RE: Driven: Porsche Boxster S

[GTiFrank]

kambites said:

Dazed Confused said:

Article said:

At £45,384, the basic Boxster S is undoubtedly less of a bargain than it once was

Ummm, the base spec Boxster was £41,000 when launched in 1996. That'd be over £60k now.

Really? I thought it was more like 30k!

p.s. your username breaks the quoting mechanism.

IIRR the 981 Boxster S was not launched until 1999. It was 2.5 only in 1996, and they were around 35k, hugely overpriced, but Porsche had a lot of development costs to recoup I suppose.

[Ari]

Scrof said:

Ari said:

I believe I'm right in saying that it's also just a supplement to the larger in dash sat nav display.

Correct! Useful, though, as it's right in the line-of-sight - ideal if you're not quite sure where you're going and trying to keep an eye on signage.

Totally agree. My SLK has a very basic nav display between the speedo and rev to supplement the centre console display and I use it a lot.

[boringbeige]

I've got a 2011 Boxster S. I've driven several of the new ones, I'm not for swapping.

[Ari]

The only thing that lets it down (and this is very minor I admit) is the horrible cheap looking unpainted side vent grilles and bottom half of the door mirrors.

I know you can order it with these painted, but it's a bit like seeing an option on the price list that says "to finish painting it ... £500"

If that's the only thing to moan about though it says it all really I guess.

[CraigyMc]

Dazed AND-TO-MAKE-QUOTES-WORK Confused said:

I'm inclined to go with you and trust the accurate snoozefest that is WhatCar over the typo-ridden ness that is Autocar.

I don't trust either of them, I genuinely think Autocar just make stuff up a lot of the time (like, I'll just put some guesses here as a placeholder... whoopsie they ended up in print).

Of the two, WhatCar is probably better but to me that's not really something too positive.

I found this online, but it doesn't mention a price: http://web.archive.org/web/20000302131732/http://w...

C

[After_Shock]

Ari said:

The only thing that lets it down (and this is very minor I admit) is the horrible cheap looking unpainted side vent grilles and bottom half of the door mirrors.

Are they actually vents? Thought it was just black plastic at the base of the mirror?

Can always paint afterwards, just the chew on removing them from the car.

[Ari]

After_Shock said:

Are they actually vents? Thought it was just black plastic at the base of the mirror?

Can always paint afterwards, just the chew on removing them from the car.

The ones just in front of the rear wheels are intakes. The mirror bases are unpainted plastic. Very tacky looking, and both on the options list if you want them painted, but to me it's a bit like saying "well if you want us to paint the whole door it's extra..."

[After_Shock]

Ari said:

The ones just in front of the rear wheels are intakes. The mirror bases are unpainted plastic. Very tacky looking, and both on the options list if you want them painted, but to me it's a bit like saying "well if you want us to paint the whole door it's extra..."

Yeah know what your saying about the options price, annoying isnt the word!

I think could live with the engine vents unpainted as they look a bit much all colour coded, will inspect the mirror bases more closely next time im near one as cant say I noticed them last time, saying that could well have been painted on that car.

[Ari]

There are other bits too. The trim at the base of the bumper, want that painted instead of unfinished black plastic? Extra...

[After_Shock]

Ari said:

There are other bits too. The trim at the base of the bumper, want that painted instead of unfinished black plastic? Extra...

Id probs leave that and the air vents to be honest, breaks it up a bit!

But the options list does seem even more extensive than any of the previous boxsters, and they were hardly sparse to start with!!

[V8mate]

After_Shock said:

But the options list does seem even more extensive than any of the previous boxsters, and they were hardly sparse to start with!!

The options list is seriously wallet-damaging though. You can spend £20k without a thought.

[CraigyMc]

After_Shock said:

Ari said:

There are other bits too. The trim at the base of the bumper, want that painted instead of unfinished black plastic? Extra...

Id probs leave that and the air vents to be honest, breaks it up a bit!

But the options list does seem even more extensive than any of the previous boxsters, and they were hardly sparse to start with!!

I can't find "paint those bits please" on the options list. Doesn't seem to be on the porsche UK configurator.

C

[Nano2nd]

V8mate said:

The options list is seriously wallet-damaging though. You can spend £20k without a thought.

yep its mental, i spent over £12k on options and that didn't include Nav or climate control!

[Ari]

CraigyMc said:

I can't find "paint those bits please" on the options list. Doesn't seem to be on the porsche UK configurator.

C

It's in the (89 page!) price list.

Exterior mirror lower trims painted - £283
Side air intakes painted - £316
Rear apron painted - £299
Headlight cleaning system covers painted - £138

So over a grand if you want them to finish painting it for you!



Other "surely that's not an extra!?" include:

Speed sensitive power steering - £178
Sports tailpipe (polished stainless steel Note this is NOT the sports exhaust.) - £364
Multi-function steering wheel - £356
Bluetooth for your phone - £445

[Nano2nd]

Ari said:

Other "surely that's not an extra!?" include:

Speed sensitive power steering - £178
Sports tailpipe (polished stainless steel Note this is NOT the sports exhaust.) - £364
Multi-function steering wheel - £356
Bluetooth for your phone - £445

+ rain sensing wipers
+ dimming interior mirror
+ crappy plastic wind deflector

[Ari]

Nano2nd said:

+ rain sensing wipers
+ dimming interior mirror
+ crappy plastic wind deflector

To be fair, you'll pay extra for those on an SLK too (don't know about the Z4 but probably).

But at least Mercedes will finish painting your SLK, give you Bluetooth, fit stainless steel exhausts, add the cruise control, and give you buttons on the steering wheel to turn the stereo up and down. In fact, Ford will give you most of that on a bloody Fiesta!

[DoubleSix]

Ari said:

CraigyMc said:

I can't find "paint those bits please" on the options list. Doesn't seem to be on the porsche UK configurator.

C

It's in the (89 page!) price list.

Exterior mirror lower trims painted - £283
Side air intakes painted - £316
Rear apron painted - £299
Headlight cleaning system covers painted - £138

So over a grand if you want them to finish painting it for you!



Other "surely that's not an extra!?" include:

Speed sensitive power steering - £178
Sports tailpipe (polished stainless steel Note this is NOT the sports exhaust.) - £364
Multi-function steering wheel - £356
Bluetooth for your phone - £445

Yeah, I pointed this out on the 'Prospective owners thread' after my test drive last year. I was roundly rebuffed for being picky and critical.

Funny though people seem to be ordering it with the painted parts now so....

[Ari]

It probably is a bit picky I agree, and at least you can actually get it done. But personally I'd far rather they charged a couple of grand more and finished it off!

[Valveman]

I currently own a 2006 Boxster S (30K miles on the clock) which I have been very happy with. I have driven the new model (the 2.7 and the 3.4 S) and the most notable thing I noticed about the new car is how much taller it is than the older model. I am talking about the distance from the floor to the start of the screen and the start of the rear hood above the engine. I could not believe how much taller it is compared to the previous model.

There is no doubt it is a very competent car but yet again I felt (as with most new cars today) some rawness and emotion has been removed. I am not talking about the steering either which I had to be reminded was now electric. I suspect if this had not been mentioned not many would have commented on it. It was the little things like the electric handbrake and moving some key switches from the dashboard to the centre console. Why on earth do you need an electric handbrake on a sports car?

I am over 50 so the biggest disappointment for me was the controls and instruments. In my current car I can read the instruments and I can see all the switches (which are dashboard mounted) clearly without using my glasses which are only needed for reading or when the text is small. However on the new model a lot of the switches have been moved from the dash to the centre console which I now cannot see without putting my glasses back on. The right hand display which can be selected to display different items has been reduced in size so for me I now cannot read this without my glasses. Not the case with my current car. This was the biggest disappointment where the vast majority of owners would be 40+ (the age where eyesight suffers) and they make the display smaller and more difficult to see. This car definitely looks like its the result of the marketing department and not the engineering department which would suggest the latest statistics showing that only 11% of people buying Porsches buy the 911 and Boxster models, is correct. On my return home (some 60 miles) driving my own "S" I thoroughly enjoyed the drive and didn't feel short changed at all and couldn't help feeling it had more soul and emotion, plus on arrival I still had a big smile on my face. As I am finding a lot more these days, new doesn't necessarily mean better.

[Valveman]

crispyshark said:

Still, if i had £30k plus to burn and i wanted a perfomance car i'd still go for the BMW M135i and with the change buy an old Boxster/MX5/S2000 for my weekend roof down needs!

BMW M135i. What on earth possessed BMW to make such an ugly looking car is beyond me.