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| Porsche Boxster S |
Porsche Boxster S - Porsche's fully redesigned 2013 Boxster S is a little like agave nectar. A substitute. The problem for Porsche and its Boxster is similar. Placing the Boxster's engine between its wheels makes a statement. The Boxster's power output and position in the Porsche lineup, however, say something altogether different. More like, entry-level.
That the entry-level Porsche offers the most physically effective packaging seems at first like a mildly disguised blessing for enthusiasts. Case in point: our test car and its $84,120 price tag. Nothing entry-level about that.
In fact, that sum will get you a freshly redesigned 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera. And even a stripper Carrera comes with 35 more horses and the status of being Porsche's premier sports car.
In fairness, this six-speed, 315-horsepower Boxster S is wildly over-optioned. Base price for the 2013 Porsche Boxster S is $61,850 including destination. Ours adds the $5,265 Premium package with adaptive sport seats, the $3,860 Infotainment package with Bose surround sound, plus 13 other wallet-hammering add-ons. Conspicuously absent, however, are the two most potent performance-enhancing options: the $7,400 Porsche Carbon Ceramic Brake package and the $3,200 dual-clutch PDK transmission.
Release the Porsche Boxster's clutch for the first time and you'll immediately notice that its tall gearing demands deliberate inputs. Once under way, there are few driving experiences as fully engrossing as the Boxster's. Drive the Boxster deep into a corner, release its brake at the last second and it ruthlessly follows steering inputs. Part of this is Porsche Torque Vectoring (PTV) selectively activating the brake on the inside rear to make the car's rotation precisely follow steering inputs. It's a little piece of magic that Porsche has tuned brilliantly to work with the mechanical limited-slip differential included in the PTV package.
If your hands happen to be fast enough, your confidence high enough and your foot heavy enough, the Boxster will eat up a technical road quicker than any car sold today. Here are two things you also might want to know about the new 2013 Porsche Boxster S. First, its lateral acceleration, at a nice even 1.0g, is better than the lightweight, wholly uncompromised, utterly focused, bikini-top-wearing 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder.
Clearly, this car is far from entry-level.
It also stops in 103 feet from 60 mph — within 1 foot of both the above-mentioned cars. It might be down 35 hp to the base 911 Carrera, but the Boxster is also marginally lighter than the 911. At 3,066 pounds, this test car was also 34 pounds lighter than the last Boxster S we tested — a sure sign of progress in the right direction.
A large part of the new Boxster's appeal is its folding top which, using a console-mounted button, disappears behind the cockpit in less than 10 seconds even when the car is going as fast as 31 mph. Also, there's more storage room in the Boxster than you'd expect. Calling the Boxster a roadster is true in the sense that its top can be lowered, but there's a distinct sense of enclosure when driving. This high waistline combined with a tall rear deck and roll bars surround both driver and passenger, unlike many drop tops.
The Boxster's rear-quarter visibility is poor with the top down and miserable with it up. We drove the Boxster with its top down, windows up and air-conditioning on in 100-degree heat. Porsche, to put it simply, does interiors right. All switchgear operates with the same degree of precision that's present in this car's steering and brake pedals. The center console and center stack follow the design of the 911, which follows the layout created for the 2013 Porsche Panamera. Agave nectar the Boxster is not. Below are some more screenshots details about the Porsche Boxster S are posted by the icarreviews team.
Porsche Boxster S
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