If I owned a 981 S coming to the end of its warranty and so worried about my car's performance I would have already purchased German Porsche specialist FVD Brombacher's tune for $1300 which safely pumps the 981 Boxster S from 315 hp to 352 hp/291 tq. I'm not normally an advocate for tunes since most aren't the product of actual automotive software engineers, but Germany's FVD Brombacher's software engineers were actually trained and worked for Bosch and Siemans in Germany and have extensive factory expertise in writing software code for Porsche. They also don't remove ANY of the OEM software safety features. Win-Win. FVD sells no software enhancement for the 718s. If someone else does, use at high risk. My point is the playing field is easily leveled if bragging rights are that important to you. To me they're not, but I don't like having performance stats thrown out like it's all that matters. To me these cars are all about feel and sensory enjoyment. I didn't buy my first Boxster (2008 RS60 Spyder) to impress car geeks. I bought it for pure driving pleasure, and even at a lowly 303 hp rating it was an absolute joy to drive and own. If that was still in my garage I would be just as happy and feel I had lost nothing in the last 10 years of Boxster development. Pre-DFI 987s are very visceral and the road feel is amazing. I'm not in a race with anyone.

As an aside, I find it interesting that the turbo era appears to have naturally ended Porsche's deliberate detuning of motors for the Boxster/Cayman platform to keep them from easily beating up the Carrera S, not just the base model. Now Porsche doesn't have to detune anymore since they no longer share the same cylinder count and therefore performance potential. 2 less cylinders has naturally emasculated the platform comparatively, and I'm betting Porsche will ensure the next generation CPUs can't be cracked open like the 991.2 has been, so no way to bridge the gap through irresponsible tuners. When Porsche ushers in their electric sports car era, they'll more easily be able to control power output through size of batteries and electric motor output. I recently read up on the Boxster E and it was very interesting. Porsche has been hard at work on an all-electric sports car for the better part of 10 years now. The Boxster E was rated at 398 tq back in 2011. Not bad. Curious to know what Porsche has been up to in the years since.

As for sales, 25,000 Boxsters/Caymans for one model year seems quite a lot. I haven't seen that figure anywhere. Not doubting you. In the US (Porsche's most important market), sales dropped 19% for the introductory year of the 718. 1,200 less units sold compared to the 981 in its final year. Discount that if you wish but this market and the German domestic market matter more to Porsche than all else. I wouldn't mind at all if the opposite were true and 718s exceeded 981 sales. That would be more normal. But I also believe Porsche is pricing these cars out of the market (except in China obviously) and I don't want to see this platform falter. I can literally drive days without seeing another Porsche sports car, and I live in the 8th largest city in the US. Not that I want to see a Porsche at every traffic light.

I'm trying to resist dropping the Spyder/GT4 performance measure into this debate. It's getting harder to not. But if you're curious, for the same $1300, FVD brings my Spyder's NA 6 Cyl to 412 hp/336 tq/191 mph top speed. Picture me dropping the mic.