I searched the threads and couldn't find anything on the Top Gear review of the Spyder where James May loved it, and the other two destroyed it! I've seen it a few times and it always fires me up. I just don't understand why they panned it so badly. The car had a very respectable run yet the comments during the lap were brutal. "Anyone who owns this stupid car is an idiot?" Really? I've seen them review very similar purist cars, sing their praises, despite having no options, high price tag, etc., yet this car gets flamed. Even Hammond, who is a Porsche guy, **** all over it. Am I missing something? Sorry if this thread has been beat to death...I didn't find anything on it.

 

1. they are wrong, the Boxster spyder looks fantastic, i like it much better than the S.
2. Who gives a f*** about floppy door handles.
3. Clarkson is allergic to Porsches and Hammond is his b1tch!

 

I've watched that review a few times... James lied it and he's probably the only one of them that drove it... Hammond drove a gt3 rs 3.8 in the America special and the seats and door handles are the same... Sooooo.....

You'll get remarks about the roof... I like the weight loss so I deal with it, but honestly it's be easier if it was just manual like a miata but whatever... At least I can take it out for autoX and save a few more lbs

Top gear is just entertainment, generally I like 5th gear better but Vicki butlers review of it wasn't much better... Although she liked it, she said a Boxster s is better

 

Everyone has an opinion about everything. Who cares what they think about anything? Certainly nothing to get concerned about or even think twice about........now, what were we talking about?

 

Having lived two years across the channel from Britain in Paris, where the weather isn't that much drier than in London, it doesn't surprise me that the Spyder is not that popular among these reviewers of Top Gear/5th Gear. In my opinion, this car is best understood in the place which bought the grand majority of Speedsters built by Porsche back in the 1950's....California, USA! That is where I keep my Spyder. And it's where it makes the most sense to own such a vehicle!

The hassle of the lightweight manual top (13 lbs), which contributes to lightness of the model as well as allowing the gorgeous curves of it aluminum 'humps' vs the regular Boxster, makes it doubtful we will see a Spyder again in the next Boxster 981 platform without an electric top. But that is just my personal opinion. Time will tell.

Saludos, z356 (Carmel)

 

May talks about how its one of the best handling cars out there. As others have said Jeremy doesn't really like any Porsche mark and Hammond only loves the 911. I would say for practical, everyday reasons, the Boxster S is a better value, but so is the accord or camry . I dont really see the why anyone would question the spyder. its an amazing drive.

 

In Britain it rains alot... But generally they like roadsters. Weren't most old Mg's and triumphs etc, weren't those mostly manual tops?

Sense of sPeed is higher in convertibles I think... I can't wait to really get on the spyder on a real road course and hear the flat 6 and row through the gears.

Honestly, read reviews by "road and track", insideline and "car and driver"... They all loved it

And btw, my spyder went from California, all the way to Maryland

 

It's funny, I just watched the episode with the Porsche 959 and the Ferrari F40. The Spyder shared a lot of things in common with those two cars; simple interior, light weight, few creature comforts, pure sports car, immediate response from driver input, etc., and they loved it on those cars, panned it on the Spyder. I'm not comparing the Spyder to those cars in ANY way, they are ground breaking vehicles, but I can't stand the hypocrisy of those two idiots...

 

Clarkson loves the Gtr on top gear and his "powered up" DVD but didn't like it in his "thriller" DVD... Says he liked the zr1 better than v10 r8 (because the zr1 is worse, you should buy it ) but then bashes Hammond for disliking the aventador because he thinks Hammond for the same reason he picked the zr1...

It's just entertainment... Anything to get a response

 

In the late 60s-mid 70s my daily driver was a 1954 Porsche Speedster [one of the first 200 fitted with the Low Center Bar top]. Over the years before and after I owned a wide variety of open sports cars.

One of my current Porsches is a 2006 Boxster S. I have a pretty through understanding about what makes cars like this tick [tho, I am at an age where I am less inclined to put up with unnecessary crap in order to enjoy driving]

The old Speedster [I have owned 3 of them over the years] was incredibly primitive. It was also incredibly demanding, involving and fun One thing that set it apart from it's brother and sister sports cars was that it was the ONLY one with a great top that you could flip a couple of levers and drop the top in an instant. I also became adapt at flipping the top back up in an instant. Driving in the every changing N Cal coastal weather meant that you could enjoy top down driving at will without having to suffer the misery of having to pull over and "construct" the top in order to make it slightly liveable when the weather changed. I had learned to appreciate the term "construct" the top while enjoying various MG/Lotus/etc. cars. It was a chore and I soon understood why most of the Brit roadsters I saw running around either had the tops permanently up or down.

So, now we have this great looking new Boxster. You ...construct... the top? And deconstruct it to enjoy top down driving. Really? I couldn't believe that Porsche would push this off on their customers as anything but a cool, retro bit of fluff. To pay that kind of money for a car with a top that only the 50s Brits could appreciate???? They could have saved weight [as they imply is the purpose] by designing a genuine functional folding top and make it out of carbon fiber! THINK about that. It could have been a class leader and advanced the engineering of what all good roadsters should be. What they provided is attractive but I find it a silly joke. It is only the slightest bit lighter than a regular Boxster and most of it is...looks.

The guys who rave about it... Well, I understand why someone could love it. It looks great. But I don't see how anyone would use it for day in-out as transportation. At the end of the day, it is a car. This is an astoundingly nonfunctional top for Porsche to be presenting when it is possible to have great looks AND function today. Or is this simply intended to be a poser car? I have to wonder when I note the speed restriction with the top up. Porsche knows better. My first Speedster [yes, highly modified] was good for about 140 and I never worried that the top would come apart. I don't say this to insult those who own one. Honestly, I even considered buying one just for those short little blasts. Then I woke up and realized we already have Beck 550 for when we feel a bit insane and it offers a far higher level of intensity to the driving experience than a restyled Boxster. Oh, and for the same type of money you can buy a good Beck 550 AND a nice late model Boxster. I promise you that you won't ever suggest that that the driving differences are subtle. Last, the performance advantage of the Spyder over the S can more than be made up with a tires.

Well, that wasn't last. Last is you driving your great looking Boxster Spyder. The weather changes quickly and as you pull over to construct or disassemble your top. I am the smiling guy who drives past while putting my top up or down with the touch of a button! I don't even have to stop.

How long of that before you say "I have HAD it!" ? :->

 

I can put the top or down in a minute maybe... I'm pretty decent at it... The spyder may not be good daily driver.. But as a second car, a weekend toy, it's amazing.

For me it's the weight advantage, the gt3 rs seats and style cues, losing weight where it counts, better suspension calibrations and the looks are unique.

To say the changes to performance are mearly tires for performance isnt exactly correct (trying to be polite and not insult anyone here). Then a gt3 just has better tires than a c2 right?

 

I think you inadvertently hit the nail on the head! The Spyder, like the '88 CS, like the RSA, like the 911/964 Speedsters...

Honestly, I DO agree that the Spyder is great looking and it does have great performance [regardless of how good the top is/isn't]. My thinking is that this could have been an opportunity to install a fantastic engine in this car and offer a performance king that would blow the doors off of any other Porsche on a back road.

As it is, it will make a GT3/RS driver miserable, right? But, nothing like it COULD have done if Porsche had seen fit to put a great engine in it instead of a slightly warmed S engine. Think what it would have been like with a GT3 engine. Can you imagine? I can! [I am at an age where spending the next year or so doing a major engine swap and making it work is in my past. There was a day...]

Your car, as is, can make a GT3 driver sweat. But, you should never be blasting around some back road and suddenly realize that an old guy like me driving his wife's Boxster S is able to make you miserable. At least I don't think so. It should be no contest.

Perhaps I didn't state it well enough earlier. What I was thinking about was more that tires and minor suspension mods can be done with a plain Boxster S, as I have done and have a much higher performance level. [I don't know about your car but this thing needs a limited slip for serious back roads.]

Actually, the new Boxster will be on the market soon and all of this will simply be a chapter in the long evolution of Porsche. I can't wait. Tho I hope the new cars aren't as nimble. ;-> There is a mention that the power will be going down... so perhaps that makes a 987 Sypder even more of a keeper? Does that mean I might have to eat my words and quietly start looking for one? humm...


I wish you many hours of merriment on your twisties.., with the top properly down. And anything I may have said about the top, anyone that has driven their Sypder across the country has earned my DEEP bow of respect.

JR

 

I was going to wait for the 981... But the larger wheelbase and electronic steering made me looking for a 987... And the spyder to me (IMHO) is the best 981 car. Again, just to me..

I like car and Drivers's "lightning lap" as VIR is a track I go to a couple times a year... And a 997 gt3 is only about 2 seconds faster than the spyder there on re050 tires vs the R compound cup sports on the gt3.... That says alot to me... And about 2 seconds faster than a cayman s...

http://www.caranddriver.com/features...-8?redirect=no

 

I like car and Drivers's "lightning lap" as VIR is a track I go to a couple times a year... And a 997 gt3 is only about 2 seconds faster than the spyder there on re050 tires vs the R compound cup sports on the gt3

I don't think that is a fair representation as the GT3 time is from 2007. Better representation is the 2:55.9 time by GT3 RS from the same test ie. same day, same driver, same conditions. And this is ~8sec per lap quicker than the Spyder.

Going by other tests, there's very little difference in laptimes between GT3 and GT3 RS ... so I'd hesitate to say that this a better representation of the performance gap between Spyder and GT3.

 

"close" is a relative term... If your talking a gt3 rs $150k vs a Boxster spyder, then your talking a whole different league... I don't THAT is a fair comparison... Twice the price (literally).. Pure R compound tires etc...

They go to VIR the same time each year and it wasn't raining either time.

I don't want to magazine race or anything here, but I think maybe 997.2 gt3 would be closer to a 997.2 gt3 rs... But if a spyder is close to a 997.1 gt3 or faster around a track that a 996 gt3, then I'm happy with that...

The closest track to me is summit point raceway... The 2 main tracks there are summit main, and shenendoah.... The main is a high speed track... Lots of straights and high speed sweepers. A gt3 would have a good advantage there, but shenendoah is more tight and technical... I think I would be much closer.. Not faster, but closer...

Back to the main topic... I get comments already, "Boxster"?? Why not a real Porsche, why not a 911? I could have easily bought a 997 c2, or a a 996 gt3... In the end I liked the spyder more and felt it drove better.. Doesn't mean I don't dream of owning a gt3 rs 4.0