2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

You can always count on a kid to give it to you straight. I'd just parked Porsche's new Boxster Spyder roadster when I noticed some kids, not more than 8 or 9 years old, hyping their lemonade stand. Always willing to help the local economy, I walked over to buy a cup.

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"Your car is awesome!" one of them cried. I couldn't agree more; the Boxster Spyder is the most interesting — and exciting — Boxster yet.

The Boxster Spyder becomes the most powerful, quickest and — at $61,200 — most expensive version of Porsche's entry-level roadster.

Unique Design

Porsche has gone to great lengths to differentiate the Spyder from its Boxster stablemates. Key changes include a removable canvas roof that stows under a restyled rear deck. The deck is accentuated by two large humps directly behind the head restraints that taper toward the roadster's tail. All in all, the changes — especially the modified deck — make the Boxster Spyder look like the kid brother of the Carrera GT, Porsche's now-discontinued supercar.

A Street-Legal Racer

You can drive the Boxster Spyder on public roads like I did, and I suspect many people will, but it's a car that longs for the racetrack. Comfort and convenience accommodations for you and your lone passenger are minimal, to say the least.

Our test car had the sport bucket seats, which save 26 pounds but also get just one-position backrests that don't recline (the heavier traditional bucket seats with an adjustable backrest are available at no extra charge). Making air conditioning optional and a CD stereo a no-cost option saves 26 and 7 pounds, respectively. Another weight-saving move: the very cool door-release straps, which take the place of traditional interior handles.

The less-is-more folks also got their way with the Boxster Spyder's removable canvas roof, which, by modern standards, is a throwback to an earlier era of droptop motoring. It saves 46 pounds compared with a powered soft-top. The multistep process of disassembling and reassembling the roof takes some time if you're unfamiliar with it, but it goes much more quickly after only a few tries. (Check out our video on the top's operation.)

In many ways, the Boxster Spyder is like a harder-edged, stronger sibling of the Mazda MX-5 Miata. Both cars are designed to make the driver feel at one with them, and both succeed.

The key to the Boxster is its incredibly balanced handling. Toss it into a corner and it urges you on, gunning to go faster. The steering, which seems like it has a tad too much power assistance when cruising, develops an amazing level of intuitiveness in sweeping corners.

Handling fanatics will go weak in the knees after driving the Boxster Spyder, but it also has power to back up its aggressive looks. The 3.4-liter, horizontally opposed six-cylinder makes 320 horsepower — 10 hp more than the Boxster S — and the roadster's mid-engine layout puts the engine right behind your head. The six-cylinder makes a great, mechanical growl when accelerating, and it gets louder when you activate the car's Sport mode, which changes the exhaust sound and makes the gas pedal more responsive. After alternating between regular and Sport modes, I ended up leaving the Boxster Spyder in Sport, which seemed to suit it best.