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PORSCHE SPYDER CAN REALLY FLY!

ABOVE: BACKSIDE BEAUTY: The Boxster has smooth, flowing lines

ABOVE: The inside view...

24th October 2008

By George Fowler

WELL it wasn’t quite two weeks in Bermuda.

But I suppose a weekend in Devon will have to do. That’ll teach me to book myholiday with Zoom airlines. Oh, and to insure it through the bank.

“However you pay for yourholiday you are now automatically covered,” boasts the bankers’ so-called five-star insurancepolicy, for which I pay them £250 a year.

Oh no you’re not. When Zoom went boom just two weeks before I was supposed to go to Bermuda I didn’t get a penny.

So with a two-week hole in my calendar and at pretty short notice, I rang up Porsche to see if they could help me out.

“No problem,” said my mate Nick. “You can have a Boxster RS 60 Spyder for two weeks and also you can come on the launch of the new 911 Targa during that time.”

Wow, I’ll tell you what, that took the hurt away. Driving any Porsche is special but the 911 Targa, as I hope you read a couple of weeks ago, was unbelievable.

Two weeks with the RS 60 Spyder was pretty mind-blowing too. It’s totally, utterly, fantastic.
Mind you, the Boxster’s changed a bit over the years.

Launched in 1996, with 240bhp, and 260bhp in the Boxster S, it was unfairly labelled girly.

Well if your idea of girly is 160mph and a bit more, fair enough, but it isn’t mine. Nor Plod’s.

However, things have moved on. Your Boxster RS 60 Spyder now comes with 303bhp, 170mph and a screaming, wailing, howling engine that will blow away virtually anything you’ll meet on the road for a year or so, until that chance encounter with a 911.

It’s a normal Boxster S – these days up to 295bhp – with a wider wheelbase, sports exhaust, (which accounts for the extra power), super quick gear change, modified suspension, leather interior, oh and a whole stack of other stuff that means it comes with a little Spyder Limited Edition badge.

It adds up to a bill of £45,400, which is considerably more than the standard 40 grand of the normal Boxster S, but it is such a work of beauty – inside and outside – that it’s definitely worth the extra.

It’s funny. You’d think that such an outrageously fast car as the basic Boxster S would be wonderful enough on its own, and it is.

However, if a Boxster S is on your shopping list, just don’t look at the Spyder because the beauty of its gorgeous leather interior, its silver metallic paint job, slightly quicker spec and monstrous noise makes it completely irresistible, provided you’ve got the cash.

Talk about quick, it’s monstrous. Mind you, with 303bhp sat smack in the middle of a car weighing much the same as a Ford Focus, so it should be.

You put your foot down and you think “Yeah, this is quite quick,” then suddenly, at 3,800rpm the engine note changes quite dramatically as its variable valve timing (VVT) system cuts in.

It hurls you forwards with such an enormous howl, and such startling ferocity, in any gear, that you’re left with no doubt you’re behind the wheel of a Porsche.

Trouble is, if you’re in sixth gear, the VVT system doesn’t kick in until you’re already doing 100mph. Did I say I took it to Devon? I must have meant Germany. Silly me.

The handling, as you’d expect from a mid-engined machine, is in a class of its own. It’s hugely stable and easy to control, even at ridiculous speeds. The only trouble with the RS 60 Spyder was having to give it back.

Of course, the problem with all small(ish) sports cars like the Boxster is their lack of luggage space. Well this time you’d be wrong!

The bonnet of the Boxster opens to reveal a ridiculously deep space, which was actually big enough to hold a golf trolley.

And with the engine tucked away in the middle of the car there’s also a boot, big enough for a couple of suitcases. It’s quite startlingly practical, too.

So that’s the Boxster then. Utterly fabulous. I’ve just noticed that it begins with the letter B, just like Bermuda.

My bank’s insurance policy didn’t begin with the letter B, but for all the use it was it should have done. What a load of b...

Porsche Boxster RS 60 Spyder
PRICE (not including tax and delivery): £45,400. (range from £35,375).
ENGINE: 3,387cc, all-alloy, 16-valve,six-cylinder boxer, with variable valve timing (303bhp, 252lb torque).
TOP SPEED: 170mph; 0-62mph: 5.4secs.
MPG: Urban: 18.5; extra urban: 36.2; combined: 26.7.
CO2: 254g/km. Tax Band G; £400 pa road tax
INS GROUP: 19.