Porsche Boxster S manual

Behold the glory box!

The tricky thing about reviewing the new Porsche Boxster is actually trying to find fault with it. Erm, the banana colour of our test car perhaps?

Okay, so no car is perfect. But the new Boxster S gets damn close. And it goes beyond this baby's superb performance - we're talking about its ownership proposition (no car keeps its value like a Boxster), its build quality, its technological brilliance and sheer desirability.

The latest incarnation is hurled along by an up-rated 3.2-litre six-cylinder engine that sits over your shoulder, but in front of the rear axle for optimum weight distribution. And there's another, far more visceral benefit too: the noise. It is completely irrational that a brutal mechanical device such as the internal combustion engine can create a noise that plays silly buggers with your emotions, but the Boxster's musical engine somehow does.

The engine note is cemented in a deep, bassy thrum, augmented by a howling exhaust. Even when the electrically operated roof is up, the sound is still there and still pleasurable, all the right notes reaching you in the right order. When the roof's down, you're plugged into surround sound.

The controls are excellent, from the revised, short-shift six-speed gearbox to the perfectly weighted pedals. The steering is equally precise, and the multi-adjustable driving position spot on. The optional, clutchless Tiptronic S shifter should be avoided, though, as it adds slack to an otherwise taut drivetrain. Ha! We've found something to criticise.

Eighty per cent of the Boxster is all new including the interior, which is nicely trimmed, beautifully put together and stacked with features including an optional lap timer - part of the Sport Chrono Package. Elsewhere, there's a head-airbag system that's a world first for open top cars.

Overall, the package is a motoring magnum opus - engine, manual gearbox, chassis and suspension working together in perfect harmony. And this is an important point in the open-top roadster class, because as good as the Boxster's rivals are, none get close to the Porsche's essential sense of togetherness.

The BMW Z4's styling is beguiling, its engine superb, but it rides with the grace of a wooden cart on cobbles. The Mercedes SLK has a trick folding hardtop roof and the best chassis dynamics of any modern high-production Merc, but it's not the tenacious sports car that the Boxster is.

No matter what your preconceptions are of this car, and no matter what you think of the people who drive them, this is the finest open-top sports car on the market. It has perhaps two rivals, and they're both from the same marque: the standard 240bhp Boxster and the new 911 Cabriolet. That says a hell of a lot about Porsche, don't you think?