How do you all drive your Boxsters?

[Guest]

I've had mine since late January and I can't resist flooring it whenever I get the chance. Just wondering lately on the Boxster demographic. For a lot of you drivers is it your daily car you take care of and play it safe or is everyone like me out having fun in it power sliding at every opportunity?

I mean I love having fun in it but I wonder if I'm a little too hard on it sometimes. For me its not my daily car just a fun 1 or 2 times a week car. So how do you drive your Boxster?

[number9ine]

Every Porsche I've driven loves to be opened up. I personally drive mine like I stole it. I think that many on this board drive their cars hard, and it's perfectly OK (even good!) to do so as long as you're careful with a few things:

• Keep it under 35-4K RPM for 10 minutes or so to get the oil temps up.
  
• Watch your gauges and listen to your car. Not only does it make a fantastic howl, but you'll hear it when something's amiss.
  
• If you heat the brakes up, make sure you don't stand on them at a stoplight, and don't apply your parking brake until the car has a chance to cool off.
  
• Make the last mile or two home a leisurely one, so the car isn't soaking in heat when you park it.
  
• Check your fluids at each refuel--oil, coolant, and windshield washer for all those bugs you'll kill. :)
  
• Flush your brake fluid every two years as the manual states, every year or sooner if you track the car.
  
• Watch your tires for uneven wear, especially if you're "power sliding." An alignment is relatively cheap insurance against premature tire replacement. Keep a pressure gauge in your car if it doesn't have TPMS, check it once a week.
  
• If you're tracking the car or driving it hard in short trips every day, I recommend changing your oil every 5K.
  
• Learn to do your own maintenance. With a set of jackstands and some patience you'll be able to see every wear item outside your engine and inspect it. I am less handy than your average shade tree mechanic and managed to do pads, rotors, brake flush, oil change, spark plugs, air filter and e-brake switch replacement on my wife's boxster. Cost me about a third of what it would've at an indy mechanic, and about a fifth of what the dealer would charge.
  

While opposite lock can be fun, these cars are really made to carve a corner. PCA has a great driver education program, if you haven't tried yet I recommend you sign up. Autocross is also a strength of the Boxster, for $30-40 and some gas you can have a lot of fun.

Mark

[mcmike27]

DRIVE....DRIVE and drive it some more.....be smart....have fun...it's very hard to 'upset' a Boxster...but in the right application (cold tires) and a heavy foot you can make it squirley. The AX suggestion is a great one we love taking ours to them about 6 a year....and I swear the car smiles at me when I look at it after having AX'd it all day.

Our was my wife's Uncles daily driver it's in our care now it has 97k on the ODO and it likes to be outside more than sitting in the garage.

It was born with a pedigree to DRIVE....even our stock 98 986 with the 2.5L still 'purrrrsss' and dances when I ask it to 'GO'.

I hate seeing all the 'pretty' obvious garage queens at lour local PCA club events....why own it if you arent going to enjoy it...if it's a vintage 356 or an exotic 911 I can understand that but the 'rank and file' cars even though super nice and pricey were made to DRIVE....if they werent they would be scale models and you could look at them all day in a nice dispaly case.

Learn to to do the general maint and they are just like other cars. I'm still a bit intimidated to wrench on mine but the knowledge base on this and other forums will keep you going in the right direction and everyone is very very helpfull here.

Have fun....

DRIVE

m2

[4agdtym]

I drive the car like it was designed to be driven. I live near the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and enjoy the twisty mountain roads for spirited drives. I auto-x about 6 or more times a year. I have 86,000 miles and nothing has broken. I do wear out tires. I have changed the oil/filter, spark plugs, fuel filter, brake fluids, front brake rotors, water pump/AC belt and last weekend I replaced all the suspension components and upgraded to the ROW M030 suspension components. I have gotten more confident as a driver since I went to auto-x school in 2006 and learning to do much of my own maintenance and repair work.

I agree that doing your own maintenance is a good idea. And, I agree that the car likes to be driven hard. I read about the Intermediate shaft bearing upgrade and in that article, it is suggested that cars which are tracked/revved high, tend to have fewer problems with the bearing. It made sense to me. My car continues to provide unmeasured pleasure and satisfaction.

[infocusf8]

I think the manual that comes with Porsches states that the cars are made to be driven on a daily basis and after three years of ownership I still wake up thinking about where I can go that day just to get the top down and get out on the road. I also live in an area where there are a lot of twisty backroads where I can take advantage of the great handling of my Boxster. I AX a dozen or so times a year and try to track a couple of times a year and still enjoy putting my foot in it whenever I feel it is safe to do so. Porsche engineers designed Boxster's (and all Porsches) for the drivers who appreciate and use the performance characteristics of the cars and they did an outstanding job so don't be afraid to have fun with it. As my DE instructor said to me at Laguna Seca last year when I came around turn eleven and punched it on the straightaway "Can't you just feel her smiling." Yes I could and do every time I take her out for a drive.

[martialmedia]

I take mine to 6500 rpm quite often. It will actually run smoother after I do. They LOVE to be driven. I don't recommend it, but I got mine up to 155mph top down and there was still room to go. The faster you go, the more it sticks. Definitely do some DE events. You learn more about the car in one day then you might ever learn otherwise. They can handle corners, much faster than you would think when you do it right. They are also very intuitive. Once you take it to the edge, you can really feel when it's on the edge and about to slip out from under you. They have a very controllable slide. They are a blast to drive on the track.

[pjq]

This is all good info for the new Boxster owner But whats everyone doing for shifting Rev's?

I just bought my 04 Boxster S in Dec 2010 and am enjoying it and yes it does seem to smile back when you let her go. Its an everyday car for me highway and city, but she's definitley more at home at highway speeds. She seems to shift alot smoother above 4000 rev's but I've never taken her past 6000rev's for a shift (I think she's grinning at this stage). 85% of the time I'm shifting before 5500 rev's.

I'v been flying by the seat of my pants, at what rev's should I or should not, be shifting gears? What about around town should I be pushing the rev's in 1st, 2nd and 3rd?

[mcmike27]

PJQ, here is how we drive ours around town and on the hwy...

0-20 in the development 1st and 2nd gear 3k to 4k rpms

25-40 2nd and 3rd gear about the same rpm's perhaps a but higer in 3rd

45 to 65 3rd and 4th gear...on our local highways I very seldom get into 5th gear and the rpms hum around 4 to 4.5k

Above 75 and up that for 5ht gear and it drops down to about 3kish...

Autocross 2nd gear 4k and up to the red line

We shift in the 4k and up range after it is WARM.....occasionally I take it to the 6k limit with no issues never above as ours has 97k on the ODM.

Drive it agressively

:)

[pjq]

Thanks mcmike27 and when you say WARM I'll assume you mean above 180 water temp.