Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Boxster S Drives

That’s how I’d aim to use it!

How those choice words about auto's bring back memories.....in my youth I always called my father an 'old man' for his preference from when in his 30's for automatic Jaguars, that is until I experienced the 'speed hold ' feature ( a flick switch) wow that car took off like a scolded cat. Mind you. my father used to take my mom out in my Honda S800 if I was out on my motorcycles, I could always tell as the petrol tank was always full after a trip out, so he enjoyed stirring the gear box from time to time. I hated driving my Aunts cars down to the farm in the 70's they were 3 speed auto's and absolute torture to use with the small engine cars she preferred.

I have had auto's for over 30 years now and to be honest for the few odd occasions one gets these days to enjoy some spirited motoring, most of the auto's these days allow manual changes should the feel or need arise. Having been a big annual mileage guy, often spending hours in motorway or A road traffic snarl ups,inching my way to somewhere, I'll take the auto any day over a manual for those quite rare number of halcyon gearbox shifting moments I come across. Driving an auto fast round twisty bits requires considerable driving skill as the only real source of retardation are your brakes
When I took my father for a ride in my first auto Mercedes convertible in the late 80's he's first comment with a broad smile was what is it like being an 'old man'.

Involving? I would have thought they were the exact opposite and thats certainly what I found in two previous sports cars and the family transport. The temptation is to leave the flappy padles alone and use full auto, in which case I dont see much difference to Peter's EV. Thats why when I updated the Ferrari, I didnt update so much as down date back to a manual.

I did say "adds much" - it would be daft to think that modern tec didnt add anything at all, but the biggest determinants of cornering speed are friction from the tyre rubber on the road and lateral acceleration forces from vehicle weight. Aero will add to that friction but very little at the speeds we are talking of.

I wonder if the Porsche acronyms outweigh the disadvantage of having the engine in the wrong place.

I was never convinced that the E-diff as Ferrari called it made any difference in real life.

When you type "adds much" Howard, I do wonder how to put a value on "much"... I suspect races may not be won by "much" for a number of years, and Porsche engineering seems to have quite a race winning record, from LeMans to the Pris Dakar and over many decades, all with machinery that has their engines in the wrong place...

On the other hand I started out looking at Porsche as nothing more than tuned up Beetles, I even thought the 911 engine looked like the innards of a washing machine compared to my Jag, TC Lotus, and others I had previously owned. However once I drove an air cooled Porsche and started working on them, the quality of engineering became self evident and after a decade of ownership back in the 80`s I became a real fan, until the water cooled took over in the shape of the 996.

I suspect there is an engine in my 991 but it is not to be seen when you lift the lid, you have to crawl underneath, or start disassembling the rear of the car to begin to see the engine... I have no desire to get into any of that..

My old +8 has an engine bay to be proud of in comparison..

I doubt I would notice the if the PTV was working or not, perhaps it requires closer monitoring of the rear brke pads if one`s driving style calls upon it to operate with any degree of regularity.... The thought of all the extra gizmology to operate PTV and the likes, just seems like all the more to go wrong...

This is the 2.5L Boxster engine...



Compact to say the least.

Its not very' involving' when crawling in traffic jams in a manual gearbox car , continuously balancing the clutch on a hot summers day...its actually a ' pain in the butt' especially if you are tall and your lega and feet struggle for any room .
It's a simple choice when it comes to a modern auto you can choose to use or leave the flappy paddles alone or not as the case maybe or just leave it in auto, but you have a choice. However, when it comes to a manual gearbox there is no choice whatsoever, it will always be a manual gearbox and all of its foibles. I've driven flappy paddle Ferrari's and a good old fashioned 330GT2+2 with its heavy clutch that needed thighs built like tree trunks and slow balky change especially when cold manual gearbox........I know which one I prefer every time and its not the 330.

The ML63 is an automatic (ish) with a huge V8, The Coupe is a ZF slush with manual gearlever override but the Series 2 is a manual.

I may put the ML into sport but never really ride the paddles at all, it is not worth it when the car is so heavy and it has so much power. I just push the pedal a bit more.
The Coupe I always move over to the left and manually select cogs, unless in traffic in which case I move it to lazy. I like manually selecting cogs mostly because of the noise and feeling of the cams at ~4000rpm.
Whenever I get into the S2 and even with the big clunky floor hinged clutch and rev hang in first, I love it. Big grunt, low weight, option to use 3 gears and row along on the torque or manage the revs. It will never get boring.

It's not just the gearbox but also the power and car dynamics. Apparently one of the most fun Lotus Sevens is the little 660cc three potter as you have to drive it hard?

Auto's generally help the Mfr get through the emissions tests too, laboratory conditions and all that malarkey

So true, its all about the best way to extract the power and dynamics of the car.