Words: Chris Lilly
There are a few great names that have used the Spyder name and helped make it famous – and Porsche is one of them. Unveiled at the New York International Auto Show, Porsche has revealed the latest iteration to bear the famous badge. Based on the Boxster, the new Porsche Boxster Spyder aims to be one of the finest driver’s cars on the market and Porsche has been brutal in the pursuit of that goal.
There is a large storage space in the dash where you’d ordinarily find a radio, sat-nav and air conditioning controls, as Porsche has removed them to save weight. Prospective owners can specify them back in, but it will cost and slightly defeats the point of the car – the Stuttgart brand have even replaced the door handles with canvas straps, shedding yet more weight. The biggest change though is the roof which has been removed completely. Porsche has provided a roof of sorts, but it has to be removed from a storage space behind the seats and attached manually to the rear bodywork and windscreen.
In reality, the roof is to keep you reasonably dry in the event of a sudden downpour and is a glorified tonneau cover that you can sit under. The reason behind Porsche’s madness is quite clear though. The removal of a conventional roof and its mechanisms takes away a lot of considerable weight – and from the top of the car too, thereby dropping the centre of gravity and increasingly handling predictability.
It is this lightweight, planted nature that Porsche has strived for, and combined it with some serious performance upgrades. The handling has been made sharper which, as anyone who has driven the current Boxster, is quite some feat. This direct steering is combined with a 20mm drop in ride height, stiffer springs and brakes requisitioned from a 911 Carrera to try and create one of the finest handling cars of recent years.
That handling is mated to a 370bhp, 3.8 litre flat-six and the free-revving unit will help the Boxster Spyder complete the 0-62mph sprint in around four and a half seconds, before pushing on to a far from shabby 180mph.
To stand out from the crowd, and to compensate for the loss of a roof, the styling has been tweaked subtly with a more aggressive front and rear taken from the Cayman GT4. Porsche has also sculpted the engine cover to fit the headrests and this gives the car a rather pleasing link to its 1960s namesake.
The Boxster Spyder is available to order now, with deliveries expected in July. Prices will start at £60,459. For more information, click here.
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