I rented a 12-year old Porsche Boxster via Turo this weekend. Good app, great car. I’m shopping older German convertibles for my next car. Paying a little to rent a prospective car for a day is way better than driving one for less than an hour. Plus, no sales tactics!
![](https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/151691/2024/c630693c6e.jpg)
The center of the Boxster experience, it turns out, is the tachometer and the engine. The tachometer is dead-center, set in distinctly-Porsche numerals with a digital speedometer in the bottom. You don’t want any other gauges. It’s nice to know when you’re about to run out of fuel, I suppose.
![2008 Porsche Boxster speedometer and tachometer](https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/wp-content/151691/2020/05/f7e374ad-fd5d-4b01-82d5-973f24b12e4f_1_105_c.jpeg?w=768)
The flat-six cylinder engine sits right behind your shoulders. It is, according to my wife, loud. I found it sonorous. I don’t have a picture of it because you literally can’t see it without taking the car apart. And, a picture of a dirty machine with 130,000 miles isn’t right. The engine on a Porsche is meant, and designed, to be heard.
Once I was between that tachometer and engine, I knew I was definitely in a Porsche Bubble. The switches, seats, even entertainment system didn’t matter much. It helped that it was a lovely day and the air conditioner was up to the challenge. But it’s all auxiliary to the sights and sounds.
Turns out, that’s sort of all you need. A strong design center and two senses stimulated can make a product that stands the test of a decade or three.