Porsche Boxster: The Porsche Everyone Got Wrong… Better Than a 911?

Everyone says the Porsche Boxster is the poor man’s 911… but I think it might actually be better.

In this episode of Car Park Confessions, we take a brutally honest (and slightly unhinged) look at one of the most underrated sports cars ever made.

• How you can buy a Porsche for the price of a Fiesta
• What the Boxster actually shares with the Porsche 911
• Why it might be better to drive on real British B-roads
• And whether it quietly embarrasses cars like the Mazda MX-5 and BMW Z4

This isn’t about badge snobbery…
It’s about whether the “cheap” Porsche is actually the smartest one.

Because once you drive one properly…
you start to realise…

this might be the Porsche everyone got wrong.

Transcript

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Do you ever notice how the Porsche Boxter gets introduced like it's done something wrong? Oh yeah, nice car, mate. But shame it's not a nine eleven. That's just a poor man's Porsche. Like it's turned up to a wedding in a suit, and someone whispers, Yeah, but it's from Matalan. Right. Well today I'm asking the question, how poor is the poor man's Porsche? Welcome back to Car Park Confessions, the podcast where we say the things you think but don't say out loud, because Dave from Accounts has just financed a base model German ego. And today's victim, uh sorry, subject is the Porsche Boxster. The car that's been bullied, dismissed, ridiculed, and yet quietly is absolutely brilliant. And we need to talk it through. The Boxster has spent its entire life being called a hairdresser's car, a poor man's 911, what you buy when you couldn't quite stretch. Which is ironic because most people saying that are driving a 320D on seven owners, 175,000 miles, and a warning light. The Boxster is essentially that kid at school who is good at everything, but gets no credit because his older brother is the captain of the rugby team. And his older brother is the 9-11. But here's where it gets ridiculous. You can get into a Porsche Boxster in the UK for somewhere between£3,000 and£6,000 for an early car, or£8,000 to£12,000 for something properly nice, really well looked after, and a good spec. Now, that's not poor man's Porsche money. That's I was gonna buy a Fiesta, but accidentally bought a sports car from Stuttgart. And what do you get? Well you get mid-engine balance, proper Porsche engineering, a badge that still makes people nod at petrol stations, a bespoke spec, and the right amount of power. And meanwhile, someone's paying 18k for a warm hatch with fake exhaust tips and telling you it's not a 9-11. But here's the bit the internet doesn't like. The Boxter's dirty little secret. That it shares quite a lot in common with the 9-11. In fact, 40% of its components are shared with the 9-11. It's not a knockoff, it's not a tribute act, it's not Porsche Light, it's more like 9-11, but focused and actually usable, and in some cases, slightly better balanced. I know I've said it. This tiny little sports car is widely credited with saving Porsche from bankruptcy in the mid-90s. That car that's a poor man's Porsche saved Porsche. It saved the 9-11. It meant it could make its way through its financial struggles and progress on with the more expensive vehicles. So much so that it shares around 40% of its components with a 996-911 to save costs. To save costs. On a cheap car, it uses components from an expensive car. Or does an expensive car use components from a cheap car? Because if you think about it like that, that doesn't make the 9-11 a particularly exciting car. But it is, and I'm not gonna say it's not, because I've had some and they're great. Now, let's not pretend it's all sunshine and soft top joy. There are IMS bearing issues, but that is also shared with 9-11s. So does that make it more like a 9-11? There are coil pack issues, radiators, general aging Porsche stuff, and servicing isn't Fiesta money. But but here's the thing: it's not Ferrari pain, it's not sell a kidney territory, it's be sensible, don't buy a bad one, which coincidentally is advice for literally every car ever. Now, this is where it gets unfair. You take a box store onto a British B-road, and suddenly the car makes sense. There's steering that talks to you. It can get you into a corner and out of a corner on the right line, no matter how good a driver you are. There is balance that makes you just feel like a hero, and it just has that mid-engine confidence. You're not fighting the car, you're kind of dancing with it, which I really, really enjoy. And you are comparing that car to the Mazda MX5, which is saying, hey, I'm fun too, and the BMW Z4, which just doesn't quite handle the same, but potentially has a lot of statistical top trumps power. And maybe the S2000, but that has kind of crept into kind of stratospheric prices, and there is a level of nostalgia about an S2000 that makes people forget quite how slippery that car is. And not only is it slippery, it's incredibly thirsty as well. But let's be honest, if badges didn't exist, if nobody could see what you were driving, the boxster would win the fight comfortably. Better balanced than most rivals, more of a special feeling. That Porsche feeling is in the car. It's actually engineered, it's not just assembled. It's the automotive equivalent of turning up to a fiver side and quietly being the best player without telling anyone you used to play semi-pro. It is a different breed of car. And that being said, I don't think people hate the boxer because it's bad, because it isn't. They hate it because it's too close to a 9-11. It's affordable and it exposes how much car culture is fascinated over the badge and the top trumps of car specs and performance. Because if a£6,000 boxster is this good, what the fuck are you doing spending 40 grand on something else? So, how poor is the poor man's Porsche? Not very. In fact, it might be one of the smartest buys in the entire car world. Affordable entry, proper Porsche engineering, genuinely brilliant to drive. And even today, it still feels special. It's not the budget option. It's the thinking man's Porsche. There are some spec builds out there that are phenomenal. One of my all-time favourite cars, and I think a future classic, is a 2.5 Boxer in speed yellow, manual with sports seats and the Gen 1 Aero. One day that car is going to be worth an absolute fortune. So next time someone says, Yeah, but it's not a 9-11, just smile, let them drive it. Because that's usually when it clicks. And I don't think you can be rating these cars until you have buried your foot deeply into a B-road in one of these vehicles. And if it wasn't for some curly-haired northerner who was all over our TV in the late 90s and early noughties telling us what was cool and what was not cool, this car would be hailed as the saviour of Porsche. Because the truth is the Boxster isn't the poor man's Porsche. It's the one you buy when you actually understand cars. And that is a very different kind of wealth. Thank you for listening. I'm Rob Hartman. This is Cheap Thrills, where the smartest cars are rarely the most expensive.