Another week, another Porsche that’s going to be bothering the fifth star of the verdict panel. This is the Boxster Spyder, and you might remember the previous one: it was a faster, lighter, more powerful, special Boxster that had a manually operated, emergency-style hood that was difficult to remove; unless you were doing 120mph, at which point it apparently removed itself with impressive vigour.
The thinking, this time, is in part the same, only there’s more power. Quite a lot more. Instead of a Cayman S engine, which raised the power to not a lot more than a Boxster S last time, this time the Porsche has taken its cue from the recent Cayman GT4 and given the Spyder the 3.8-litre engine from the Porsche 911 Carrera S.
It makes 370bhp, rather than the 380bhp of the GT4, but that shouldn’t be a deal-breaker when you consider that the Spyder is 25kg lighter than the GT4. That’s despite the fact that the hood, this time, shaves only 10 kilos from the regular Boxster’s weight, because it’s a rather more serious affair than before.
It still requires manual dexterity – and a jog around the rear of the car – to lower or raise it, but it only takes a minute or two, rather than five or 10. It’s also fine in an automatic car wash, and can cope with the car’s full performance, of which there is plenty: a 180mph maximum speed and a 0-62mph time of 4.5sec.