My new Volvo makes my Boxster feel a bit ancient

[Sancho]

I must start by saying I still love my 2003 3.2 Boxster S -  but it has been a bit of a shock to climb back  into it after three weeks driving my new Volvo XC40 T3. The steering feels very heavy, the clutch seems very heavy, the gearchange (manual) feels heavy and notchy and the seat feels a bit saggy. I should say that before I bought the Boxster in January 2014, I had had various motorbikes (BMW GS Adventures)but no car since 2006. So I had no recent experience of a new car for a long time. My wife noticed the difference as well and it was a big surprise to her too. We drove from Portsmouth to The Isle of Mull in the Boxster in May (1500 miles clocked up) and never thought about steering, clutch and seats, just enjoyed the drive tremendously.

You may ask why we needed to buy a second car. Well, we are getting on a bit 72 and 67 respectively, plus we need to take other people around , including elderly parents so we needed a more practical vehicle for those purposes. But I want to keep the Boxster as I will always love it.

This recent comparison reminds me a bit of driving my late father-in-law's 1971 MGB GT with no power steering, which was very heavy. Not to say the Boxster's steering is as heavy as that. Perhaps heavier steering is designed in for racing purposes to give the driver more feel?

Anyway, The Boxster is still great (tons of character!) and so is the Volvo, with comfortable seats, very light clutch action, light slick gearshift, loads of load space, high seating position good view, quiet but smooth and punchy 1500cc three cylinder petrol engine.

Many of you will have two or more cars and the comparison between the boxster and more modern saloons etc will be familiar to you, but it was a new experience to me.

Hope that's of some interest.

Cheers

Sancho

[fat haggis]

My Volvo XC60 is a great car. But boring as hell . The ,981is smiles per gallon.  ?

[Boxob]

As far as I'm concerned the step back from an insulated modern car to a 1998 Boxster is part of the charm.  In the day I loved my early cars from the 60s and 70s but wouldn't now want to own one due to lack of reliability and rust. But the Boxster provides some of the feel and character without the down sides! I always enjoy jumping into the Boxster.

[SiPie]

Exactly why I chose a 986s. The last of an era in my opinion. The fact that it doesn’t have any buttons on the steering wheel to distract from pure driving pleasure coupled with good solid (heavy controls) make me feel like I’m driving the thing, not vice versa.

i enjoy the switch to and from the new Subaru Forester XT...best of both worlds I reckon, but I tell you which brings the more smiles and it ain’t from Japan 

[Nobbie]

It's the difference between driving and transport, For driving you want to feel the road through the steering and the mechanical feel of the gear change, but in transport you want to feel insulated from all the mechanics. It's good having two or three cars as you can enjoy the different attributes of each without getting annoyed with the limitations.

For me the Boxster is for pure driving enjoyment, no practical purpose. The 107 is for zipping around town and my partners 1 series BMW is for motorway munching. Each is great for it's purpose, but would get tedious in the other roles.

[Pinewood]

I feel it every time i switch between the SUV and Boxster . The X3 is fast, comfortable and quiet.. can carry 4 with ease and all our associated junk .

The P is fast,loud and raw - carries me mostly and self indulgent.

Love them both for different experiences

[Rav]

What Pinewood said.

I have four cars at the moment, some older than my 986S.I do sometimes feel that the 986 wasn't built as well as it could be. My 52 plate Audi A4 and 58 plate A6 feel much better built.

I recently bought a 1999 Alpina B3 and that feels like its made from granite and feels faster than the boxster. 

But the Alpina will never be a boxster - so they all fill different gaps.  The boxster is slowly becoming a classic and will need to be driven differently and will not be like all other modern euro boxes which can be driven very quickly and safely with little skill. It reminds me of when i had my 1989 911. It could be driven fast, but needed skill and respect to get it to do what I wanted. 

Modern cars, can be driven very fast and go round corners on rails, with no skill at all. It all depends on what you want. Horses, courses etc.

 

 

 

[edc]

Similar to Rav and I'm sure many others. My Boxster isn't the main car. I quite like 'classic' but appreciate some modernity and reliability and a 986 fills that space nicely for a fun/weekend based car. 

I keep thinking about getting a 987 Spyder of V6 Exige Roadster but they both lose a bit of practicality and all round useability Vs the 986 and feel more like 3rd cars or dedicated weekenders. I want the ability to use the 'other' car daily if needed for a short ish time and don't want to have 3 or 4 cars. In theory I have space as I have a long drive with garage at end but I'd rather a wide drive! 

[PaulQ]

32 minutes ago, edc said:

I keep thinking about getting a 987 Spyder of V6 Exige Roadster but they both lose a bit of practicality and all round useability Vs the 986 

The Box is my only car, and used daily now for work. If I had another car, would change to a VX220 or Elise, but I know the novelty of using that daily would soon wear off, and would end up back in a Boxster again. 

[Tex24v]

The box is my only car, and pretty much the only vehicle I have driven, apart from one or two occasions, since getting it in July 2015.

I recently had occasion to rent a 2018 Nissan Qashqai for a long weekend, my initial thoughts of the Nissan were pretty derogatory (as expected), so totally insulated from the road, feeling and sound wise. I had absolutely no idea how much grip the tyres had left at any point, didn't like it at all, the high seating position was ok, it was bristling with technology but most of it was ignored by me.

But that first 100 yards in the Boxster afterwards was quite alarming, and it felt quite surprisingly worn out, considering 90% of my suspension is under 2 years old and all the tyres too are the same age, I was surprised and disappointed. I soon came to a corner though and it didn't take long to feel at home again, like putting on that slightly worn out pair of slippers that fit so well.

[JoeyH]

at this moment the boxster is also my only ''working''' car..

 

I have an Alfa spider mid resto..

 

I can choose cars like this because we have no kids, I play the guitar for a living and ,most of the time it's only me in the car..

a few years ago i switched to class A, lower wattage amps and mic them up where required so the Boxster can carry two guitars a small combo and my pedalboard just fine!

regarding the driving experience, well there has been a growing effort in the car industry to seperate the driver from the driving over the last 2 decades now, so all of those late 90's early 00's cars were the last of a dying breed

...no surprise that my car history is littered with them.

Alfa GT 3.2, then a modified GT derv with 250bhp and 600nm

Alfa GTV 3.0 

Alfa Spider 916 2.0

Fiat coupe 20VT  re-mapped to 300 bhp( rapid and felt it)

Panda 100hp ( hilarious fun)

BMW Z3 2.8 ( meh)

 

the only notable absence is the 147 GTA, which I would love, but a lack of decent examples and avoiding any with selespeed means i haven;t had the chance to own one yet.

 

I find modern cars dull, but get it, my wife has a 14 plate Audi TT 1.8 TFSI and its fun for 5 minutes but soon becomes boring, however it is more comfortable than all of the above except perhaps the GT, which had the best seats I have ever sat in.

other than a few notable exceptions most modern cars are going this way with smaller capacity forced induction engines to meet emmissions regs, and ever increasing saftety features and drivers aids, all moving towards complete automation where the human just sits and gets driven.

Alfa's Giulia QV bucks the trend, as does anything to come out of the Lotus factory ! but I think the days  of real drivers cars are dwindling and we are seeing the last few incarnations coming to market now..I can't wait for the new Alfa GTV,  if it lives up to expectations it may be the first new car I ever buy.

I don't love my boxster , but I would still rather drive it than almost anything made after 2005, I agree about the Lotus and Vx220 mentioned before, fabulous cars but not an everyday proposition..

 

and therein lies the problem, how many cars make a usable daily but can also give genuine driving pleasure and performance when required to do so ? cars that offer this are very thin on the ground and i think I have owned most of them.

The Boxster is undoubtledy one of them though..I plan to sell iit and buy a cayman next year, then my Porsche hit list will have been completed and the GTV 3.0 I have just bought with a broken gearbox and no MOT , will have completed a full restoration including a complete re-spray in 8C red...

I'll decide then whether to keep the cayman as a daily or get a new GTV to compliment the old one and have 2 generations of the same model in the stable.

either way it's going to be a fun couple of years car wise!

 

 

[Southy]

My wife has an A Class - over braked, very light steering, almost like driving a sofa around - great for long uneventful trips which is what is was designed for.

My boxster 986, only has power steering, I've got no traction control, it's raw, can be loud, every moment is fun - personally I hate driving it long distances on motorways, but give me dry weather and country lane and I'll be driving it all day long 

 

 

[Stuart21UK]

22 minutes ago, Southy said:

My wife has an A Class - over braked, very light steering, almost like driving a sofa around - great for long uneventful trips which is what is was designed for.

My boxster 986, only has power steering, I've got no traction control, it's raw, can be loud, every moment is fun - personally I hate driving it long distances on motorways, but give me dry weather and country lane and I'll be driving it all day long 

 

 

The Cayenne is not over braked but is like driving a sofa....a noticeably heavy one!

God does it take some stamping on the brake pedal if you are moving fastly

[SDF1965]

5 hours ago, PaulQ said:

The Box is my only car, and used daily now for work. If I had another car, would change to a VX220 or Elise, but I know the novelty of using that daily would soon wear off, and would end up back in a Boxster again. 

My VX220 was written off so decided to change to a 986s, completely different animals and SWMBO wanted more comfort, the VX, in my opinion, is a great weekend car, light, quick and becoming a rare sight on our roads. The 986s is far more comfortable, sounds far better and once I got used to having to use higher revs is quicker. 

Like others on here we have a couple of other cars, an Evoque, comfortable, quiet and has every toy you could think of and a 1 series that has to be one of the most economical cars we have owned

always look forward to driving the 986, any opportunity to get the roof down and find a great road .......

[PaulQ]

31 minutes ago, SDF1965 said:

My VX220 was written off so decided to change to a 986s, completely different animals and SWMBO wanted more comfort, the VX, in my opinion, is a great weekend car, light, quick and becoming a rare sight on our roads. The 986s is far more comfortable, sounds far better and once I got used to having to use higher revs is quicker. 

Sorry to hear about the VX. It's definitely an itch that needs scratching at some point in the future though, but will have to wait until I get a garage, or move house I think. Don't really want to part with the box to be honest either as it's a great all round car. Both would be nice.! 

[Boxster-Al]

Things like refinement, feel, noise etc. are all relative. I use my 986S for travelling to work (60 mile round trip) and the occasional blat and had no complaints about the amount of feel and noise until I went on holiday to Italy earlier this year in my 1988 911 3.2 Carrera driving just over 3000 miles. When I got back home and drove my 986S to work, the steering felt super light with no feel, the engine quiet despite the sports exhaust and I had no confidence when going round corners despite the Center Gravity set up and M030 suspension. It took about 3 days to get used to the 986 again after the sensory "overload" of my 911.