MotorMouths

If I were a man of means, I would buy the Porsche Spyder for motoring enjoyment during the summer, as well as its future collectability — and I would pitch the top into the nearest dumpster.

The Boxster Spyder is a toy, pure and simple. It’s designed for drivers and meant to be driven. Criticisms are mostly irrelevant anyway as it’s highly unlikely anyone who purchases this car will use it exclusively as transportation.

The Porsche Boxster Spyder is for purists. And if you’re not up for a manual ragtop — or paying extra for air-conditioning and an audio system — chances are you’re probably better off in a Boxster S

If someone is looking for an open-top ride and can afford the entry price, the Boxster Spyder is a no-brainer. The car looks good, drives even better . . . and who needs a roof anyway? With the extra horsepower, just outrun the rainstorms.

The 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder epitomizes the sporty weekday commuter that doubles up as a race car during the weekends.

The Boxster S is a better-performing car than ever before, but not an entirely better car to my mind. The edge has dulled slightly and the result is a more mature, less emotional car.

The bottom line is simple: The new 2013 Porsche Boxster is still a Boxster — nimble, communicative and sharp. But it now adds measures of comfort and efficiency in a combination few others can match.

here is no doubt that Porsche has managed to extend the appeal of the Boxster without diluting any of its inherent excitement. It was and continues to remain one of the world’s most entertaining road cars.

320 horsepower may not seem much for 60 grand, yet after a few minutes it’s clear where the money goes in the Porsche Boxster Spyder. Save maybe for the toy-car Lotus Elise, there’s not a roadster in the world with this kind of precise chassis setup.

The Porsche Boxster Spyder won’t punish you with an unyielding suspension, hard plastic and bare metal interior elements the way a Lotus Elise would. Yet the Boxster Spyder meets or beats the Lotus in every performance metric.

The Boxster Spyder is Porsche’s best chassis. Choices are thin on the ground for cars that handle as accurately without bad habits, and the Spyder a pussycat despite the way it claws the asphalt. If your weekends are filled with cones and apexes, your track-day car has arrived.

The new 2013 Porsche Boxster is still a Boxster — nimble, communicative and sharp. But it now adds measures of comfort and efficiency in a combination few others can match.