I was lucky enough to run a Boxter S all last summer (2001), so I thought that I would share my thoughts with you on these little road rockets.
I never intended to buy a Boxter because, as any fule knowe, real men drive 911's and only hairdressers and gurlies drive Boxters. I began my search in summer 2000 for a one or two year old 996 to replace my five year-old 993. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Porsche's arcane numbering system; each time Porsche change the 911 body shape, they give the car a different 'factory' number. So, while they are all 911's to you and me, to the geeks, they are 965's or 993's or 996's.
Anyhow, in August 2000 I schlepped down to my local Porsche dealer to blag a drive in their 996 demonstrator (the latest 911 designation). There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this numbering system, the previous 911 (the last of the air cooled cars) was designated 993 and the one before that 965. Anyway, back to my test-drive. What a motor, it went like stink and was so much more refined than my 993. Unfortunately, there was no way on earth that my long suffering bank manager was going to give me the dosh for it so I began looking at the second hand cars in the showroom. Stuart, my friendly Porsche salesman suggested that I give the (then new) Boxter S a try. Reluctantly I agreed and we took their demonstrator out for a spin. I say reluctantly because I drove one of the very first Boxter 2.5 demonstrators when they came into the UK and, while I was impressed with the way the thing handled and drove, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the performance. Compared to my 911 it felt very flat, even though the engine made a nice sound in the higher rev ranges.
The 'S' was a completely different cup of meat. What a revelation! The little car blew me away. They tell me that the 996 is half a second
quicker to sixty than the Boxter S, but I drove them back-to-back and I honestly couldn’t tell the difference. In addition, the 996 feels a lot bulkier on the road and less agile. Even with the very latest 911, which is far better in this respect than earlier models, there is still all of that weight behind the rear axle and you always feel that it would be relatively easy to get it wrong on a wet roundabout and end up chucking it up the pictures. The Boxter S by comparison was an absolute delight to chuck around, feeling almost idiot proof. So, carpe diem and all that rot, and down went my grand deposit for a build slot. Then I had nothing to do but wait until 12 weeks before delivery when they would give me a call about colours and options. So, since this was August and my new car wasn’t going to be built until April I went home and tried to forget about it.
The “Boxter” was first unveiled at the 1993 Detroit motor show as a design exercise in order to gauge public reaction. The brainchild of two young Porsche designers, Grant Larson (exterior) and Stefan Stark (interior), the production car is surprisingly faithful to the original design. It takes its design cues from the groundbreaking Porsche 550 of the mid-late fifties (the one that killed James Dean - but you lot will be far too young to remember that). Unlike its big brother, the 911, the engine and gearbox are rotated through 180 degrees to give a true mid-engined configuration. The S is the most powerful variant to date. My car was the 257 BHP car of 2001; the very latest S has a little more power, around 265.
Personally, I think that Porsche have created a big problem for themselves with the Boxter S. Whisper this but - it is a better car than the 911! Shhhhhh! The little Boxter with it's 2.5 (and later 2.7) motor is no threat. It's a thirty grand car that looks nice but can’t get anywhere near the mighty 911 when it comes to performance. The S, on the other hand, is a forty grand car that will, in the right hands, piss all over a sixty grand 911 point to point. Think about it. Twenty grand less for a better car - talk about shooting yourself in the foot - Ouch! Already, the speed shops such as TechArt and the like are tweaking up Boxter S engines to give around 300 BHP. What price your 911 now?
So, I don't know why they built the S. Many Porsche owners (certainly the ones I know) are not super rich guys who can afford to throw their money around willy-nilly. In truth, many of them have worked their cahones off in order to scrape together the dosh to run the car of their dreams. Result - at least three of my mates are trading in their 964's and 993's for Boxter S's. In the long run, this can’t be good for 911 sales can it?
Where was I? Oh yes, waiting for my new motor. February (2001) eventually arrived and I received a phone call from the ever-friendly Stuart. "What colour and bits do you want then?" You see, when you order a Porsche, the first thing you do is to buy a "build slot". At that point, nobody cares about the actual car since it's just an agreement between you and the waiting list. Porsche don't actually accept the order onto the factory 'till about 12 weeks before delivery. Also, at the 12-week point you have to make up the deposit to at least 10% of the value of the car - so they get real interested in the options and such like. OK, base car thirty-six big ones. Hang on, that’s a lot more than a Boxter, so what extra do you get for your money in the S? Well, for a start you get a detuned version of the 996 Motor with a full 3.2 Litres instead of the Boxter’s 2.7. That’s 257 BHP as opposed to 223. Also you get brakes and gearbox (if you chose manual) from the 996 and bigger 17" alloys (16" on the standard car). Finally, the inside’s a bit nicer, sporting half leather and climate control. Oh, and you get an 'S' on the boot lid (made from titanium no less).
I set myself an all-up budget of forty grand, which I thought would get a nice motor but wouldn’t take me over the top. So I chose a non-metallic colour (red - no cost option), sports seats, cruise control (I do a lot of motorwaydriving), heated seats (‘cos I’m a soft bugger), wind deflector (had to have a lie down over that one - £270 for a piece of polycarbonate for Christ’s sake!), upgrade to CD player, and a CD storage thingy, oh, and those cute Porsche emblems embossed into the leather on the head restraints. That was the plan anyway, however Stuart talked me into having full leather on account of the fact that the sports seats came 'for free' with that option (I admit it - I am a salesman's dream). With the VAT this brought the whole package to £41,258, more than I had planned but what the hell, it's only the bank manager’s money.
May finally arrived and Stuart called me to let me know that they had received the car (oh joy!) and could we talk about final options? "What kind of final options?" They wanted me to have a tracker fitted, the whole car treated with something called Scotchguard (I never go to Scotland) and to take out insurance against punctures. I called my insurance company and asked if they would give me any discount for tracker and they said "No." since the car had a Thatcham one alarm on it anyway. So that went in the bin. I called the chief mechanic at the Porsche dealer and asked him if this Scotchguard stuff was any good and he said that it was if you did a lot of motorway work (which I do) so I bought that. However, I will show my arse in Burton's window before I ever buy tyre insurance!!! What a load of nonsense. Final bill for the car? £41,557 (£299 for the Scotchguard - bloody hellfire!!).
I kept the car until I changed jobs in September. However, to cut a long story short, I sold it (boo) for £40K for it with 8000 miles on the clock so my summer's Porsche motoring had cost me a grand total of 1500 quid (hooray!). Not bad huh? Do I miss it? Yeah, sometimes, but what the hell it comes, it goes. As to my final opinion on the car? It is without question the mutt's nuts. I don’t think that I have ever driven anything, which has given me more of a buzz (and I have owned all sorts of stuff over the years). On balance, I would say that the build quality is not quite up to the standard of say, BMW, but it is still very, very good. The car is comfortable, quiet and, most of all, rocket ship quick. The way it goes around corners has to be experienced to be believed. It is also surprisingly practical with its luggage compartments front and rear. Jan and I took it to France for a couple of weeks on a touring holiday and we managed to get all of Jan’s stuff in and a couple of t-shirts for me as well! Joking aside, it took a big suitcase in the rear boot (Jan's) and a couple of those airhostess type pull-behind-you cases in the front.
I have a sneaking suspicion that this is the best sports car in the World for the money and, barring Italian exotica, maybe the best full stop and, while I do feel that spending forty grand on a bloody motorcar is obscene, I content myself with the infantile rationalisation that it wasn't my money I was spending, it was some fat cat bankers - I paid the loan off when I sold it. Given my time again though, I would tell them to shove the Scotchguard where the sun don't shine!
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