Auto News 5

Forty-five degrees with a cold wind blowing and showers in the forecast -- bad timing for the new Porsche Boxster S to meet its two closest rivals? Far from it. For a start, there's no weather you can't beat by pulling out an appropriate set of clothes. Second, putting the roof down is not mandatory -- we would not have seen an indicated 287 kph (178 mph) in the Porsche and 291 kph (181 mph) in the SLK with the wind in our hair and tears in our eyes. And a bit of precipitation is actually not so bad; wet tarmac lowers the limit of adhesion and lifts the spirits of those who like a bit of attitude when tackling a set of twisties. So we ignored the puffy gray clouds that seemed to almost touch the sun visors, cranked up the seat heaters, and pretended that a couple of blue patches in the sky were a sign that summer was just around the corner.