The latest Boxster roadster is an absolutely superb little sports car, offering fabulous performance in a nice, light, agile package,
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
but a little more power along with even better handling never hurts, right?
That’s always the premise behind Porsche’s GTS trim level. It’s long been a notch or two below top-tier Turbo models with the 911, Cayenne and Panamera, so it makes sense that it similarly sits just below the Boxster’s new top-line 375 horsepower Spyder trim.
Performance isn’t the only GTS differentiator, however. Most noticeable are styling enhancements that include reworked front and rear fascias with blacked out trim, blackened headlight bezels and smoked taillight lenses, plus “silky black gloss” exterior lettering. The car’s red brake calipers are a perfect match to my tester’s Guards Red paint,
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
while this model’s usual silver-finished 20-inch Spyder Design wheels are done out in an appropriately appealing satin-black, these including coloured Porsche crests at centre, usually an option.
Inside, the Boxster GTS gets the same Alcantara-suede treatment as with previous GTS models, wrapping the steering wheel, shift knob and boot, lower half of the instrument panel including the glove box lid, the inserts of each leather-bolstered sport seat (which are two of the best in the biz), armrests and even the headliner (you can get much of it replaced with smooth leather at no charge if warm and fuzzy isn’t your thing), while my tester included optional red stitching atop
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
the dash, door panels, seats and armrests. Of course Porsche details out the cabin with lots of standard brushed aluminum trim, but the real eye candy in my test car was the optional carbon fibre package that added glossy CFRP inlays across the instrument panel and doors.
My tester’s three-dial primary gauge package featured a red-faced centre tach too, the left one being the usual white on black speedo and rightmost dial the Boxster’s standard full-colour high-resolution multi-information display. Atop the GTS’ centre stack is something very special, what at first glance looks like the attractive dash clock that normally comes standard on base and S trimmed Boxsters,
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
although optional on those and standard with the GTS is this chronograph design that includes a large sweeping analog stopwatch with second-increments as well as a small digital readout, plus a tiny time-of-day dial at bottom centre.
It’s part of Porsche’s Sport Chrono package, which also includes dynamic gearbox mounts for smoother operation, a performance display within the infotainment system, and a Sport Plus button, which when pressed engages Sport mode within the GTS’ standard Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) system, firming up the dampers and making the steering more responsive. Additionally, Porsche Stability Management (PSM) gets a higher trigger threshold, meaning it’ll allow a little more sideways movement at the back before catching oversteer, while improves braking and exit acceleration through corners. PSM can also be turned
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
off almost completely while still in Sport mode, only intervening when absolutely at the edge of control. What’s more, shifting the gears in Sport mode encourages the throttle-blip function to perform more freely while producing a fabulously entertaining sound from the standard sport exhaust, this one of the Boxster GTS’ highpoints.
The corporate canyons of the downtown Vancouver city core where I lived until recently are the ideal reverberation chambers, the throaty roar of the flat six bouncing off the concrete and glass walls soul stirring to say the least, not to mention the simultaneous surge of power and resultant speed making a blur of the
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
red rocket on said glass as we whizzed by, the resident troublemakers at it again. We’ve all had bad neighbours, and for a week that was me, rattling the windows, shaking the doors and generally annoying Vancouver’s peace-seeking yet angry greenies who’d rather have all cars electric. Don’t get me wrong as I love this new age of electric and keep promising myself that my next car will be a plug-in, that is until I get back inside something like the Boxster GTS.
Launch Control and a “motorsport derived gearshift strategy” are two reasons many opt for the paddle-shift actuated dual-clutch Doppelkupplung (PDK) transmission, but I must admit I was overjoyed
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
that Porsche outfitted my tester with its six-speed manual, an absolute jewel of a gearbox that was love at first shift, at least at first.
Not too long ago someone at Porsche came up with the bright idea to replace the wonderful hand operated e-brake lever with an electromechanical one so as to save weight and space, but it makes the car difficult to drive when taking off from standstill on a steep grade. I’ve experienced this in other manually shifted Porsche models before, so this isn’t a one-time incident. Basically the hill holder is so sticky that it bogs down the engine and either kills it or forces you to rev so much before takeoff that it burns through clutch material. So here’s the scenario: you’re sitting at a stoplight and everybody is staring at you and your significant other in this
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
gorgeous bright red sports car… so far so good. The light goes green, you react normally, the hill holder doesn’t let go fast enough and the car stalls, causing someone behind to almost plow through your pretty rear end while you’re frantically trying to restart, their irritated honking causing yet more passersby to notice your lovely bright red sports car, collectively shaking theirs heads and laughing at the idiot who can’t drive; or alternatively the engine almost stalls because you cleverly managed to keep it going by free-revving the hell out of engine and burning through compound organic resin and metal clutch material at rapid rate, its rank smell pouring out into the local atmosphere so that all around can stare, sigh, giggle and point. If you’re the aforementioned idiot that already stalled the car, it’s quite possible you’ll
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
overcompensate when trying to take off the second time and make an even bigger puff of smoking clutch plates, either way your opportunity to make a good first good impression on nameless faces and your significant other extinguished faster than your smoldering clutch.
Yes, while I’m otherwise in love with the Boxster’s manual, the PDK is starting to look like a much more usable alternative in my city or any hilly town for that matter, and certainly less potentially embarrassing. I’ve spent a lot of time with PDKs in various Porsche sports cars and found the transmission as relaxing as a torque-converted autobox in heavy traffic and almost as enjoyable on the open road,
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
so if you live in a city filled with steep grades like I do, I recommend it until Porsche fixes its hill holder woes.
PDK in mind, I already mentioned the GTS’ Sport Chrono package features some extra kit when combined with this optional transmission, while I also noted both iterations come with a performance display in the infotainment system, and it’s pretty intensive in capability. For instance, you can view, store and evaluate lap times or other driving increments, while it goes into details such as total driving time, lap distance, lap number, lap times recorded thus far, etc. Odd then that such a sophisticated touchscreen display doesn’t include a standard backup camera, a $750 option, but I can also understand
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
that many wouldn’t want to add extra weight to a car that’s been designed with performance as a top priority. This may also be the reason why my tester’s dual-zone auto HVAC is an $870 extra, a nice feature but probably not necessary for most in such a small cabin.
I’ve mentioned all the exclusive GTS features already, but it should be noted this third-rung model also gets items from the Boxster S, including its larger 3.4-litre engine, albeit specially tuned, and upgraded brakes with those red calipers I noted earlier, while items pulled up from the base Boxster include LED taillights, rain-sensing wipers, powered heatable side mirrors, power windows with one-touch up/down, tilt-and-telescopic steering, the 4.6-inch multi-information display also mentioned before, Bluetooth, cruise control, single-zone air conditioning, seven-inch touchscreen infotainment, four-speaker AM/FM/CD audio with aux input, sport seats with two-way powered seatback adjustment, a powered convertible top that goes up and down mighty quick, plus more.
While these trim details will be exciting to some, it’s that 3.4-litre boxer between the rear bulkhead and tiny back trunklet that truly intrigues. It gets a 15-horsepower bump in output plus adds an extra seven pounds-feet of torque to the already more energetic Boxster S mill, the horizontally opposed six now pushing 330 horsepower and 273 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels. As touched on earlier, the six-speed manual fitted to my tester was sublime, although at 5.0 seconds to 100km/h it’s a tad slower than the PDK that achieves the same feat in just 4.9 seconds.
I’m not one to count milliseconds off the line, but would much rather row through the gears when they’re so nicely spaced and easily flickable with mere wrist input, when heal-toe pedal placement and clutch take-up is so close to perfection, and the car in question is so ultimately balanced that every input is rewarded with a wonderfully
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
predictable series of responses leading to an overall feeling of complete and utter control no matter the limits attempted. Any Boxster is a dream come true when an open road starts to wind, the GTS only taking that dream up to spontaneous lucidity, when what was once thought surreal becomes today’s new reality, the car delivering a level of balance, poise and ultimate grip that few will have ever experienced this side of multi-six-figure exotica, and even many of these are nowhere as easy to drive quickly as this car.
On that note the GTS is reportedly capable of top speeds of 281 km/h (175 mph) with the manual and 279 km/h (173 mph) with the PDK, while it should be mentioned (although you probably don’t care) that it gets a five-cycle EnerGuide fuel
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
economy rating of 12.1 L/100km city, 8.9 highway and 10.7 combined with the manual and 10.9 city, 7.7 highway and 9.5 combined with the PDK, pricier premium unleaded required.
All of this daily joy and happiness can be yours for just $85,100 with the manual or $89,620 for the PDK, plus Porsche’s very reasonable $1,085 freight and dealer prep charge, while you’re free to add on options until you’re well within a six-figure final tally.
On that note Porsche has some rather expensive options, front and rear parking sonar
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
that costs $1,700 being just one added to my tester. At least these worked, rather brilliantly I might add. The $4,500 navigation system, on the other hand, only served to make us laugh (and laughter is a valuable if not priceless commodity). Driving towards downtown Vancouver on Cambie Street had me staring at my fair city in the near distance, although by Porsche’s GPS we were in the middle of the Fraser River (some 30 km away) near the suburb of Burnaby. Soon after, it followed a riverside road I’ve never been on, while moments later I was on the Cambie Street bridge heading into the core of the city, and upon turning up the downtown portion of Cambie (that isn’t really on the same trajectory as the bridge), the GPS had us driving down a set of train tracks that make their way along the Fraser River again. We pulled
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
into our parking garage and circled our way down to P6, where the GPS continued to work, impressively enough, and parked in our stall, albeit on the map it looked like were parked in riverside farmland by the lack of roads on the screen. This isn’t the first time we’ve had trouble with Porsche’s pricy nav system, so by my experience you’re better off using Google or even Apple maps on your smartphone.
All said, even with wayward navigation and the six-speed’s demonic hill holder system I can’t help but love this car. Its combination of beauty, luxury, practicality from its two trunks, power, handling, and of course the multiplicity of glorious sounds emanating from behind the
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
firewall and exiting each tailpipe, all come together for thrill-a-second motoring. I can’t think of another sports car that’s as good at being a sports car as the Boxster, this GTS simply taking all that’s good about the car and raising it up a significant notch. While it might be the automotive equivalent of the gorgeous yet directionally disoriented girlfriend that’s amazing in every way other than a mentally disturbed tendency to cause embarrassing outbursts in public places, the Boxster GTS with its delectable manual gearbox is an addiction I’d rather never give up.
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