Used test: Audi TTS vs Porsche 718 Boxster S costs
These drop-top sports cars are both seriously tempting when you see how affordable they are used. But which one is the better buy?...
What will they cost?
As a percentage, the TTS has lost more money over four years than the Boxster. If such depreciation continues over the next few years of ownership it will add substantially to the TTS’s running costs. Having said that, it is much the cheaper car to buy here, at £20,000 to £28,000.
The Boxster is also more expensive to tax, insure and service than the TTS, although it beats the TTS in our real-world fuel economy tests with a reasonable average of 34.0mpg, compared with the Audi’s 32.7mpg.
Both car makers were a bit stingy with standard equipment, and they would have charged you extra from new for sat-nav, cruise control, metallic paint, rear parking sensors and climate control, although you do get manual air-con, 19in alloys and Bluetooth in both. The TTS also comes with heated seats, a DAB radio, automatic wipers, adaptive dampers and a multi-function steering wheel as standard, all of which would have cost extra on the Boxster. The Porsche gets a wind deflector as standard, though, whereas Audi charged extra for this.
In our most recent reliability survey, the standard TT finished in sixth place out of 10 cars in the sports car class while the Boxster finished in an excellent third place.
Audi as a brand finished in 23rd place out of 31 manufacturers, while Porsche finished in 21st place.
Only the TT has been crash-tested by the safety experts at Euro NCAP (albeit in coupé form), scoring four stars out of five, although this was quite some time ago. Both cars are fitted with six airbags, although only the Boxster could have been optioned from new with automatic emergency braking; it’s disappointing that Audi didn’t offer this at all on the TTS.
Highly desirable cars such as these need to be secure, so it’s good to know both scored equally well in Thatcham’s independent tests, gaining five stars out of five for resisting theft, and four stars for guarding against being broken into.
<< Previous | Next: Our verdict >>
Page 3 of 4
