The Porsche Boxster Spyder: So much more than a bizarre roof!

One of the show-stoppers at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which was held just last week, was the new Porsche Boxster Spyder. And you’ve got to admit, the location for the launch was particularly well chosen. I mean, call us biased, but north of the border we would have preferred that the unveiling take place at the Montreal Auto Show in January. But we recognize the fact that the Montreal market is most certainly microscopic for Porsche, not to mention the fact that introducing a car like this in the dead of winter would be downright foolish. Nothing says summer quite like the Spyder!

Photos and rumours about the Spyder have been circulating for a while, and what seems to come up time and again are references to the first-ever Porsche, the legendary 356. In fact, when the Spyder was presented to the international press (right after the L.A. Auto Show), Porsche added to the mix with endless comparisons with the mythical car, which tragically earned its place in history with the death of actor James Dean in 1955. Deliberately aiming to resurrect the soul of the 356, the designers sought purity in the Spyder.

The comparisons between the forefather and the newborn, however intentional by Porsche, are quite simply far-fetched. It’s true that the 356 was revolutionary in its time with its incredible weight-power ratio (16.7 kg per hp), and today each horse on the Spyder has just 3.98 kg to pull. But while it may be fun to compare numbers like this, these two vehicles have no more in common than a wooden hockey stick and an composite  one.

The Boxster Spyder, daughter of the Boxster S

To create the Boxster Spyder, the engineers naturally used the Boxster S platform, a truly superb platform if there ever was one. For the engine, they wanted a little more punch, so they took the one from the Cayman S. Not only is it a little more powerful, but more importantly, its power and torque curves are better suited to the Spyder’s personality. A lot of engineering work was done on the suspension system. Although it is the same as what you find on the Boxster S, the settings were totally revised. The vehicle was also lowered by 20mm to bring the center of gravity a little closer to the ground.

Special efforts were also made to reduce the vehicle’s weight. For example, by opting for a heavy canvas top (we’ll come back to this topic later) and creating the rear hood out of aluminium, they saved 21 kg. Aluminium doors (like on the 911 Turbo and the GT3) saved another 15 kg. And the seats, which are exclusive to the Spyder, weigh 12 kg less than those on the Boxster S. And on and on it goes. In the end, you get a car that weighs in at 80 kg less than its progenitor. But in order to get there, they did away with the air conditioning, radio and even the cup holders! Yep, Spyder sales will certainly tell us who the true purists are...

In my humble (but accurate?) opinion, while parallels with the 356 are dubious, comparing it to the Boxster S makes a lot more sense. To begin with, put the two vehicles side by side, and you’ll notice that the Spyder sits a little lower on its wheels. The sound of the engine, even before the vehicle starts moving, sounded huskier to me. The interior was copied directly from the Boxster, with just a few tweaks. For example, with less bolstering, the seats end up being more enveloping and just as comfortable. And even though the seat height is not vertically adjustable, the driving position is fantastic.

And that roof, does it actually work? 

The engineers and designers at Porsche decided to give the Spyder a tent-like canvas roof. Setting up the two pieces of fabric is easy enough, provided you follow the steps in the right order. After installing it under supervision once or twice, even a five year old could do it alone in three minutes! After setting up the main piece, you can add the section that covers the rear and sides of the car, as the Spyder doesn’t have rear lateral windows. But since that second roof section is optional, you can go for a drive with the main piece overhead and still get a nice breeze inside the cabin. Installing the main section of the roof is simple, though you do have to open the trunk to tie the roof to the hooks. Then you close the trunk and the roof stretches into place. Having the roof up does little to dampen the engine noise and road sounds. Rear visibility is nothing to write home about, thank you very much. Meanwhile, Porsche engineers advise against automatic car washing – not because of potential water leaks, but mostly because of the pressure. On the same token, changes in pressure make it unwise to drive at high speeds (200 km/hr and up) with the roof up. Overall, despite its shabby appearance, this roof is a lot sturdier than it looks. That said, I’ve got my doubts about how effective it is when the mercury drops below -10oC.

Let there be no doubt about it, the Boxster Spyder was made to be driven with the top down! And while several other roadsters are quieter, you can still converse inside a Spyder going 130km/hr. Rear visibility, even when the roof is tucked away in the trunk, is nothing special. Between the low driving position and the rear deck lid bulges, visibility is limited when backing up. It seemed to me that the steering wheel, taken from the Boxster, was an iota too big, but since the precision and feedback were exceptional, I won’t complain too loudly about it. The manual gearbox (unfortunately Porsche did not bring any cars with the PDK automatic gearbox) has a short and precise lever. The clutch is a little stiff but you get used to it quickly. And if you’re into the heel& toe technique, you’ll be quite satisfied (though it may take a few tries at first).

6,000 revolutions, minimum!

And the engine... what a sweet piece of engineering! Producing 320 horses and 273 lbs.-ft. of torque, this baby never runs out of breath! My photographer colleague with minimal experience on very windy roads didn’t even think of changing gears over more than 10 km; he simply stayed in second. This kept the engine at around 6,000 rpm, which didn’t seem to bother either of them (the engine or the driver) one bit! Plus, this kind of driving afforded me the opportunity to get a better appreciation for the engine’s growl. Even in low gear, its impressive torque allows for some snappy acceleration.

The Spyder’s chassis seemed firmer to me than that of the Boxster S, but according to an engineer I spoke to, it’s the lower centre of gravity and different suspension settings that give that impression. I would have liked to test drive a Boxster S and a Spyder on the same day for comparison’s sake. Being lighter and having a lower centre of gravity make the Spyder incredibly agile and easy to drive. After heading into a tight turn too quickly (Hey, how else am I going to test the car’s limits?) I was able to correct the trajectory without any trouble at all. Had the car been heavier and higher, the weight transfer would have been significant and would have pulled the vehicle to the other side of the road. The Bridgestone Potenza RE050A tires stuck to the road like potatoes to the bottom of a pot (when I’m cooking, that is), and the immense ceramic brakes were amazingly effective and totally insensitive to heat. The suspension is firm and, much to my surprise, relatively comfortable. It gives the car a slight understeer, which is easily controlled with the accelerator.

PSM

In Normal mode, the Porsche Stability Management system (which controls traction and lateral stability) intervenes from time to time with authority. By putting it into Sport mode, the accelerator is livelier and the PSM is a little less quick to kick in. Since we were on public roads, we opted for Sport mode, as it seemed to be the best suited for the car. We were not able to do an accelerations test, but Porsche says this Boxster with a PDK gearbox can do 0-100km/hr in 4.8 seconds (and 5.1 seconds for the six-speed manual gearbox), which sounds about right to us. If there was anything that could be improved on this car, it would be the very limited ground clearance. In California, the bottom sometimes touched – I can’t imagine how ugly that could get on Canadian roads…

The Boxster Spyder is an all-out success. A success that didn’t cost Porsche a fortune, either, since it’s basically a special version of the Boxster (even though it will be sold as a separate model). We don’t expect sales to be high in Canada, where summer seems to last from August 17 to 22 on odd-numbered years only. That said, it’s true that most Spyder buyers already own a number of vehicles, so… The Porsche Boxster Spyder will hit dealerships sometime before spring 2010 and its starting price is $72,900.