INFORMATIVE OPINION

Miscellaneous
Posted by Rita, Tuesday, 4 November 1997, at 2:38 p.m.

Here's just some miscellaneous thoughts from my experience with the Boxster and from reading the board. All IMHO, of course.

SPEEDO ERROR: It sounds bad but I wonder if other cars don't have a 3% or maybe 5% error. Porsche owners check their speedos but Buick or even Lexus owners probably don't. Probably there'd be at least a 3% error with any make just due to tire inflation variation. People are reporting these 6% or 7% errors with the Boxster but is that really much worse than other cars? I don't know the answer to this...just a thought. If anyone knows how other cars stack up on this error I'd like to know.

THE TIP: I like numbers so I got a bunch of car mag test reports and compared Tip acceleration figures reported with the same for the stick. This was where they were trying to get the best acceleration out of the Tip as well as the stick. This was for 0-60 mph, 0-100 kph, 1/4 mile, 30-50, the usual runs. Bottom line is Tip is way slower than stick. Tip ranged between 8.5% and over 30% slower than stick, with the typical range being 15-20% slower. Moral is if this matters to you, get the stick. In reality though I think the Tip may be a little better than these number say. Most test drivers have a lot of experience with a stick, but getting the best out of the Tip probably means learning how to use it optimally. It's a new beast and I'll bet with 6 months of experience a Tip owner could learn to make it sing real good.

LOW END TORQUE: My Boxster's still just some notes on the dealer's order pad but I have taken the dealer's demo for a couple of hour long rides. Seems pretty torquey to me down low if you drive it right. This is a stick I drove. The car mags are getting 0-60 times in the low 6 second range and that's pretty darned fast. How many cars that are faster will outcorner the Boxster? None I think, or at most 1 or 2, unless you want to spend $65K or more or get something like the Lotus Elise that's not practical as an everyday car. No torque complaints from this corner, that's for sure.

COLORS AND OPTIONS: This is all total personal choice so my 2 cents is only worth that. P63 is a no brainer, I think and is really the standard option package probably almost every Boxster will have. I started out thinking the full leather didn't add much but the more I looked at it the more it seemed to add. If you didn't order it but still can change, go back and look at it again. It's a lot of dough but it really does make the interior a lot richer. On colors, I looked and looked and the more I did, the better some really unusual combinations started to look. Somehow Porsches look good in color combos that would never work on other cars. If you considered a "daring" color combo but went for something more normal, go back and look at the bold choice again if there's still time to change. On the hardtop, depends on how much of a convertible person you are and your weather sitch, but my dealer has a couple of h.t.'s laying around and it's sure a well made piece of work. On the appearance items (aluminum, carbon, wood) the prices are insane but in the right setting they look hot. Hey, you only go round once. Stop feeling guilty and if you want 'em go for it. Other options (traction control, technic suspension, etc.) I have no experience with.

THE OPTION LIST. My experience is the same as others. I tried and tried to figure it out and got nowhere with my dealer or anyone else. Finally I gave up. I'm getting P63, full graphite leather, and the hardtop. I figure I'll find out what the leather covers when the car gets here. Heckuva way to run a car company.

THE CAR ITSELF. Funny thing about this car. As I kept going back to the dealer to finalize order details, etc., every time I looked at the car the higher quality it seemed. I've spent plenty of time looking and sitting in it and driving it now, and I think it just might be one of the tightest, most solid, highest quality cars I've ever seen. This thing doesn't give up anything to Lexus, Mercedes or anyone else on build quality, that's for certain. What a piece of work!

Again, all of the above is just my humble opinion, for what it's worth.

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