| REVIEW

Porsche Boxster 986 Mark II [2002-2004] Retroview - Part 1

Introduction

As I write this, England has just entered its second lock down due to the coronavirus pandemic and so has joined the rest of the UK, as well as most other western European countries in closing all bars, restaurants and non-essential shops as well as banning local and international travel except for work or under special circumstances.

During November, I had planned to make a few more ‘in-depth’ videos on the Porsche Boxster while there was a break in the series, but the new lock down has put pay to that, meaning driving about to shoot those videos probably wasn’t the best idea.

So rather than just twiddle my thumbs, I thought it would be a good opportunity to go a bit ‘old school’ and write (yes, I did say write) a retrospective review that we have chosen to call a “retroview” (see what I did there?). I am still aiming to make those videos, but given the current situation it will be more likely be the New Year before they get done, but the good news is that writing this review does mean I can get a little more up-close and personal than I probably could in a video.

With that in mind I should probably start with a confession - until recently I was not a huge fan of the Boxster, but my reasoning behind it was completely irrational.

Original Porsche advert from the 80s.

I guess I would probably consider myself a bit of a ‘purist’ when it comes to Porsche. I wouldn’t say that I’m a hard-liner or a fanatic, but having grown up with the classic Porsche 911 Carrera and Targa and then the subsequent 924/944 and 928(S), when the Boxster was first released I was very quick to put it in the ‘not a real Porsche’ category and I’m sure there are some people who know me who would quote me as having said so out loud.

In my defence, the Boxster certainly wasn’t a ‘real’ Porsche by virtue of the fact that it was sort of affordable (well more affordable than any of the other models) and seemed to be pitched more at boring accountants and stuffy business people rather than Hollywood superstars or wannabe race car drivers. For decades Porsche cars were cultural icons often used in the same breath as Ferrari or Lamborghini (or Aston Martin and even Jaguar to a degree) and at the time it seemed like they were watering down that legacy, or to coin a phrase - selling out.

Of course, what I was completely oblivious to in the 1990s was that being any kind of car manufacturer meant it was about exactly that - selling - and for Porsche, that end of the business hadn’t been going so well. The fact that the Boxster pretty much single-handedly saved Porsche from bankruptcy is well documented and it was probably the smartest move they ever made and something they should have probably done a lot sooner. By doing a deal with a Japanese manufacturer to update their production line and going back to their origins of sharing car components between models (the first Porsche 356 shared many of the same components as the Volkswagen Beetle) they were able to get back in the game and probably haven’t looked back since.

Embed from Getty Images

So if that was my opinion of the Boxster, how did I end up owning one? Well, like most things the answer is complicated and usually comes down to an unusual alignment of the planets -- I mean, I’d looked at buying a Porsche quite a few times since moving to the UK as it always seemed like there were plenty around to choose from, but oddly, until I got serious about getting a Boxster I’d never actually been in one. For most of us mere mortals any kind of sports car seems like an unnecessary overindulgence, a car is a car right? You really just need it to get from A to B right? Well, no… no it isn’t and no, no it’s not…

There was a comment made on one of our social media posts for the budget Boxster series about how anyone can do a show on a sports car and that we should do a series on something more basic ‘like a Peugeot’. It made me think of one of the Porsche advertising slogans from the 80s which implied no one grows up dreaming of owning a Nissan or Mitsubishi and to me, that seems pretty much as true today as it was back then.

These days an early model Porsche Boxster is extremely affordable thanks to their popularity and if you’re a little older than a teenager then the insurance isn’t too bad either. Of course the road tax and general maintenance is where it mostly hurts the bank balance, but that is something that comes with the territory of owning a high performance car - no matter what the badge on the outside says.

In the end it came down to what I call a ‘Yoda moment’ - do or do not, there is no try - and that if ever there was a time to ‘do’ then it was now. I could have bought a very reasonable Nissan or Mitsubishi for what I paid for the Porsche Boxster, but if I had I wouldn’t be writing this article and we certainly wouldn’t have made a video series about driving it through France -- and that’s why a Porsche is so much more than just a car.

In part two of the Porsche Boxster retroview we examine the exterior finish and styling... stay tuned!