Worth The Extra
by Mike Grundon (26 May 08)

On this latest occasion, the evolution of the Porsche Boxster S has been a quiet and understated squirm of growth and development. All of the practical improvements to the driving experience in the most recent upgrade are utterly marginal so perhaps it's only fair that the under-skin changes are barely reflected by any external bodywork . . . unless you get the Sport Edition, that is.

The standard Boxster S is the performance version of the open-topped, mid-engined sportscar we all know and love. It's a thing of fabulous, understated beauty with its smooth and rounded bonnet, its muscular flanks and its big wheels in big wheelarches. Forty grand well spent says I.

However, for a little over £3000 more, you can have the Sport Edition I have outside there now. It has a few extra fins and ripples to show that it's special and the standard inclusion of the best goody in the bag of what are normally add-ons - the Porsche Active Suspension Management system or PASM.

More of that in a tick, but first let's prepare the canvas. In 2006 Porsche took the Boxster S and gave it a bit of a going over. The flat-six engine was bored out from 3.2 to 3.4 litres and changes were made to the valve timing and control mechanics. This boosted the power from 280 to 295bhp, shaved a tenth of a second off the 0-62mph sprint time making it 5.4 seconds, raised the top speed by 2mph to 169mph and paid for it with half a mile per gallon cut from its average fuel consumption. As far as I can make out, the already excellent interior hasn't been touched.

Oddly enough I couldn't feel the difference between this and the last model I drove. "Why bother with all the effort for such marginal changes?" you might ask. "Why indeed?" I may answer.

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