Bad Karma

what?

ELUSIVE

Whoever wrote that article clearly has something against Porsche's by the statements that he makes..and that's ok. Every other article that i've read between the two picks the Porsche as the winner even despite having less power. I agree with their conclusion.

Chris C.

Clearly biased, but the M car is undoubtedly fun and a viable alternative. I had an MZ3 and were it not for it's outmoded suspension it was a fun car - the one that hooked me on Cabriolets actually.

Mabuhay

Sorry, my mistake, I meant that the Z4's heated seats are MUCH better than my Boxster's heated seats (not that the Boxster S does not have heated seats). It heats up FASTER and has a "higher setting". Seems like the Boxster's "high" is barely warmer than the Z4's low. The Boxster's "low" is barely even noticeable. The "11 speaker" BLOSE in my car is an absolute joke compared to the Carver/HK system in the Z4 which iss "THX approved". Even my wife noticed the difference. When my wife (or someone else who doesn't really care about these things) notices the difference, then there's definitely a BIG difference. The roof of the Z4 comes down in 10 secs AND does not require a 2 step process with a "latch". My 987 Boxster S with 4k miles sounds and feels like an absolute dog below 3k rpms. The Z4 sounded better (even better than the M Roadster).

As I pointed out, in "daily driving" (i.e. - below 4k rpms), the Z4 wins out. Somewhere in this forum or another forum, I posted pics where the torque curve of the Boxster S actually takes a "dip". The curve looks like an "M" whereas the BMW's engines look pretty flat like a table. I assume this "dip" is due to the car switching cam profiles or something. It's noticeable, and you can definitely feel it.

Michael Russell

RE: the article in EVO is not at all "biased". All the author is saying is simply that there is a constituent in this marketplace, that does not like Porsche because of the stigma associated with the brand. The author is not saying that is HIS feeling, simply that a part of the marketplace will have that opinion, and for that will choose BMW instead.

Reread the article, it is very flattering of the Boxster.

Michael

Bad Karma

"In a magazine that lives for the thrill of driving, that's enough to give it the nod by the narrowest of margins."

Yes, it is very flattering of the Box, but he never did qualify why not being a Porsche is an attribute.

Chris C.

It is flattering of the car as the Boxster is unmatched in its all around performance, but to Karma's point...the BMW scores additional points (in the author's own words) for not being a Porsche. A bit of sour grapes, or a reflection of public sentiment we don't know....but it is a bias.

Bad Karma

I would happily take either car.

bigmac

Buy the best/mint 928 that you can find and rule the world.

Chris C.

Woah love the 928 and all -recently seen several nice ones in ATL- but a sports car of this ilk it aint!

Michael Cain

1. The Bose Stereo fitted to both cars, the Cayman and Boxster 987 are the same unit.
I am not a stereo expert and have not heard the bmw unit, but can say with open arms that the Bose system fitted to my car is truely excellent and anyone reading your claim should at least get a less biased opinion. The Bose is awesom and this article proves it, comparing bmw and the Porsche systems: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do.../pageId=102967

2. Heated seats, the Porsche has 2 settings and the bwm has 3, if you check both manuals you will see that the heat produced from both cars seats is actually the same. By the way, when you were doing your comparison tests here, were you jumping from car to the next and checking the temp of both heated seats. You must have had one hot ***! or was that your head?

3. Roof operation, So BMW goes up 2 seconds quicker than the Porsche, big deal, I don’t really think you can use this fact in helping your artificial claims that the bmw is a better car. Come on! By the way I really like the fact that you can make the roof go up and down at speeds up to 31 mph in the porsche. Can you do that in the BMW??? or maybe you can! and in your opinion it is 100 times better because it goes up and down at 33 mph!

4. Thanks for replying to most of my points, but you seamed to have missed one big one out? the one why the 10 test reviewers from road and track, put the bmw Z4 3.0 in 7th place and the Porsche Boxster S in 2nd place... I am still waiting.... or maybe their opinions dont really count.

5. Finally, just regarding your comments on the the torque curve, “The Z4’s engine could definitely benefit from more power. The 3.0-liter inline-6 produces 225 bhp at 5900 rpm and 214 lb.-ft. of torque at 3900 — second lowest of the group and just ahead of the Lotus Elise. Not at all embarrassing when looking at the big picture, but in this bunch, it’s the place kicker on the football team. That it registered a respectable 5.5-sec. zero-to-60-mph time is a credit to BMW engineers for keeping the car’s weight down (3110 lb.). But it was still no match against the other, more powerful cars on the track.” These are words from the experts, not mine. read the article.

At the end of the day the Z4 3.0 is good car but the Porsche Boxster 987 S is a great car!

Mabuhay

Why don't you go and read my posts? YOU are the biased one. I OWN BOTH CARS (with the Boxster S being the later addition). Do you think I would have bought the Boxster S if I thought it sucked? If you do a search on "Bose" in any of the forums, you'll find that people say don't get it since it's not worth it. I bought it anyway since I said, "How bad could it be?". Like you said, you "never heard the bmw unit". So all I'm saying is that the BLOSE sucks compared to the BMW Z4's.

You know, what can I tell you? If I own both cars (I did sell the Z4), I should know. How do they take their measurements? Do they take the measurement at one point on the seat or several points? Irregardless, the proof is in the pudding. It's annoying how you contest something without actually having owned the Z4. Again, I own BOTH.

The BMW, in my unbiased opinion, IS a better car for day to day driving. You are the biased one in making statements without actual learned facts to prove it to yourself. To your point, I DO love the fact that the roof goes up/down while driving - plus it looks cool. I was merely commenting that someone posted it was fast at 12 seconds, but the BMW's is faster at 10 and does not require you to "latch" it afterwards.

Of course they do count! That's one of the reasons why I TEST DROVE one. And THEN, after I learned I loved it, I BOUGHT ONE. Did you simply buy a Boxster (assuming you have one) since the mags gave it a great review? If that's the case, you probably have owned a Chevy Impala or something like that when MotorTrend crowned it COY.

I did read the article. In fact, I have 2 of the mags. One to read and the other to keep in "mint" condition as part of my "Boxster S" collection. I have several Boxster S advertisings FRAMED. But again, the proof is in the pudding. From my mag collection, I can point you out to several mags that will tell you that the Boxster S is seriously underpowered...Why? Because it can't be faster than the 911. All I'm saying with the Z4 is that it FEELS faster and it FEELS better in day to day driving when tooling around under 4k rpms. Now don't tell me that you test drove the Z4 and it felt slower yada yada yada. I owned the Z4 for 3+ years. I also have 14 years of racing+driving schools under my belt - so stop the comments like "it's in my head" or whatever. The Boxster S is FASTER when I do "0 to 60" runs and it screams super sounds when getting there since you're over 4k rpms. The Z4 is the more driveable car in day to day driving.

I can give you a zillion reasons why I love the Boxster S; most of them are centered on driving - i.e. clutch feel, steering feel, brake feel, transitions, slip angle, etc. It's like performing road surgery. The Z4 has pluses more geared towards daily driving - i.e. not performing road surgery.

So... still think I'm biased?

ELUSIVE

Performance, who cares about performance when they're so close.
The 987S is beautiful and the Z4 is absolutley f@(*ing ugly!

Mad_Hun

The other thing you're forgeting is price. I got the Z4 for $38k with xenons, sport suspension, premium package and heated seats. That's a whopping $10k off of sticker. This includes 18-inch wheels, full leather, premium sound, metallic paint, 6-speed and some other minor extras that would have been extra on the Porsche.

A similarly optioned base 987 (not an S) would sticker for $52 - 54k. Even with the ~12% discount that I hear some people are getting, that comes to $45.5 to $47.5k. Alternatively I could have gone with a stripper 987, which would sticker for around $46k and sell for $40,500 (-12%). As I don't particularly need all the luxury or premium equipment of the BMW, I thought about it. And had I fit comfortably, I might have sprung for it, but combined with the tighter fit, Porsche simply demands too much of a premium for a minimally equipped car.

It helps that I find the Z4 rather attractive (although I admit that the 987 is better looking).

ELUSIVE

I'm very curious how you got 21% off a new Z4.
Was this a brand new car? What year? Demo model? How many miles were on it? Who drove the miles?
Very nice price though. $10K off a $48K car is huge.
I agree with you that the comfortable factor is big. That's certainly my biggest gripe about the car.

As far as Porsche demanding too much of a premium...just about every article that i've read between two cars says that the Porsche is more expensive and worth every penny!