2005 Porsche Boxster S

2005 Porsche Boxster S - We started by choosing the color scheme of the 2004 special-edition 550 Boxster S, a combination of GT Silver Metallic paint outside (a $3070 option) with a cocoa leather interior ($2465) and a matching cocoa top. That’s a staggering $5535. The special leather covers the dashboard, doors, and seats with milk-chocolaty hides that drew many compliments in the logbook. We were just getting started.

To keep the 19s from making the ride too harsh, we opted for the $1990 Porsche Active Suspension Management that provides a compliant ride in normal mode, stiffens in sport mode, and automatically adjusts during aggressive driving. The most expensive option turned out to be the Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes at $8150. What attracted us to them were numerous complaints from Porsche-club members, so we wanted to see how they’d stand up to 40,000 miles of abuse. Toss in automatic climate control ($550), a sport shifter with shorter throws ($765), and $340 silver seatbelts (ya gotta coordinate), and you have a very special Boxster S.

As for that $8150 brake system, the advantage of six-piston calipers (up from four in front) is perfect brake feel, and the benefit of the bigger rotors (13.8 inches front and rear) is fade-free braking even after many high-speed stops, a huge asset at the track. But in everyday driving, our tests showed that the expensive brakes bested the standard ones by just eight feet in 70-to-standstill stops.

New pads at 31,750 miles cured the racket and were covered by Porsche’s four-year/50,000-mile warranty. The pads weren’t worn out—far from it, they were just noisy. Without the warranty, replacing them would have cost about $1000. To correct problems with early versions of the ceramic brakes, Porsche switched to a more-heat-resistant material and changed the cooling passages within the rotors. Trying to brake after leaving a carwash, in heavy rain, or after the car has been sitting overnight triggers a rush of adrenaline and trepidation.

Instead, we replaced the Michelins with a set of Yokohama Advan Sports for $1155. In the daily grind, the Yokohamas seemed to offer the same grip as the Michelins, but at the track, the Boxster’s skidpad number fell to 0.93 and the new tires required 10 more feet to stop from 70 mph. The good news is we wouldn’t have to pay for service again until 40,000 miles. We also complained about a whining transmission, which turned out to be the fault of a noisy ring-and-pinion gear. Get this: Porsche replaced the entire transmission under warranty.

As one staffer put it, “Having a Porsche in the long-term fleet is critical because whenever you want a reminder of how the perfect car drives, what benchmark steering, brakes, and handling feel like, or how a sports car is supposed to sound, just grab the keys to the Boxster, and all other cars suddenly don’t measure up.