 2008 Porsche Boxster. Click image to enlarge |
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By Chris Chase; photos by Jil McIntosh
The Porsche Cayenne crossover often gets the credit for saving the company’s bacon by boosting the brand’s sales in the face of financial problems, but the Boxster, introduced four years before the Cayenne, probably played an equally-significant role in bolstering the brand’s bank accounts.
The first Boxster arrived as a 1998 model; the second-generation car you see here was introduced in 2005. The base car used a 2.7-litre horizontally-opposed (boxer) six-cylinder engine that made 240 horsepower and 199 lb.-ft. of torque, and the pricier Boxster S got a 3.2-litre motor making 280 hp and 236 lb.-ft.
In 2007, the base car got a power boost, to 245 hp/201 lb.-ft., and the Boxster S got a larger, 3.4-litre engine with 295 hp/251 lb.-ft.
A 2008 model called the RS60 (an homage to Porsche’s winning car in the 1960 12 Hours of Sebring race) got a 303-hp version of the 3.4-litre engine.
  2008 Porsche Boxster (top) and Boxster S; bottom photo by Chris Chase. Click image to enlarge |
2009 brought a redesigned Boxster with more power (again). The 2.7-litre engine was replaced with a 2.9-litre (255 hp/214 lb.-ft.), and the Boxster S’ 3.4-litre got direct fuel injection, boosting that motor’s output to 310 hp and 266 lb.-ft.
From 2005 through 2008, base Boxsters used a five-speed manual transmission, S models got a six-speed manual and both could be optioned with a five-speed ‘Tiptronic’ automatic. The redesigned 2009 model made a six-speed standard across the board, and Porsche’s then-new, seven-speed PDK dual-clutch automatic was the option in both.
The second-generation Boxster’s fuel consumption ratings improved as the car evolved. The 2005 model’s estimates, according to Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency, were 13.9/6.9 L/100 km (all figures city/highway) for the base model, and 15.2/7.7 L/100 km for the Boxster S.
Figures for the 2006 model were 11.8/7.4 L/100 km in the base car, and 12.2/8.0 L/100 for the S model, and the addition of 2009’s direct injection engine and dual-clutch transmission made for ratings of 10.6/6.7 L/100 km in the Boxster S with the PDK gearbox.
Similarities between the engines used in the Boxster and 911 mean that this car inherited some of the 911’s trouble spots. There are only a few things to watch out for, but one of them is a potential doozy.
