For anyone interested, I test drove the following 981 Boxster S at lunchtime today, very well spec'd, some great options. Here's my thoughts, same format as my impressions of the 35is a few pages back, even though I've not directly compared them
Good stuff
• Car is immaculate, had front end prep done, side skirts were covered in vinyl so no chips. Rear bumper would need sprayed to be prestige, just behind the wheels are pebble dashed.
• Inside is fine, nice enough place, wouldn’t say special. Seats are really nice and comfy, but just only two way adjustable, so you can’t tighten the bolsters, could do with them being a little more snug.
• Cabin size is perfect, not too big, not too small for a weekender. Really good.
• Great driving position.
• Lovely looking thing, good road presence, saw him pull up and the black wheels with the red callipers behind really set the car off.
• Normal suspension mode is all you ever need on the road, sport all got a bit fidgety and felt like it was tramlining more.
• REALLY neutral chassis, brilliant handling. But does feel like the limits would be sky high. Chucked it into some corners and it just got on with it, huge grip, not a huge amount of feedback.
• PDK is ace, although did have the urge to heal and toe into one of my favourite corners
• Engine is nice, but doesn’t take central stage like in the Z4M, although see my last thought below. Probably because it’s a better all-rounder or just a newer generation and more refined.
• Feels solid, as in sturdy….
• No rattles that I could hear, rare in a roadster
Not so good:
• I'm told the PSE was valves were stuck open, but just wasn't that loud. Starting to wonder if I'm goingn deaf
• Very little popping and crackling when letting off, even in Sport. So is it an issue with the exhaust or because it's missing sport chrono?
• Steering wheel could be more direct, by that I mean a shorter ratio.
• Brakes felt a bit too solid, not much modulation at all and not very powerful, although I bet they are.
• Car seemed jerky and slow between 2000rpm and 3500rpm on anything more than half throttle. Felt like the Z4M did, almost like there is some sort of torque restriction going on in 2nd and 3rd, or traction control interfering.
• Nav looks old, assume you can turn the screen off anyway.
• More wind buffering that I expected.
Totally forgot to listen to the Bose sounds system.
Not a positive or negative, but car sounds way better with the roof up, much more engine noise and even the exhaust sounds deeper and bass-ier.
Impressed with Porsche so far, nice guy, just let me enjoy the test drive, not trying to make crap chat. But very well informed on the car. Usually these guys don’t have a clue about half of the options\functions, it’s me telling them. The pressure to commit etc
Z4 35is is totally ruled out, sorry guys. Going to try my mates Boxster on Monday evening, as he assures me is his loud and makes all the right noises you come to expect of PSE. F type is the next option to test.
So to conclude, can you please build me F type roadster bodied car, with an S54 engine, attached to a PDK box and 981 handling and driving position