Porsche’s all-new
Boxster roadster has broken cover. Born in 1996, the Boxster was meant to increase Porsche sales by “dumming” the brand down a little, while
maintain acceptable performance
levels and expected quality. It did well yes, but not enough to for best-seller status. That accolade
belongs to the Cayenne.
Nevertheless the new car should do much better. The reason is that well-heeled
customers are also buying down at the moment. They want to pay less but still
feel they’ve received a high-quality,
posh car with a strong status-pull. And
this car has to absolutely deliver because we’ve been hearing rumours of
something that will fall below it, undercut in price too. Speculation is it will be Porsche’s new entry-level car.
A lot of things have been done to make this happen. A new
and completely revised chassis was developed in order to make the car
handle even better than before. Aluminium
was used extensively to build the body, crucially taking performance-sapping
fat off. Total kerb weight is 1 385kg
from a 4.4 metre long, 1.8m wide,
1.3m high body.
For the Boxster, a new
2.7-litre 6-cylinder boxer engine with natural aspiration has been installed to replace the old 2.9-litre. Maximum power, instead of
also being cut, has actually increased to 195kW,
made at 6700rpm. Torque is a rather disappointing
280Nm between 4500rpm and 6500rpm. We
say disappointing because and engine making that kind of power should at least
be on 300Nm. Nevertheless a 0 -100km/h
sprint time of 5.7 seconds is
claimed.
The Boxster S though,
keeps the same 3.4-litre boxer but
makes a bit more power. With 232kW
on tap the car accelerates from 0 – 100km/h in just 5 seconds. Both Boxster and Boxster S are fitted standard with a 6-speed manual gearbox and optionally the
7-speed PDK double-clutch. All power
is sent to the rear wheels. Porsche says the 64 litre fuel tank returns 8.2
litres per 100km for the manual Boxster and 7.7 for the PDK. S model
returns 8 litres per 100km.
Some features available include the soft-top electronically operated roof, a Carrera GT-like centre console and the optional Sport Chrono Package that features
dynamic transmission mounts. The Porsche
Torque Vectoring system with a mechanical rear axle differential lock (diff
lock) is included. It enhances handling apparently.
Porsche South Africa
will tell us how this car is priced
as soon as they can.
4 comments:
Some differences in design but true to Porsche design this car looks very much like the old one. Still good though.
oh kill me now pls just do it kill me!!!
I hope the price is good.
These are amazing cars man
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