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Ah yes, the old chip debate.

We know what they do... Control ignition timing, air/fuel ratios, rev limits, engine temp, turbo boost, and even shift timing on advanced transmissions. Most Fords, Chevys, Hondas, Lexus etc. have chips that are "mapped" for reliability, fuel economy, and performance in that order. "Remap" one of these cars with a max performance profile and you will get stellar performance improvements at a cost of reliability and fuel economy. It is not unusual to see a lowly Honda Civic get a 30% HP increase with the addition of a cold air intake, tuned exahust, and max performance chip. It is now only good for 50k mi. instead of 250k and only gets 20mpg instead of 35 but it goes like snot. Much greater increases are routinely found on turbo diesel engines with the same type of performance mods.

Porsche is a little different. Those little engineers in Stuttgart already mapped these cars for performance 1st. Which is why they are so much fun to drive... which is why most of us own them. They already go like snot right out of the box. Sure you could probably eek out another 10hp with a more agressive timing, and higher rev limit but do you really want to?? 80-100 hp/liter is really pretty good performance.

If I really wanted to get the most out of my original Boxter motor I would use proven techniques... Get cold air to flow freely into the motor, add a performance tuned exhaust that takes advantage of my improved intake airflow, run it on aviation fuel and have my chip "performance mapped" while on a dyno where you could really dial in the timing and air/fuel ratios. This would surely result in performance gains that you could see and feel. It would also cost way north of $1000.

Another way to go is to leave the car alone and take that $1000 and put it towards a Bondurant School of Driving course. I suspect 8/10 Porsche owners would see a greater improvement in lap times and general driving satisfaction by improving our skills than by hot rodding our cars with the same money, myself included. Probably a lot fewer spins and crashes too.

Just one mans opinion. I look forward to your comments.