The Porsche Boxster is quite simply (in my opinion) the finest roadster available on the roads today. For those who don't know, it is a 2 door, 2 seater mid-engined convertible produced by Porsche and built in Germany (and Finland alongside the top-of-the-range Saab Viggens).
Priced at c. £31,000 for the 'base' 2.7 model it is significantly less expensive (can you use the word cheap to describe a Porsche?) than the c. £60,000+ 911 but has so many of it's big brother's features. These include the kudos that comes with ownership of a Porsche, fantastic handling (really, truly sublime), sleek purposeful looks (that deceive most into believing you're driving a 911 from the front) and a great 6 cylinder water-cooled engine (recently expanded from 2.5 to 2.7 litres).
Quite simply the value that you get from departing with over 30 grand is excellent. It isn't however, perfect. The first time the Porsche options list was presented to me having just ordered my 2.7, I nearly collapsed. It's quite easy to add over £10,000 of extras onto the car although adding an extra £4000 should cover most 'necessities'. In the end I bumped the price of my Boxster up to about £ 35,000 specifying 18" alloys (with 225 section tyres front and 265 sections rear- Pirelli or Conitinental tyres are guaranteed), the hi-fi speaker upgrade (the standard 2 speaker system really should be improved), which gives you 6 speakers and single CD player (cassette standard). Leather isn't standard and will cost you about £2000 extra (couldn't really justify killing those cows just for my enjoyment of leather seats, so I'm sitting on leatherette (man made leather) and alcantara seats). I also specced a wind deflector (COME ON PORSCHE, this should be standard) and tracking system for the car which my insurance company made compulsary. Speaking of insurance..I'm a 23 year old student and I'm paying just over £1500 premium (protected) so the car's not uninsurable by any means.
The wait for the car used to be horrendous...in the order of a year or so. Mine came withing 3 months from a franchised dealer but I get the impression I was lucky. The pain of waiting is offset to a degree by the fantastic residual values it guarantees though.
Ok, ok.....onto the main bit (yes I know, I ramble on don't I?) I reckon the looks of the car are great, although these things are pretty subjective so take a look for yourself.
The engine is sublime...just go down to your local dealer and ask him/her to start the car and rev it (for a full hit, take it out for a test drive). It purrs at idle, growls between 1500 and 4500 revs and howls above that. The change in displacement from 2.5 to 2.7 litres has added more torque and power which makes the car faster (duh!) but also more accessible. By this I mean that you don't need to thrash the poor Boxer engine apart to overtake, just change down a gear and put your foot down. 0-60 takes about 6.5 seconds and it'll get to 100 mph in just over 15 seconds (depending on who you believe). Max speed is about 155 mph but isn't limited so the car's struggling a bit up there.
The hood mechanism is great engineering too. There isn't too much wind noise on the motorway, it is utterly water resistant and it folds away (electrically, after unlocking one latch manually) in an unbeaten 12 seconds. The plastic rear window might glaze over a bit but it seems pretty resistant to me so far.
The practicality of this car is great. Boots front and rear swallow a couple of holdalls each and a variety of cubbyholes in the cockpit take care of the rest. Also speaking from the practicality perspective, mpg is superb. What other sports car can you get 30 mpg out of (even driving carefully)? Admittedly the fuel consumption will be more around the 20-25 mpg mark when you realise how good the car is to drive and feel compelled to travel at hyper-speed everywhere. Active safety is brilliant. The brakes feel like they'd slow a train instantly and don't fade, even after intense use. Passive safety includes a comprehensive roll cage and front and side airbags.
The handling is...umm.....awesome. That's all I can say. Convertible's used to be for posers who didn't really care about how the car drove, just how it looked. The Boxster changes this. It has NO scuttle shake and just tracks round corners like a proper sports car should. Don't try to impress your partner with power oversteer however because a) you'll have to try VERY VERY hard to make the car oversteer and b) when it does, you have to be a member of the Schumacher family to prevent yourself becoming part of the scenery. Overall, the handling is unbelievably good.
Standard security is impressive....deadlocked doors, locking cubbyholes inside, Thatcham 1 alarm standard etc... although getting a tracking system is advisable (if not compulsary).
The car's built like a rock and as with all Porsche's reliabilty is second to none.
So as you can see, I like it. A lot. No more than that actually. Anyway, all my experiences of the car are positive and I'd recommend ti to anyone that has the available funds to spend on a convertible. In my opinion it comprehensively beats the BMW Z3 (but not M roadster...they're pretty even overall), Audi TT and Merc SLK (but that roof is pretty good)the car's main rivals. Ooops...sorry about rambling agin!