Our man in Portugal, José Luis Stock, recently sent me some photos from the official press launch of the Porsche Boxster 718, the turbocharged four-cylinder car which Stuttgart has seen fit to rebrand with the iconic 718 label, presumably to head off criticism that real Porsche sports cars have flat-six engines. Personally, I don’t think anyone would have been that bothered and they could have left it alone, but what do I know.

José is the brother of Fernando Stock, famous Portuguese rally driver of the 1950s who took a Porsche 356 to the Monte Carlo Rally back in the day. José is a man who still loves his Porsches, so it must have been a pretty cool experience to walk into a car park and find the very latest Porsche sports car parked in front of him: yet another upside to living in sunny Southern Europe.

Porsche Boxster 718 reviews

Reviews of the Porsche Boxster 718 have been circulating for a week or so, and the general consensus amongst road test editors is that it’s a reasonable effort. EVO magazine’s Dan Prosser is one of my Porsche road test benchmarks and his review of the new Boxster S was an interesting read, particularly for his robust remarks on the character of Porsche’s new four-cylinder engine.

“Even with the sports exhaust fitted, the new engine is fairly characterless in the way it sounds,” says Prosser. “It doesn’t want for volume at idle and the sound is a dirty, gruff sort of warble with Subaru undertones, but it isn’t tuneful. Unfortunately, it doesn’t improve once on the move and with the roof up it’s actually very droney. The note does harden over the final 1000rpm, but the long and short of it is that the Boxster is no longer a car that can be enjoyed for the way it sounds.”

Not quite what the Doctor would have ordered if he were still with us, and even less so when the price is factored in. The new Boxster S costs a staggering £50,695. Add five grand more for ceramic brakes, a grand for 20″ wheels and £1100 for Sport Chrono Plus. Hard to believe that a new Boxster S is the best thing you can do with £60k of hard-earned, but UK Porsche sales are up year-on-year.