Hello from a new owner (soon)
 

Hi

I signed up on this forum a couple of weeks ago and my first post was going to be along the lines of a brief background (we currently own two diesel cars, a Renault Scenic and a Mercedes A Class, previous car was a 600cc Smart) and how I’d always liked the classic 911 in Guards Red.

I don’t have enough knowledge and mechanical experience to source a good example of and old 911 and much to my surprise my wife, who’s not really into cars, really liked the Boxster. I was going to ask this forum what to look for when buying a second hand Boxster but there’s were no really good second hand ones available where I live so I looked on the Porsche website for dealers in the UK and we went from looking at second hand to possible buying a new Boxster with a few extras.

I was speaking to the salesman on the phone and almost as an aside I said that I didn’t suppose there were any Spyders available and it turns out he can get me one that I can get to my spec. We went to the UK and signed the papers at the weekend and our new Spyder is being built (we prefer to think of it as being born) on 7th July and hopefully delivery won’t be too long after that.

To say I’m excited would be an understatement; I’m counting the hours and days until I can collect it.

Mike

Congrats

Post some pics on the Show and Tell Forum once you pick up your new car.

Greg

2002 Triple Black, 64000K desnorkled, bumper plugs, nitrogen filled tires

Congrats & welcome to the family.

I'm jealous of the curvy roads you have at your disposal to exercise your new Box. Before the Speed Channel became the NASCAR channel 24/7, they'd show the motorcylce race from the IofM (I think it was called TTsomething). Great course based on public roads. Have fun.

It's going to be brutal trying to sleep at night while waiting. :cheers:

Congrats Manxie, I love your taste in color!!! :cheers:

Hi, and thanks for the welcome

The Isle of Man is probably best know for the TT Races (www.iomtt.com) but I guess some forum members will know it as one of the places the BBC Top Gear team like to test cars as there's generally no maximum speed limit out of town. I'm hoping that my Tivo will record the old episode where they bring a Boxster, BMW Z3 and Honda over.

I must admit that I'm looking forward to driving the mountain road when I get it but I'm also taking the Institute of Advanced Motorists course just to brush up on my driving as I don't generally drive fast.

I should also add that I'm jealous of you guys in the USA as you can actually drive somewhere. I have to turn around after 12 miles. I drove the whole of Route 66 in May this year and have also enjoyed driving New England and the west coast from Seattle to San Francisco.

Mike

Tell me about it :dance:

My wife is a nurse and I've already asked her if she can give me something to knock me out until it's time to collect it. :D

I love the GT Silver color but I'm not too sure about the red interior. I've read all of the comments about a "tart's boudoir" and "the inside of a womb" but I figure what the heck, I'm 50, fat and bald, how much dafter can I look in a Porsche?

Mike

Hey Manxie...you may be 50, fat and bald but your styling... :D :D

Welcome aboard and one day you will find yourself that you need to logged in daily to get your fix :D :D :D

I log in most days, just to try to get up to speed on the lingo of RMS and red clips :D

Sometimes the site seems to be down, I don't know if it's my connection to it that's the problem or if its the server itself

My Boxster is getting built two weeks today, not that I'm counting the days......

Mike

I'm hoping to collect my new Boxster either this weekend or next weekend. What's the official Porsche advice about running in a Boxster?

Mike

I bet you can't wait.

They should tell you this at the dealer, but keep it under 4K rpm for the first 2K mi. Also, don't drive it at a steady rpm for long periods of time (drive it around town rather than on the highway) for the first 2K mi.

I congradulate you on your new purchase! and am horribly jealous that you will have the experience of driving it on the Isle of Man!

If you need any of the current Top Gear episodes I have them all (the new format since ~2001). They have some nice tests out in the Isle of Man. Power slide by Jeremy Clarksons house, will ya?? haha

Happy motoring!

Yeah, it has felt like a long wait.

Some mornings I wake up and think it's just a dream and isn't going to happen

Some morning I wake up and wonder if I've done the right thing with the current economic climate and fuel cost.

Some morning I wake up with a big smile thinking it's one day closer to getting the car

Under 4k rpm for 2k miles is a bit of a downer, that's about a third of my annual mileage if I use it every day, which I'm not going to.

Still, I'll try to get some miles on it on my days off and nice evenings. Any idea what 4,000 rpm works out to in mph in each gear?

Mike

I'm fairly hopeful that my Tivo will catch the relevant episode sometime soon as one of the satellite channels seems to keep showing older episodes most of the time.

If I was to want to take up your kind offer would it be something that could be done over the net or would it be the kind of "I pay the postage" sort of thing?

I think I'll contact the garage now to see if there's any more news re delivery as they said they should know more by Tuesday

Thanks

Mike

It left the factory today, so I can't see it being this weekend. Looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer

Mike

I'm pretty sure we could work it out either way...I have them electronically, would just need some way to send them.

I downloaded the 2007 Boxster Manual (its amazing whats available online!), and being porsche they put the gear ratios in it. Unfortunately, they no longer have the speed to rpm chart for each gear like they used to. But I worked it out using a speed vs rpm calculator (assuming the loaded tire size is 19 inches, which may be too small, and the 5 speed transmission) to this:
1st gear: 34.5 mph @4k rpm
2nd gear: 56.9 mph @4k rpm
3rd gear: 84.3 mph @4k rpm
4th gear: 110.6 mph @4k rpm
5th gear: 143.6 mph @4k rpm (althought I think for the break in period you shouldn't go that fast :D )

The manual is available at:
http://www.analogstereo.com/pdf/om/porsche_boxster_owners_manual_2007.pdf
(or pm with your email if you want me to send it to you)

and the calculator i used is at:
http://wahiduddin.net/calc/calc_speed_rpm.htm

Thanks for that!

The online manual is brilliant, I'll have a good read of it and get up to speed with what's what before I collect the car

The 4k rpm speeds are a lot better than I'd hoped for and the running in shouldn't be too onerous now.

I'll see if I can figure something out about getting the Top Gear file from you. What kind of file size are we talking about? Would it be email-able or better off through ftp?

Thanks again

Mike

I do believe 3000 RPM in 6th gear is about 73 mph, which would make 4000 rpm about 97 mph.

I do believe 3000 RPM in 6th gear is about 73 mph, which would make 4000 rpm about 97 mph.

Quickurt, you are totally right. Must have been a bad gear ratio calculator or some error on my part :o

As far as the top gear eps, they are pretty big (most go up to 700 megs :eek: ). You can get a list of them from wikipedia, tell me which ones you want (if not all :cool: ), and I can put a bunch on www.rapidshare.com

All in all, you wont be able to go 143 mph in 5th gear (I dunno how I let that one slip, musta been still asleep), but you can still go pretty quick!

Congrats Manxie!

Enjoy your new toy! :)

I still can't pin down the episode details of when they took a Boxster, BMW Z4 and a Honda over to the Isle of Man

Is it Series 7 Episode 1 "Car comparison on the Isle of Man"?

Mike

I have better quality eps than this, but for refrence, is it this one?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9057939483378824563

Yes, that's the one!

Never thought of trying Google or Youtube

Mike

here it is:

http://rapidshare.com/files/8324728/Top_Gear_-_03x02_-_2003.11.02.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/8324753/Top_Gear_-_03x02_-_2003.11.02.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/8324740/Top_Gear_-_03x02_-_2003.11.02.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/8324715/Top_Gear_-_03x02_-_2003.11.02.part4.rar

Use a rar expander to unpack them when you finish dling
cheers!

Many thanks for uploading the files. I managed to get them yesterday and enjord watching the episode again last night with my wife.

She finally got what I meant by the loser sign as well

Mike

Heh, got the call from the dealer today, the car is now with them, Just getting the reg sorted out and I'm up early on Sunday for the 07:30 ferry to the UK to collect the car and back on the 19:00 return ferry.

Getting excited :D

Mike

NP on the episode. And congrats to almost having your new Box in your hands!

Wow!

Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!

I collected the car yesterday. We had to endure a 6 hour return ferry crossing, but it was flat calm and very misty in patches

The salesman from the dealership picked us up at the ferry terminal and drove us to the dealership to collect the car. I was a little worried about seeing the bright red interior for the first time but it was absolutely fine and not quite as bright as I'd possibly feared.

We dropped the top and set off in bright sunshine and 25c and drove for about 100 miles before heading back to Liverpool for the ferry. It's the first Porsche I've ever driven and I'm absolutely thrilled with it. It feels a lot more powerful than I'd ever imagined and yet is very easy to drive in traffic.

I've taken it to work today, which is something I don't intend to do on a regular basis as it's only a short drive which probably won't to the engine any favors and the price of petrol here is pretty steep so I'll stick to my diesel runaround.

Off for a trip over the mountain road tonight, the one favored by Top Gear :D

Mike

Congratulations!
 

So glad to hear that the pick-up went well, and that you're so thrilled with the new car. Please keep posting your initial impressions and experiences. Some photos would be great too!

:cheers:

Awesome awesome awesome! Let's see some pix!

And let me say your tale of picking up your car (or "collecting" as you say) sounds so cool. Catching a ferry, heading down to Liverpool, anticipating mountain roads... I live in a place called Dallas, Texas, USA -which is geographically uninspiring.

Envy resides here. Enjoy the car!

Breakin Strategy
 

Hey Manxie,

Now you got it! Drive like you are trying to ditch Joey Dunlop! Did you ever see that video of him doing a lap on the TT on your Isle with a Helmet Cam? It was freakin' insane, him rubbing the helmet on the stone walls at 100+mph!!!! :eek:

The manual instructions for the breakin period of the Porsche engine is written for the general public. It is idiot proof, with the 1st priority the engine's welfare. There is nothing wrong with the manual's approach, it just can be done faster.

I recently broke in an x51 3.6L engine in my '03 Boxster S on the advice of the pros at RUF. The objective of the breakin was to suck down the piston rings as hard as possible. They said it could be done in 200 miles if done proper. Their instructions were to run up the revs and compression brake the engine - get completely off the throttle - as much as possible. They were not worried about getting into the 4-7k range, just do not stay there under power, let off, and brake the engine.....downshift, and brake some more.....downshift.... I got into a hilly part of Texass on a 2 lane and ran up and down the gears and speeds all afternoon. Boy did it make for bad gas mileage. The x51s are hand built tight tolerance engines. By the time I made it to New Mexico, the engine was spinning much easier. I had another 1000 miles of 2 lane trippin' mapped out to get home, and I started pouring the coals to it.....varying revs all the way.

Happy Trails,
Ike

Photography is one of my interests so I'll definitely upload some photos. It may be a little while though as the woman in the office at work is on holiday at the moment so I'm having to cover for her and don't have any days off this week.

The pick up went very well. I've been very pleased with the Porsche Centre Chester, which is at the bottom end of the Wirral peninsular in England. I spoke to the same salesman a couple of times over the phone and the rest of the ordering of the car has been done through email with him. Despite the economic worries they seem to be doing well and kept busy and as as well as my RS 60 Spyder they'd also received another from Porsche for stock. Incidentally, mine is number 1921/1960

I did spot that the petrol flap was a little more recessed that I thought it should be and when I compared mine to others I realised that the little rubber stop was missing. Once I pointed that out it was quickly replaced and I was soon on my way.

My wife wanted to stop at a couple of shopping centres, which I find a little boring, so I stood guard over the car (I've read the parking thread!) and tried to figure out some of the settings and controls. My favourite so far is Sport Mode, but with the stiffer suspension turned off, as the note from the exhaust is just wonderful. I could listen to it all day.

I had previously asked here about running in, but I now can't see that being onerous as the car is wonderful to drive below 4000 rpm anyway. Incidentally, the salesman only said to keep it below 6000, but I think I'll stick to the recommended 4000 rpm.

I did stall the car a couple of times when pulling away at lights. I think it was due to me being a diesel car driver and I was used to pulling away in traffic on tick over. It was bugging me that I'd stalled and I was a bit anxious not to stall again at the next set of lights so I made sure I had ample revs and drove away a little "brisker" than I'd intended. "No need to drive like you've stolen it" said my wife.

One unexpected bonus is that my wife absolutely loves the car, which I find a little odd as she's not really a car person and has never really shown much interest in cars before.

I'll let you know how we progress

Mike

I passed through the Texas panhandle in May this year. We stopped overnight at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo. The geography that you have in your favour is space and distance. You can drive somewhere, see new things. You've all that space.

I live midway up the east coast of a 30 x 12 mile island and I've lived here for all 50 years of my life so far. I can drive 15 miles north, 12 miles west, or 15 miles south. There's nothing really new to see or do. I'd love to be able to just drive for 100's of miles without going around in circles. You get a bit stir crazy sometimes, which is why we took 3 weeks off to drive Route 66 this year.

Mike

Hi Ike

I've read in a couple of place that the break in can be done faster but I don't know if I have the balls to do that with my new car. I definitely take the point about varying the revs and not running at a constant engine speed. I don't really have many long straight roads around me so running at a constant engine speed shouldn't be a problem. I'll play it by ear, but probably err on the side of caution if needs be.

Mike

Congrats :cheers:

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to pictures.

Here's some photos after my first week of Boxster ownership.
(Also posted the same photos on a UK based Boxster board)

I absolutely love this car. My wife's not jealous, she loves it as well. It's like a menage a trois :D

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/c...8-02_03169.jpg

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/c...8-02_03171.jpg

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/c...8-02_03175.jpg

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/c...8-03_03192.jpg

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/c...8-03_03225.jpg

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/c...8-03_03228.jpg