Porsche Boxster Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Porsche Boxster range
Prices: £34,726-£45,603 - on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 18-19
Emissions: 214-223g/km
Performance: [S PDK] 0-60mph 5.2s / Max Speed 170mph
Fuel Consumption: [S PDK] (Combined) 30.1mpg
Safety: Twin front, side and door airbags / ABS / PSM
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height, 4329/1801/1295mm

THINKING BEYOND THE BOX

Our Rating: 7.1 / 10

Making the Porsche Boxster better was never going to be easy but Porsche has risen to the challenge. Steve Walker reports.

An object lesson in the art of building a performance roadster, the Porsche Boxster continues to show its rivals the way. Porsche has upped the technology count across the board on the latest car with resulting improvements to performance and efficiency. A subtle restyle and interior upgrades complete what looks to be a thoroughly successful facelift.

In times of economic downturn, governments can either batten down the hatches or come out fighting, chequebook in hand - the risk of the later policy being that you simply store up even greater woes for the future. Porsche engineers will have a better handle on this concept than most for as they obsessed over and honed every detail of their original Boxster, edging it closer to perfection, the unspoken truth will have been all too apparent within them. In a few short years, the car would be back in for its facelift and they’d be lumbered with the unenviable task of making it better. Now that facelifted Boxster is here and the world can see how those poor Weissach spanner jockeys got on.

Lesser men and women than those employed by Porsche might feel the temptation to hold back on the original version of a new car and put to one side some fine-tuning to roll out of the inevitable future facelifted version, making their future job easier. You just know that anyone harbouring such mutinous tendencies at Porsche HQ would be immediately dragged outside and, given a very stern talking to. Cars like the 911, Cayman and Boxster simply don’t emerge from a company with anything less than a complete focus on excellence. We can be certain, then, that the latest improved Boxster is the result of the formidable Porsche machine operating at full tilt.

Technology from the latest 911 has been piled into the latest Boxster, a risky strategy given the view held by many that the Boxster and its Cayman hard-top equivalent are within a whisker of surpassing the abilities of the standard 911 models. With power boosts to Boxster and Boxster S models, plus the option of the PDK double clutch gearbox and launch control, the gap to the 911 may have narrowed yet further. The mid-engine, rear-wheel drive layout that gives the Boxster its stunning balance and purity is, of course, retained. The entry level engine, however, now has a 2.9-litre capacity and a 255bhp power output, an increase of 1

The direct injection system fitted to the Boxster S engine generates faster responses to throttle inputs by directing fuel at high pressure directly into the combustion chamber. This also achieves a better fuel/air mixture within the chamber that can be adapted to maximise performance or for a cleaner, more efficient combustion. It’s clever stuff but arguably not as clever as the Porsche PDK twin clutch gearbox.

An automatic Porsche was once frowned upon by the marque’s aficionados in the same way as a Suzuki GSX-R1000 with stabilisers might be viewed in superbike circles. The PDK gearbox models, by contrast, encourage nothing but respect from those in the know. It’s a twin-clutch ‘box which shifts between ratios many times faster than you can say Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (don’t worry, we’ll stick to PDK from now on). The system actually shaves 0.1s from the 0-62mph time of an expertly driven six-speed manual car, such are the slickness and speed of its shifts. With the optional Launch Control function which manages traction off the line, a further 0.2s can be stripped from the performance envelope.

The Boxster now looks different but not massively so. The latest car has reshaped headlamps with indicators built in that resemble the units on the Carrera GT supercar. The air-intakes below have also been reshaped with horizontal bars for the outer ones in the front bumper that also house LED side lights. There’s more of the in vogue LED lighting at the rear where the bumper has come in for some subtle tweaks. Overall, the Boxster looks as classy as ever from the outside and the interior ambience has been raised a notch or two by the inclusion of higher quality materials and a beautifully contoured steering wheel.

Porsche has tinkered with the suspension settings on the Boxster and predictably claims improvements to both handling and comfort. The power steering system has also been remapped with the aim of achieving a more agile and spontaneous feel. The Pors