What is this called and It's purpose?
 

Under Steering Wheel:

http://986forum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15699&stc=1&d=13218081 40

It's purpose is to hit your knee every time you get in and out of the car.

It is a holder for the Owners Manual, I took mine out as soon as I bought it.

It's called the cheap way out of providing a glove box and like the cup holders in these cars, it's a half a$$ed afterthought.

And here I thought it's were you put the Yellow Pages Phone Book! :D

It is a Pizza holder!

Ladrovered got it, it's a part that's nonexistent on a 97, not sure if they started doing it in 98...kind of a double edged sword, because you'll likely hit it with your knee like he said, but if you don't have it you're stuck dropping your manual into one of the map pockets on the doors or putting it in the pocket where you're supposed to store your wind deflector.

EDIT: BTW, john, be careful with that brake pedal cover, those things have 0% grip when your foot is wet. You may want to put some grip tape on it in a few spots.

I swear I thought for a moment you were circling the brake pedal & had a chuckle! Ha!

Haha! OD...thanks for the advice....good point.

Pizza Box Holder is the best idea yet!:D

That part was in the trunk when I bought my car. Was weeks later before I finally figured out where it went and what it was.

I use mine to hold my hanging parking decal. It comes in handy, but a glovebox would have been better.

It is a holder for your nunchucks.

I thought it was where the Boxster owners manual is supposed to ride, like you need it for reference.

and 3-pointed stars.

What's wrong with it hitting your knee? It does make your knee stronger.

can't put anything else in it, because of the f****ing hole. otherwise, it could be like a storage space.

i keep my insurance and registration in my owner's manual. i used to keep the owner's manual in the compartment between the seats. but it felt weird telling the cop "ok, it's behind me" when i got pulled over and asked for my registration. so i moved it.

i don't feel any better saying "it's between my legs"... :o

Simply stated, getting pulled over in our cars did not go into the engineering checklist for the interior designers...you just brought an interesting thought to mind for me, tony, as every storage space we have in the car is out of view of an officer, and you reaching in any of those unseen directions (typically somewhere below or behind you) are going to put him on edge unless you say something about the location.

Does the manual actually fit in the friggin glovebox? I never tried, since it literally looks like a box that will fit a set of gloves.

I keep a fifth of rum in mine.

Designed by the same engineering team that brought us the cup holders and IMS bearing.

I keep my .45 auto there....:dance:

its held in by expanding clip. Just use something to push the center of the clip out then remove.

Where is the official wind deflector pocket?

-james

That'd be the big flat cubby hole behind your head that you access between the roll hoops, yimmy. For me it's a zippered leather pocket, but anyone 99 and up I believe got the sliding door style one. In there is where one stores the wind deflector...after placing it in its protective case, of course.

I have had two Boxsters and I have never removed and stored the wind deflector in the silly little cubby hole. Can someone tell me why one would remove it and store it? More feeling of that wind flowing above one's receding hairline?

Now that it's gotten chilly here in Chicago, I've removed mine because it rattles a bit, and causes some distracting reflections when driving at night or early morning... It will remain stashed (but not in the cubby) until the spring thaw...

The explanation per the manual between your legs says that the wind deflector does not need to be in place when the top is not down (we all know this obviously or they wouldn't have made it removeable). By removing it, the air will circulate through the car more efficiently when you have the top up and your windows down and/or using your air conditioning/heating/defrosting. So when/if you do this, there's the place to store your deflector.

I could pose a similar question to people who leave the wind deflector and roll hoop inserts in place but roll their windows down with the top down...you're still getting the tornado effect, so why bother even having the deflectors in place if you defeat their purpose?

Now I'm not saying I agree with what Porsche is saying 100%, and I don't have a pouch to put my deflector in before storing it in there anyway, so when I'm not breaking the bottom holding tab off of the roll hoop :o:rolleyes:, I just leave the deflector there because I don't want to have to bother to take the damn thing out every time I want to use it. I have, however, noticed that the airflow in the car is somewhat better when it is not there (top up), but it's not a significant improvement to where I'd want to bother inserting and removing the thing all the time.

Another reason could be to deter theft if you walk away from your car with the top down (I know, I know, but people DO do it), but at the same time, if the thief knows where to look it doesn't really help much, so that's a straw grab. But also, if for any reason at all you do remove it, you have a place to store it that isn't one of the trunks where it can slide around or hit/get crushed by something. This does give it a very occasional purpose.

Mine is in the house since I broke that holding tab, but if I had that pouch for it, I'd be storing it in that space so that it stays with the car.

I never take the deflector off. Mine doesn't rattle and removing and installing it constantly just makes it become loose over time. Not to mention you're creating a chance to break the plastic if you don't install it carefully.

Totally agree, ekam. I left mine installed all the time, and intend to continue to do so. Now I've just got to shut up my driver's roll hoop that rattles almost constantly.

So now I'm curious, did Porsche do something proper with the manual in later model years?

I have a proper glove box that holds my manual, registration, flashlight and phone charger nicely, with room to spare. Not sure what year it was introduced in.

i believe the real glovebox was introduced in 03.