Think Inside the Box.

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by fusionist

Thanks for the compliments Overdrive!

That Triumph is a blast to drive! It's actually a track car built by a guy named Red LeGrand.. who made lightweight formula track car kits. So it makes about 130 horsepower, almost double what it should stock... and weighs 1500 pounds. It actually feels faster than the Boxster off the line to about 40mph or so. It's smog exempt here in California so it's wide open and loud!!! Great fun!!!

...I think I just drooled a bit there. How's it behave on the street as far as the ride? Does it have a serious dislike for bumps?

And maybe it's just the angling of the photo, but man that thing's short! Does the windshield top come to your waist or what? I'm no giant, but the roof of the Boxster's just below chest level for me.

[pothole]

I'm only 5'10" and I sit too high in my 986 with the seat in its lowest position. Must be pretty crap for the genuinely tall.

Regards the size of the Boxster, I think one major factor is the shared architecture with the 911. The front 2/3rds of the two models are basically shared, so a compromise has to be made. Porsche wanted to make the 911 in particular more capacious, so the front end has to look right attached to the larger passenger cell of the modern 911. Sticking the teeny tiny Boxster concept nose onto a largish passenger cell was never going to fly, sadly, and since the production Boxster shares the same front end it couldn't have it either.

Given those limitations, I think Porsche did a pretty good job with the 996 and 986. Not sure they went in the right direction with the 987 / 997, which are even bigger.

There's also crash regs and particularly pedestrian crash regs which is pushing car design towards bulbous front ends.

Anyway, by today's standards, the 986 definitely looks fairly petite.

[Overdrive]

All very true, pothole. I'm just over 5'7", and initially thought I'd have to have the seat up at its higest to be comfortable. I've actually got it pretty slammed down so that my knees don't hit the wheel while I'm doing my footwork...also why I wish the steering tilted along with or rather than just telescoping.