Taming the Tail of the Dragon—and finding some better alternatives—in the all-new second-generation Boxster.
Only by the grace of lucky scheduling did we miss the three-day, fourth
annual “OutSMARTing The Dragon” event, where dozens, perhaps hundreds,
of Smart cars from across North America chug up and down the Tail of the
Dragon, the 11-mile, 318-turn stretch of Highway 129 that sits partly
in Tennessee, partly in North Carolina, just west of the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park.
After all, we picked up a 2013 Porsche Boxster S
in Atlanta and were looking for a place to wring it out. Where better,
we thought, than the famous, infamous Tail of the Dragon?
Unfortunately, so did about a zillion other people, Smart cars or not.
If you haven’t been on Tail of the Dragon in the last 15 years or so,
you’ll find it’s like when your favorite little restaurant gets
discovered and you can no longer get a table. Tail of the Dragon may not
have jumped the shark yet, but Fonzie is sizing up the ramp. Nearly
500,000 vehicles a year traverse the little two-lane road where the
speed limit is 30 mph. Since traffic declines considerably during the
winter, the Tail is packed during the summer, even—as we found out—on
weekdays.
We parked the
Boxster
at the Deal’s Gap Motorcycle Resort, a small motel, general store and
service station at the south end of the Tail, a near-mandatory stop for
anyone in the area, but open only from March 1 to the end of November.
This is where you get a sense of who will be joining you on your trip up
and down the Tail—a stunning majority of Harley-Davidson riders, many
on rented bikes, here to mark the Tail of the Dragon off their bucket
list. If for no other reason, stop at the Resort to see the “Tree of
Shame,” where bits and pieces of crashed motorcycles and cars dangle
like Christmas ornaments.
Though outnumbered by bikers, there were some sports cars on the Tail, including a pair of BMW M3s,
bristling with GoPro cameras, driven by two German tourists. There was
also an older Boxster parked at the Resort—the driver’s girlfriend kept
pointing at our 2013 model. The boyfriend refused to acknowledge it.
With virtually no place to pass legally on the Tail, you’ll find 30-mph
speed limit actually optimistic as soon as you drive up on a pack of
Harley riders, which takes about four of the 318 turns. Or worse, we
ended up behind one rag-tag pack of motorcycles trailed by a green
Kawasaki dirt bike on knobby tires.
Inside, our Boxster S had plenty of room for two adults—width, after
all, is nearly 78 in.—with ample cubbyholes for storage. Most sports car
owners would be happy with the space in the Boxster’s front or rear
trunk, but combined, the nearly 10 cu. ft. seems downright generous.
The seats in the test car were superb, but they should be, as the
leather-covered Adaptive Sports Seats were a $5265 option—on top of the
$2455 Porsche charged for the leather, plus another $730 for seat
ventilators. If you get the idea that the Boxster S’s window sticker can
add up quickly, you’re right: More about that in a moment.
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On the highway, the Boxster S serves up a surprisingly supple ride,
unless you insist on hitting the “Sport” or “Sport Plus” buttons. We
used Sport in the mountains, as Sport Plus stiffens up the ride
considerably and makes the PDK shift in such an aggressive manner that
the car seemed nervous. Sport Plus is useful on a racetrack—and it
worked quite well during lapping sessions at Barber Motorsports Park
during the Boxster’s initial press introduction—but in any other
application, unless you are 18 years old and insist on cranking the
stereo up to 11, and keeping your foglights on all day, you will likely
find Sport Plus too busy and high-strung for daily driving.
In the hills, steering is spot-on, with just the right feedback and
effort. The big brakes—13-in. vented rotors up front, 11.8-in. in the
back, both with 4-piston calipers—are linear in feel and stayed cool
even during track sessions. The 20-in. Pirelli tires—an inch larger than
standard on the S—were quiet and grippy even in the rain. At just over
3100 lb., the Boxster S feels particularly light on its feet. We shifted
the PDK manually on occasion, but when it’s left to shift on its own
you’ll be startled by how perceptive the PDK is. With no need to shift
manually, you can turn your full attention to the winding road.
For our 800-mile trip, we averaged nearly 21 mpg, and that includes a
lot of spirited driving. We genuinely like the 2013 Boxster S, and
consider it to be, for the first time, a legitimate alternative to a
911. At the starting price of $60,900 ($11,400 more than the base
Boxster), plus $950 in shipping, it’s almost a bargain. But our
loaded-up Boxster S listed for a sobering $88,585, and you can option
out a Boxster to over $100,000—which moves it into legitimate 911
territory.
Aside from one makeover, this is the first genuinely new Boxster since
its 1997 introduction. To say it’s a success is an understatement. But
watch those options closely.
Courtesy:
Steven Cole Smith
/ Photos by Guy Spangenberg