Porsche Boxster S Manual & Tiptronic 3200 Review

Good Points
Design, quality, engine, usability, reasonable running costs.

Bad Points
Manual gearbox can be very cumbersome, clutch very hard, plastic window in soft top. No sport mode in tiptronic gearbox.

General Comments
I have been (and still am) the happy owner of two Porsche Boxster S's. The first one I bought was approximately 2 years ago. I opted for a 2000 model in black, manual, no navi. I loved it! However I soon missed the auto box that I had had in my old SLK. The gearbox was very stiff when cold, and the clutch was very hard. Wonderful on the back roads and the track, but no fun in town, and the town is where I drive the most... I decided to sell my "precious" and buy another Boxster S, also black but year 2002, with all extras and tiptronic, as well a sports suspension 3cm lower. I could immediately feel that the loss of a manual box meant loss of horse power, but the tiptronic is a very nice auto box. I however long for a sport mode, so that the box does not change up so fast, nice for cruising, but not very sporty. OK, I could just use the manual function where you decide which gear box to use, but still, it would be nice with "sport" mode. Furthermore, the PSM is a bit too overprotective. Here it would also be nice with a SPORT mode, and that would let you "play" a bit more with the car. I recently bought a sport exhaust system from www.977.de in Germany. A true Porsche tuning company, and after fitting it I could immediately feel the gain of HP, however one major drawback... It was too loud, and I am not fussy when it comes to the exhaust sound, but the whole interior of the cabin was shaking and I was going nuts, so I had to refit the old exhaust :(

To sum up, the Boxster is really a great car, but always go for the S, check the service book, and get ready to have tons of fun. This is a car you will love!