Porsche Boxster 25 Years 2022 Review

When Porsche announced the Porsche Boxster 25 Years would be coming to Australia, the price of the very low-volume model was set at just under $184,000.

For that sum of money, the anniversary model represented a $9100 price premium over the Boxster GTS 4.0 on which it’s based.

Since that announcement the price has risen to $187,200 plus on-road costs, and the test vehicle for this review tops out at $199,930 plus ORCs with options.

Standard features for the 2022 Porsche Boxster 25 Years include 20-inch alloy wheels, a Bordeaux Red fabric roof with ‘Boxster 25’ embossing, keyless entry/start, dual-zone climate control, thermally-insulated glass, front/rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, heated power-adjustable mirrors, leather upholstery in Bordeaux Red, 14-way electrically-adjustable sports seats with two-position memory and heating, brushed aluminium decorative interior trim and a leather-bound multifunction sports steering wheel.

The car’s infotainment system comprises six-speaker audio, digital radio, Apple CarPlay, Bluetooth and satellite navigation.

Among the options fitted to the test car were a Bose surround-sound system ($2230), 18-way adaptive power-adjustable sports seats ($1910), roll-over bars painted in matching body colour ($960), fold-in mirrors and seat belts in Bordeaux Red ($520).

The seven-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission adds $5390.

Porsche covers the Boxster 25 Years with a three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, and the service intervals are 12 months or 15,000km.

Soft-top convertibles are inherently dangerous if you flip them on their roof – and it’s this risk that has been at the core of prognostication all the way back to the 1970s that safety legislation would spell an end to convertibles.

It hasn’t happened yet. And good luck trying to flip a Porsche Boxster on its roof in any case...

You won’t find an ANCAP score for the 2022 Porsche Boxster 25 Years. Nor does ANCAP have safety ratings for any Porsche sold in Australia, in fact. But that shouldn’t be taken to mean that the Boxster is not safe.

As standard, the Boxster 25 Years features LED headlights with the Porsche Dynamic Light System, dual front airbags and side-impact airbags in the seats for head and thorax protection, and a fixed roll-over bar.

The headlights are excellent and appear to have drawn inspiration from Audi’s best work.

On-board driver assist technology includes lane change assist, tyre pressure monitoring and traffic sign recognition.

Surprisingly, there’s no autonomous emergency braking (AEB).

More than any car recalled in recent memory, the 2022 Porsche Boxster 25 Years is all about the sound, whether it’s bouncing back through the soft-top as the Boxster passes under a bridge, or emitting an ear-shattering howl in Sport mode.

The Boxster will box you around the ears with the bi-modal exhaust valve opened. It’s like one of those orchestral rock fusions on the move; forget Stairway to Heaven, we’re taking the autobahn to Nirvana.

But the Boxster can be mild-mannered at touring speeds too. At 100km/h the tacho reads just under 2000rpm. There’s some rumbling from the engine with the power applied even gently at that speed, but it’s an ‘at-one-with-nature’ sort of rumbling.

Performance will take one’s breath away, with the flat six hauling all the way to the redline at 7600rpm.

Launch control cranks the engine up to 5000rpm for acceleration that feels like you’ve been slung out of a catapult wielded by Goliath rather than David.

The stability control system balances the lateral torque split right up to the point where the driver backs off. It’s a super-easy system to use too, unlike similar systems from other brands. This is a system you could actually enable for readiness at a moment’s notice.

For all the engine’s stridency and overtly mechanical clatter, the idle-stop system kills the engine smoothly – and while the car is still slowing to a halt. At the other end of the traffic light sequence, however, the system fires up the engine again so quickly that you just won’t be beaten across to the other side of the intersection in this car...

This is a fuel-saving or an emissions-reduction device for sports car fans, but even on a night-time test combining country roads and some suburban arterials, when the idle-stop system saw little use, the Boxster still posted a very commendable fuel consumption figure of 9.8L/100km.

That’s particularly good from an engine displacing 4.0 litres and officially rated at 9.7L/100km.

The 2022 Porsche Boxster 25 Years is a car to convert die-hard tin-top fans to convertibles.

It initially tastes like wasabi to ice cream lovers, but after a while the hot-stuff performance mixed with the creamy mashed-potato texture of fantastic seats and remarkable steering response and handling all consort to weave a visceral experience for the driver of vanilla tastes to enjoy.

The Boxster corners assuredly, with direct, responsive steering and safe handling that is close to neutral without ever feeling like it would break into oversteer without reasonable warning.

This cornering prowess is complemented by the Boxster’s strong, surefooted braking and excellent pedal feel.

While the Boxster’s ride is jiggly at times, due to the damping, it’s very well suited to a sports car with suspension that will faithfully keep the four tyres in contact with the road as often as possible.

That said, the Boxster’s ride remains acceptably compliant, even in Sport mode.

There’s plenty of road noise from the Pirelli P Zero tyres (235/35ZR20 front, 265/35ZR20 rear) on coarse-chip bitumen surfaces. That’s practically unavoidable in a car with a folding fabric roof.

Unfortunately, there’s also much creaking and squeaking of plastics and other soft materials in the cabin, yet the structure feels quite solid otherwise.

At the helm of the Boxster it’s like a PlayStation console – albeit with more tactile sensation. There are plenty of gadgets on hand for one’s amusement, and while the ergonomics are somewhat at odds with the conventions of other brands, you don’t mind because mostly it’s fun to mess around finding out how things work by trial and error in the Porsche.

Rarely does a mystery become a cold case in the Boxster.

Tackling a driveway can require some care and even planning, due to the car’s low approach angle at the front.

The Porsche has exceptionally comfortable, figure-hugging seats, and the folding roof can be lowered or raised while the car is in motion (at low speeds).

There’s little in the way of storage space naturally, although a pocket in the lower section of the door card folds down for each door to accommodate smaller objects – which can be fished out from even the very bottom of the pocket.

The front trunk and boot are both surprisingly generous for storage space. And entering and leaving the Boxster is not as challenging as one might expect for a 60-year-old.

I’ve never been a fan of convertibles; they’re noisy and inconvenient. You have to buy a two-seater (rather than a 2+2) for peak torsional rigidity, otherwise the car can feel like a soggy sponge.

But in buying a two-seater you’re saying farewell to any practical passenger-carrying considerations for the rest of the family or more than one friend.

As age creeps up on me, furthermore, I steer clear of cars that have a hip point located around my ankles.

But for the 2022 Porsche Boxster 25 Years, I’d make allowances. Instead of backing it into the drive and scraping the underside of the nose, I would drive it in forwards, on an angle.

I would console myself that the noise in this Boxster is GOOD noise. I would even undertake to lose weight and build up my leg muscles.

And I would do anything I could to come up with the purchase price. This car is THAT good.

How much does the 2022 Porsche Boxster 25 Years cost?
Price: $192,590 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 4.0-litre six-cylinder petrol
Output: 294kW/420Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel: 9.7L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 221g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Not tested