Of happenings!!!

"Alex Zapata" (alexzapata)
04/12/2016 at 09:39 • Filed to: None

So Matt finally got his hands on the new 4-cyl Boxter range and did a One Take on some back road in Portugal on a fully loaded S.

What’s Oppo’s take on this car? I know it’s a 4 and there are a lot of conservative people here (automotive-wise) that will despise the PDK and the Turbos and the Electric Steering, but I wanna know.

Lay you opinions on me, be as brutal as you want.

Personally I like it, it’s the future and I don’t mind it at all, I’ve driven some amazing electric steered cars (I’m looking at you New Mini), some amazing turbo cars (Still looking at you New Mini) and the PDK is amazing and only getting better, thanks to purists, these things won’t be as valuable in the used car market so maybe I’ll get one at some point.

I think this car will usher a new way for the compact sportscar.

DISCUSSION (14)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Alex Zapata
04/12/2016 at 09:49

Everything about it is absolutely fine except the bloody synthetic engine noise. That can burn in hell alongside fake exhaust tips and other such nonsense.

Dru > Alex Zapata
04/12/2016 at 09:49

I rather like this car. It seems like a pure representation of a Porsche sports car, as the 911 drifts into GT realm. I'd rather have a manual, but I wouldn't kick a PDK out of bed. Is the motor a V4 or a Flat 4? For some reason I feel like I read it was a V4.

trmoore09 > Dru
04/12/2016 at 09:54

Matt says it’s a flat 4 in the video and it sounds a lot like a Subaru. Good point about the 911 moving into GT territory, I hadn’t though about that but you’re right.

RyanFrew > Alex Zapata
04/12/2016 at 10:03

I can’t hate on the PDK, and Porsche won’t pull the manual out of the Boxster S anytime soon anyways. My biggest problem is that I want a 981, and this is going to drive prices up, because of all the purists (including me), who want that sweet sweet NA boxer 6 goodness.

Alex Zapata > Dru
04/12/2016 at 10:03

I completely agree with the 911 going GT part, though I would argue the 911 is so capable, it can be confortable without compromising it’s performance, though if you want a more hardcore versions there is the GTS, GT3, RS and soon the R and GT2 RS.

It is a flat 4 100%, I don’t see Porsche putting another kind of engine on a sports car in the near future.

There is a manual, the PDK is an (expensive) option, so are the ceramic brakes and the Sports Chrono.

Alex Zapata > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
04/12/2016 at 10:09

Actually I didn’t feel it’s synthtic, if anything they probably made the choice to not tune around the exhaust too much, it just sounds like a normal Turbo Flat 4 to me.

Alex Zapata > RyanFrew
04/12/2016 at 10:14

I understand that point, but I think you will mostly be wrong, I think it will affect used prices but not by as much as people think, there are people especulating that avbery lightly used 6-cyl on the right spec could be more expensive than a new one, that’s just dumb and only happens to 911s; I think the people that are actual Porsche “purists” would never consider a Boxster in the first place.

And the people that actually buy Boxsters will appreciate the fact that this is objectively wayyyyy faster than the old one, I think the S pretty much renders the old Spyder and GTS commpletely pointless, so the Boxsters will continue their glaciar-ly slow path of depreciation pretty steadily

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Alex Zapata
04/12/2016 at 10:41

Interesting. There was a press release stating it had noise generated by the speakers.

It's less what it actually sounds like but more of a principle thing. It's just fakery which has no place on a sports car that wants anything to do with credibility.

RyanFrew > Alex Zapata
04/12/2016 at 10:46

I think the people that are actual Porsche “purists” would never consider a Boxster in the first place.

LOL Wut? Any Porsche purist will tell you that the Boxster is one of the purist Porsches ever built. The 911 is turning into a GT car. A small roadster. Like a 356....

Alex Zapata > RyanFrew
04/12/2016 at 11:03

Yes, but those aren’t the self-denominated “purists”, I’m talking about the people that bitch everytime they make something new, people that think that they should only make the 911, the people that whine about the Cayman and the Cayenne and Macan, those people drive Carrera S4s.

Porsche purists are more retrograde than Harley owners, they are the people that are driving the 70s 911, 993s and RS 4.0 prices off the scale and into pure madness.

The people that want a pure, small roadster with insane balance and great speed will welcome the new Boxster, plainly because it’s more advanced and faster, that’s what Porsche is about for me, being ahead of the curve, making the best, most advanced, fastest cars of the category with the newest technology to help them go even faster than the numbers.

Alex Zapata > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
04/12/2016 at 11:12

Well I don’t know about the new one, but I do know they did put a pipe from the intake into the firewall on the old 6-cyl one.

You can hear the car on the video though, from the exhausts, Matt even has the top down the entire time, what you heard on that video was all engine and it wasn’t bad at all, a bit quiet but I’m sure Remus and Akrapovic will soon have a package that will fix that for you.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Alex Zapata
04/12/2016 at 11:31

Yeah it’s the new flat-4 one that has the synthetic noise. I’m less against pipes from the engine bay into the cabin as at least that’s noise that’s coming from the actual engine. Real noise if you will.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a niggling little thing to pick out on a car that I will likely never buy so I don’t really have a say in whether they should do it or not. It also shouldn’t detract from how stellar of a car it is. It’s just a little piece of dishonesty that I find jarring with Porsche's ethos (not just Porsche, but anyone looking to make a serious sports car, or a silly one at that).

Alex Zapata > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
04/12/2016 at 11:46

I agree with you, engine noises coming from the speakers is disheatening comig from a Porsche.

Though I’ll tell you, artifical noises from the radio can be used for good, rather than evil:

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Alex Zapata
04/12/2016 at 11:53

Heh :) I like that. As with all technology there's a way to do it right...