Cars are boring...

So this weekend I decided to treat myself and hire a Porsche Boxster S,
just to see if (a) I fit in one, and (b) when they're like to drive.

Then the hire company offered me 48 hours in a Merc SLK55 AMG for a
good price to compare, so I'm currently playing in that until tomorrow.

I'm happy to say I fit in both quite well, a couple of hours hooning in
the Boxster and my back and the rest of me is fine, same for the AMG.

Boxster S 3.2 flat 6, 282bhp
AMG 5.5 V8, 355bhp

Not much difference in power on paper, but one hell of a big difference
in how they deliver it. Boxsters power doesn't really kick in until ~5k
rpm so you have to keep it on song, but luckily the tiptronic box is
very, *very* good at doing that.

AMGs power, well, **** me, I've heard the expression "pulls like a
train" used before, but its never been more appropriate. The AMGs auto
box is a lot quicker at shifting cogs than the Boxsters, so when you
put your foot down, at any speed (I've done) it just drops a few, pins
you to the seat and goes into warp mode.

Handling; the Boxster is typical Porsche. Perfect balance, stupendous
grip, very nice ride with no crashing over bumps. With the amount of
grip its got vs. the power I found it quite hard to deliberately make
the back drift. (at least on public roads and knowing I'd loose my
£3500 security deposit thingy)

The AMG, I suppose the shit loads of extra torque the V8 produces
helps, but that things stupidly easy to slide round. The handling isn't
anywhere (relatively) as balanced as the Porsche, but perversely I
found that to be a lot more fun. The AMG you can have fun and be a
silly bugger all you want, the Porsche you find out you're going a lot
faster than you thought and the damn things still gripping the road
like glue.

They both sound fucking gorgeous.

The 'tiptronic' box in the Porsche, the stupid manual gearchange on the
steering wheel, they've got a rocker button with + and - on it, one of
these buttons on either side. They're fiddly to use and frankly shit.
The Mercs system is far better, two simple paddles behind the steering
wheel (which I still hate) but the gear stick can just be pushed to the
left or right to change up/down. Way easier to use.

Best car? Dunno. Ideally I'll have the handling of the Porsche, engine
and box from AMG, interior of AMG, computerised gubbins from Porsche.
If I had to choose I'd pick the AMG, keeping in mind the bloody traffic
and typical driving I do.

And for a laugh I worked out using the mpgs (20 and 14.5) how much it'd
cost me to get to work and back for a week:
Passat £50
Volvo £65
Porsche £130
AMG £170

And £500 every 4000 miles for tyres.

 

you should have tried the manual transmission - much more fun in a
sportscar.

 

My car isn't boring ;-)

--
Steve
Jaguar XKR
Velocette Venom Clubman
Velocette Venom Thruxton
Milk floats, stainless steel sinks

 

nor is the one I'm in at the mo

 

darsy banged the rocks together and they said :

Wearing my UKRMHRC badge with pride, if I got a manual I wouldn't be
able to drive it for long before pain sets in.

So I've got the choice of buy a manual that will inflame the dodgy knee
or buy an auto, have a bit less fun, but be able to drive it whenever
and for how long I want.

 

fair enough.

 

[snip]

And not to mention the purchase price! The AMG is hardly comparable to the
Boxster in terms of cost.

 

I think you'll find it more like 500bhp.

The one I had for a day was fucking amazingly powerfull and I loved it
but at £110k it was a little more than I had on me at the time.

 

It's the SLK. Merc claim 360bhp
It has the Speedshift dual clutch 7 speed auto. no wonder Frag liked the
slushbox!

Frag is comparing two completely different cars (duh obviously). He
might as well compare the Boxter to the 997 model Carrera S.

Now the C2S against the SLK? Hmm £70k+ against £51k. WGAF I know what
I'd go for. Anyway I expect the SLK will depreciate like a 1980's Skoda.

 

You wouldn't think so, the amount of fucking coverage they get in this
newsgroup.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..87753../..22653.../..31893.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 84 Pts:1800 Miles:5704

 

Wait until winter arrives and the posts start drifting towards the
"you'll never guess how much ice I had to scrape off this morning"
type of bollocks.

 

The SL55 accelerates faster than any other car I've driven, tremendous
fun and it has a boot that'll take all your shopping. The Boxster is
more affordable...

I can't afford either of them, so for me it's accademic...

The ride in an Elise is hard and climbing in and out is so much of a
struggle, not suitable for 6 footers... But it is fun to drive on good
smooth roads... I'm working on one atm, fibreglass cars, the bodies
crack with the vibration, same with the Vauxhall VX 220's, but they're
more affordable still. If you're going down the fibreglass route,
consider a TVR T350, good fun to drive and some great paint schemes...

Heh, I drive a Nissan Almera and a Sherpa van...

 

Eh? There's an additional 25% 'on paper' which in my book qualifies as a
**** of a lot.

 

<cough>
as I said....

 

Slider banged the rocks together and they said :

Well, I suspect the hire company knew that the SLK350 is comparable to
the Boxster, but as they didn't have one offered me the AMG instead.

And jolly glad I am to.

 

Hog banged the rocks together and they said :

Ah, dual clutch, that'll explain it then.

Boxster vs. SLK350 is a fair comparison in terms of price, power, etc.

Hire company has a Boxster. Hire company knows the SLK350 is an
alternative but doesn't have one, so hire company offers me AMG.

I'm not stupid, I know its 30% more price and power, but it is similar
in lots of ways to the SLK350, so I can "compare" the two taking into
account the fact the 350 will have less power & loose the AMG niceties.

Hiring an SLK350 from somewhere else would have cost me more as these
lot did me a deal.

 

Andy Bonwick banged the rocks together and they said :

But which store credit card does work best as an ice-scraper?

 

Owen banged the rocks together and they said :

According to my sources [1] the SL*K* 55 is only 0.2 secs slower in the
0-62 sprint than the SL55.

Which ain't bad considering its 33k to 60k cheaper and 140bhp down.


[1] Duh [2] interweb
[2] Word used intentionally

 

banged the rocks together and they said :

I'm used to working in electrickery stuff where you need to square the
power to get twice the volume (using decibels as an example).

So I'm (still) suprised a 25% increase in power makes as much
difference as it does.

Saying that I went down to the Porsche guys, 911virgin today and took
the sales guy out for a spin in the SLK.

Initial reaction was "Not really that impressed", until I found a long
enough stretch of road to keep it planted past 100 and it changed to
"Hmm, it is quick actually isn't it?".

Just reminds me of the 9R, doesn't matter if you're doing 50 or 130,
right gear, open it up and it takes off. <misses bike>

 

you're just jealous because you /can't even drive!!!/