Suicide Jockey

I get the Quattro Quarterly, the magazine of the Audi Club of North America, and Giovanni Tomasi has a great article in this current issue entitled "Nannies." Some choice quotes:

"Perhaps the fact that I was born when Enzo Ferrari was arguing the superiority of drum brakes over discs makes me an old timer, but I believe that much of what makes our automobiles smarter is simply to compensate for drivers becoming dumber."

"When Mary Peters was US Secretary of Transportation in 2006 one of her primary objectives was to make highways safer. I immediately thought of initiatives such as insurance discounts for graduates of Street Survival teenage safety schools, car control clinics, HPDEs, and similar driver improving initiatives. Unfortunately, her focus was on gadgets in vehicles to compensate for drivers' inadequacies. It was an omen of things to come: ten short years later, drivers' safety is now considered what the vehicle can do rather than the skill of the individual piloting the fast moving and potentially lethal mechanical device."

"These Nannies may make the average driver mainly concerned with balancing the mocha latte, checking emails, and listening to iTunes while getting from point A to point B safer until fully autonomous vehicles become the norm. The automotive aficionado realizes that they are part of the devolution of the driver into just a passenger, rather than the progression into a true pilot who understands vehicle dynamics."

"The Italian language has two terms for drivers: 'Guidatore' who guides the vehicle on the road, and 'Piloti' -- a racer and sports car enthusiast who becomes one with the machine. Perhaps we enjoy HPDE and amateur races so much because, in spite of the proliferation of the Nanny-mobiles, we are reminded that there are still 'Piloti' who become one with the machine -- in spite of those Nannies occasionally trying to intervene!"

Amen.

MagicRat

Amen again. I wonder if the next decade will see more people who want to go fast and be at one with their machine turn to bikes. Not going to be a self-riding one of those for a while!

spyderphile

Actually, I fully support autonomous vehicles. I am hoping it becomes a reality within 5 years. And, hope that it is affordable at Camry or Civic price points.

Number one reason for all the crashes and fatalities is human error! Most people can't drive or park! Their attention span is short. Their everyday lives are challenged by harsh realities of life. They can't focus. Getting from Point A to Point B is just a chore. The list goes on!

If autonomous vehicles (semi or not) can mitigate all these problems, the roads will be a lot safer. I am forgetting the actual stats; Google's self-driving cars racked up 3-4 million miles. They had about 15 crashes. All caused by humans, except I believe two. In one of those two instances, a human was partially responsible (didn't break in time and rear-ended). Being a motorcycle rider, I just can't wait for the day when all these zombies are taken out of the equation.

The progress is happening rapidly. All the driver aids such as smart cruise control, auto parking, rev matching, etc. are paving the way for that eventuality. So, if you are a driving connoisseur, hoard up on analog vehicles and enjoy the technological revolution around us!

Suicide Jockey

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...yman-s-review/

Phil G.

Henry, assuming what you say actually comes to be, can I buy your Spyder?

spyderphile

Ha, nice try, Phil! Guys (and, gals) like you and I are gonna be rowing our own gears (with manual rev matching!!), driving an old, slow, gas guzzling roadster, get passed by whippersnappers in their shiny new electric Porsches. We would get called relics of the past and worse! We would pay more for insurance since we will be driving as opposed to being driven. But, guess what, we are gonna love it, till the point of collapse!

Phil G.

Allstate will have pry that 6MT from my cold dead hands.....

John@Fabspeed

Well Said

Underblu

No one has to prove anything to you because your premise is flawed. Unless people are buying Boxsters for the specific purpose of racing them professionally "superior" is not only a relative term but a highly subjective one.

I don't care that Porsche can squeeze 2/10 or 3/10 of a second out of a 4 banger turbo engine sprinting to 60. To me and many others, a turbo 4 undermines the ethos of what a Porsche is. The response and feel of a turbo 4 engine is very different then the iconic flat 6 engine that for many of us is at the heart of what a Porsche should be.

Sure, a 718S will give you that instant turbo torque jolt and will be a little quicker but the response is more Subaru like then classic Porsche and while that may not be necessarily bad, it sure as hell doesn't make it superior. A turbo 4 with the necessary PDK and SC+ to get those slight performance gains is far too high of a price to pay for going a little bit quicker.

To me and many of us, superior is rowing though a beautiful MT as you wind out a flat 6 and that glorious engine howls behind you.

Suicide Jockey

PCA's celebration of the Boxster's 20th anniversary with this comparison of a '97 986 Boxster and a new 718 (not intended as a detailed road test of either car, but rather a tribute to how good the cars are and the clear lineage they share despite their 20-year age difference). Maybe more 986 content than 718, but nice to see the cars together.

The 718 looks very nice! Wasn't initially won over by the tail treatment, but now I'm coming around.

https://www.pca.org/news/boxster-01.17

Gallatin

Nice video--thanks for sharing it!!!

Suicide Jockey

Not sure if this January C&D review of a 718 Boxster (not S) w/PDK has already been posted:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...ic-test-review

Here's a 718 Boxster S Review from Popular Mechanics (Ezra Dyer) dated January 23, 2017, entitled: "When Is a Porsche Not Really a Porsche? Is the new 718 Boxster S worthy of its Stuttgart badge? We brought one to a Porsche-only track day to find out."

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...718-boxster-s/

Finally, a Motor Trend review of six cars including an M2 and a 718 Boxster S. Hint: The 718 S smokes the competition but comes in second to an unlikely "competitor."

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/fiat/...1C34AE7A776FCE

Suicide Jockey

^^^^I've only driven the 718 Boxster S (and that was only for a brief stint), but I've read a lot about the 718 in its various configurations and the overall consensus from people who write about cars for a living is this thing is a bona-fide weapon. I think Porsche tried to silence would-be critics by making the car's performance figures drown out protestations about engine choice or sound, and I think they are succeeding. I know a car isn't all about numbers, but man, you do have to tip your hat.

Tell me it doesn't feel great to read about a car from your favorite marque putting out these kinds of performance figures and spanking everything in sight.

caymannyc

Spankinng what exactly? A 2010 Z06 Corvette bone stock at $70k is faster than every single Porsche bar the 918 and GT2RS (ok fine and the LMP1 hybrid). The Turbos and what have you are incredibly slow compared to the vette and GTR.

Marine Blue

Motor Trends comparo results were interesting since ther primary focus was the fun factor of the car. I'm not surprised that the Fiat won, it's the slowest car of the group.

You can't really appreciate and fully enjoy many of the newer Porsches (or other high performance cars for that matter) because their capabilities are beyond access on public roads. I bet if they tossed the 987 Spyder into that comparo it would have handily won but alas it's not a current model.