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Review: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

Dan Roth — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:57:00 EST

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Porsche, New Car Reviews, Luxury, Racing

A playful companion with razor-sharp claws

2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder - Click above for high-res image gallery

"More for Less." It's the call to prayer of every car salesman to ever don a plaid jacket. Guys with sturdy names like Wally and Chuck would stop dead in their tracks and tell Porsche "Pal, this Boxster Spyder thing, you're all upside-down." You see, with the 2011 Boxster Spyder, Porsche has inverted the polarity on "more for less." You pay more but get less.

The Boxster Spyder has a high-performance mission: It's a race car that doesn't need a trailer. Porsche undertook a lightening program that started with a Boxster S and stripped a slew of equipment, lowered the suspension 3/4 of an inch and substituted aluminum for steel where possible in the body. One-hundred seventy-six pounds later, you've got a Boxster Spyder; lighter, lower, sharper. Has it worked for Porsche to go the Lotus route of obsessive weight reduction? Find out after the jump.

Gallery: Review: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

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Review: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unlikely Ire: Dan Neil excoriates 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

Chris Shunk — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:01:00 EST

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Porsche, Design/Style

2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder - Click above for high-res image gallery

When we look at the 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder rap sheet, it's hard not go get a bit excited. It looks seriously terrific, it weighs but 2,811 pounds, and it packs 320 mid-mounted ponies. Good stuff. When we spent some time behind the wheel of the Spyder, we fell more than deeply in love with this, the purest of Boxsters. If only automotive super-journo Dan Neil agreed.

Neil's review of the Boxster Spyder in The Wall Street Journal falls somewhere short of glowing prose - in fact, it's about 500 miles short of glowing and a mere six inches past poor. The Pulitzer prize-winning author pans the Spyder's top as beyond difficult (we called it "trick"). Okay, so a convertible top that was designed to save 46 pounds is probably going to shape up as less than ideal (Neil: "Find me the guy who designed the canvas top. Bring me his head on a platter"), but if Neil thinks this top is Erector Set hell, he should get his hands on a Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster.

Anything else wrong here? Well, there's the power for starters. Neil feels the Spyder's 320 horses are hamstrung by 273 pound-feet of torque that can only be best accessed when pushing the flat-six hard. And then there is the six-speed manual transmission, which Neil feels is inferior in every way to the PDK dual-clutch tranny ("Those purists out there still clinging to your six-speed manuals, please go home. Your black-and-white TV is on the fritz.").

So... is the Boxster Spyder God's gift to lightweight roasters or is it a reason to fire the engineers who designed this Porsche's lightweight top? We know Dan - he's a swell guy and one hell of a writer, but even though we're decidedly short on Pulitzers, we can't help but think that to slate the Spyder for not being a great everyday car is to miss its point altogether. Factory lightweight specials like this one are always a bit silly for street use, always ask for more concessions of their drivers, and, if they're German, they always cost a bunch more, too. And yet... we'd still rock the top Boxster any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Oh, and we're just fine with the three-pedal setup, thanks - like seemingly every dual clutch gearbox, the PDK still has lousy low-speed drivability - and you can call us hopeless romantics, but when it's not about chalking up lap times, we still love to row our own gears.

Head over to the WSJ to read Neil's scathing review for yourself.

Gallery: First Drive: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

Photos by Michael Harley / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: The Wall Street Journal - sub. req.]

Unlikely Ire: Dan Neil excoriates 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Drive: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder drops a weight class and hits harder than ever

Michael Harley — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:57:00 EST

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Porsche, First Drives

2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder - Click above for high-res image gallery

The blueprint goes something like this: Take an aging sports car and raid the corporate parts bin for a few high-performance items likely stolen from a flagship model. Tweak the suspension tuning, throw on some wider rubber, pare down the standard features, add a smidgen more horsepower and then make a few cosmetic changes so it stands out on the showroom floor. Finally, slap on a more expensive price.

We've seen it done many times, but rarely executed so well. Using the recently freshened Boxster S as a starting point, Porsche has developed an entirely new Spyder model that joins the Boxster lineup as its new flagship. While the two-seater follows the aforementioned recipe, we have to admit that it appears to be anything but kit-based and shortsighted.

Porsche recently gave us some seat time with its latest concoction in the mountains above Malibu. What has the automaker done to distinguish the Spyder from its lesser Boxster siblings? What key ingredients have been added - or are missing - to make it so special? Is it the best-handling Porsche model in today's lineup? This and much more to be answered after the jump.

Gallery: First Drive: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

Continue reading First Drive: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder drops a weight class and hits harder than ever

First Drive: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder drops a weight class and hits harder than ever originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pics Aplenty: Porsche Boxster Spyder

Noah Joseph — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:25:00 EST

Filed under: LA Auto Show, Convertible, Performance, Porsche

2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder - Click above for high-res image gallery

Porsche drivers don't like waiting. That's why they buy a Porsche, after all. So while a few weeks might not seem like a long time for most people, to a Porsche driver used to rocketing to 60 miles per hour in four-point-right-now seconds, the span of weeks must seem like an eternity.

Although we're still weeks away from the LA Auto Show, where Porsche is set to unveil the new Boxster Spyder, Zuffenhausen has kept its enthusiasts placated with a fresh batch of photos showing its newest, lightest vehicle in all its glory. We'll be on hand for the unveiling next month, but before then check out the updated high-res image gallery below.

Gallery: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

[Source: Porsche]

Pics Aplenty: Porsche Boxster Spyder originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LA Preview: Porsche reveals new lightweight Boxster Spyder [w/VIDEO]

Sam Abuelsamid — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: LA Auto Show, Convertible, Performance, Porsche

Porsche Boxster Spyder - Click above for high-res image gallery

We're less than a month away from the LA Auto Show, which means that automakers are starting to dribble out some of what we'll be seeing there. The gang from Zuffenhausen will be rolling out a new lightweight edition of the Boxster dubbed "Spyder" especially for those who live where the sun shines and the roads twist. Like the classic 550 Spyders of the Fifties, the top mechanism in this new Boxster is merely a formality - rather than providing fully enclosed driving is more of a sun-shade than anything else.

Overall, Porsche's engineers have pared off about 176 pounds from the Spyder, bringing it down to 2,811 pounds. Propulsion comes via a direct-injected 3.4-liter boxer six with a 10 horsepower boost over the Boxster S for a total of 320. With the automaker's seven-speed PDK dual clutch gearbox, the Spyder gets to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds and manages a combined 25.3 mpg (US) on the EU drive cycle.

In Porsche's time-honored "less is more" (money) world, the Boxster Spyder goes on sale in February 2010 with a base price $61,200. We're quite sure your local Porsche dealer will happily offer to put back some additional weight in your car in the form of options, but, hey - at least your wallet's heft will be pared back significantly to help offset the difference. For the rest of you dreamers, be sure to check out our high-res gallery below along with the some videos and the press release after the jump.

Gallery: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

[Source: Porsche]

Continue reading LA Preview: Porsche reveals new lightweight Boxster Spyder [w/VIDEO]

LA Preview: Porsche reveals new lightweight Boxster Spyder [w/VIDEO] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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