I have the good fortune of owning, for over a year now, a Porsche Boxster S (type 986). There are many qualified people who review cars on the net and I’m not going to pretend that I’m one of them (if you want a professional review, look here). I’ll just give a few comments on how I feel about the car after having driven 10 000 km in it. In my opinion, it isn’t the worlds most beautiful car (though it isn’t ugly either…). No Porsche for me is truly beautiful like some Aston Martin, Jaguar or Ferrari cars are. So looking at it doesn’t make my heart beat faster. But the Boxster is a masterpiece of very intensive engineering aimed at satisfying the driver. And what satisfaction you get … You sit in it, turn the key on the left, let the flat six come to life, put the top down (12 secs), put the very precise lever into first gear and off you go with an immediate huge grin plastered over your face. This car has driver fun written all over it. Performance and ease of use are there from the start and you’ll be hard pressed to find a faster car on a winding road. The cockpit is completely focused on driving and, though not very luxurious, it’s comfortable and practical. The car is useable (and fun) in all circumstances of modern traffic (and that includes just driving it around town in heavy traffic). It has, for the category, a surprisingly large amount of trunk space. In fact, it has two trunks: one in front, one in back (the car being mid-engined); largely sufficient for packing a week’s stuff for two. Ownership has been totally hassle-free, not one problem so far and beyond the initial expense of buying the car itself, it has proven very cheap to run (gas mileage for a car with this kind of power is very reasonable).

To conclude: for me, the Porsche Boxster is what the MG B probably was to guys in the sixties : the ultimateroadster !!!