RE: Driven: Porsche Boxster S

[Chins]

Well mine is on order, need to decide on the 20" wheels

[crostonian]

It's the first Boxster that you don't have to look at the lights to tell which way it's going but when I look at the pics of the red car all I see is WHEELS! Why are they so big, it looks like a caricature car. A 2.7 on 19s for my mother is surely the best Boxster.

[RichB]

Lox said:

vimfuegoturbo said:

some bright spark suggested melding the words 'boxer' and 'roadster', to be met by simultaneous back slapping and nodding of heads.

Technically , it's a fusion of Boxer and Speedster, it being a Porsche after all. But I get your point!

I'd always thought that but Wiki says otherwise then again you can't alway believe what's on Wiki. How knows? I don't find the name any more irritating than Veyron or Virage.

[dandarez]

What is it with alloys and car manufacturers today? Have they all got access to Ripspeed and Halfords?

Those 20in Carrera Classic alloys on Harris's test car (nothing 'Classic' at all about them!) are awful.

The 20in Boxster Carrera S wheel is not as bad.

The 19in Boxster S wheels (below) wins hands-down imo.
But then what do I know, I love the Mahogany Metallic body colour.

Edited by dandarez on Saturday 10th March 21:52

[FisiP1]

I like Mahogany body color too, sadly you have to be a brave soul to actually order it for obvious reasons.

[dandarez]

FisiP1 said:

I like Mahogany body color too, sadly you have to be a brave soul to actually order it for obvious reasons.

I think you have to be braver to order Cognac Metallic (baby sick colour!) or Anthracite Brown Metallic (ie: you have to mention the word 'Brown').

[Richard330s]

Like the new design, looks sharper all round.
1st non push-me-pull-you shape which looked like it could drive to the hairdresser in either direction previously.
Unfortunately spoilt by the contradiction in terms of an
'Electronic handbrake'......

Please can we start the campaign to remove these annoying claims at progress.

[S2000Etype]

Sorry Monkey, you probably misexplained this one. The vehicle almost certainly cuts the fueling to zero on a closed throttle when the engine revs are above 1500RPM. This is almost standard on fuel injected cars these days. It's the engine that idles not the throttle setting.

Some vehicles even close the valves at the end of the induction stroke and go into cylinder deactivation mode. The air drawn in is compressed and decompressed then recompressed over and over again. The theory being that one cylinder decompressing balances out the energy needed to compress a companion cylinder. Engines with variable valve lift can do this. Most of these engines have no throttle either. The variation in valve lift is used as the throttle opening. It's simply more efficient. It also promotes higher indcution air speeds and thus better fuel/air turbulence at small throttle/accelerator settings.

Direct injection promotes better cylinder scavenging (The degree of completeness with which a cylinder is filled with fresh air)as it only draws in air instead of air and fuel. This means a greater mass of air is drawn in. Thats why all new engines incorporate this technology.

The engine/gearbox will remain linked. It is illegal to coast a vehicle but you can of course over-run the engine. In sixth gear in a modern vehicle running 0W/30 or 5W/30 oil, the engines internal friction is minimal

As for the electric steering. Well I suppose it is a shame that its not as good as hydraulic, but we have probably seen the last of that in any newly designed car. Hydraulic consumes engine power, equalling greater fuel consumption. Electric will only be powered when you turn the wheel and remain passive at all other times. Probably only using battery power when it is operated. The battery will only be charged during braking or when its voltage drops below 12.5V (they are normally 13.2V fully charged). Lots of new cars already only spin the alternator at these times. Controlled by an electromagnetic clutch like those on AirCon compressors.

Future cars will use capacitors to run all the electrics when the vehicle is stationary and stop/start mode is active. Why? They can be charged from flat in less than ten seconds and hold enough charge to run everything for up to 2 minutes.

Edited by S2000Etype on Saturday 10th March 23:27

Edited by S2000Etype on Saturday 10th March 23:27

[j123]

So very simply evo and its scribes like Catchpole, Barker and Meaden think steering feel MATTERS and can actually help you drive safer, knowing what the wheels are up to all the time, while Harris does not think this is that important.

I suppose Harris will never know if his electric steering actually is that good until or if he (ever does) finds himself on the kind of road that gives him, his driving skill, and his car a real close call.

I'm going with the evo boys on this. Always better to have the best feel especially on challenging roads.

j

[SonnyM]

dandarez said:

What is it with alloys and car manufacturers today? Have they all got access to Ripspeed and Halfords?

Those 20in Carrera Classic alloys on Harris's test car (nothing 'Classic' at all about them!) are awful.

The 20in Boxster Carrera S wheel is not as bad.

The 19in Boxster S wheels (below) wins hands-down imo.
But then what do I know, I love the Mahogany Metallic body colour.

Edited by dandarez on Saturday 10th March 21:52

Can you see the problem in that pic? The wheel arches are larger than before so 19" wheels look smaller than they did before.

Look at the Porsche generations and wheel sizes over time - 17, 18, 19, now 20 inches. They increase by 1 inch per generation. So in 5 years expect 21 inch, and 10 years 22 inches.

Where will the wheel size stop - 25 or 30 inches? What size gives the best performance - do RSR's have 20" wheels?

[jimbobr1]

What is with all the 20" looks ste remarks? It looks amazing!

Great to see this thing in the flesh and even better to see it with proper sexy wheels......

Were I in the market for one I would have one in a flash.

Alas my next car needs to be light and fun so I will order a GT86

[nickfrog]

mwstewart said:

40% stiffer, 40%! Torsional I presume. Hat's off Porsche, hats off. That's incredible. It even looks balanced now and those numbers must make up for even the current generation of EHPAS; a week with it must reveal more?

The Boxster has always been VERY torsionally stiff and has reached the point of (almost) completely diminished returns on that front a long time ago, they could give it another 1000% it would make no discernible difference on the road, it's mainly for marketing.

[j123]

This place is amazing, thoughts about cars don't come any better than this. j

[Stu R]

Crap wheels, lovely looking car otherwise though.

[rm89]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I seem to be the only person on earth who actually thinks those wheels improve the V8V. Never mind, all personal taste I guess. I agree that the 19s look best on this Boxster, think the 20s are quite frankly overkill - they also mean the wheel arches are so big as to make the car look slightly misproportioned, to my eyes at least. Not for me, I'm afraid.

[Raitzi]

Thank you for the article!

I hope they full advantage of the roof in cayman.(car with the roof should be lighter)

Here is nice photoshop jobs of the new cayman:
http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-2013-pors...

Edited by Raitzi on Sunday 11th March 06:49

[sisu]

jimbobr1 said:

What is with all the 20" looks ste remarks? It looks amazing!

Great to see this thing in the flesh and even better to see it with proper sexy wheels......

Were I in the market for one I would have one in a flash.

Alas my next car needs to be light and fun so I will order a GT86

Hellaflush huh

[heebeegeetee]

j123 said:

So very simply evo and its scribes like Catchpole, Barker and Meaden think steering feel MATTERS and can actually help you drive safer, knowing what the wheels are up to all the time, while Harris does not think this is that important.

I suppose Harris will never know if his electric steering actually is that good until or if he (ever does) finds himself on the kind of road that gives him, his driving skill, and his car a real close call.

I'm going with the evo boys on this. Always better to have the best feel especially on challenging roads.

j

Did you read the article? That's not what Harris said at all.

[CHIEF]

The best looking Porsche by a country mile and thus I suspect will sell like cakes that happen to be hot.

[ess]

Interesting Porsche going along the electric steering route.
BMW dropped this in favour of hydraulic for the M version of the previous Z4 model (E85); with associated positive reviews (obviously losing the run-flats also).
Not sure if the new Z4 (E89) is electric, although we've yet to see an M version.