Porsche Boxster (2004 - To Date)
BY ANDY ENRIGHT
Improving on the Boxster has to be one of motorings toughest assignments but that was the position Porsches designers and product planners found themselves in at the turn of the millennium. The first generation car had massively exceeded even their most optimistic sales projections and was the car responsible fro taking Porsche from the edge of financial meltdown to a position where it could afford to buy 20 per cent of the Volkswagen Group. The second generation Boxster was a surprisingly restrained item, nudging the car in the right direction in myriad ways without significantly altering the basic proposition. A used example wont be cheap but it will definitely be enjoyable.
The Boxster is an astonishingly capable car. Traditional Porsche design cues are everywhere, belying the cars position in the range. The dashboard is now 911-style as is the breathy wheeze of the flat-six engine behind you. Whichever Boxster model you choose, its a car that makes you feel a million dollars, especially with the hood down and the engine at full chat.
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The front and rear boots can actually swallow a surprising amount of bags, and the Tiptronic cars make town driving painless. This sort of car, often having lived its life gently perambulating suburban high streets, makes the best used buy. Watch out however, for the example you come across every so often that has been treated far harder.
These cars cling onto their value tenaciously and even the first of the 2004 54-plated cars is going to run you around £29,000 if you go for one (as you should) with the metallic paint, climate control and full leather that most buyers opted for. Opt for the Boxster S 3.2 and youll need £33,500 for the first of the 54-plated cars, with the Tiptronic S automatic gearbox adding only about £200 at resale, the definitive Boxster definitely having a manual gearshift. Values took a slight dip when the Cayman was introduced but the market quickly realised the hard top car made the Boxster look even better value and residuals have once again firmed up.
Insurance ratings for the Boxster are 18 for all models, bar the S which is rated at Group 19.
The Boxsters engine is a reliable and charismatic unit which has yet to show up any significant problems. Check the tyres for wear and also have the rear axle and suspension inspected as heavy acceleration from a standstill on a dry surface leads not to wheelspin, but to quite severe axle-tramp. This is a condition where the rear of the car judders under the torque of the drive going to the grippy rear tyres and is a potentially damaging and uncomfortable sensation. A whining axle or drive shaft will bear testament to this.
Few customers specified their cars in base trim and Porsche extras werent cheap so watch out for those buyers looking to claw back unreasonable sums they blew on options. Just to give you an idea, carbon fibre interior door finishers were £1,200 and the sports adaptive seats cost £1,700. Go for the big wheel option as well and the new buyer would have been looking at over £5,000 worth of extras. Check the condition of the alloy wheels for kerbing damage.
Also make sure the electric motors that power the hood havent been damaged by ignorant occupants attempting to raise or lower the roof manually. Check the bodywork, especially the bonnet and bootlids, as these can easily be damaged by owners slamming them onto protruding items from the front and rear boots. Boxsters are quite colour sensitive, and dark blue and green cars are harder to shift than ever-popular silver and red. Otherwise insist on a proper Porsche main dealer service history and buy with confidence.
(Estimated prices, based on a 2.7 Boxster) Boxster spares are predictably quite pricey, although they never cross the border into exorbitant. A clutch kit is £175, while front brake pads are around £60 with rears weighing in at about £75. The Boxster is equipped with two radiators, one on the right and one on the left, and these cost around £110 each.
A new alternator is around £350, while a new headlamp is in the region of £160. A new exhaust muffler and oxygen sensor will cost around £360. Not bad at all, really.
The entry level model has a torque figure of 273Nm and its available from 4,600rpm. Give it the full monty off the line and 60mph will come and go in 5.9 seconds, plus youll also be able to see a top speed of 160mph (none of this electronically limited to 155mph nonsense from the Weissach company). Due to increased engine efficiency thanks to the VarioCam Plus valve control system, fuel economy is a creditable 30.
4mpg on the combined cycle. Opt instead for the Boxster S and you have a car that possesses performance that not too long ago was the preserve of fully fledged supercars. Here 60mph is a mere 5.1 seconds away and this model will nudge 170mph.
Despite this crushing capability, fuel economy remains reasonable at 26.6mpg on the combined cycle. The 340Nm of torque gives this car real punch out of corners and means youll have to use the gears a little less. Although most customers will stick with the standard six-speed manual gearbox, both cars can be specified with a Tiptronic S transmission which now features revised hydraulics and electronics as well as variable shift programs.
The Sport Chrono Package was always one of the most popular Boxster options and when combined with the Tiptronic gearbox, the sporty characteristics of these cars are amplified. For instance, up and downshifts only take place above 3,000rpm, plus downshifts for engine braking are executed quicker and take place at higher engine speeds. Whats more, when in manual mode, upshifts are no longer made automatically when the engine reaches the rev limiter. The great thing about the Boxster is that despite the power boost, its still slower in a straight line than a BMW M-Roadster or a TVR Tuscan but will batter both of them down a B-road.
Youll wait for the others to catch up smug in the knowledge that youre working smarter not harder, doing more with less. The way it steers and stops leaves you in absolutely no doubt that when it comes to building sports cars, Porsche simply know more than the rest - especially at the detailed level.
Spend a few months without driving a Boxster and its possible to forget just how good this car is. Then you put it back to back with rivals and it makes them appear clumsy and unresolved. If you can afford one, buy one. Advice doesnt get a lot simpler than that.
