2013 Porsche Boxster S Full Test
Porsche's fully redesigned 2013 Boxster S is a little like agave nectar.
Agave nectar, to some ever-optimistic and relentlessly healthy people, is a substitute for sugar. A substitute. A gap filler. An imitation. But a viable alternative? Maybe. Maybe not.
The problem for Porsche and its Boxster is similar.
Genuine Article?
Placing the Boxster's engine between its wheels makes a statement. To those who consider such things carefully, it's the proper placement for leveraging physics for maximum performance. The Boxster's power output and position in the Porsche lineup, however, say something altogether different. More like, entry-level.
Placing the Boxster's engine between its wheels makes a statement. To those who consider such things carefully, it's the proper placement for leveraging physics for maximum performance. 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. Problem is, Boxsters with even a few options are still far from cheap. 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.
Let that sink in. Meanwhile, let's talk about how it drives, shall we?
Drive It Hard
Release the Boxster's clutch for the first time and you'll immediately notice that its tall gearing demands deliberate inputs. Stop on a hill and — even with the hill-hold feature — you'll need a pedal full of revs to pull away confidently. This isn't a problem so much as it is a characteristic that defines the way this car — and all Porsches, for that matter — rewards a confident driver.
Release the Boxster's clutch for the first time and you'll immediately notice that its tall gearing demands deliberate inputs. Stop on a hill and — even with the hill-hold feature — you'll need a pedal full of revs to pull away confidently. This isn't a problem so much as it is a characteristic that defines the way this car — and all Porsches, for that matter — rewards a confident driver.
And reward it does. Once under way, there are few driving experiences as fully engrossing as the Boxster's. Even the new 911 struggles to provide this level of confidence, and we're not the first to observe that a Boxster or Cayman with equal power might prove to be a better overall package.
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.
But the simple confidence of mass centralization also does a large part of the work. Midengine cars, we're convinced, are a love-it-or-hate-it affair. You can either tolerate their immediate responses or you can't. You either like the microscopic adjustments they're capable of or you don't. Your hands are either fast enough or they're not.
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. The steering response is mind-warpingly rapid, even though the electric assist robs some of the feel. Power, while not fear-producing, is substantial enough to land a novice in trouble. And even the standard steel brakes don't fade.
This, in other words, is very much a tool for serious drivers.
Striking the Right Balance
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.
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.
Second, its 72.8-mph slalom speed happens to be better than the last all-new 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S we tested. 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. That's not only a short stop, but the standard steel brakes hold up well even after repeated runs. Hard to imagine that the optional carbon brakes would be much better.
© Edmunds.com
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