A boxful of treats

The rich are different from you and I. For one thing, they can opt to park a truly delectable, spanking new Porsche under their Christmas trees this yule if they wanted to. Finding a tree big enough for the task probably won’t be much of a problem either. If they have the cash to get a Porsche, they surely have some left to get a sizable tree too.

Fortunately, impoverished motoring reporters can–if not altogether park a Porsche at home–at least get a taste of the Porsche experience, even if it’s no more than one of those drive-around-the-block routines. What more, there’s no need for any silly tree.

Last week, official local Porsche distributor PGA Cars treated members of the motoring press to lunch and a quick drive of a couple of Porsches–a screaming red Boxster, and a fresh-from-the-docks silver Boxster S, which still even had shipping blocks in its suspension.

As a lot of folks know, the Boxster has been a sensation in the sports car universe since its introduction almost six years ago. With good reason, too, because this is the first mid-engine Porsche street car in a long time. Not since the 914 in the early ‘70s, a car that Porsche–wrongly or rightly–chooses to forget.

Like Boxsters everywhere, the red beauty that was ours for the taking that day was powered by a 2.7-liter, six-cylinder engine that churns out 220 horsepower. Mounted just a few inches aft of the lucky passenger and even luckier driver, the motor is of the horizontally-opposed configuration, or what’s referred to by Porsche as the Boxer engine. Placed in a roadster, the car is thus called Boxster.

Rowing through the gears is a pleasure, since the car was equipped with the nifty Tiptronic transmission option. This meant you could leave the gear in "D" and let the car do the shifting, or place it in manual mode to swap gears yourself. All accomplished by flicking a switch on the steering wheel too. And the response between gear changes is almost as instantaneous as in a clutch pedal-equipped car.

Driving through the crowded streets of Greenhills, the car can barely stretch its legs, only managing to reach a couple of ticks shy of the engine’s redline in second gear. That is not saying it’s slow, however, because by then the car was speeding at about a hundred kph already. With cars backing out of driveways, that’s really fast.

Thankfully, Porsches’ brakes are legendary, the Boxster’s definitely not an exception. Hauling the large and quite handsome 17-inch alloys down are a quad of internally vented discs gripped by monobloc four-piston calipers. Translation: Porsches are the best-braking production cars in the planet. Which is quite reassuring. But then again, in the unfortunate event of a crashed Boxster, instant death seems a particularly more appealing option than to be saved by the car’s host of active and passive safety devices, which includes traction control, ABS, cabin reinforcements and a slew of airbags. Because who would want to live a life of penury paying off a wrecked car?

If the "regular" Boxster is intoxicating, the extra-strength top-model Boxster S is downright potent. Though riding on the same McPherson struts suspended chassis with transverse control arms, the Boxster S brags a larger 3.2-liter engine that produces 250 horsepower at 6250 rpm and 305 newton meter of torque at the 4500 rpm mark. Official Porsche literature reckons the standard six-speed transmission equipped car can top 260 kph and reach the 100 kph mark in a scant 5.9 seconds.

At the Porsche World Roadshow a couple of years back, we were allowed to flog a Boxster S all day long in acceleration, braking and handling demos. Trust us, those aforementioned figures are easy to believe. In whatever guise, however, both cars are equipped with all the luxurious toys and gizmos a car in this price range should have.

After all, buyers in this segment are a picky lot. As PGA Cars’ general manager Lito Jose said, "Porsche buyers are car lovers and enthusiasts, and they know what they want in a car."

Jose also noted the current state of the economy has not affected luxury car sales all that much, particularly those of Porsches. "Compared to the same period last year, our sales figures are basically the same," he said. "While some of our customers may be holding back a bit, especially those whose businesses are feeling the crunch, our sales remain steady." Which is remarkable, considering that the Boxster costs about P4.2 million and the S model anywhere from P6.2 to P6.5 million, depending on the options.

Yes, the rich are truly different from you and I. But that’s not contempt; that’s envy.