I recently bought a Porsche Boxster. Porsche has a reputation as one of the world’s most respected Sports cars manufacturers, but the Boxster is it’s entry level model. Can it really compare with the likes of the well respected 911, or is it just the poor man’s Porsche. I had done a fair bit of research before I went for the test drive, but was this all biased hype from enthusiastic owners or is it the well balanced nippy sports car that people make it out to be? It was hard to know exactly what to expect and the only way to find out was to take one for a test drive. So what is it like behind the wheel and how does it compare to other cars I’ve driven?
Although I’m not the biggest petrol head in the world I’m fortunate to have driven a wide variety of cars, from track days in Aston Martins, Porsche GT2s and Mercedes AMGs to the more practical pickups like the Toyota Hilux and of course small under-powered (but still fun) hatchbacks. Spoiler Alert: if you can afford the Porsche GT2 then I’d get that one, but if you can’t then I think the Porsche Boxster is well worth a look. I had been looking at several online and after narrowing down to what I wanted I called a seller and arranged to come over for a test drive. It was was a 2004 2.7L Porsche Boxster 986.
Of course I already knew what it looked like from the images online but when you look at it in real life the first thing that catches the eye are those glorious curves. Unlike the 911, which is rear-engined and curves down fairly abruptly behind the passenger compartment, the mid-engined Boxster has a continuity between the front and rear curves. The front and rear lights echo each other in that they are the prominent focal points at all 4 corners with every thing else curving away from them and then up towards the passenger compartment. This is more accentuated when the roof is down which is why it looks its best in this configuration.
Stepping into the drivers seat and there is not a lot of room here. It’s not cramped but I’m only 1.78m tall (5’10”) and wouldn’t want to be much taller. The controls are all within easy reach and already feels like a driver’s car. The instrument cluster further reflects this: a large central dial displays the engine rpm. Other more superfluous information such as speed is shoved over to the left hand side as this is secondary in importance to engine performance and efficiency. To further diminish the importance of the speedometer the dial only has numbers every 25 mph (25..50..75 etc) with other values being relegated to dashes. Right of the RPMs is the fuel and engine temperature, which is also worth a casual glance, I suppose…
Upon starting the engine the ears are treated to the flat-6 powering up. I’ll admit that 6 cylinders enclosing 2.7 litres of combustion space may not be the fiercest engine you ever hear but the fact that it’s right behind your head does somewhat make up for this. The engine is surprisingly quiet at low rpms but when the needle hits 3000 it starts to emit a satisfying growl which only continues to sound better the higher it gets. At this point it’s also worth mentioning that although now quite old, it was ahead of the game when it was built so it does feel like a fairly modern car with all the expected comforts such as electric memory seats, driver’s computer, satnav, aircon, automatically adjusting headlights and Porsche’s own traction control: Porsche Stability Management or PSM. These amongst other features won’t surprise the buyers of more recent cars but in 2004 it was all pretty high tech.
The controls, however, felt a little bit..well, agricultural. The first action when driving a manual car is to put it into gear. No problems with the clutch but I think it’s a bit heavier that I’m used to. The gear lever must be positioned fairly precisely. First gear is way over on the left, not just the gentle up and a smidge left that i’m used to. The rest of the gears where similar, there is a bit of ‘finding’ that needs to be done, although I got used to this quickly. Pulling off was fine though. The steering was a bit heavier than what I am used to, but provided plenty of feedback. The brakes seems to have a fair bit of travel. I’m not convinced this is entirely normal, however, they do bring the car to a rapid stop when required which is the main thing.
Where this car really excels is it’s handling and drive. It absolutely eats corners for breakfast! Push it around a corner at a decent pace and it just complies, just when you expect it to fight back, it doesn’t! I am not even sure how hard I can push it and frankly I’d be afraid to find out. The engine placement, weight distribution and the size of the car all are brilliantly set up to make driving an absolute pleasure. It’s not the most powerful, the fastest or the noisiest but the twisties are what this car was designed for and where it excels.
These first impressions are the things I noticed about the car and about driving it but there is no much more I could talk about: getting the roof down, the practicality, the sound system. There is so much to this car in such a small package, I really think it’s a great little car. It is not a 911, but it doesn’t try to be. It has a beauty of being designed as a roadster from the ground up while the mid engine layout means almost perfect balance for cornering. It’s very easy to drive and to have a lot of fun in it. If you are looking for a lot of car for not a lot of cash then the 986 Boxster is definitely worth looking at.