2013 Porsche Boxster S - Road Test

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.

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