Dissed by the Wall Street Journal 8-20-04

[sredni]

...."Trying to keep up with ever-faster rivals has put Porsche in a pinch of late. While the German maker is known for sporty cars with quick acceleration, its basic model - the $42,000 Boxster- can be outrun by Chrysler sedans and Subaru station wagons, Even minivans by Nissan or Honda stand a chance at dusting one."

[Subanez]

Hmmmm.

The world just loves them numbers, now don't it?

[scott in mn]

Well, I guess it's possible that a Chrysler 300 with a Hemi could beat a base Boxster off the line, but once you hit any kind of twisties, it's over.

The Boxster has never been intended as a scorcher. If people want a straight line bullet, buy a used Camaro SS and be proud. However, if people want a true driving experience, which includes all aspects of controlling an amazing piece of machinery with precision, the Boxster is hard to beat.

I will admit that it will be nice when they pump up the horses in the next Boxster a bit.

[Pilot2519j]

Porsche is and will always be the basis for performance. You can put all the horsepower in the world to a Corvette, Mustang and the rest but we all know that they are not Porsches. They don't drive like a Porsche, handle like a Porsche, have the race heritage of a Porsche or in short they are all in that group of Porsche wannabe's.
Horsepower is part of the equation but it the total package that differentiates the marques. There are some Ferraris, Aston Martins, and others of the same ilk that can be beaten by lesser cars but does that make them less desireable. I don't think so! In this week Autoweek which has the new Corvette the tester l complains about the steering of the car and the interior poor quality workmanship.
Me personally would rather drive, as I do daily to work, my Boxster S that will outhandle most cars in the market. It has the right amount of horsepower to be super quick and handling that very few cars can touch. Then to make it more irresistable it has the most beautiful body out there, I know I am over the top at this point, of any car. Fast, classy , sexy, safe and chic what more can I ask for? Ok a few more HP will do. Smile........ it is a Porsche and enjoy it.

[Ad Sach]

Camaro SS??? ever take one over 110MPH - very scary!!!

A stock SS is only inches faster than a Boxster S.

I've never seen an SS that won't start looking for an exit as soon as the speedo approaches 130 and corners aren't even in the Camaro handbook.

[scott in mn]

I didn't necessarily mean that an SS was actually a great performance car, just that an SS is a car that is built for one purpose, and to people that want to roast their tires, it's something to be proud of. Personally, I couldn't imagine owning or driving one, since they couldn't even come close to providing the same experience as a Boxster.

That line about a Honda and Nissan mini-van is one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time...

[Lux]

A friend of mine has a Trans Am WS6 (same as Camaro SS). Don't kid yourselves. That car is a freaking beast. The LS1 motor pulls like a freight train and just doesn't run out of steam. It's crude, but it's also very cheap.

I agree that Porsche needs to stop mucking around and put some power in these cars. Power isn't everything but it's something! 320hp in a Boxster S isn't "asking for the moon". It's not like anybody is saying it needs to be 500hp. But the Boxster S' performance should really be be along the lines of the M3 and C5 Corvette. Just my $0.02.