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Why are Porsche Boxsters so overrated?

7K views 69 replies 21 participants last post by  davezaristo 
#1 ·
Not just my opinion. It is also the opinion of auctioneers, used car sales managers, auto restoration facilities with award winning cars, and mechanics everywhere. Still people like them. I guess they are too thrilled to finally own a porsche that is accepted by the non-car knowledgable crowd as a real porsche. I guess porsche has its audience pegged. Mercedes keeps building very fast cars when all its audience wants is refinement.
 
#2 ·
Shane, I popped up to the Porsche dealer recently with an open mind. I looked at the box...

Shane, I popped up to the Porsche dealer recently with an open mind. I looked at the boxter and interior and just couldn't bring myself to ask for a test drive, the finish and quality looked so much inferior to my 32.

I even popped up a second time just to be sure but came to the same conclusion.

Now after visiting the Jaguar dealer I was impressed with the Jaguar XKR supercharged sports car, nice finish and quality and the factory performance figures were not far off the 32.
 
#5 ·
Actually I was being serious....

1. You can't get to the engine easily.
2. The production car pales in comparison to the protoype one that actually had evocative lines.
3. The structure is not as good as a slk, S2000, or corvette conv.
4. It is too much money for a car that a Northstar DeVille with a carriage top, vogue tires, classic grill, and continental kit, driven by a little old man, can out accelerate.
5. Made by the same company that builds the Cayenne.
 
#6 ·
They win alot of real races...

Not just my opinion. It is also the opinion of auctioneers, used car sales managers, auto restoration facilities with award winning cars, and mechanics everywhere. Still people like them. I guess they are too thrilled to finally own a porsche that is accepted by the non-car knowledgable crowd as a real porsche. I guess porsche has its audience pegged. Mercedes keeps building very fast cars when all its audience wants is refinement.
They win alot of real races (sport cars racing) like the "real" Porsche does also not dumb street racing in back of the car wash.
 
#8 ·
I think you nailed it: because it is a Porsche.

I test drove several roadsters before deciding on the SLK. After driving the Boxster S, the sales guy said, when comparing the cars, something like "Well, of course only one of these cars carries the prestige and exclusivity of the Porsche name."
 
#9 ·
Better question,: Why are SLK 32's so underrated?

Out at Virginia International Raceway two of us in SLK 32's ran with a Porsche 911 on the track. The run was easy for the other SLK, but hard for me because I was scared silly.
I managed to keep up any way until my common sense told me to back off. The 911 was a newer car, but I can't tell you what specific model, one more thing, the Porsche was driven by a track instructor, and this was the first time on the track for me.
This is NOT a brag on my part, after 1 1/2 laps I backed way off, (I couldn't stop shaking). I'm just trying to point out that Mercedes is VERY badly underrated, and Porsche is probably given more credit then it deserves.
Another side note, when we got off the track, the instructor came over and was VERY interested in the '32. He was truely amazed that a rank amature like me could even stay on the same straightaway with him.
 
#12 ·
SHANE: ALL THE DEALER...

I really wanted a SLK230 but alas, all the dealer had in stock at the time was a SLK32. You are so lucky! BTW, life is tough after grandma isn't it.
ALL THE DEALER WAS OFFERING WHEN I ORDERED THE CAR IN 1997 WAS THE SLK230 AND THE WAITING LIST WAS OVER 700 (NO SALE TAX IN OR, SO MANY PEOPLE TRY TO BUY "HOT" CARS HERE IN OR).
 
#13 ·
Shane, Bruce R and Brain R170:

Bruce R, “Another side note, when we got off the track, the instructor came over and was VERY interested in the '32. He was truely amazed that a rank amature like me could even stay on the same straightaway with him.�

and

Brian R170, “the SLK32 is still not a sports car according to automotive journalists and yet it blows away most sports car on the road.�

The above comments are the problem, terms like “straightaway� and “blows away most sports car on the road�, you are talking about straight-line performance, not true sports car performance, the ability to stop, corner and keep on the road, has nothing to do about horsepower. The success of the new BMW Mini is based on the fact that the little original Mini Cooper 1300cc was a killer on the track, it could out stop, out corner and out handle just about anything, but it would lose on the straight away, but catch-up on the corners. Same was true for the Lotus Elite, Lotus Elan, Morgan, and many Porsche models that where under powered.
 
#14 ·
I don't consider the slk a sports car either, but rather a sporty cruising car. Despite a...

I don't consider the slk a sports car either, but rather a sporty cruising car. Despite all the power under the slk32 engine, the handling and braking is so-so...

Before I get flame, HOWEVER, the retractable hardtop sold me and i think it is underrated in the innovative department.
 
#15 ·
Re: I don't consider the slk a sports car either, but rather a sporty cruising car. Despite a

I don't consider the slk a sports car either, but rather a sporty cruising car. Despite all the power under the slk32 engine, the handling and braking is so-so...
I agree, I love the car and it does somethings just great, but not a true sport car. I think of it as a little GT car, so what.
 
#16 ·
The boxster is overrated for one single solitary reason: it has a manual transmission, and...

The boxster is overrated for one single solitary reason: it has a manual transmission, and all the andretti wannabees out there who think they can drive need a 5sp in order to call a car a sports car.

Has anyone here seen a boxster peel? Only one wheel spins while the car makes this horrible washing machine sound! That's a sports car??? So useless...

The boxster is no different than a miata. Mazda sells the miata for about 25k. Porsche sells the boxster for about 50k. Huge proffit margins off almost identical mechanicals. It was a great idea for porsche to help them get out of financial difficulties, and it worked until they brought out the worthless cayenne. Sales are at unexpected lows, so now they are throwing a V6 in to lower the MSRP! Porsche should focus on low volume 911's and leave the mass market to the big boys.
 
#17 ·
What?

Sorry, I don't buy it.

So you're going to tell me that the SLK32 (or even 230/320) can't corner and brake as good as other cars that are sports cars? Make up a list of "real" sports cars and then show me how the SLK is below the worst car on the list in the acceleration, braking, and cornering categories.

The same magazines that say the SLK isn't a sports car showed that the original SLK230 could keep up with the original Boxster on the track. Yet the SLK wasn't a sports car and the Boxster was.

That said, my original reply to this thread was meant to be humorous. Unfortunately, your response was typical of another excuse for saying the SLK is not a sports car. Maybe it's not, but so far, nobody has ever given a reason that holds water.
 
#19 ·
Re: What?

Sorry, I don't buy it.

So you're going to tell me that the SLK32 (or even 230/320) can't corner and brake as good as other cars that are sports cars? Make up a list of "real" sports cars and then show me how the SLK is below the worst car on the list in the acceleration, braking, and cornering categories.
that holds water.
I think I have gone down this road before, but the proof is very easy. Just show me one sports car race (amateur, semiprofessional or professional) that the SLK has won? I can show you Boxster amateur wins, Boxster semiprofessional wins and Boxster professional wins. In fact it would be hard to find a racing SLK, I wonder why? Talk is cheap.
 
#21 ·
Re: The boxster is overrated for one single solitary reason: it has a manual transmission, and

The boxster is overrated for one single solitary reason: it has a manual transmission, and all the andretti wannabees out there who think they can drive need a 5sp in order to call a car a sports car.
I hate to find myself agreeing with Pizzaface, but he's right. No car with a torque convertor will ever be taken seriously as a sports car and that's all there is to it.
 
#22 ·
That's it! The SLK is GONE>>>>>.....

I wanted a REAL sports car! Now, you guys are telling me my beloved SLK320 is NOT a sports car! DAMN!!!!!!!
Ripped off again by those a-holes that market this crap for what it is not!
On the other hand, I really like the look, feel, sound and other sensory pleasures provided by this little beauty....and, I don't give a damn what ANYONE else thinks of my taste or preference in cars (or anything else for that matter). I guess I was raised to be an independant thinker, with a great self concept. (or should it be, a strong self concept??)

Hmmmm...maybe I'll keep the SLK after all.....

BTW...if the Boxster designers move that cyclops exhaust pipe to one side or the other, it would improve the look by about 10000000000000000%, IMHO.
 
#23 ·
I think the Boxter may be overrated, however, the Boxter S...

however, the Boxter S... is a don car! It has a great chassis and is a drivers car... doesn't have as much HP as your Renntech but would handle conrers better, unless you have modified your chassis considerably...
 
#24 ·
Bgoin, I strongly disagree with you, here's why.........

I wasn't the only '32 that was out there. The other '32 was driven by someone that knew the track and has far more experiance then I do. He not only kept up with the Porsche, he out ran the car on both the straights and the curves.
The folks that run the track were flat out surprised and at first didn't believe the times that the SLK and C 32's were running. These cars are world class, and can easily compete in almost any stock "sports car" competition, they are truely FAST, as well as quick.
I honestly feel that you have fallen into the trap that these magazine writers have set, and the nonsense that they have brainwashed so many people with over all these years
 
#25 ·
It may be well said, but it's to bad that he's wrong.
 
#26 ·
I might be the "proof", I haven't yet been passed by a Boxster on the track, or.....

at an autocross.
I truely hate to blow my own horn because it sets me up for every yahoo in the area to pick a race. But the obvious has to be stated, you don't know what you are talking about. Let me spell it out for you:

(1) For the average driver there is NO that is ZERO differance between the SLK 230, SLK 320, Z-3, Boxster, or ANY other car in their class PERIOD.
(2) As poor a driver as I am, in as bad a car as you seem to think we drive, I have out run in autocross at least 2 ///M roadsters, at least 2 Boxsters, and even 1 996 Cabrio. The proof has been posted here and at the site we had previously.
(3) Almost all the teams that are out there racing cars are supported by the factory in some way. Some teams get lots more support then others. Mrecedes doesn't help anybody except the big high profile teams, I know that for a fact. What would you race with, a company that helped or one that didn't?
Like you say, talk is cheap, what have you done except read magazines?
 
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