Boxster S spec.

Author
Discussion

clubsport

Original Poster:

7,296 posts

264 months

Tuesday 5th August 2003
quotequote all
Sorry to dra g this up,i searched through the forum looking for best spec and even though I know i have seen such threads,i couldn't find anything directly relevant for the last 6 months.
Anyhow a colleague test drove a Boxster s yesterday and the dealer told him he can get a new one to his spec for october.
So we talk specs...
essentials for an S to ensure you keep your money

Sound pack
minimum single cd
metallic paint,-grey/silver/lapis ???
rear air deflector
small aluminium pack
PSM

Other thing is i suggested 18" Carrera wheels,,,will this help resale I assumed so although it probably rides better on 17"

Thanks for re-visiting this one guys.

Parf7

41 posts

259 months

Tuesday 5th August 2003
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Try posting it here www.boxa.net you will no doubt get a huge responce!

Grant3

3,643 posts

261 months

Tuesday 5th August 2003
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C.S. Like your spec choice...mine would be.....
Bose
Alloy hand brake & gearlever
crested sports seats
18" alloys (of choice)
Wind defelector
& be carefull with the interior colour, in black it looks fine as standard, in the other colours you really need full leather which ain't cheap.

Super_Marv

290 posts

269 months

Tuesday 5th August 2003
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I think you're gonna have add a full leather interior into that list too.

Personally I would prefer a Boxster on 17"s rather than 18"s so as to maintain the handling purity...there may not be that much difference, but thats just me!

Litronics would be nice, too!

clubsport

Original Poster:

7,296 posts

264 months

Tuesday 5th August 2003
quotequote all
Tks for the responses so far...this is about spending as little as possible,,without scrimping to a ridiculous extent..
I thought there would have been more comments on 2 months until delivery,,,i don't actually beleive the salesman on this myself..

Don where for art thou ???

Adam B

27,899 posts

260 months

Tuesday 5th August 2003
quotequote all
2 months until delivery smells like salesman BS to get you to sign

then the "unavoidable factory delays" will hit - I was quoted Oct delivery in June from AFN who claim to get shortest times as the are European largest OPC

in terms of spec, minimum for an S is:

metallic paint £540 - mine is seal grey which is easily best colour
full leather £1100
PSM £680 (for those wet roundabout moments)
PSP or Bose - £380 ot £850 (std sound is crap)
18" wheels - I prefer Turbo IIs £800 odd, some like skinny Carreras £1300 odd
Wind deflector - £217 for a piece of platic that should be std
CD autochanger £350 - v expensive to retrofit on 2003 cars as not pre-wired
(by the way a single CD head unit comes as std)

in addition my personal must-haves were:

heated seats - top down when it is cooler
Litronic - having had Xenons on my S3
OBC - useful functions such as range, outside temp gauge, fuel consumption

mine also had cruise (not bothered) and steel entry guards which are nice

and voila a £38k car becomes a £44k car

Had the car been new I would also have specced:

small ali pack and ali centre console to lift the black leather interior a bit (I will retro-fit these) and would have preferred Bose to my PSP
and interior footwell lights - I have a pathological dislike to blank buttons on the dash and this uses up one of them at minimal cost

- and we haven't even got into the v desirable PCM with phone and other interior bits

scary

Don

28,377 posts

290 months

Tuesday 5th August 2003
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Well...I ordered my S from new and this is what I specced:

1) Heated Seats (a must IMO)
2) Sports Seats (more bum hugging)
3) Gear level in Aluminium and Leather (standard item not so nice)
4) Porsche Sound Pack and CD Changer (bugger Bose - one of the speakers is where the Wind Deflector storage box is - absolute nono IMO)
5) Full Leather (of course) if you have it in black you can get away without the "large leather pack" which is a mint of money....
6) Bugger metallic paint get Guards Red or Yellow and stand out from the crowd...
7) On Board Computer - absolute must
8) Wind Deflector and Storage Box - I've never seen one without - except one poverty spec base Boxster and it looked really strange....
9) PSM - This is absolutely essential if you want to embarrass Turbos on track at Silverstone in the wet. Just ask GregE240/Deristrictor/CarZee who were in the car at the time....particularly DeR who said on the exit of Copse :- "F**k. Was that PSM" Me: "Naaah. I lifted a bit..." OK OK....someone else in a Turbo would have showed me the way home but I was pretty happy about it....
10) Nice Wheels - defo upgrade to something you like. For me 18" Sport Design are the way to go but other people prefer different things....
11) Litronic - don't know why but they seem to be better...and come with headlamp washer jets which are good on shitty winter days..
12) Painted Roll Bars (in the car colour)- look the dogs IMO


On my last car I had a hardtop. Yes its good but less necessary on an 03 on car with a glass rear window anyway. I also had a stereo upgrade on the last car - the features of which I never learned to use and didn't bother with this time.

What would I buy that I didn't?

PCM...SatNav and phone. Aftermarket its silly money so if you want it then buy it with the car. If you don't buy it then get a Navman ICN630 which works brilliantly in a BoxS and costs one quarter of what Porsche want for the part - and that's before the astronomic labour charge....


Oh...and Cruise Control! Not much money and useful on long journeys! Depends if you go on holiday in the thing or not, of course.

>> Edited by Don on Tuesday 5th August 22:04

Grant3

3,643 posts

261 months

Wednesday 6th August 2003
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Blimey Don, I don't know about embarrasing Turbo's , but with all those options you'll be talking Turbo money.Agree about the PSM,although only if you thrash it in the wet........ it should be standard really !!

With regards to delivery time, I had the same thing on my last "facelift" C2 walked into showroom July offered October delivery, got in end of Dec (waited until Jan). & that was before sales were down & availability up (plus..I hear that some OPC's do deals on C16 cars imported elsewhere).

CS if it's minimum cost then all he really needs is a sound upgrade, but if he starts hankering after 18 inch wheels etc later it will end up costing him even more.

Incidentally I decided to take the other halfs "S" for a blast on Sunday, much to her displeasure, nice sunny day I thought ideal. Intially I thought SLOW after the TT, but after a few miles I got into the groove, kept it above 4K & had a great drive,roof down around the B roads. It really is a superb motor, fast enough, adjustable , involving, good induction sound plus the wind in your hair, best value car in the Porker range !!

Don

28,377 posts

290 months

Wednesday 6th August 2003
quotequote all
Grant3 said:
Blimey Don with all those options you'll be talking Turbo money.


Well...errr...no.

You've got to remember that on 996s a lot of things come as standard which do NOT on the Boxster (even the S). So if you want to have an interior to the same quality as the equivalent 996 its an option.

Most BoxS I've seen cost new between 43 and 46K - makes a laughing stock of the 38K published price. I have also seen really madly specced cars which would have been 52-55K. Very very close to a bottom end C2 at that money...

arwebs

2,508 posts

256 months

Wednesday 6th August 2003
quotequote all
Adam B said:
2 months until delivery smells like salesman BS to get you to sign

then the "unavoidable factory delays" will hit - I was quoted Oct delivery in June from AFN who claim to get shortest times as the are European largest OPC
Given that every order goes to the end of the queue and the time from final spec to build is about 6 weeks, is he trying to tell you that there's a longer wait for a Ford Focus? Definate BS.

IMO, must haves...
full leather (not large leather pack though)
heated sport seats
painted rollover bar in silver
metallic paint
sound pack (but get your own MP3 player fitted afterwards)
wheels to suit pocket
wind deflector (the mesh looks good and you'll need it for resale - but I never use the plastic shield)

I wouldn't bother with OBC though

Good luck
Andy

Adam B

27,899 posts

260 months

Wednesday 6th August 2003
quotequote all
arwebs said:

Given that every order goes to the end of the queue and the time from final spec to build is about 6 weeks, is he trying to tell you that there's a longer wait for a Ford Focus? Definate BS.


No, they claimed they could get a build date quicker than other OPCs because they were the largest OPC in Europe (again BS I suspect)

clubsport

Original Poster:

7,296 posts

264 months

Wednesday 6th August 2003
quotequote all
thats funny that they are also the largest OPc in europe,,porker uk directed me to a hamburg dealer who was supposed to be the largest dealer in europe..he did manage to get my car (996) delivered to my spec inside 6 weeks though.

arwebs

2,508 posts

256 months

Wednesday 6th August 2003
quotequote all
clubsport said:
thats funny that they are also the largest OPc in europe,,porker uk directed me to a hamburg dealer who was supposed to be the largest dealer in europe..he did manage to get my car (996) delivered to my spec inside 6 weeks though.
Was it Porsche Zentrum Hamburg by any chance? I bought my Boxster through them - a guy call Jorg Zimmermann. I had to wait a year for mine though. The price of exclusivity I suppose

The only way a car can be obtained so quick (AFAIK) is if they have a cancelled order. Because sales are poor at the moment, they may be selling "slots" intended for their own demo cars to customers rather than pushing others up the queue. One way of getting an order I suppose but not fair if you've been waiting for the best part of a year.

PPORSCHE

2 posts

259 months

Thursday 7th August 2003
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My spec is:

Basalt Black
Partial leather (Full leather isn't necesary with Black)
Crested seats
18" carreras
coloured crests on wheels
cruise
on board computer
CD autochanger
heated seats
CD Storage
PSM

And I'm happy with it!

Phil

emblsi

49 posts

254 months

Saturday 30th August 2003
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just gone and ordered mine .. test drove an M3 in the morning and a boxster S in the afternoon put my money down straight away for the boxster.. now just got to spec it

seal grey
18" carrera wheels
PSM (span a wheel without it in the dry coming out of a t junction!)
porsche sound pack (dont want bose like more storage)
CD storage
heated seats
light button
embossed headrests
OBC

now my biggest prob is about the sportdesign package.. you seem to get a lot of bits .. anyone got / seen this ... bearing in mind if i dont get this ill get full leather sports seats and a few bits of alu

emblsi

49 posts

254 months

Saturday 30th August 2003
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and wind deflector .. that should be standard !

iguana

7,048 posts

266 months

Saturday 30th August 2003
quotequote all
emblsi said:

PSM (span a wheel without it in the dry coming out of a t junction!) OBC


Oh dear, if the TreVoR crew ie Flasher or Incorrigable etc read this, that is definatly gunna be another verse to the Porsaaaa boxxxtaaaa song that will no doubt be performed at 3am and Pistonfest2 or BTaP2