By: Stuart Johnston
Florence, Italy - It’s something like the magic formula for Coca Cola – experts have analysed it for decades and tried to reproduce it but no-one else gets it quite right.
In this case I’m talking about the mix of ride quality and grip and predictability and throttle response and engine sound that Porsche seems to serve up time after time in its cars, which you expect when embarking on a maiden ride in a new model, but which at the same time always seems to surprise you.
Take the Porsche Boxster Spyder for example, just launched in Europe, and due for arrival in South Africa in very limited numbers in September. At one point on our test drive, threading through the seemingly endless switchbacks of ultra-narrow mountain roads somewhere outside Florence, the tarmac ahead opened out enough at one point to give the car some horns on the approach to a downhill right-hander.
So you change up hard, heading for the 7800rpm redline, lift off the throttle, then apply increasing pressure to the brake pedal as you give a heel-and-toe blip on the throttle and manually shift down to second gear. It’s all loaded up nicely so you turn into the apex and just as you climb back on the throttle pedal, you notice an almighty bump and camber change mid-corner that was hidden by the tall grass growing alongside the tar.
Eeeeech, you think to yourself, this could get nasty. But the front wheels simply run through the bump, follow the new road profile for a millisecond, then the rear follows, and apart from the lightest quiver, you are up the road to the next corner, the Boxster Spyder’s new, improved, 3.8-litre motor howling for more!
Aah, this is living. During that manoeuvre, the chunky steering wheel covered in Alcantara leather has bucked in your grip ever so slightly, communicating every road nuance to you in a way that is reassuring but never unpleasant. As the grip loads up the steering does likewise, and as soon as it goes light over a bump you feel that too.
WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL?
Okay, so that description applies to many a Porsche you may have driven. What makes the new Boxster Spyder even more special is that it is some 30kg lighter than the previous uber-Boxster, the GTS. The reactions are quicker, the engine has more grunt, and the steering rack has been given a quicker ratio. The roof mechanism design is manual rather than electric, mechanical almost to a degree of low-tech, to shave weight.
Instead of door handles there are rugged fabric door pulls, again saving weight although these are more to create the vibe of a classic roadster like the RSK 550 Spyder from the 1960s, which provided inspiration for those gorgeous dual streamliner bulges on the engine panel behind the cockpit.
Also specific to the Spyder is that it is some 20mm lower than the GTS, and it has a nose apron that extends lower, making it look even meaner than before. The 20-inch diameter needle-spoked alloy wheels are also Boxster Spyder-specific.
Another big change is that the engine size has been bumped up from 3.4-litres to 3.8-litres. This means that power rises to 276kW, torque even more pleasurably to 420Nm. It’s naturally aspirated, of course, and this configuration of engine is one of the last of a breed as Porsche gears up for downsizing like everyone else.
GUTTURAL BELLOW
The beauty of this engine is that it sounds different to just about any other Porsche motor out there. The sports exhaust offers a “soft” and “loud” mode, but it is the engine note itself that has moved away from the guttural bellow of yore to one of more shrill exultation. That description may sound over-the-top, but experience it for yourself if you can, and you will agree.
The car only comes in six-speed manual – no dual-clutch options for this baby – and again, like that ultra-lightweight fabric top that requires you to climb out and fiddle with latching mechanisms, it is one of the aspects that will make you love your Boxster Spyder more deeply. The gearbox is a joy to use, physical but precise and increases the communication between car and driver.
Numbers? It will accelerate to 100km/h in 4.5 seconds, and top out at 290km/h. And sip fuel when you are not gassing it in the region of 10 litres per 100km. The Porsche Boxster Spyder, when it arrives here, will cost R1 010 000. And believe me, that’s the good news, because it is an instant classic, a very special car that will keep on giving pleasure every time you drive it.
The not-so-good news is that you may well have to wait a while to get one, as word has it that the entire allocation of just under 20 cars has already been sold in SA.
Star Motoring