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Test drove 2012 Porsche Boxster S today


EH 370z

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Had a fun day :headhurt:

 

As you may remember from an earlier post, my farther was looking to update his current BoxsterS to the new 2012 model which was released last month. He was looking at a modestly spec'd "S" with with standard 19" alloys and sat nav and a few other odds & ends coming to around £51k plus tax :dry:

http://www.350z-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=57441

 

His current car, was bought new in 2006, and has only covered 33k, so the comparison was going to be interesting, or not....... :shrug:

The big concern with updating and Porsche is that the differences are never immediately noticeable and they have the reputation of being the laziest designers in the world! I remember being caught making glib comments about his current car, from the older outgoing car, to find myself spooning down the humble pie under closer inspection.

 

I remained open minded this time.

 

As you can see from the post link above (pics) there has been some fairly good changes cosmetically to the car, and I have to say today was the first time I had seen the car with the hood up (90% of ownership mode in this country!) and it looks 10 times better, a longer & lower hood, which makes it look less like a pram and follows the lines of the car to give a much better proportion. Sadly I forgot to photo this key part. Sorry (didn't have a plan for this)

 

Anyway on to the drive. The car we took was initially quite disappointing as we where looking at a manual car and the only demo they had was a PDK automatic. Undeterred we fannied on with all the switches and found a few nice upgrades, such as the roof now didn't have a handle, it was now full automated. The switch gear was easier to fathom and the touch screen entertainment system looked good but frankly, didn't do much. Overall the fit and finish was of good quality and now was starting to look like car that deserved the price tag.

 

Off we went. The first thing that struck me, even pulling out of the dealership, was the braking system and the flawlessness of the gear change (7 speeds in total, with a sport mode) things were looking up!

The other notable aspects of the drive were the dampers. Even on uneven surfaces, the 20" rims did not dislodge any teeth, which was surprising as this was one of the reasons why the old man wanted the standard wheels. The upgrades when he bought his car were far to crashy.

The car drove extremely quietly with the roof up, which has been redesigned not only to look better, but also to reduce wind noise and scuttle shake.

The handling was equally as good as his current car, which again, he was concerned about as the new car has electric PAS, which usually means little feel, but it was fine.

 

Performance. Its really quick the extra 30bhp doesn't sound much, but it is a much crisper drive, revs more freely and doesn't get tired either.

The big win however, was the gearbox, an absolute triumph to be honest, I have driven many clutch-less gear boxes DSG, R-Tronics etc and they have all left me thinking just get an auto or a manuel and be done with it. However this was a great combination, a lovely GT car in full auto, and if you want to pull back on the finger and thumb controls, you have a great fun sports car too.

From 70 MPH I dropped it down into 3rd at about 5.5k revs and buried the throttle, it was a awesome sounding rocket-ship, then flicked up the gears to the same RPM up to 5th (now doing over 100MPH) and relaxed letting the car take over and shift quietly in to 6th then 7th, reducing speed down to 70 again and now barely touching 2k RPM.

The car also did the Stop Start thing, but in addition when coasting down hill for example, it was effectively was out of gear and reengaged when you touched the throttle again, a bit weird to start with but you get used to it as the transition is so quiet.

So an interesting day after all, and he is now seriously thinking about the auto box, its better on fuel too!

Ref:

http://www.porsche.com/uk/models/boxster/boxster-s/featuresandspecs/

 

Thank you for the indulgence hope its wasn't too boring or badly written (only a GCSE in English) but the pics below may make up for the lack of journalistic skill :wave:

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Boo no paddles :thumbdown:

 

I cancelled my test drive this weekend as they've only got the S in, and I want to drive the S and non-S back to back to see if it's really worth the extra.

 

Not everyone likes flappy paddles :yuck:

 

But i guess in a car like that you would expect to see them....

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Boo no paddles :thumbdown:

 

I cancelled my test drive this weekend as they've only got the S in, and I want to drive the S and non-S back to back to see if it's really worth the extra.

 

I must say that crossed ours minds too as the none S is pretty much the same power as the out going S

The paddles can be fitted but the button shifters were not bad TBH

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Not everyone likes flappy paddles :yuck:

 

But i guess in a car like that you would expect to see them....

Do you prefer using the buttons then? I could probably have lived with them if they were the correct way round, but as they're arse about face I found myself shifting the wrong way when really on it. I can see how you could get used to them though if you'd got no idea about how paddles work in every other car though.

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Not everyone likes flappy paddles :yuck:

 

But i guess in a car like that you would expect to see them....

Do you prefer using the buttons then? I could probably have lived with them if they were the correct way round, but as they're arse about face I found myself shifting the wrong way when really on it. I can see how you could get used to them though if you'd got no idea about how paddles work in every other car though.

 

Horses for courses, if we all liked the same thing it would be boring...

 

I don't like paddles or buttons, I guess I just prefer the feel of a knob in my hand and being in control....

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