility badly. It stops there, though — Porsche never offered Surround View or any automated parking system on the 982, both of which the 911 and the German convertible rivals have.

No head-up display is offered on the 718 Boxster at any trim or price. The 982's low cowl and cockpit packaging leave no room for the projector unit and Porsche never engineered one for the platform — a total absence, not a trim restriction.

Every 2025 718 Boxster is a strict two-seater — no 2+2 exists anywhere in the 982 range — so there are no LATCH lower anchors or top tethers in the car and the front passenger seat is the only conceivable child-seat position. The roadster body makes it marginally worse than the Cayman: a rear-facing seat sits under open sky with no shade or weather protection when the top is down, and the 9.7 cu ft of trunk split across two compartments will not take a full-size stroller.

No crash-test evidence exists at all — neither NHTSA nor IIHS has ever rated a 718 Boxster — and the aids families rely on are optional or absent: no standard automatic emergency braking, no lane keeping or lane centering at any price, and adaptive cruise with Porsche Active Safe available only bundled with PDK. Standard ParkAssist with a reversing camera and the pop-up rollover bars behind the headrests are the meaningful standard safety content.

With two seats there is no second row to assess — no rear vents, amenities or entertainment — so a family trip is physically capped at two people. The Boxster also carries only 9.7 cu ft against the Cayman's 15.0, because the folding roof stack eats the rear compartment down to 4.4 cu ft, and Edmunds' own packing test gets one carry-on aft and two in the frunk.

The 718 is one of the easiest mid-engine cars to live with: the 7-speed PDK became standard for 2025 and is seamless in stop-and-go, the 2.0T's torque plateau starts at 1,950 rpm, and the roadster's sightlines are unusually good — better than the Cayman's with the roof stowed. It trails the coupe on refinement, though, with the fabric roof letting through more road noise on top of a flat-four the press has always called coarse, and the low nose needs care at every driveway.

At 24 MPG combined the base Boxster is the most economical car in this peer group and its 18-inch base wheels wear far cheaper rubber than a 911's staggered 20/21s, but every mile is bought with required premium and Porsche shop rates. Against the Cayman it carries one extra long-run cost the coupe does not: the powered fabric roof and its drive motors are a wear item.

The best urban car in this set: about 172 in long on a compact footprint, a 36 ft turning circle, and — unusually for the class — ParkAssist with four front and four rear sensors plus a reversing camera standard rather than optional. Dropping the roof turns the worst blind spot in the car into a clear view over the shoulder, which the Cayman cannot do; the low splitter still scrapes steep driveways without the optional front-axle lift.

Porsche publishes no US towing capacity for the 718 Boxster and sells no factory hitch, and a two-seat cabin with no folding surfaces rules out payload or work-gear duty. Its 9.7 cu ft of lockable trunk space is a third less than the Cayman's, and the rear compartment sits directly above a hot mid-mounted engine — this is not a vehicle that does work of any kind.

The 982 chassis and PDK gearbox are proven hardware with a strong track-abuse record, so this is no fragile exotic, but nothing about it is built for work abuse: leather and Sports-Tex interiors, no washable surfaces, low bodywork that meets curbs badly, and a parts-and-labor structure that makes incidental damage expensive. The powered fabric roof adds a failure mode the Cayman does not have — drive motors, microswitches and a rear window that are all replaceable wear items.

There is no 120V household outlet, no hitch, no bed access hardware and no tie-downs beyond a luggage net. Unlike the Cayman — which can take a 165 lb factory roof transport system with ski, bike and roof-box modules — the 982 Boxster has no factory roof carrier in the US catalogue, and the legacy Boxster RTS that did exist locked the roof in whatever position it was in when fitted.

Two-up touring is one of the Boxster's better missions — the sport seats draw long-distance praise, PASM keeps the highway ride settled, and roughly 341 miles of range stretches to about 406 with the optional larger tank, the longest legs in this peer group. It gives up ground to the Cayman on the quiet a long day needs, with the fabric roof adding road noise over an already coarse flat-four, and adaptive cruise is an option with no lane centering available at any price.

Rear-wheel drive in every 2025 configuration, roughly 3.6–4.0 in of ground clearance behind a low splitter, summer performance tires and no tow rating make this a pavement car, and unlike the Cayman it cannot take a factory roof carrier for skis or bikes. What it does offer is the open-air experience itself plus two lockable, weather-sealed trunks and Porsche winter wheel-and-tire packages — enough for a scenic-road trip, not for leaving the pavement.

Two lockable, weather-sealed compartments totalling 9.7 cu ft is respectable for a roadster — the deep squarish frunk takes two carry-ons and the rear takes a third — but the folding roof costs the Boxster 5.3 cu ft against the Cayman's hatch trunk, and that loss is exactly the space bulky gear needs. There is no seat to fold, no pass-through, no hitch and no roof carrier, so total volume is also total flexibility.

The 982's mid-engine layout puts the mass between the axles, and the Boxster carries it with a rotational balance no front-engine convertible in the class can match — turn-in is immediate, the body stays flat, and the car never feels nervous at the limit. 2025 is a carry-over year within the 982 generation, so the chassis is the mature end-of-run tune: passive steel springs standard, PASM adaptive damping with a 10 mm drop optional (20 mm on the GTS 4.0). It sits one point under the Cayman only because an open body is marginally less rigid than a fixed roof, and level with rather than above the 911, which counters with optional rear-axle steering and PDCC anti-roll control the 718 never offered.

The Boxster's variable-ratio electromechanical rack is the reference for how good EPAS can be: quick and linear off-center, weighting that builds honestly with cornering load, and enough texture returning through the rim to feel the front tires approaching their limit. With no engine over the nose it arguably reads the road better than a 911 does. It lands just below the handling score because no electric system fully recovers the granularity of Porsche's older hydraulic racks.

Four-piston aluminum monoblock fixed calipers on 13-inch front / 12-inch rear cast-iron discs haul a sub-3,100 lb roadster down from 70 mph in the mid-140-foot range, which is short even by sports-car standards, and the pedal is firm, short-travel and easy to modulate right to the stop. Fade resistance on the road is a non-issue; the base car's irons are what eventually complain over sustained track laps, which is why PCCB carbon-ceramics stay on the options sheet.

On calibration alone the volume Boxster is very good: the 7-speed PDK — the standard transmission for 2025 — is the benchmark dual-clutch for both shift speed and low-speed creep manners, tip-in is crisp, and Dynamic Boost holds the throttle plate open through brief lifts so boost is still there when you get back on it. What keeps it out of the top band is genuine hesitation below roughly 2,000 rpm from the single-turbo 2.0-liter flat-four, a trait the naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six in the GTS 4.0 and Spyder RS does not share. Sound character is scored separately in 9.2.2 and is not double-counted here.

The base 718's one real failing, and the single most criticized attribute of the whole 982 generation. There is no vibration through the wheel or pedals and the engine is mechanically smooth, but the turbo flat-four's voice under load is coarse and boomy, and in a mid-engine roadster it plays directly behind the driver's head with only a fabric roof — or nothing at all — between the two. Scored a shade below the Cayman rather than in the failing band because the objection is tonal character, not mechanical roughness, and the optional sport exhaust helps; the naturally aspirated flat-six cars in the same range would score in the mid-90s here.

A 36.1-foot circle is mid-pack for a compact two-seater — respectable in absolute terms but no better than a mainstream sedan despite the Boxster's 97.4-inch wheelbase and small footprint, because a wide front track and fat front rubber eat the steering lock a short wheelbase would otherwise buy. The 718 never offered the rear-axle steering that shrinks the 911's low-speed circle.

One of the best driving positions offered at any price: you sit very low with the wheel falling straight into your lap, the pedals are squarely aligned for heel-and-toe, and the seat and column adjust through a wide range. The 982 kept an analog center tachometer and a bank of physical buttons and rotary controls for climate and chassis functions, so nothing needs a submenu. Roof down, outward visibility is the best in the segment and ingress is easier than the Cayman's; roof up, the fabric top pinches the rear three-quarter view badly. Points also come off for the deep sill, the narrow bolsters that confine broader drivers, and near-zero cabin storage.

The Boxster is the car enthusiasts reach for when the 911 is out of budget, and a good many argue it is the more rewarding chassis regardless of price — fast enough to be exciting on a public road at sane speeds rather than needing a track to come alive, and playful without ever feeling nervous. Roof down it adds the open-air dimension the Cayman cannot, which is why it edges its coupe sibling here despite being fractionally less rigid. 2025 is the 982's final model year, which sharpens the case further. It stays short of a perfect score only because the base car's flat-four soundtrack undercuts the occasion in a way the flat-six cars do not.

The 2025 car's one real content gain is that PDK became the standard transmission (a roughly $3,730 option in 2024, with the 6-speed manual retained as a no-cost swap), but $76,895 still buys a famously bare car: metallic paint, heated seats, PASM, Bose, the Premium Package and even the wind deflector are all billed separately. Driver assistance is the sorest point — standard safety barely goes past airbags, rollover protection and a reversing camera with front/rear sensors, with blind-spot monitoring and adaptive cruise optional and no AEB offered at all, while a $53K Mustang convertible ships Ford Co-Pilot360 standard and the Z4 M40i includes heated seats, adaptive dampers and Harman Kardon.

Two opposite readings average out to fair-but-not-cheap. On content and output the Boxster is beaten badly — 300 hp for $76,895 against 480 hp in a Mustang GT convertible at roughly $53K — and Porsche's a-la-carte structure means the realistically specified car lands near $87,000. On chassis and cost-of-exit it argues back hard: the mid-engine platform is the class benchmark, and class-leading retention (~61% at five years, scored 87 in cat5) means the money spent is largely money parked rather than money burned. Against its true rivals — Z4 M40i, CLE and 4 Series convertibles — the driving return per dollar is the best in the group; against the Mustang and MX-5 it is not close.

Five distinct 2025 trims spread across a $90,000 span — base, the new-for-2024/25 Style Edition, S, GTS 4.0 and Spyder RS — layered over four genuinely different engines (2.0T and 2.5T flat-fours, and two states of tune of the naturally aspirated 4.0L flat-six), a real transmission choice on every trim but the Spyder RS, and Porsche's effectively unbounded options and Exclusive Manufaktur catalog. The steps are well spaced rather than badge-engineered; the only structural gaps are no AWD variant and no entry model below the mid-$70Ks.

The trajectory is excellent and the absolute volume is tiny, which lands this mid-pack. Combined 718 Boxster/Cayman US sales rose to about 5,698 units in 2024 — the nameplate's best year since 2016 — and first-half 2025 ran 3,679 units, up 74% year over year, as buyers moved to secure the last combustion 718 before October 2025 production end. But that is the pair combined; the Cayman outsells the roadster, putting the Boxster itself in the low thousands, well under the Mustang convertible or MX-5. Rising sharply, from a niche base, for a reason that expires with the model.

Porsche sits at or near the top of every aspirational-brand and owner-loyalty measure in the US market, and the halo is not decorative — it is the mechanism behind the class-leading resale this car earns in cat5. The 2025 car gets an additional, unrepeatable boost as the final combustion 718 before the electric replacement, which is already pulling forward demand and supporting values. Held just short of the ceiling only because Porsche's corporate turbulence in this period (Taycan's sales collapse, the EV-timeline reversal, profit warnings) is a real background note, albeit one that reads as a business story rather than a consumer-image problem.

Scored on buyer benefit, this is close to the worst case: Porsche publishes no factory cash or subvented-rate incentives on the 718, most dealers transact at MSRP, and flat-six cars (GTS 4.0, Spyder RS) frequently carry additional dealer markup. What keeps it off the floor is that unsold base and S inventory — cancellations and spare allocations — does move at roughly $1,000–$2,000 off, occasionally more, and Porsche Financial Services runs a lease pull-ahead for returning customers. A buyer willing to take a car off the lot rather than order one can expect a low-single-digit discount and nothing else.

2025 is the tenth model year of the 982 generation, which launched in January 2016 and never received a true mid-cycle refresh — the substantive changes across a decade were the GTS 4.0's flat-six in 2020 and PDK becoming standard in 2025. It is also the terminal year: ICE 718 production ended in October 2025 and the successor is a wholly new electric 718, so redesign risk is not a forecast but a certainty already in progress. The age shows exactly where a decade-old platform shows it — the cabin's PCM 4.0 architecture, the small center screen, no head-up display and no OTA capability drove cat7 to 39.6. The chassis has not dated at all, but this item measures the generation clock, and that clock has run out.

This is arguably the most decorated nameplate in modern American automotive journalism. The 718 Boxster and Cayman took Car and Driver's 10Best for 2025 — the twentieth consecutive year for the pair and the twenty-sixth win for the Boxster since the award began — with C/D writing 'If there's a Platonic ideal of a 10Best winner, this is it.' The car wins or places at the top of essentially every sports-car comparison it enters, and the acclaim is specifically for the things this framework scores highest elsewhere (cat9: handling 95, steering 94, fun-to-drive 95). The single persistent criticism, well documented since 2016, is the turbo flat-four's coarse and unmusical note in the base and S cars — a real demerit the reviews return to, and the only reason this is not a perfect score.