Clarkson on the 987 Boxster S - Best of Top Gear
Discussion
Did anybody see this last night? The bilge that comes out of this blokes mouth is beyond belief!
He says that the only people who buy the Boxster are those that can't afford a 911! Bollox, for the price of a Boxster you can get a 911! Not a new one granted, but this isn't what he said.
Furthermore that the "S" only costs £38K, when in reality it's highly unlikely that anybody would spec. an S with no options at all and the best thing about the car is the SIM card slot for the onboard phone/PCM, which is a £2k option - no mention!
He discounted the non-S Boxster as not worthy at all!
He says that the only people who buy the Boxster are those that can't afford a 911! Bollox, for the price of a Boxster you can get a 911! Not a new one granted, but this isn't what he said.
Furthermore that the "S" only costs £38K, when in reality it's highly unlikely that anybody would spec. an S with no options at all and the best thing about the car is the SIM card slot for the onboard phone/PCM, which is a £2k option - no mention!
He discounted the non-S Boxster as not worthy at all!
He does have a point maybe he should'nt be so offensive but lots of boxster owners aspire to own a 911 at some point and for lots of people the boxster is the stepping stone to that,Porsches own statisics show this.For me the boxster is a great car(ive had four)and even though its taken the company to where it is,i'm not sure thats a good thing,for a start its made the company arrogant,just look how little they care about the RMS problem and the ceramic discs.Porsches are now everywhere and boxsters are more common now than VW beetle's,there is a new independant every week offering this and that"buy from us we have the worlds best showroom in your local industrial estate"thus making the buying experience even more watered down.Give it a few more year, most of our cars will be worth jacksh.t and the market will be awash with used porsche that are no longer the flavour of the month.They say the boxster is the car that saved porsche i think its the car that will eventually make it just another faceless car maker,maybe the air cooled boys have a point when they bleat on about the glory days,at least every other car on the road was'nt a porsche.What next a mini rival?or maybe a boxster estate with ceramics and a 3.6 engine to rival the S4,dont bet against it
Has a point about aspiring of course, but doesn't that apply to most manufacturers? Ie. Doesn't the Honda Civic 1.4 driver aspire to a Type-R? Doesn't the BMW Mini owner aspire to a 120d/320cd?
What I take offence to, is saying the only people who buy Boxster's can't afford a 911. This is true enough in my case, if considering a 997 as the alternative.
However I do know a number of wealthy individuals who have owned Boxster's as part of multiple car collections. Most of which have said it is arguably they best car they've owned.
THAT is why enthusiasts buy Boxsters.
What I take offence to, is saying the only people who buy Boxster's can't afford a 911. This is true enough in my case, if considering a 997 as the alternative.
However I do know a number of wealthy individuals who have owned Boxster's as part of multiple car collections. Most of which have said it is arguably they best car they've owned.
THAT is why enthusiasts buy Boxsters.
people need to realise that jeremy clarkson is only a journalist whos opinion means nothing to me haha. Top gear on sunday he was still sayin the BMW M6 was a better car than the 911 carrera s even though it completely blew the aston martin and bmw away beating both by 7 seconds. he talks a load of bollox half the time and is on the tv in my opinion for entertainment and not for giving genuine facts about cars he drives.
I've just bought a Boxster S. Also have a TVR T350C (albiet it is up for sale).
Now the Boxster was circa 45k, for which you could nearly get a 996 turbo at present (albiet an old one). However, the car is for the other half, and she wanted a convertible. I will, of course, be driving it on occasions, hence why the S and not the standard boxster.
The thing is though. To your average Joe going to buy a Porsche, who is likely to be putting down around 20% deposit, financing over 3 or 4 year, with a balloon payment at the end, the difference in monthly payments between say the Boxster S & a Carrera S is not actually that big a difference.
In the end, as said earlier, the other half wanted a 'smallish convertible', and not a fast as f@ck hardtop. Hence the Boxster.
Now the Boxster was circa 45k, for which you could nearly get a 996 turbo at present (albiet an old one). However, the car is for the other half, and she wanted a convertible. I will, of course, be driving it on occasions, hence why the S and not the standard boxster.
The thing is though. To your average Joe going to buy a Porsche, who is likely to be putting down around 20% deposit, financing over 3 or 4 year, with a balloon payment at the end, the difference in monthly payments between say the Boxster S & a Carrera S is not actually that big a difference.
In the end, as said earlier, the other half wanted a 'smallish convertible', and not a fast as f@ck hardtop. Hence the Boxster.
in all fairness to 911's awesome cars but the top of the range porsche the "carrera gt" is mid engined, now the caymans coming along are porsche tryin to phase the 911 out they've tried it before unsucessfully! As to clarksons comments on the boxster i ask him for the price of a boxster find me a car that is better, people may say m3's but they aint going to handle a patch on a boxster and in my opinion are far too heavy anyhow. i dont want m3 owners hurling abuse at me i still love the cars but the porsche badge alone beats the bmw badge and then theres the car itself no comparison in my opinion!!
phil_dougan said:
people need to realise that jeremy clarkson is only a journalist whos opinion means nothing to me haha. Top gear on sunday he was still sayin the BMW M6 was a better car than the 911 carrera s even though it completely blew the aston martin and bmw away beating both by 7 seconds. he talks a load of bollox half the time and is on the tv in my opinion for entertainment and not for giving genuine facts about cars he drives.
No, he actually said he'd always want the car with the most power, so he'd go for the M6 over a 911 carrera or Aston V8. Also, the test was not about being objective, it was about what would you buy - he stated openly that the looks of the Aston would win over the 911 anytime, but as he's power-mad, he couldn't turn down the chance to own a car with 501Bhp.
Don't slate Clarkson for having an opinion, whether it agrees with yours or not, and certainly don't slate him on the basis of mis-quoting what he said. I agree that the engine in a 911 is, and always has been, in the wrong place. The boxster chassis is actually a better layout, hence Porsche not putting an LSD in the Cayman in case it showed up the 911. I also agree that making a car for 30 odd grand then saying, "oh you wanted sat-nav and a steering wheel? That's another 15 grand please" (as is the case with most German car companies) is out of order - just spec the thing properly and charge what it costs.
By the way, Clarkson was also the first Journo in the world to see the new Jag XK in the flesh (not the ALC showcar, the actual road-going version), the reason being that Jaguar realised that Mr Clarkson is by far and away the most listened-to reviewer and he could literally bury them if he didn't like it. For the same reason, after he slated the Vectra and Vauxhall failed to sell them, he was banned form reviewing Vauxhall cars for years in case he did it again. He might add a bit of humour or state his personal opinion, but for the everyday man on the street, his views are normally pretty accurate. Not many of us are capable of driving like the Stig, but we can all tell that the endless bongs of a cadillac would drive us insane, or that TVRs are quick, but brutal and a wee bit like riding a tiger. That's what makes Clarkson popular and also what makes him, in my opinion, a good reviewer - he doesn't talk about the combined MPG unless it's a car that is sold on the basis of its economy, after all noone buys a sportscar on the basis of it's MPG, they care about it's looks and how it goes. By acting like we would, but with more eloquence and a fistful of funtime-oversteer, Clarkson makes for entertaining, but still useful reviews. If you want bland but uninformative, watch Fifth Gear which is now so poor they have even stolen the power lap leaderboard idea from Top Gear in order to try and compete. Pathetic.
phil_dougan said:
in all fairness to 911's awesome cars but the top of the range porsche the "carrera gt" is mid engined, now the caymans coming along are porsche tryin to phase the 911 out they've tried it before unsucessfully! As to clarksons comments on the boxster i ask him for the price of a boxster find me a car that is better, people may say m3's but they aint going to handle a patch on a boxster and in my opinion are far too heavy anyhow. i dont want m3 owners hurling abuse at me i still love the cars but the porsche badge alone beats the bmw badge and then theres the car itself no comparison in my opinion!!
Well, let's take the base price of the bog-standard Boxster - 32,640 including VAT.
So, what can beat it for handling? Well, a TVR Tamora costs 35,000 and an M3 is similar in cost. Secondhand, I would say that you can get a Ferrari 456 for that sort of money...or a 2001 TVR Tuscan and 12 grand in change. Or you could get a Lotus Elise/Vauxhall VX220/VX220 Turbo. Or go to Walkers' and pick up a top-notch Lancia Delta Evo for about ten grand. The Integrale is still to this day one of the best driving cars ever made and it's also one of the quickest point-to-point. Let's also throw in the new Cosworth-engined Caterham with F1-style inboard-suspension and guaranteed brown-trouser experience....the cost? 30,500 according to the sticker in the window of the dealership.
As for looks, the Boxster is many things, but pretty it isn't - the back looks like a Frog's head, so there must be some good looking cars out there for 32k, surely?
Well a last-gen Mazda RX-7 is a beauty and 15 grand buys one with less than 10k on the clock and about 400Bhp. Other options would be a DB7 (starting at around 23k now), a Ferrari 348 or 355 (anywhere from 25k and up), or even a MAserati Coupe (early one with the boomerang lights) for under 20 grand.
The point is that the Boxster is a pretty good driver's car, with ok looks - let's face it, it's no Miura - and a reasonable price-tag. The fact is that if the Boxster was badged as a Toyota, it would be viewed in the same sneery way as the MR2 is - the badge on the front and the vague resemblence to a 911 are what most people like most about the car. After all, it cannot be an exclusive sportscar when it outnumbers the Rover 25 in all likelihood. It's a good car, it's not a great car and I would still buy one instead of a 911 as the engine is in the right place ;-)
I can only really compare my Boxster S with the 4 previous TVRs I've owned plus a couple of cheaper jap sportscars but going on the various road tests etc I'm inclined to agree with you Phil about it being about the best for the money. We could all buy second hand versions of more powerful cars. It's poise and grip on tight country roads defies belief. I can certainly use more of the power more of the time with this than the TVRs. Quite a few mags also say that it's one of the best cars on sale irrespective of price.
jeremy clarkson completely contradicted what he said on top gear to what he wrote in his times column and does so on many occasions. I repeat top gear is all about entertainment and i never miss it, my criticism is that to many people take things he says too seriously, if clarkson, hammond and the antiques dealer all agreed on things they said the program would be boring. As for saying that a Boxster is a good car and not a great car i disagree with you, the reason i like the boxster so much is for the fact the car isnt just about performance, its the full package how many roadsters do you know of have a boot in the front and a boot in the rear, makes it a very practical car when travelling.Obviously not everyone likes the porsche boxsters looks thats fair enough i can understand that, theres an old saying "if it aint broke dont fix it" Porsche may not change the looks of their cars dramatically when new models are released but that is what makes porsches stand out from the crowd, you say for the money you can other cars for the same sort ov money, thats true but the likes of m3's haemorrhage money. Buying cars is all about personal opinion some people like certain things about a car where others dislike them. I am still a fan of Jeremy Clakson and always will be for the sheer entertainment side but i certainly wouldnt let him talk me out of buying a car and i certainly wouldnt want to seem like his long lost son on here. 
hobo said:
THAT is why enthusiasts buy Boxsters.
Unfortunately, having now had the Boxster S for 2 days, and also running a TVR T350C, this statement, I now know, is complete cr@p.
It sounds to me like you're the one talking crap. It's obviously too delicate and not manly enough for you.
No, no.
I was really looking forward to the other half getting the Boxster S, but in reality is just isn't a patch on the TVR.
Don't get me wrong, its better build, the seat are better, but thats it.
The TVR has better feel, far better gearbox, better pedal positioning (being fully adjustable).
For the same money, i.e circa 40k, the proper car is the TVR, and unfortunately mines going in a few days
I was really looking forward to the other half getting the Boxster S, but in reality is just isn't a patch on the TVR.
Don't get me wrong, its better build, the seat are better, but thats it.
The TVR has better feel, far better gearbox, better pedal positioning (being fully adjustable).
For the same money, i.e circa 40k, the proper car is the TVR, and unfortunately mines going in a few days
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