Entry-level Porsche (identical to Boxster but cheaper) put on hold

[Ghostrider 310]

Sorry I call BS on Porsche 986 being the end of Porsche sports cars, my car is everything you described including lacking in cup holders. Simply stated it would tear the door skins right off my 986 as it passed and left it for dead.

PS You can't drive the piss out of it or you would never be below triple digits

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by Ghostrider 310

Sorry I call BS on Porsche 986 being the end of Porsche sports cars, my car is everything you described including lacking in cup holders. Simply stated it would tear the door skins right off my 986 as it passed and left it for dead.

PS You can't drive the piss out of it or you would never be below triple digits

I do have to retract my statement to a point, Ghost, because I agree with you and simply overlooked the Spyder in my thought process. Fully agree with you that that is, indeed, a pretty much bare bones, no frills sports car (even if it does have the 987 styling), and even gets back down close to the weight of the early 986, and that's what I like about it. Definitely not a year-round, non-sunny day car, unfortunately, but that's about the only gig against it besides it not looking like a 986 . Low production numbers, fairly high price, and therefore, some exclusivity. That said, the Boxster Spyder is the exception rather than the rule these days at Porsche, and I don't think that's right. They could have also made something like that back when the 986 came around, but oh no, can't unseat the flagship. Cars like that, or the Cayman R, are the kinds of things the company did normally to make a name and distinction for the brand. I'm not as old as some folks who got to be behind the wheel when SCs and Targas made their debuts...my car drooling days started in the mid-80s and went onward (959 anyone ).

Maybe Panamera and Cayenne sales allow us to have things like that without astronomical pricetags, but it's really hurting the company's image for me, and if only offering legit sports cars means no Porsche will cost less than 6 figures, then so be it, I have to start figuring out a way to save for one that I want over a period of X years. Exclusivity, something that people know you paid for because it does something you want, like just be a damn fast and good handling car.

To your second point, isn't that what racetracks are for? And aren't those what sports cars, exotics, and supercars were meant to drive on at their upper limits? You don't put 200mph on a speedometer if the car can never really get anywhere near there. And to be clear, I wasn't saying drive it that way 24/7, but I don't see the guys with Carrera GTs sticking a GoPro on their windshield and putting a video of them flying around VIR on YouTube ever summer. I would if I had one. I want my money's worth.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Ghostrider 310

Sorry I call BS on Porsche 986 being the end of Porsche sports cars, my car is everything you described including lacking in cup holders. Simply stated it would tear the door skins right off my 986 as it passed and left it for dead.

PS You can't drive the piss out of it or you would never be below triple digits

If I were to ever buy a 987, it would only be the spyder. But it's still 65 pounds heavier than my 986S was and I had a hood over my gauge cluster.

A faster car doesn't make a sports car. Everything from Aston Martin is fast and very capable, but there isn't a sports car in their line up.

Just compare everything you think of to a Miata and it will tell you if it's a sports car or not.

[Ghostrider 310]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

If I were to ever buy a 987, it would only be the spyder. But it's still 65 pounds heavier than my 986S was and I had a hood over my gauge cluster.

A faster car doesn't make a sports car. Everything from Aston Martin is fast and very capable, but there isn't a sports car in their line up.

Just compare everything you think of to a Miata and it will tell you if it's a sports car or not.

The Spyder would take the soul of your S and make the car eat it raw, then laugh at your silly hood hat, it's an effing rocketship! Unmodified 986 S= loss to Spyder all other factors being equal.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Ghostrider 310

The Spyder would take the soul of your S and make the car eat it raw, then laugh at your silly hood hat, it's an effing rocketship.

That's nice.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by Ghostrider 310

The Spyder would take the soul of your S and make the car eat it raw, then laugh at your silly hood hat, it's an effing rocketship! Unmodified 986 S= loss to Spyder all other factors being equal.

Given the direction that the 981 and 991 seem to be going, (a bad one) the Boxster Spyder may well be the best modern roadster that was ever made by Porsche. For one thing its still got direct lineage to the simplest, lightest, most driver-oriented Boxster, the original 986.
OTOH, If a 981 RS is launched it will be faster but the developments like electronic steering will take away driver involvement to compensate for a higher powered car. The more power they put into the 981 series the less involvement the driver will have to make those N-ring lap times look as brochure worthy as possible. That's why Porsche enthusiasts justifiably whine that the cars are getting less driver oriented. More power and faster lap times means the car must do more of the work and keep the driver out of the trees.

And the fact that the Boxster Spyder (TC Kline), without any engine or major suspension work, is lapping Laguna at 1:42, faster than prepared 997 GT3s by over a second, (and nearly 4 seconds over a CaymanS) tells me your claim of eating other Boxsters whole is not just trash talk.

all this initial "the Boxster Spyder is just a gimick to sell you less car for more money" has been utterly debunked at the track. Porsche are very wisely ending this design before any more rear-engined cars are further embarrased.

[NoGaBiker]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

If I were to ever buy a 987, it would only be the spyder. But it's still 65 pounds heavier than my 986S was and I had a hood over my gauge cluster.

A faster car doesn't make a sports car. Everything from Aston Martin is fast and very capable, but there isn't a sports car in their line up.

Just compare everything you think of to a Miata and it will tell you if it's a sports car or not.

This is so funny -- deja vu all over again, as they say.

I've owned Miatas since 94, been a regular on Miata.net since 2000. One of the most oft-repeated thread topics is "has the Miata morphed into an overweight pig?" It started at 2170-ish pounds for a 1990 stripper, and a current power hardtop NC model weighs a little more than 2500 pounds all in. To the Miata crowd your 97 2.5 weighs about 400 pounds too much to be a sportscar. To the Elise crowd a 1990 NA Miata weighs about 200 pounds too much to be a sportscar. To the Midget or Sprite or Spitfire crowd an Elise weighs about 300 pounds too much to be a sportscar. Let me tell you, it gets old.

Sure, I could go with a definition of "sportscar" that says the Boxster is too heavy and civilized to be a sportscar (though I would disagree.) But to split hairs and say a 986 2.5 somehow makes the cut, but the extra 100 pounds of a 986.2 with its decadent glass rear window and functional quarter-pound cup-holder assembly now fails to make the grade... laughably pathetic.

[papasmurf]

Should you take into account the weight of your typical passenger when considering if it is a sports car or not, does the extra weight of a painted console or glass rear window make a real difference in the performance of the car...what about the size of the coin holder....is $4 in quarters going to disqualify it from being a sportscar? As I see it, the difference in weight between an early 986 and later model is pretty small and is much about options order than anything else. Even a 987 is not all that much heavier than the earlier cars.

Originally Posted by NoGaBiker

This is so funny -- deja vu all over again, as they say.

I've owned Miatas since 94, been a regular on Miata.net since 2000. One of the most oft-repeated thread topics is "has the Miata morphed into an overweight pig?" It started at 2170-ish pounds for a 1990 stripper, and a current power hardtop NC model weighs a little more than 2500 pounds all in. To the Miata crowd your 97 2.5 weighs about 400 pounds too much to be a sportscar. To the Elise crowd a 1990 NA Miata weighs about 200 pounds too much to be a sportscar. To the Midget or Sprite or Spitfire crowd an Elise weighs about 300 pounds too much to be a sportscar. Let me tell you, it gets old.

Sure, I could go with a definition of "sportscar" that says the Boxster is too heavy and civilized to be a sportscar (though I would disagree.) But to split hairs and say a 986 2.5 somehow makes the cut, but the extra 100 pounds of a 986.2 with its decadent glass rear window and functional quarter-pound cup-holder assembly now fails to make the grade... laughably pathetic.