First Drive: The New Porsche Boxster
You could go a long way to find a road tester who doesn’t already think the Porsche Boxster is the best, most complete, ‘affordable’ sports car in the business. And when a car is about to be revamped, that can be as much a burden as a blessing. But Porsche needn’t worry about any leave-well-alone backlash in this instance, because by universal consensus, the best, amazingly, just got even better.
At first glance, you might not think much has changed, but don’t believe everything you see. The second generation Boxster and Boxster S roadsters have changed far more than their outward looks suggest - in terms of engines, transmissions, suspension, steering, brakes, headline performance, handling dynamics, even the interior design and equipment levels.
In fact Porsche say that almost 80 per cent of all components on the new Boxsters are new. And every change is an improvement. That includes the most subtle changes, to the exterior styling, which manages to look just like a Boxster but actually doesn’t share a single panel with the original car. It has a completely new nose with quite different, simpler headlight treatment plus separate side light units with integrated foglamps, nestling in much larger air intakes in the deep front dam.
And if it doesn’t sound like much, sit the two side by side and you’ll see the tautness of the new shape immediately. The rear changes are equally subtle and equally effective – changes in the rear light shape, changes in the way the body seams join with the lights, and a gentle pumping up of the arches, front and rear, that give the new Boxster just a bit more of the curviness of the original concept car of a decade ago. But if you still can’t tell old and new apart, the easiest visual distinction is in the side air intakes just ahead of the rear arches – the new ones are quite a bit bigger, and with more obvious internal fins.
The changes aren’t just aesthetic, either. The frontal area is slightly bigger but overall drag is lower, with a reduction in Cd from 0.31 for the base model (which was already class leading) to 0.29. There’s virtually a fully-flat underfloor now, and a revised rear spoiler, reducing front and rear lift. And it looks superb. It sits on bigger wheels – the base Boxster now has 17-inch alloys, the Boxster S has 18-inchers, and both versions can have 19-inch alloys in three different patterns as an option.
Interior - a big improvement
And the other easy distinguishing feature between the two versions is as before – the ‘basic’ Boxster has a single, central oval exhaust, the Boxster S has twin central pipes. Inside, the second generation is very different and very classy. The whole dash, especially the centre console, is simpler and more modern. It uses softer touch plastics that are less at odds with the large helpings of leather, and the new round air vents now stand alone rather than being integrated into other areas. The instruments (grey-faced in the S, black in the Boxster) are typically clear and typically dominated by rev-counter rather than speedo.
If there’s a niggle it’s that there are too many minor switches and buttons (for audio, air-con, sat-nav, telephone and dynamic settings) in the centre cluster, and that they can be a bit fiddly until you find your way around – but their tactile quality is superb, and you do have the option of duplicating most of them on multi-functional wheel controls.
There’s a bit more room inside for taller drivers who found the original Boxster a bit snug: the seats are a bit lower with more fore-and-aft adjustment, the pedals are further away, and the wheel adjusts for height as well as reach. They’re a bit wider, too, with better side support. There are four different seat options, from standard (with electrical rake adjustment), through ‘enhanced’, with fully electrical adjustment plus lumbar support, then leather sports seats with additional side support, and finally ‘adaptive’ sports seats, with individually adjustable side supports on both cushion and backrest.
The electrically-powered hood has been tweaked, too. Not only does it open or close in a claimed 12 seconds, you can now do it on the move, at speeds of up to 50kph, or 31mph. Electric windows and mirrors, air-con, audio with CD, and an on-board computer are all standard equipment.
Engines and Transmission
So it’s sexier to look at and a nicer place to be, but how does it drive? Well, exquisitely well, and, remarkably, even better than before. Both Boxsters have more power and more torque from the latest, much modified versions of the mid-mounted, water-cooled flat-six – 2.7 litres in the Boxster, 3.2 in the Boxster S. That’s 240bhp (up from 228) and 199lb ft for the former, or 280bhp (from 260) and 236lb ft for the S. Most noticeably, both are more flexible at low and middling speeds, mainly thanks to extensive changes in the intake and exhaust plumbing.
Standard transmission offerings are uprated five-speed manual on the Boxster, or a new six-speed manual on the S, and both have the option of five-speed Tiptronic S paddle-shift automatic – which works well enough, but isn’t nearly as satisfying as the crisper, quicker stickshift. With ‘sports package’ and PASM Porsche Active Suspension Management, the six-speed manual is also an option on the base Boxster, and that’s a very attractive package indeed, giving away very little to the S.
Behind the wheel
On the road, they are both stunningly effective, and just a pure joy to drive. They’re so simple, honest and transparent – and so incredibly competent and balanced. Headline performance is almost irrelevant, sparky but not exceptional, with top speeds of 159 and 166mph respectively (Porsche don’t do limiters) 0-62mph in 6.2 or 5.5 seconds (all these figures are in manual trim), and 0-100mph in 14.5 or 12.3. More relevant, though, is 50-75mph in fourth for the Boxster in just 6.9 seconds, and the same trick in the S in fifth in only 6.8 – which is very strong mid-range shove where it counts most in everyday driving. Oh, and they sound absolutely sensational – Porsche have done loads of work on that, and a Boxster in anger is now pure mechanical music.
But the best bits of all are the way it handles on just every kind of road, and the more demanding the better. At higher speeds there’s just enough understeer to be protective, but there’s always a sharpness to the initial turn into the corner that makes almost any other car feel dead and lazy by comparison. And when you go harder still the understeer balances out with huge grip and wonderfully adjustability through either wheel or throttle input that give the most satisfying feeling of control possible. There are electronic stability safety nets, too, of course, but they’re there for the outer limits, not to intrude at lower ones, and they don’t. Then there are the brakes, which are as far beyond criticism as the rest – except perhaps for the fact that the optional ceramic stoppers (offered on the Boxster for the first time) are so expensive as a proportion of the overall cost of the car that you’d really have to think at least twice.
There’s virtually nothing else to criticise – it’s a delight from the moment you settle in and turn the key to the moment you switch it off, and there’s still nothing else to touch it. It will be on sale at the end of November, at virtually the same prices as the outgoing models – so from around £32,000 for the Boxster and £38,500 for the Boxster S. It’s hard to see how you could spend that kind of money better on a sports car.
baazigar 
isb guy 
charming khan 
