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The Porsche Boxster feels all grown up, self-assured and solid in purpose, as though it no longer has to lag in the shadow of the 911 Carrera.Turn the key and the Boxster's flat six burbles to life. There's no mistaking it for anything but a sports car engine. Both engines are more powerful than those on pre-2005 models. Porsche claims the Boxster can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds, while the Boxster S can perform this feat in 5.2 seconds. Top speeds are 159 mph for Boxster, 167 mph for Boxster S. Porsche's factory performance numbers are generally on the conservative side. Both models qualify as Low Emissions Vehicles. Both cars are quite fast enough to satisfy any delinquent desires. If anyone needs to get to 100 mph in less than 14.5 seconds (S: 12.3 seconds), then check into the next Skip Barber driving school for therapy. Proper sports cars, it has long been contended, have three pedals on the floor, and so it is with the Boxster. At their very best, sports car drivers are one-person jazz combos, juggling the interplay of shifter, steering wheel and pedals in a polyrhythmic balance of manual dexterity. Remove the clutch and it just ain't the same. Porsche does manual shifting as well as anyone, and there's no reason to fear the clutch. In short, we recommend going for the manual. However, the latest Tiptronic is so good that electronic de-clutching should no longer be considered shameful. There's certainly no shame driving a Boxster with Tiptronic S, which is pretty good for an automatic and would be the logical choice if your Boxster is condemned to a life of urban crawl. The Tiptronic was revised for 2005 with differential gearing and retuned software to reduce hunting among gears when going uphill or downhill. If a Boxster fell out of the sky and it was equipped with Tiptronic S instead of our preferred manual, we would no doubt find a way to be content with our good fortune. At the heart of all good sports cars is a good, balanced chassis. The Boxster has from inception been the epitome of balance. The redesign for 2005 kicked it up a notch, however. Though the basic suspension layout remains as before, almost every element was re-engineered, from its retuned springs and shocks to larger wheel bearings, from its wider front track to the stiffer but lighter rear suspension. The result is a bigger helping of sports car goodness, a more savory blend of power and control. Even with a curb weight of some 3,000 pounds, the Boxster is like a dancer that seems able to accept or reject gravity's rule as it suits its own, artful progress down the road. Of the 44 pounds of weight added to the Boxster for 2005, 40 of them were invested in making the car's structure stiffer and stronger. Torsional stiffness was increased by 9 percent and resistance to flex enhanced by 14 percent. Stiffer is better when it comes to building sports car chassis.
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