Porsche Part III

By far the best car that I drove at the Porsche event was the new special edition Boxster Spyder.  Essentially, it is a lighter harder version of the traditional Boxster S.  When you first get into the Boxster Spyder there several things you will notice.  The first will be that the seats that you find in a Boxster or any other Porsche are gone and replaced with a recaro racing seat devoid of any padding at all.  It's not so bad though, because despite the hardness it isn't that uncomfortable; even I fit in it, and I'm really fat.

By far the best change is the PDK gearbox.  The actual gears in the Boxster Spyder are the same as in the other PDK cars: the 911, Cayenne, and Cayman.  But, in the Spyder gone are the clumsy and awkward push-it-forward to shift up and pull-it-closer to shift down.  Instead, Porsche has given the Spyder the F1 style paddles that double-clutch gearboxes really deserve.  You notice the difference instantly.  The old PDK system required far too much attention to avoid changing gear in the wrong direction.  The new paddles are instantly intuitive and let you focus all of your attention on driving.  I can't wait until Porsche offers the paddles on all of their cars.