GO
GoAutoLogo
MENU

Make / Model Search

New models - Porsche - Boxster - range

First drive: Porsche Boxster comes out punching

Top down: The new Porsche Boxster prices start at $113,000.

Inflation-busting Boxster arrives with new engines and seven-speed PDK transmission

17 Mar 2009

PORSCHE’S Boxster is a great example of how the changing face of the Australian motor industry has resulted in a buyer’s market for premium imports, with the more powerful and better-equipped model released this week at $113,000 – just $3100 more than the original Boxster when it was launched in January 1997.

That is an increase of just 2.8 per cent in more than a decade, despite the introduction of the luxury car tax (LCT).

Compared with 12 years ago, buyers of the base model Boxster now get a six-speed manual and a 2.9-litre engine developing 188kW of power and 290Nm of torque instead of the original car’s 150kW/245Nm 2.5-litre flat-six and five-speed gearbox.

And in 1997 you were lucky to get ABS, climate control and a CD player, whereas today you get things like ESC, multiple airbags, touchscreen infotainment with iPod connectivity, parking sensors, heated seats, a glass window, a wind deflector, better performance (a full second faster from 0-100km/h) and 8.2 per cent better fuel economy.

On specification alone, Porsche says the Boxster now carries between $10,000 and $12,000 more equipment.

25 center imageSome of those features were still options only last month, so has there ever been a better time to buy any new car, let alone a Porsche? We say, to hell with the LCT.

The facelifted Boxster – which is a mid-life refresh of the second-generation 987-series – arrives here as a two-model line-up again, with the Boxster S now priced at $140,400, which is $700 more than the superseded model.

Its bigger 3.4-litre engine gains direct fuel injection (while the base model retains normal injection for cost reasons) and produces 228kW (up 10.7 per cent on the previous 206kW 3.2-litre unit in the S) and 360Nm (up some 40Nm, or 12.5 per cent), but is 11.5 per cent more fuel efficient and, of course, cleaner as well.

Both of the new units are from the same engine family introduced last year to the 911 range and are totally new, with a lower centre of gravity to assist handling and virtually no shared parts with the previous-generation engines.

In fact, the new engine family is Porsche’s first since it went to water cooling in the 1990s.

There is also plenty of interest from a technical perspective in the availability of Porsche’s new PDK twin-clutch manumatic gearbox, which also debuted only late last year in the 911 range.

The seven-speed PDK (with two overdrive gears) replaces the five-speed Tiptronic S as the Boxster’s automatic option and costs $5500, which is about $600 more.

PDK not only changes 60 per cent faster than Tiptronic S, but is 10kg lighter and saves an estimated 16 per cent in fuel consumption, but operates the same, with steering wheel paddles and a gear indicator on the instrument binnacle.

Among the extensive Boxster options list are a ceramic/carbon brake package at some $19,980, an electronic suspension system called PASM ($4190) and, for the first time, a limited slip differential ($2990).

While the 2009 Boxster is mainly about the mechanicals, the company says the nose and tail have both been subtly reshaped, with two-tube headlights, larger front intakes, tapering LED tail-lights and diffusers.

2009 Porsche Boxster range pricing:
Boxster $113,000
Boxster (a) $118,500
Boxster S $140,400
Boxster S (a) $145,900

Read more:

LA show: Mid-life makeover for Boxster and Cayman


GoAuto can help you buy a new Boxster

Customer Terms and Conditions – New Car Lead enquires

Agreement

This is an agreement between GoAutoMedia Pty Limited ACN 094 732 457 of PO Box 18, Beach Road, Sandringham, VIC, 3191 (“we/us”), the owner and operator of the GoAuto.com.au website (“the website”) and the person wanting GoAuto.com.au to provide them with a lead for the purchase of a new car (“you”).

By completing a New Car Lead Enquiry, you agree to the terms and conditions and disclaimers and acknowledge the policies set out below.

Terms and Conditions

  • In order for us to effect a lead you must you must complete a New Car Lead Enquiry (“Enquiry”).
  • We will call you as soon as possible after you complete the Enquiry and certainly no later than the next business day. When we call, we will discuss with you your new car requirements.
  • You consent to our passing on the Enquiry and your requirements to an appropriate authorised motor car dealer as a lead.
  • We will contact you again in approximately eight days following your initial enquiry to check on the progress of the Enquiry.
  • While we will provide the dealer with the Enquiry and details of your new car requirements, we take no responsibility for what happens after passing on that material as a lead.
  • You acknowledge that we are a new car information service providing new car editorial information, pictures and prices to our customers as a guide only. Any new car prices published on the website are the manufacturers’ recommended retail prices and do not include delivery charges and on-road costs. Any authorized motor car dealer to which we pass on your Enquiry as a lead will provide you with full details of the price at which the vehicle will be sold to you.
  • You acknowledge that we do not sell motor vehicles. Any sale of a new car to you by a dealer after we have passed on your Enquiry to that dealer as a lead, is a sale by that dealer not by us.

Privacy Policy– New Car Lead Enquires

  • We take privacy very seriously. We understand that you will only complete an Enquiry if you can trust us to protect your personal information and use it appropriately. Our policy is to ensure that the personal information collected when you make an Enquiry is only used for the purposes of connecting you with an authorised motor car dealer.
  • We do not on-sell information collected from you or any other customer.
  • From time to time, we may email you with information or promotions that may be relevant for car buyers. You will continue to receive communications from us unless you tell us that you do not want to receive any advertising or promotional information in the future by unsubscribing from these communications.
close
* Denotes required field
** Australian inquiries only

Click to share

Click below to follow us on
Facebook  Twitter  Instagram

Porsche models

Catch up on all of the latest industry news with this week's edition of GoAutoNews
Click here