Porsche Boxster S Sport

How do you improve on perfection? If you’re Porsche, you launch a new suspension set-up for the brilliant Boxster.

The company’s entry-level two-seater isn’t exactly short of driver appeal, but that hasn’t stopped engineers developing a more hardcore chassis option for the mid-engined model.

Available only on top-of-the-range S cars, the more focused chassis set-up is expected to cost around £1,000. For that you get a 20mm lower ride height, firmer spring rates and much stiffer anti-roll bars.

The Sport also has standard dampers in place of the adaptive ones used on cars with the similarly priced Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) system.

So, what’s this Sport like to drive? It’s brilliant on track, where it only takes a few corners to find it’s got more grip than a standard S, while body roll is almost non-existent. As with other Boxsters, you get beautifully balanced mid-engined handling, plus precise steering brimming with feedback.

Our car was fitted with the eye-wateringly expensive £4,977 ceramic brakes, which deliver ferocious stopping power and don’t fade under hard use. Also included was Porsche’s slick-shifting £1,922 PDK twin-clutch gearbox, which combines with £146 steering-wheel gearshift paddles to boost the Boxster’s roadgoing race-car feel.

In everyday driving away from the track, the addition of Sport suspension demands more compromises, however. The stiffer springs and dampers result in a much firmer ride, while on bumpy back roads, this Porsche requires more concentration and steering corrections to keep it pointed in the right direction.

It’s not exactly a bone-shaker, but it can’t match the composure and comfort of a Boxster fitted with the hi-tech PASM set-up.