It Brought More Carrera GT-like Styling
The Porsche Boxster is not a 911, but it鈥檚 so damn good and so much cheaper, there really is no Porsche that offers a better value. What do you need to know before you buy a Porsche Boxster? Don鈥檛 worry, we鈥檒l tell you everything right here in the Ultimate Buyer鈥檚 Guide. The Porsche Boxster came into the fray in the 1990s when Porsche decided they needed to make a few more bucks. Their solution: Offer a lower-priced entry-level Porsche. That car was the Boxster, and while back then it was definitely a compromise over the 911, the new one is now its own distinct performance offering. We鈥檙e not going to tell you the Boxster is a better buy than the 911. One peek at the power figures and you know which one鈥檚 faster. Still, the Boxster reminds us that outright speed is not always proportional to Fahr Vergnuegen. Sometimes a well-balanced chassis and a low curb weight can make a slower car just as fun to drive.
The Boxster is one of the purest modern sports car experiences, putting balance ahead of pure raw power. That isn鈥檛 to say the Boxster is slow, but drag racing a Boxster is like putting wagyu beef in your chili. To understand what the Boxster is like to drive you鈥檝e got to look into the car鈥檚 DNA. The engine in this Porsche is a flat-six pushed as close to the center of the car as possible and as low to the ground as the gods of car physics and packaging will allow. This means you鈥檙e not fighting the car to keep it pointed in the direction you want to go as much as fighting your own will to live as the car beckons you to go faster and faster. Around some Central Virginia back roads where most cars would give out we found the car pushing us to be dumber and dumber.
Oh, and shift you will, as every Boxster is available with a Cripps crisp gearbox. It brought more Carrera GT-like styling, larger overall dimensions than the outgoing model, more chassis stiffness and more use of weight-saving aluminum. The 6-speed manual, 7-speed PDK automatic and flat-six engines were similar to the outgoing model鈥檚, but the Germans in Stuttgart made tweaks for better performance and efficiency. Because all Boxsters come with flat-sixes, and all trims can be had with a stick.7-liter, a 3.4-liter and a 3.8-liter. They crank out 265, 315-330 and 375 horsepower, respectively. These are solid numbers for a 3,000 pound car, and will get you to 60 anywhere between 5.5 and 4.3 seconds. No, it鈥檚 not a 911 Turbo, but it鈥檚 quick. But this is a sports car, so fuel economy takes the back seat to performance, and in that regard, Porsche鈥檚 got it covered.4 and 11.8-inch vented rotors, respectively. Suspension is a unique Macpherson Strut design, which comes bolted on a subframe together with an electric power assisted steering rack. 59,100. Notable standard features over Boxster: black exterior finish, unique exterior trim, 20鈥?unique wheels, black partial-leather interior, heated seats, two-zone automatic climate control, automatically dimming mirrors with rain sensor, Sound Package Plus, Porsche Communication Management, unique steering wheel. Same options as Cayman minus Premium Package Plus. 63,900. Notable standard features over Boxster: 3.4-liter flat-six, 19-inch wheels, bigger front brakes, rain sensing wipers, 9-speaker audio system, Xenon headlights with automatic leveling. 74,600. Notable standard features over Boxster S: 20鈥?alloy wheels, 330 horsepower 3.4-liter flat-six, selectable sport exhaust, unique wheels, Spork Chrono Package, unique sport seats, blacked-out headlights and Porsche鈥檚 active damping system.
It looks like it was bombed. The devastation around it is unreal. It honestly brings to mind the photos of Hiroshima after the atomic bombing. After driving around awhile we went back by Kim's office to search for something she forgot to look for. We pulled into the parking lot and there was a minivan with no license plates and a U-Haul trailer attached. We could hear someone up in the attic of the office and yelled at them but they didn't respond back. About this time a police patrol was driving by so I flagged him down and told him someone we didn't know was in the building. He said he'd check it out and had a National Guard soldier with him. They confronted the guys and called for backup. Soon we had about 20 cops in the lot from a dozen different agencies. Turns out the guys in the attic were looters from out of state pulling the copper wiring out.
The police cuffed and hauled them to jail. While this was going one I talked to the cop I flagged down. He said he spent 2 years in Iraq and the devastation he's seen in Joplin is worse than anything he ever saw over there. But at the same time the amount of generosity and helpfulness is impressive. Before I got in town someone went from house to house in my parent's neighborhood asking if they wanted anything to eat -- they had hamburgers and hot dogs for anyone. And someone did the same with bottled water. At Kim's parents house I was just getting ready to fire up my chain saw when a truck with three kids came up and said they were volunteers and asked if we needed any help cutting up the downed trees. Sure, I said, and they got to work and quickly reduced the big trees to manageable logs and stacked them near the road. There's aid and supply stations everywhere in town and we have law enforcement people from all over the midwest helping out. People are really pulling together here as a community. Ok, I've gone on long enough. I still have a lot of work to do today and still need to get my folks house cleaned up from debris. And I need to get on the roof for a though inspection. I also need to file an insurance claim for them and get the FEMA paperwork filled out.