MoneywebDRIVE Issue 2 | Page 14

MoneywebDrive: Review Is this the best-handling sports car in the world? Threading the new 2016 Porsche Boxter Spyder through tiny back-roads in the Tuscan hillside, you find yourself asking the question: Is this the best-handling sports car in the world right now? No matter what you throw at the car – hairpins, faster sweeps, mid-corner camber changes, bumps and ripples – this new ultralight-weight mid-engined Porsche deals with any road surface as if it was specifically developed for the precise occasion. What’s more, the new Boxter Spyder is endowed with serious grunt. It uses a 3,8-litre 12­ version of the famous horizontally-opposed Porsche motor – even the GTS has to make do with a mere 3,4 litres – and being naturally aspirated it has a power delivery that seems absolutely linear. With the relatively long travel of the throttle pedal you can dial the precise amount of power you want at any given time. Porsche is proud of the fact that they have shaved some 30 kg off the double-streamliner Spyder version of the Boxter, and that the all-in un-laden weight now stands at 1 315 kg. Given that the engine pumps out a robust 276 kW and 420 Nm between 4 750 and 6 000 rpm, you’ll get an idea of the thought