986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post

seekboxster2010 · 05-22-2010, 01:26 PM

Need some advice:

1) I recently test drove a 2001 Boxster S. Wow - it was a "virgin" experience. Now I understand why people drive Porsches (and sports cars in general). Test drove a Z4 also - nothing like it. So I've decided to get a Boxster.

2) I live in San Francisco so I have hills (which gets me thinking about a Tiptronics). I think I like the low end torque on the Boxster. Of course everyone tells me that a manual is more fun.

3) So I go out to drive a non-S and also a Tiptronics. End up driving a 2005S, 2005 and 2003 Non-S Tiptronics.

4) So I've learned I'll take an S over a Non-S any day.

5) But my dilemna is as follows:

a) 986 was much more "noiser" and "point and shoot" than the 987 which had more of a "Mercedes" feel to it. It felt more "fun". But also didn't seem like the build quality was as good (never mind the IMS issues - which is also a pretty major issue).

b) Tiptronics was actually fun despite what others told me. It was easy enough to downshift and that seemed to tell the Tiptronics that I wanted to keep it in a "sportier" higher torque mode. In fact - it felt like it could shift faster than I could shift. Of course - I've also owned manuals in San Francisco - it is a royal pain in the neck. Also, I've heard that IMS issues aren't as common in Tiptronics systems - but who knows. But my biggest issue is that Tiptronics might be more fun because I really don't know yet how to drive a sports car shift. I also don't really understand why someone would ever put it in automatic mode since manual is effectively a customized automatic.

So any opinions/perspective/thoughts would be welcome so I can decide between 986/987 and 6 speed/Tiptronics

Fun and reliability are the two main issues...

05-22-2010, 01:26 PM	#1
seekboxster2010 Registered User Join Date: May 2010 Location: CA Posts: 1	986S vs. 987S, tiptronics vs. 6 speed Need some advice: 1) I recently test drove a 2001 Boxster S. Wow - it was a "virgin" experience. Now I understand why people drive Porsches (and sports cars in general). Test drove a Z4 also - nothing like it. So I've decided to get a Boxster. 2) I live in San Francisco so I have hills (which gets me thinking about a Tiptronics). I think I like the low end torque on the Boxster. Of course everyone tells me that a manual is more fun. 3) So I go out to drive a non-S and also a Tiptronics. End up driving a 2005S, 2005 and 2003 Non-S Tiptronics. 4) So I've learned I'll take an S over a Non-S any day. 5) But my dilemna is as follows: a) 986 was much more "noiser" and "point and shoot" than the 987 which had more of a "Mercedes" feel to it. It felt more "fun". But also didn't seem like the build quality was as good (never mind the IMS issues - which is also a pretty major issue). b) Tiptronics was actually fun despite what others told me. It was easy enough to downshift and that seemed to tell the Tiptronics that I wanted to keep it in a "sportier" higher torque mode. In fact - it felt like it could shift faster than I could shift. Of course - I've also owned manuals in San Francisco - it is a royal pain in the neck. Also, I've heard that IMS issues aren't as common in Tiptronics systems - but who knows. But my biggest issue is that Tiptronics might be more fun because I really don't know yet how to drive a sports car shift. I also don't really understand why someone would ever put it in automatic mode since manual is effectively a customized automatic. So any opinions/perspective/thoughts would be welcome so I can decide between 986/987 and 6 speed/Tiptronics Fun and reliability are the two main issues...