Author: carcoutureblog

by

Mazda MX-5 – Budget Convertible

600325_180912-b-maz

A chap in a white MX-5 might raise eyebrows for all the wrong reasons. Comments about hairdressers aside, I always look forward to driving the best Mazda in the range.

Motoring journalists are usually spoilt with top of the range models but the SE is very much at the bottom – at least this test car has air con, phew.

So it was a bit of shock to open the doo and find the SE – which I assume means ‘special edition’ – has very little apart from two seats and a steering wheel.

OK, that’s a bit unfair but this is a car that has been stripped down to the bare minimum to keep the cost low. No leather, plasticy trim and very little to excite the senses.

I’ve just driven the car to a press night at Weston Park in Shropshire – more tomorrow after I have eaten cake…

by

Porsche Boxster S – The Biz Stone

 

cropped-mm.jpg

I met Biz Stone today – the co-founder of Twitter. He was in London to give a talk and after interviewing him on the telephone last month, I couldn’t resist saying ‘hi’.

Biz is worth quite a lot of money but he’s a pretty down to earth guy. He drives to work across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco in a VW Golf when, in fact, his shares in Twitter could buy the bridge. And every car on it several times over.

Flash cars aren’t his thing. I can understand that but after a lifetime testing cars, I think that if I was Biz, a Boxster S would be a ‘modest’ drive for billionaire me.

it would be the benchmark sports car. Not too ‘in-her-face’ and, in London, they’re two-a-penny anyway. Forget comments about this being a hairdresser’s car – the Porsche is an exceptional driver’s car and not to be sniffed at.

Last week I asked the question, is the Boxster S worth the price of four Mazda MX-5s…. The answer, quite simply, is yes.

by

Porsche Boxster S = 3 X Mx-5?

mmmm.jpg

Car Couture has the iconic Mazda MX-5 on test from Friday and it’s going to be a great contrast to the Boxster S. I’m not just talking about the price. Our Porsche test car is three times the cost of the MX-5 1.8 but I’ll be interested to see if it is three times the fun.

There’s no doubt this latest Boxster is a fantastic car and if you want status, well, the Porsche wins hands down. But I also feel the Boxster has lost some of the rawness it used to have, rather diluting the fun factor in favour of being more grown up.

The acoustic exhaust system does make the Boxster feel like a tearaway but it’s all carefully controlled and, of course, you can switch it off when you don’t want to upset the neighbours late at night.

The Boxster is really two cars in one. You can use it as an everyday car most of the time, then press the sport button, activate the exhausts and let rip the next. The catch? You are paying top dollar for the pleasure.

 

by

Porsche Boxster S – The Hand of God

cropped-lll.jpg

It could be the meddling hand of God but the only hint of doubt I can find in the workings of the Porsche Boxster is hidden in the brain of the satellite navigation.

Yesterday I travelled to the Leon Paul Fencing Centre in north London, to interview the new European foil champion, James Davis. Oxford, M40, north circular would seem like the obvious route and it was, until satellite navigation got involved for the last mile.

While Davis was waiting for me at the centre, the Boxster incorrectly directed me off the north circular and up the M1 towards the north! It was a ten mile drive to the first exit, then ten miles back to where I started.

Infuriating? Yes, especially as system them took me off on another random route that was another waste of fuel. Of course, we’ve all had random moments like this with sat nav. But I’ve come to expect better from Porsche and besides, this is a £55,000 car!

 

by

Porsche Boxster S – Anger Management

tttt.jpg

What’s the one thing you can’t do in a Porsche Boxster? Get another driver to give way at a busy junction…. What is it about driving a Porsche that seems to upset people so much?

Maybe it just reminds us of the loadsofmoney days of the 1980s, when owning a Porker and a brick sized mobile phone were standard-issue kit for every yuppy.

Well, it seems the great British public has a long memory – either that or they are very upset about England losing to Italy on Saturday night. I’ve had three incidents of angry driving aimed at me over the weekend, even though I’ve barely taken the Boxster above 5000rpm.

There’s no doubt that this is the most mature Boxster Porsche has made. It’s refined, comfortable and more than capable of being your everyday car. Getting used to the aggressive antics of other driver is the only downside…

by

Porsche Boxster S – Matured For Better Driving

cropped-jjjjj.jpg

I thought the Jaguar F-Type was good but the Boxster S, well, it’s very, very good indeed. You may be afflicted with ‘Porsche-itis’ (more concerned about the slightly crass image than the greatness of the car) but only a fool wouldn’t consider a Boxster when buying a premium brand roadster.

The current Boxster came on the market in 2012. You can’t really say the old model was looking that tired but the styling is much neater and in keeping with current Porsche trends. It also looks bigger than the previous version but more purposeful too.

What is different is that a lot of the panels, like the doors and bonnet are made from aluminium, which shaves 30kg off the weigh. The PDK gearbox is heavy but it doesn’t impact on performance.

This weight loss helps makes for a supremely quick car, which responds brilliantly to steering corrections is wondrously good to drive on a winding A-road. This is a mature Boxster that is far and away the best yet.

by

Porsche Boxster S – Unlike FIFA, Good, Honest Fun

xxxxx

World Cup, hottest day of the year, convertible on the driveway… It’s obviously bound to rain on Saturday, England will be thrashed by the Italians and and somebody will nick the Boxster. Moments like this have to be enjoyed.

Which is why I’m coming up with any excuse to take the Porsche out for a spin. I was meant to be driving to Shropshire on a job for the Sunday Times but it turns out the boss got the day wrong. Alas, I shall have to content myself with a trip to Tesco in Stow-on-the-Wold and a fight with a three-wheeled trolley.

People who haven’t driven a Boxster will tell you they are a poor substitute for a 911 and a hairdresser’s car. Absolute nonsense. The Boxster is the best value Porsche you can buy and is equally as entertaining as its big brother. You might want to consider becoming a barber just to buy one.

The S has more than enough owed for me and I can use it as an everyday car too. The 7-speed PDK gearbox makes town driving stress-free and when a country A-road opens up in front of you, well, there’s no better two-seater soft-top for the job…

 

 

by

Porsche Boxster S – A Grumbling Great

xxxxx

You know it’s going to be a good week when you can hear your test car before you see it. The latest fad for ‘acoustic’ exhaust systems extends to Porsche, who have fitted the optional sports exhaust system to our Boxster.

And if it sounds good from a distance, inside the cabin with the top down, the S grumbles like an angry bumble bee. It’s still not as good as the Bentley Continental tested recently but not far off.

It positively pops when the PDK gearbox flicks up a notch and there’s a lovely rasp when you slip down the range too. Love it!

The 20-inch Carrera alloys really make the Boxster stand out but I was a little taken aback that at £56k, for-aft seat adjustment is manual…

by

Fiat 500C – Roofless

cropped-untitledcccccc.jpg

Cats are discerning creatures – they find the warmest, most comfortable spot and nest for the day. Hubble, my Burmese terrorist, is no exception. After 11 years of following me around the place, he’s become a creature of habit.

His favourite spot, from 12.30 until 4pm, is on the roof on my canvass-topped Land Rover. It’s warm, he can eye up the bird population, and there’s no chance of a scrap with the village hounds.

This morning I found him on the roof of the 500C. He’s never taken to the roof of any other car before but the canvass soft-top of the Fiat appears to have been one temptation too far. In a word, Hubble has defected. He’s sold out to a small, cute Italian Shameful.

To keep him off, I’ve had to leave the roof open. It folds back in stages, and takes about 20 seconds to crumple up. It’s not a true soft-top, in that you still have the sides of the car in place but it’s actually rather good in that you don’t get blown away at speed and small people in the back aren’t buffeted around in a hurricane.

Good choice Hubble…

by

Fiat 500C – Flash By Name…

cropped-aaaaa.jpg

My only sad moment in the 500C happened yesterday when I heard on the radio (wot, no DAB Fiat?) than comedian Rik Mayall had died. For a generation of schoolboys, Mayall was the anarchic madman, smashing his head through walls, hitting Ade Edmondson with a cricket bat and generally being a lunatic.

Twenty years ago, I met the pair of them for lunch in a Bristol restaurant, to promote their hit comedy show Bottom. It was supposed to be an hour-long interview – three hours later we were still eating cake and ice cream.

Fortunately for me, both of them were off the booze, which at least gave me a fighting chance. Except they kept filling my glass and the interview notes read like gobbledegook when I got back to my desk later.

What I also found when I got back to the office was that my jacket was heavier than when I had left several hours earlier. Mayall and Edmonsdon had filled my pockets with cutlery and let me walk out the restaurant…