100+ mph in 3rd gear, so why...
 

The other day, I had a great, empty straightaway. My 2002 base Boxster hit 104+ mph in 3rd gear without redlining. :)

With this fact in mind, why the heck would I need a "S?" I can rarely use the full performance of my 10-year old base Boxster.

Any thoughts?

That's A Fast Mo-Fo.

This was posted a bit back over on Renntech:

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You can calculate the approx ground speed at fuel cut off for all gears as follows:

5 sp. forward gears (std 17" tyres)

("current engine rpm"/1000)*5*("transmission gear#")= "x" mpg

i.e. for 3rd gear at redline (7200/1000)*5*(3)=108 mpg

I've noticed that interesting relationship before while driving; the gears are almost exactly evenly separated so you can approx groundspeed knowing only rpm and gear. This is for the 5sp only on the Boxster std.
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I agree for street driving why would you need a S ;-)

*** Now for all the owners of an S to chime in :) ****

Why wouldn't you want an S? What part of more power, more torque, and closer gear ratios would a person not like?:confused:

5 speed...

- 1st gear 3.50
- 2nd gear 2.118
- 3rd gear 1.429
- 4th gear 1.029 G86/00 (1.09 G86/01)
- 5th gear 0.79 G86/00 (0.838 G86/01)
- Final Drive 3.89 G86/00 (3.56 G86/01)

6 speed...

- 1st gear 3.818
- 2nd gear 2.20
- 3rd gear 1.516
- 4th gear 1.216
- 5th gear 1.024
- 6th gear 0.841
- Final drive 3.444

Type those numbers into this page and you can see exactly what the advantage is...
Top Speed Calculator

Yeah, I love that I can go from 30 - 100mph in 3rd..still my favorite gear! :D

No thanks! Base is PLENTY!

Nothing wrong with a base car, nothing bad about having extra "S" grunt either. The difference in acceleration is easy to feel and fun to experience, it's easy to quickly pass. I miss winding the motor hard as doing so in the Spyder produces jail term speeds but I love the car and have fun each drive just like I did in the base. Believe it or not, I think the seats are a huge part of the driving experience in the spyder, cushioned yet planted, you feel like you're driving a fitted dress shoe.

I agree that 3rd gear is plenty amazing for accelerating to well above legal speeds in a heartbeat!

Here is data for all gears (5sp manual) from the owners manual:

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...nersManual.jpg

There is nothing wrong with a base car but there is no substitute for horse power, the S is more exhilarating than a base model and don't forget that an S has much better brakes to slow you down from 100-30

My suggestion would be to never drive an S or newer model than what you already own because you will probably won't want to go back

Yeah, I guess my point would be that not everyone is obsessed with going faster...I've certainly never pushed mine to the limit and probably never will. So...yes, your "s" is almighty and super duper, but I'm happy and will probably never drive one. :)

+5 Me too !!!!! Would never wind my car out like that.

Pwave, I don't think he was lauding his S over the base, nobody dirts anyone's ride around here. All I know is when you do choose to speed, getting up there and back faster has it's advantages in avoiding night court. It's also incredible for highway passing. Think of the prized third gear effect all the time.

More horsepower is almost always a good thing when buying a used car (as is newer and fewer miles). But there are a lot of other considerations that owners take into account when buying a car.

In my case, I wanted to be able to race in the Boxster Spec classes and only base 2.5L cars are currently allowed. This might change in the near future with a Super Boxster class for the S models but this was a deciding factor of my selection of a 1999 base model.

So you don't ever have to wonder how an "S" might be better and experience "S" envy.

More braking power with the bigger disks on an "S" plus the extra radiator for added cooling.

The extra Torque is always nice to have at your command at slower rev's, although stickier tires will be the next thing you want along with the extra torque as I discovered this morning when I gave it a little kick in the pants at the lights to get me to work on time and lost traction grip on the road.

I didn't mean to sound negative... :)

I do have a tiny bit of "s" envy, but not enough to buy one. One Porsche is expensive enough, lol! I'll just make sure that I never drive one and remain in my ignorant bliss! :D

While I own and love an S, the idea that the larger front calipers provide "greater braking power" or some such is fallacious. The base car has plenty of brake to invoke ABS to kick in, and after that you are at the mercy of your tires' cumulative traction. Make your brakes the size of trashcan lids and it won't help one bit.

The advantage is better heat dissipation, important for track work, but immaterial to this discussion about braking performance getting back down from 130 to 65 quickly.

And of course, the S does ship with wider and presumably grippier tires, so the actual stopping distance of a new S could be a little shorter than that of a new base.

The brakes on the 986 are monoblock in design, a first in production at the time, at least that's what I read; they were derived from racing. In any event I've never driven a Porsche with bad brakes. Even the '73 911T had good brakes, 944? same awesome. Then again, as a complete contrast point I owned both an opel Kadette and a Mustang II so I can truly appreciate what we all have for stopping power.

I absolutely know what you "S" guys are saying. Mostly because I drove the 2013 Boxster S last month on a track at the Porsche World Road Show. It was my favorite of all the Porsches I drove there -- including two 911s. Power, agility, handling, stability, braking, speed, acceleration ... you name it! The new Boxster S has it in spades.

But I don't race and rarely get to do a track day, so that's why I'm very happy with my '02 base Boxster. It's got all the juice I need for a street sports car. (But believe me, I am NOT against S's or any other species of Porsche! :D

I loved driving the base but yes, driving an S will spoil you in a hurry! If when you are looking and an "S" comes along at a great price, don't hesitate! I'm glad that I did:D Now, if the other Base Boxsters that I was looking at had checked out ok, I would have been fine with one of them as well. Bottom line, Base or S, it's just a fun car to drive!:cheers:

I love the torque of my S to get me up hills but the base 2.5L I drove for several days in Tasmania was good enough to convince me that I needed a Boxster. Base guys shouldn't feel bad in the slightest...

..until I pull up next to you at the lights, naturally. :cool:

I have the S brakes. What's that saying... more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

Oh yea, buy tires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_IWa_qlt3g

..until I pull up next to you at the lights, naturally. :cool:[/QUOTE]

LAUGH!!

(since you're on the other side of the world from me, that ain't gonna happen any time soon!)

We might see each other Mr. first depending on your definition of "upstate". I'm going to be getting L5 sliced so I'll only be driving the spyder another week to ten days.:(

You sir are most confused about the physics of energy transfer and the laws of thermodynamics...

Well, my base '99 has enough brake to make the anti-lock kick in, so...yeah. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, which in this case certainly is not the brakes, but rather the traction between tire and road. Bigger discs/pads would make absolutely no difference. On the track may be a different story, but I wouldn't know since I don't/won't track my car. ;)

I don't get your statement. Don't even try to argue physics and thermodynamics with me, mister. :D
Just messing with ya! But seriously; wth are you going on about? :p

Are you sure about that...

The stopping distance between the base and S is only about 7 feet. The larger calipers provide better heat dissipation. Like he said, to really notice the difference in braking you will need to be at the track. There the difference will be significant.

The extra horse power on the other, that is significantly noticeable anywhere, anytime

The Boxster is great car (base or S)and I actually find myself enjoying it more than my 997. Which may explain why I have decided to supercharge the 997, I have to justify the extra cost of the 997 somehow and 500 hp may just do it :D

This makes zero sense to me. My 2008 Honda cbr1000rr motorcycle does 90mph in first gear. My 2012 Honda accord can go 100 mph...... Not sure how long it takes and it's auto, so not sure what gear that is. Point being, what does the speed have anything to do with usability or driving performance on the street? The fastest you can legally drive here is 65mph. Nobody NEEDS more than that.

Most of us can't use the full performance of a base or an S. Unless we are professional race car drivers at a track.

To me..... the "S" is a whole different car. That's like comparing a 911 base to a 911s, 911 turbo, or 911gt3 and saying they are all the same because a base is fast enough. I've driven a base 986, 987 base, own a 986s, driven a 996 base, a 997s, and a 996 turbo. Trust me, they are all significantly different. I can also say that I can't drive any of them to the limit. But, why would that stop me from owning one?

I am an avid cyclist. Often, among cyclists, people feel guilty when they have "pro" gear and far from a pro. You buy stuff because it makes you smile. It's that simple. Hell, some people collect cars. They don't even drive them!

You don't need an "S", but I think it helps keep the "racing" crowd in check. I get a lot of minivan and Camry folk trying to hang, which is fine, because I like to hang in my family hauler too.