2013 Porsche Boxster S Manual - Was the 981S the Best Generation? (POV Binaural Audio) 

Always a good day when Tedward is in a Porsche!

These are SO quiet without the PSE. That option is a must

Had this car, great ride and tons of fun and I appreciated the fact that the ‘13s did not have auto blip, because I wanted to learn to rev match/heel toe myself. Got pretty good at it! Then sold the car last year and upgraded to a 981 Spyder, which is the best car I’ve ever driven. NEVER selling it!

981 GTS with PTV, PASM, PSE, yes best sound and perfect power to weight balance.

981 Boxster S is definitely my favorite car I've driven. I would get one in a heart beat. It's easy to drive but feels nice and low and sporty... I could daily it but also could take it to the back roads and have a blast. It does it all.

Sometimes we only learn to appreciate the good stuff after we lose it...nowadays, looking back at what Porsche offered 10 years ago, it was so interesting...

This is such a great size for a roadster. This on a beautiful mountain road, top down with that soundtrack and the manual...

Love that you are giving the Boxster it's due credit. I own many Porsches and the Boxster is still one of the most satisfying to drive with the top down and tearing up a good canyon road. It's a shame many people will pass it up as "poor man's 911" and will never really know how great and balanced Porsche's mid-engined cars are. Nice review, thanks!

Seeing where the prices are on these right now they are seriously tempting, especially since you'd have to spend like 80-100K at least on a new one to get a flat-6

It's hard to beat a well-optioned 981S. About to pass 100k miles in my Cayman S after buying it ~4 years ago w/ 23k miles. Passed up an MSRP allocation on a 718 4.0 GTS because I'm so happy with my car already, especially for the price.

6 cylinder >>> 4 cylinder

Regarding the steering, the EPS can be programmed to use the 991.1 GT3's steering calibration. Forum users on rennlist said it's a big improvement, I will probably try it myself soon

I have the 2.7 Base and it's an absolute blast to drive. I don't understand all the hate the Boxster gets

1:54, I think this is just a thing with 2010's VW group products. In our Audi you just have to have the infotainment powered off before turning off the car and when you restart the car the infotainment will be off and the radio doesn't turn on.

This is a great cruiser. Comfortable, lots of storage space for a Porsche. Drop the top and hunker down. What I love most about this car is that the gauge cluster and most things are analog in presentation. I love that.

This has always been my favorite looking generation

That is a well optioned '13 Boxter S, with the gorgeous yellow/yellow, PASM, Porsche Torque Vectoring, MT6, what a perfect beauty, thanks for showing it off to us. I have a black one, not as well optioned and a lot more miles, but an amazing car I love and will never sell, especially now that the new Boxter is moving to EV.

you have to push and hold the volume button down and turn off the whole system. otherwise it just mutes the sound. when you turn on the car again the music comes on blaring. took me 5 years to figure that out.

You got the right colour ! Love my 981 GTS Cayman in racing yellow. A true drivers car that turns head and has ageless styling.

what more do you want with a car like this. the handling, the sound, the looks 🥵

OMG that thing looks brand new, mint!

I love my 987.1 Boxster S. Used mid engined Porsches with flat six engines all offer exotic car vibes for reasonable money. 986, 987 and 981 are all amazing in their own way. Can't go wrong. Just do your research and maintain them.

That is the spec I want. Maybe sport exhaust and sport steering wheel but color combo for sure. Gorgeous and plenty of power and fun!

Love the yellow and the yellow gauges

I have one of those, amazing car. Mine is a PDK with sport chrono package. Its the most amzing sounding car I have ever had, not the fastest in a straight line but amzing in back roads and with the sound its a whole package.

Great vid...thanks. Glad it's a real "drivers" car. Seems like not many drivers are left....and playing with tech crap has sadly become the norm. Keep bringing the vids.

Hey Tedward, could we get some footage of your own 911 for a change? I miss seeing you drive it.

15:12 Oh I hear you! I've been to Massachusetts twice for work, just last week I was in the Springfield area, and I encountered that very same scenario a few times, and once where there was no signage at all!

I really like this spec! Great car!

I have a 987S the most fun sunny day driver on the road. Power to weight, smooth yet great handling, and frunk and a trunk make it a practical weekend trip car. I would like to step up to the 2013-2015 pre-718 models but haven’t found the right one yet.

Gotta love a manual porsche 🔥🔥

I have a 2014 boxter S Red and tan interior, super nice car Fast, sounds great, looks great LOVE THIS CAR

Smooth all around!

I own a 2.7 and it does indeed sound bananas

A yellow Boxster S manual. This is incredible.

A steering wheel with NO buttons 👌🏼🤩

Well done. Great car for these roads

Nice stuff man! I think the Cayman 981 GTS is still the best of that generation, but I enjoyed the racing yellow interior! Very pilot esque

I’ve had mine from 2012 Perfect for the roads in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

That handbrake gets me everytime, until last night when I got it right finally the first time

Racing yellow 981 with yellow Tachymeter will always be my dream. I have a all black 981 S, which is nice but it’s not that astonishing 😮‍💨

I wonder when the world will catch on to the specialness of the 2.7 981 strippy

That screaming flat-6 though

It’s crazy that it the steering wheel is starting to look strange without 100 buttons and knobs on it

Agree that this is the sweet spot…..picked up a ‘13 two years ago. Because it was lightly specced, I got it for $44k. With 28k on the odo, that’s a lot of car for the money. In fact, I’d likely get more than I paid if I sold it after putting 12k more miles on the clock. Put in an oem gt4 shifter and it made the experience just that much better. You can have the gt4/spyder suspension though. Ride/handling balance in the S is really good.

dont get me wrong, but this pov. With the clean steering matte look. It looks like you're in game 🤣🤣

Love it ❤ A true Porsche, lots of fun, great sound, quite practical and still affordable. What’s not to like?

great review, I had a 2014 Cayman S manual, remains my fave car of all time I have a GTS 4.0 now 981S gives you 90% of the experience for 60% of the money

This car in yellow literally looks like a toy... Love it ❤️

So mellow yellow!

You should try a 987.2 Boxster S Black Edition, it has slightly more power than a 981 S but retained the hydraulic steering

100s of videos later, no one has ever mentioned the umbrella holder. Wow!

Mu buenos tus videos, saludos desde Uruguay.

Haven't watched the video yet, but the answer is 'yes' and this is the correct color as well lol. 👌

Nice review. Any chance of a GTS 4.0 review?

Still on the fence for transmission but I'm actively looking for a 981 cayman s. Will need to find some test drives

I was looking at getting one of these

One thing I hate about the current boxters is that they still use the same infotainment and light system 10 years later. But this gen was and is still super good entry point into Porsche brand.

Thank you, I like small sport cars….Boxster is a great option.

I've got a manual 981 Cayman S with X73 Sports Suspension. It's honestly such an incredible car. Every now and then I look around to see what I could replace it with, and even with a ~$100k budget, there's not much out there. Right now the closest is the V6 First Edition Emira, but is that really worth $50k over the 981S? Maybe $30k, but not double. I don't think I'll ever sell it. With a PIWIS you can also add PTV and the 991.1 GT3 steering software.

987.2 ❤

Hey tedward. I’m currently in Waltham MA for a national grid business trip. I drove my ‘23 wrx here. Do you have any roads to recommend?

I like these kinds of cars where you can use the entire power band. So many new cars are too cheat-code fast nowadays.

I thought you were going fast in the opening shot. But then I realized I was watching at 1.5x speed.

Holmes, weren't you dissing the 991.1's electric power steering? Is it different than in the Boxster (981.1)?

1:56 that wheel looks like it's design to have buttons on it but they are missing and it makes it look weird

The 981 is a truly all around great car. I've had a 987 Boxster S for 8 years and last year I got a 981 cayman GTS. The 2 things I find most annoying with the 981 platform is definitely the long gearing and the steering feel. The steering isn't so bad, unless of course I drive my 987 immediately after. The 987 steering is arguable the best steering feel of any car outside of a lotus elise. However the 981 is precise and my car has PTV and X73 so the perfromance envelope is very high.

Banana Car!!!

leather interior nice👍

Making it hard for me to sell my 981 now 😢😢

maybe im just pleb, but never have i thought to myself driving my 987.2 boxster 2.9 'man i wish it was faster'. I did think 'man i wish it wasn't so drony' after 8h highway trip though :D

I mean, the numbers aren't "pleasing" in today's standards but dude thats a lot of power and torque for a car this small. I'd love one

I've just bought a 981 GT4, and if the car is in sport, it will auto blip. Surprised this isn't the same on the Cayman S

I don’t hear any snap crackle pop. Is the chrono sport package and sport exhaust needed for that?

The steering wheel still looks goofy as hell but the flat six makes up for all sins. The 981 GTS is the one to get though.

THATS A NICE REAL DREAM///////////❤🖤❤

10:01 oh how true lol

Hey! Can we get a Hyundai genesis coupe bk2 like underdog budget sport car?

💛

These things are slept on. Will 911 snobs prefer the hybrid 911 to a NA 3.4L flat 6 in a Boxster S or Cayman S?

Regarding the annoying fact that the radio comes on every time the car is started, just select “AUX” …..no more radio at ignition on!

Who the hell would have these a bit more under the radar cars in signal yellow? I get it everyone has their taste, but really..!?

Can't go wrong with a Porsche in Racing Yellow _aka_ Bright F*cking Yellow

Very nice boxster, 10 years old already, how many miles/kms can it handle if well serviced ?

Only car better than a Honda. 🎉

You can DEFINITELY get away with a normal Boxster S. I had a Speed Yellow 987 Boxster S for a couple of years. It was driving nirvana. I’m still kicking myself for getting rid of it.

Oh man it's gotta be the flat 6. Got 2 b

The 2nd gear is very very very long in this car 🙂

Do you have to fold the visors forward to pull the top down?

I love boxsters so much, i was thinking about getting one. But my other plan was a cayman gts and rebuild it to a gt4 wannabe xD

We have a Boxter and have had numerous throughout the years in our fam… ALWAYS had all the buttons on the wheel. No offense to ur preference, to me this wheel is quite awkward looking. Almost like tht it’s naked.

👍🏼👍🏼

Given the extreme similarity to the 718, the 981 has certainly aged well EXCEPT for the rear end/tail lights.

Maybe pushing the nob that controls the volume turns it on and off. Jeff

❤

12:08 But isn't that why people still buy a manual transmission? To be able to shift and interact? judging by 11:53 2nd gear hits 65mph at around 5800 rpm, so there's still probably 1000 rmp left. I know it's good on paper if you only have to shift once until 60 mph. Which would be around 100kph, so the "important" accelleration number. But for a twisty montain road it kind of defeats the point of a manual gearbox or manually shifting at all. -> Where i am from 100 kph is the limit on normal roads outside of municipalities and off the highways. So on many twisty mountain roads that's the legal max. Where is the fun in being able to do the whole drive up the mountain in one gear... It reminds me of a working collegue years ago when i had bought a Yamaha R1. If i remember correct, his words were: _you basically only need 1st gear. If you go full throttle and shift into 2nd and hit throttle, you are in the "loose your license area of speed"_

Correction the best is the 981GT4, proud owner here, very overlooked IMO

Me or does your voice sound like regular car reviews?

$35k example of 981 Boxster or new ND2 Miata?

wheres981?