Boxster: The Best?

[dghii]

Miata.

Sorry, but very true. The car was amazing compared to the offerings of the day (afla, DelSol, MR2) and is now in its 26th year of production. Hard to argue with.

[911monty]

Gimme a break here. I may have had a few too many but come on... the 911 has been produced for almost 50 freakin' years! It is the pinnacle that no sports car has ever come close to. Long live the flat 6 song!

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by 911monty

Gimme a break here. I may have had a few too many but come on... the 911 has been produced for almost 50 freakin' years! It is the pinnacle that no sports car has ever come close to. Long live the flat 6 song!

I'm not going to pit 986/987/981 vs. 911, and I don't think that's what you're doing, but let's be honest here, the 911 was far from being top if it's class when it was already years into it's production. And the 911 was not the Porsche that was beating the competition when the brand had already established iconic status.

Lets put away the marketing of Porsches and look at the two cars strictly from a design and production aspect. The Boxster needed no major overhaul, it was right from the get go. Engine wise obviously Porsche sandbagged which it avoided addressing until nearly the final year of the flat 6 Boxster when it FINALLY. put in the 911S engine... Something BMW or Audi would have done from the start and not 20 years later. I say that not whine but to demonstrate the level of veiled respect Porsche had for a short wheelbase, lightweight, mid engine, low center of gravity sports car. Again from a strictly design viewpoint, if the Porsche factory burned to the ground and the board was forced to start with a clean slate and they knew nothing of the legend and all these intangibles, and the public knew nothing of that either, STRICTLY from a design and engineering consideration would they view the 986/987/981 (hardtop and no top) or the 911 (on identical power plants) as the best Porsche blueprint for future purist sports car sales and competition?

[dbear61]

"+1 on that. I remember all the auto mags raging about the Miata on its intro in '89. I was in the market in '90 for a car and went for the Mitsu Eclipse GSX (turbo w/AWD), which was an AMAZINGLY fun car to drive.

And the three reasons for that over the Miata were: 1) I was a young single Dad with a 1-yo infant in my care; 2) Because of 1, I needed a fun car that I could drive year-round in WI and carry extra stuff; and 3) Dealers were getting several thousand dollar premiums above MSRP.

The Miata was the hot roadster from Day 1. I have no doubt the Boxster was Porsche's "In your face" Power vs. Economy response to the market Mazda created.

Head to head, I pick the Boxster every from when they were both available. But the Miata in it's early years was adored and unopposed.

DBear

[Disaster]

Originally Posted by dghii

Miata.

Sorry, but very true. The car was amazing compared to the offerings of the day (afla, DelSol, MR2) and is now in its 26th year of production. Hard to argue with.

Not to mention the Mazda has steadfastly stuck to their theme of light weight sports car. The most recent offering gets lighter and shorter and slightly outperforms the original Boxster.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/a25857/testing-the-2016-mazda-miata-less-is-more-quantified/

My first open top sports car was a Fiat 124 Spider. Loved that car despite it's gremlins. It was replaced years later by a much better handling, but much less roomy 1992 Miata. My '98 base Boxster has a lot more room and refinement than that Miata, but doesn't carve the roads any better. In fact, it feels a tiny bit more disconnected. I miss the rawness of the Miata, but not the racket. The Boxster is much more enjoyable to take on trips and I can actually pack what I want not what can fit.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by dghii

Miata.

Sorry, but very true. The car was amazing compared to the offerings of the day (afla, DelSol, MR2) and is now in its 26th year of production. Hard to argue with.

That's actually the car that got me thinking of which design was the best from the very start.
I never understood why Mazda never offered a more robust roadster like BMW did with the Z4 after the success of the Z3. I think if Mazda had gone mid engine on a 200-240 HP roadster with larger/wider proportions it might have owned the category. Honda wouldn't have sold nearly as many S2000's. Mazda would have had a big presence at track days and autocross not just with the Miata and RX7 but with a roadster to compete with the Boxster, early M3 and S2000.

I have always believed that the Miata is a must own sports car for a new driver. It really shows you what is missing from nearly all the sports cars that have been produced since.

[Alfieg23]

+1 with Perfectlap regarding Mazda having missed out by not offering a more robust Miata. I owned a first model year Miata and loved it. However, having previously owned one of the first RX-7's, I always thought Mazda should have dropped a triple-rotary into the Miata and badged it as an RX-5.

[10/10ths]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJtloiw4D-M


Mike drop.

[Top_Ramen]

Originally Posted by 10/10ths

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJtloiw4D-M


Mike drop.

HAHA I was waiting for someone to post that video! That very video was one of the deciding factors why I chose getting into a 986 a couple of years ago.