The Boxster is an entry-level car for Porsche. Its price starts at $54,900 (before Freight), but if you’re not careful with options, the tab could run over 130 large, which is hardly “entry-level”.
Always a capable and well balanced performer, the car suffered a little form a “girly” image among the macho Porsche purists. The 911 crowd had it in the same category as the Cayenne Cayenne and Panamera for the lawyers, bankers and other assorted Hollywood types, Boxster for their girlfriends and the 911 for the “real” Porsche pilots.
Well, no more. Although I’m very protective of my macho image and not at all in touch with my feminine side, I wouldn’t hesitate to put my driving gloves on and take the new Boxster for nice twisty run where the OPP storm troopers don’t visit often. Hell, my manly mind would even feel at ease taking the new Boxster to Bloor West Village or Yorkville and be “exposed” to the public with the top down.
The new car is superb. With 311 hp (in the S form) and just under 3,000 lbs, it needs 4.8 s to get to 100 km/h and reaches 1.2 g of lateral acceleration. Excellent balance and crisp turn-in make fast apex work a pleasure. Strong brakes and chassis stability build confidence, but few will dare to come within reach of the car’s limits - they are that high. The Boxster’s performance envelope now approaches the 911’s ability to run stupid fast with ease.
Goodbye 911 elitists – I’m not a part of you anymore.
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