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When the original Boxster was launched every motoring journalist was quick with the praise, except for Andrew Frankel
I guess what I hated about the Porsche Boxster was not so much the car as the concept. If the 911 was a triumph of evolution over engineering, so the original Boxster's victory was one of style over substance. And I dreaded what it would do to the marque.
At the time, I have to say I was made to feel pretty mean-minded even to harbour such uncharitable opinions. In stark contrast to the abundant riches it enjoys today, Porsche was deep in the ordure without two pfennig to rub together, and it was clear it needed a car that would sell to people who'd buy chicken pox if it had a Porsche badge. The Boxster was the result and, no question, it saved the company. But that didn't mean I had to like it. Ever felt you were in a minority of one? When Porsche launched the Boxster, I can't remember a single dissenting voice other than my own, and my bleatings were comprehensively drowned by the tidal wave of purple prose ridden by what seemed like every other hack on the planet. They saw the future, a visionary car, a landmark; I saw a sell-out.
Nor was I getting snotty about it having 'only' 204bhp. The 911SC got along just fine on no more and I loved that car. My problem was that it didn't feel like a Porsche should: it was too flabby, too heavy and insufficiently rewarding to drive extremely fast. If this were an Audi, a Mercedes or even a BMW, I'd have felt a lot less strongly about it. But this was Porsche, the marque that had been responsible for more truly great driver's cars than any other, Ferrari included. In 2.5-litre form, the Boxster was not a driver's car: it was a poseur's car.
I can remember writing at the time that what was needed, just to reassure those for whom the importance of Porsche extended beyond being seen in one, was a Boxster Club Sport: rip out all the needless addenda and electrics, stiffen it up and sell it at a sizeable discount. Such a car would not only have been truer to the brand, it would also have brought Porsche ownership to a still wider audience. But, of course, Porsche took one look at the orderly queues forming outside its dealers and realized the Boxster would do all that was ever hoped of it and more without resorting to such a niche model. Yet, while they would never admit it, I think Porsche knew it could only abandon its heartland for so long; the evidence coming in the form of the superb Boxster S, which was transformed in every area from its chassis and brakes to its engine and gearbox. It looked the same, but I can remember as if it were yesterday my first drive in one. I noted, as I always do, how disappointing it looked compared to the original concept and how Porsche's ergonomists had completely ignored anyone over 6ft 2in. But as the road opened out, I knew (certainly within minutes, and probably within seconds) that I was back in a proper Porsche. It all seemed such a far cry from the old 2.5-litre Boxster, a car that is long gone but, by me at least, far from forgotten.
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