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    2011 PORSCHE BOXSTER SPYDER

We've long had big-time love for Porsche's delicious Boxster, a car that-like its vaunted older brother, the mighty 911-seems only to get better every year. And so we celebrate Porsche's addition of a third, range-topping model to the Boxster family: the 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder.

Perhaps the sexiest Boxster ever, the Spyder's chief alterations include a new rear spoiler and a single-piece tonneau cover with fairings that extend rearward from the seats. The Spyder also does away with the standard Boxster's rounded softtop in favor of a lighter, bikini-style fabric top that stretches back like a tent part way over the rear fenders. Porsche attributes further weight loss for the Spyder model to its aluminum door skins and pullstrap-outfitted interior door panels from the 911 GT3 RS. There are also lightweight racing seats and a hoodless instrument cluster like the one found in the Boxster RS60 Spyder limited
edition from 2008. According to Porsche, the overall weight savings compared with the Boxster S

stands at 176 pounds; the last Boxster S convertible we weighed, an example with the PDK dual-clutch gearbox, came in at 3220 pounds. We don't know, though, exactly which Boxster S and Spyder configurations Porsche is using to form the basis of its weight comparison.

Mechanically, the Spyder gets the Cayman S's direct-injected, 3.4-liter flat-six engine with 320 hp, 10 more than a normal Boxster S. The power is made all the more usable with a standard limited-slip differential. The Spyder also gets its own 10-spoke wheel design and rides on a suspension that is lowered by a 0.8 inch. Porsche claims that
when equipped with the PDK transmission and Sports Chrono package, the car hits 60 mph in 4.6 seconds on its way to a top-down top speed of 166 mph.

This hottest Boxster-which will be a regular series-production model, and not limited-goes on sale in February of 2010 as a 2011 model at a price of $61,200.

BY STEVE SILER
Car and Driver
November 2009

Lightweight, powerful, quintessentially open, and highly efficient to boot- that's the formula behind Porsche's most successful road and racing sports cars. It started with the legendary 550 Spyder and continues in the RS Spyder, which is extremely successful in Le Mans and American Le Mans Series racing. The latest Porsche Spyder, a new addtition to the Boxster line, will surely please a host of Porsche customers when it makes its worldwide debut in December at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Available in February 2010, this new version of the Porsche mid-engine roadster very visibly embodies the essential form of the Porsche sports car. At 2,811 pounds, it is also the lightest model in the entire Porsche model range.

Even at first glance, the new Boxster Spyder differs distinctly from the other models of the Boxster family. It's designed primarily for open-top driving: the low and lightweight fabric top, which extends far to the rear, merely serves as a shield against sun and weather. When closed-and in combination with the low side windows and the top protruding scoops on the fastback tail-this top lends the Boxster Spyder some semblance to the Carrera GT. A lower center of gravity, substantially less weight than a Boxster S, and a brand-new sport suspension ensure that the Boxster Spyder delivers the vehicle dynamics its design suggests.

The 3.4-liter six-cylinder direct-injection engine delivers 320 horsepower, ten more than in the Boxster S. With the Porsche double-clutch transmission (PDK) and the Sport Chrono Package, the new Spyder can accelerate-thanks to the launch Control-from zero to 62 mph in 4.8 seconds. Top track speed is 166 mph-with the top down, of course.

In its basic concept, the entire Boxster family ranks as successor to the legendary 550 Spyder of 1953: all share a mid-engine and roadster design, low weight, faithfulness to the Porsche lineage, superb agility, and, of course, the resulting driving pleasure. The original two-seater was the first sports car from Stuggart Zuffenhausen designed specifically for racing. It was also street legal. In the ensuing years, the 550 Spyder, which weighed 1,213 pounds, earned many victories both on racing circuits and in the road races that were popular at the time. The Type 550 was the forebear of other, extremely successful Porsche Spyders, such as the 718 RS 60 OF 1960. In honor of this legendary racing car, Porsche built limited Boxster special editions with the Spyder name, in both 2004 and 2008.

The newest Porsche to wear the Spyder name is destined to carry on the Spyder legend as well.


By
Reiner Schloz
Christophorus
Dec 2009/Jan 2010

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2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder