Yahoo Autos The 2024 Porsche 718 Cayman Style Edition Is a Flamboyant Send-Off
First things first: This 2024 Porsche 718 Cayman Style Edition is not pink.
And yes, people will call it pink. Perfect strangers will approach you at gas stations just to see who exactly would buy a pink Porsche. The young ones will compliment your “spec” and the older ones, bless their hearts, will point out, “At least it ain’t like all the others.”
That’s precisely what the valet said to me when I picked up the car at the Nashville Airport. And indeed, I’d arranged with Porsche to borrow this exact car in this exact color because it’s not like all the others. Not like all the other Porsche Caymans, of course. But also not like really anything else. My goal was to stand out, to stand out in the crowd.
I was using the car to help lead a flotilla of Corvettes and Porsches and Ferraris and more Corvettes on Road & Track’s second annual Smoky 600 road rally, running from the National Corvette Museum track in Bowling Green, Kentucky all the way to the Tail of the Dragon at the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. My conspicuousness was a measure of my success.
But to be clear: This car is covered in $2580 worth of Ruby Star Neo paint, a version of the color first seen back in the Nineties on the 964-generation 911. It’s not pink. But it’s not red, either. Let’s call it fundamentally fuchsia or maybe magenta. Whatever you call it, it’s a nail polish color. And I like it. Moving on.
It’s no secret that the beloved current generation of the 718 Cayman and Boxster is near to be replaced by a fully electric new generation next year. The company has acknowledged that it won't sell the gas-powered version alongside the electric. So the end is nigh. And so what we have here is the classic special edition model that’s popped up at the end of a model’s life for at least the last half-century. Sometimes these are cynical paint-and-stripes plays to move the last of an unpopular or aged model. Sometimes, it’s an enticing packaging of desirable features for a reasonable price. The 718 Style Edition, available for both Cayman and Boxster, is mostly the former. But the entire 718 lineup is so fundamentally excellent that, marketing ploy or not, the Style Edition is still a great car.
For maximum style, Porsche dressed up this particular Cayman with the white “contrast package” which includes a spear-like white stripe down the center of the car’s hood with the Porsche crest as a tip, white side stripes with "PORSCHE" lettering on the doors, white “718 Cayman” script on the tail, and gloss white 20-inch wheels. Combined with the pink-adjacent body color, the white trimmings give this serious performance automobile a splash of Power Wheels Barbie Jeep vibe.
White wheels are a great idea if: A. you are Tommi Mäkinen or B. you plan on never applying the brakes. The wheels are the same handsome units as those used on the Boxster Spyder and, for the five or so minutes immediately after a half-hour-long cleaning, they look absolutely striking.
Available only on the base level (read: non-S) 718s, the Style Edition starts at $76,250 (including destination charge). That’s $6300 more than a mechanically identical standard 718 Cayman. From a strictly pragmatic standpoint, that’s a steep upcharge for a minimal amount more equipment (heated, multifunction steering wheel, some embroidered Porsche badges on the headrests and such). The Boxster Spyder wheels standard here, are not available on standard 718s, but other 20-inch wheels for the base car run between $2730 and $4570. And the white or black finish comes at no additional cost on the Style Edition. But it’s fair to say that this edition is not exactly a value play.
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