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Porsche Boxster + vintage Volkswagen Bug = Bugster

Filed under: Classics, Coupe, Performance, Europe, Porsche, Volkswagen, Specialty

1973 Volkswagen Bugster

1973 Volkswagen Bugster – Click above for high-res image gallery

This is a melding of two seemingly very different cars we can get behind. The melding of one car’s running gear and another’s body isn’t a new practice, but so often it turns out terribly. Need an example? Check out the dozens of F-Body Chevrolet Camaro coupes with 4×4 running gear that haunt the depths of the world’s internet forums.

This isn’t a hack job, this is is the sort of hybrid we can throw our enthusiastic support behind. The body started life atop a humble 1973 Volkswagen Beetle chassis, while the running gear saw duty under a 2000 Porsche Boxster convertible’s skin. The car was created by Siegfried Rudolf, who owns CarMaxx, an Austrian company that restores and customizes Porsche and Volkswagen cars.

Rudolf apparently got the idea after parking his restored Beetle next to his wife’s Boxster and noted a striking similarity in their wheelbases. After countless hours with a measuring tape, a Sawzall and a welder, Rudolf had the Bugster, a mid-engined 270-horsepower 1973 VW Beetle.

From off, the car looks like a nicely restored, slightly modified Bug. Up close, though, the enormous side vents, 18-inch wheels and Porsche dashboard start to hint at this thing’s dirty little secret. The car sports custom fenders to properly cover its wider track and wheels, and the whole set up rides on a fully-adjustable suspension. Delicious. Thanks for the tip, Rui!

Gallery: 1973 Volkswagen Bugster

1973 Volkswagen Bugster

[Source: Bugster via FirstSuperCars]

Porsche Boxster + vintage Volkswagen Bug = Bugster originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2012 Porsche Boxster S Black Edition gets horsepower bump, sinister styling

Filed under: Convertible, Porsche

2012 Porsche Boxster S Black Edition

2012 Porsche Boxster S Black Edition – Click above for high-res image gallery

Much like the recently unveiled 911 Black Edition, Porsche has created a murdered-out version of the Boxster S roadster that combines a slight boost in power with a raft of new standard amenities. Called the Boxster S Black Edition, the new two-seater features black paint, black wheels, a black convertible top and a fully black interior. It looks sinister, and we’re big fans.

Under the hood is a 320-horsepower version of Porsche’s 3.4-liter flat-six – 10 more ponies than the standard Boxster S – mated to a six-speed manual or the automaker’s PDK dual-clutch transmission. Sprinting to 60 miles per hour takes just 4.8 seconds, and the roadster will eventually top out at 170 mph. An optional Sport Chrono package shaves two-tenths of a second off that acceleration time, and the Black Boxster is capable of achieving fuel economy numbers of 19 miles per gallon in the city and 26 mpg highway.

New standard features include things like the black-painted Design package, convenience package (bi-xenon headlamps, auto-dimming mirrors, automatic climate control) and infotainment package (navigation, Bose surround sound and XM satellite radio with NavTraffic). The whole kit will set you back $65,200 when the car officially goes on sale this spring. Follow the jump for Porsche’s press release.

Gallery: 2012 Porsche Boxster S Black Edition

2012 Porsche Boxster S Black Edition

[Source: Porsche]

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2012 Porsche Boxster S Black Edition gets horsepower bump, sinister styling originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Porsche Boxster, Cayman to be built alongside VW Golf?

Filed under: Convertible, Coupe, Performance, Europe, Plants/Manufacturing, Hatchback, Porsche, Volkswagen, Rumormill

Porsche Cayman R

Porsche Cayman R – Click above for high-res image gallery

It’s good to know that even as the year winds down, the rumormill is still cranking along at full capacity. Auto Bild is suggesting that Volkswagen may be looking to share a production facility between models like the Golf, Boxster and Cayman. According to one insider, the company’s factory in Osnabrück is being geared up to take overflow production of the two sports cars should the need arise. That would mean that the Osnabrück plant would only start minting Caymans and Boxsters once the production at Porsche’s Zuffenhausen facility has maxed out.

The news comes courtesy of Ludger Teeken, CEO of the Osnabrück plant. Teeken says that steps have already been made to prepare the plant to be able to produce Porsche models should the need arise. Meanwhile, Golf production is set to kick off at the plant in early 2011.

Gallery: 2011 Porsche Cayman R

[Source: Auto Bild]

Report: Porsche Boxster, Cayman to be built alongside VW Golf? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Review: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Porsche, Reviews, Luxury, Racing

A playful companion with razor-sharp claws

2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder – Click above for high-res image gallery

“More for Less.” It’s the call to prayer of every car salesman to ever don a plaid jacket. Guys with sturdy names like Wally and Chuck would stop dead in their tracks and tell Porsche “Pal, this Boxster Spyder thing, you’re all upside-down.” You see, with the 2011 Boxster Spyder, Porsche has inverted the polarity on “more for less.” You pay more but get less.

The Boxster Spyder has a high-performance mission: It’s a race car that doesn’t need a trailer. Porsche undertook a lightening program that started with a Boxster S and stripped a slew of equipment, lowered the suspension 3/4 of an inch and substituted aluminum for steel where possible in the body. One-hundred seventy-six pounds later, you’ve got a Boxster Spyder; lighter, lower, sharper. Has it worked for Porsche to go the Lotus route of obsessive weight reduction? Find out after the jump.

Gallery: Review: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

Continue reading Review: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

Review: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: AutoExpress pits Ford Focus RS against Porsche Boxster

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Videos, Hatchback, Ford, Porsche

Ford Focus RS vs. Porsche Boxster – Click above to view the video after the jump

When it comes to a German-American face-off, you could do a lot worse than pitting the BMW M3 against Ford’s 5.0-liter V8 powered Mustang. How much worse? How about a comparison test between a base Porsche Boxster and Ford’s turbocharged, torque-steering Focus RS.

Granted, the rationale for the shoot-out came down to cost. Across the pond both the Boxster and the Focus sticker for about the same amount. But that’s about where the similarities end. Almost.

While the Focus channels over 300 horsepower to the front wheels, it also tips the scales 3,200 pounds. Compared to the 2,900-pound, 255-hp, rear-driven Boxster, Ford’s hottest hatch comes off as rather portly, although both manage to run to 60 mph in under six seconds.

But beyond the stats and the all-too-important lap time, the real question is how best to spend your sports car money and which vehicle is the most entertaining to drive. For that, you’ve got to jump.

[Source: AutoExpress]

Continue reading Video: AutoExpress pits Ford Focus RS against Porsche Boxster

Video: AutoExpress pits Ford Focus RS against Porsche Boxster originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spy Shots: 2012 Porsche Boxster wired up outside the ‘Ring

Filed under: Spy Photos, Convertible, Performance, Geneva Motor Show, Porsche

2012 Porsche Boxster

2012 Porsche Boxster – Click above for high-res image gallery

As expected, the Spyder is the send-off model for the current generation Porsche Boxster (987), so a new version – rumored to carry the 981 designation – is under development.

Like anything hailing from Stuttgart, any changes to Boxster’s chassis and exterior will be minor, with more shapely sheetmetal adorning the outside and a few minor modifications to the suspension, brakes and assorted underbody bits. Naturally, a few interior tweaks are part of the package, but the big news is the possible addition of a four-cylinder powerplant for the 2012 model year.

While the 2.9- and 3.4-liter flat six-cylinder engines will likely carryover with minor bumps in horsepower and torque, there’s talk of a four-cylinder Boxster being added to Porsche’s line-up just above its oft-rumored entry-level model – a rebirth of the 914 co-developed with Volkswagen and Audi. Additionally, Porsche has confirmed it will begin testing three Boxsters with electric drivetrains next year, but technical details on the EVs have yet to be released.

Initial speculation suggested that the 2012 Boxster could make an appearance at the Paris Motor Show this fall, but the smart money is on a Geneva debut in March.

Gallery: Spy Shots: 2012 Porsche Boxster

Spy Shots: 2012 Porsche Boxster wired up outside the ‘Ring originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Olympic figure skater uses leaf blower to dry Porsche Boxster, burns down mansion instead?

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Safety, Porsche, Celebrities, Canada, Luxury

Having unintentionally set at least one vehicle aflame inside of a garage ourselves, we know it takes cat-like reflexes and a certain presence of mind to keep from reducing all of your worldly possessions to cinders in that type of situation. It also helps to not try to dry out the interior of your Porsche Boxster with a leaf blower. That’s exactly what Olympic figure skater Kurt Browning was allegedly trying to do when his droptop went all toasty. According to The Toronto Star, the city’s fire department says that Browning left said leaf blower unattended, the car caught fire and his house went up shortly thereafter.

Browning had attempted to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher, but the damage was already done. A total of 80 firefighters and 10 trucks were on hand to attempt to reduce the damage and protect surrounding homes from potential fire. No one was injured in the blaze, but the house is said to have suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. We’re guessing the Porsche is a lost cause, too.

[Source: The Toronto Star | Image: George Pimentel/WireImage.com]

Olympic figure skater uses leaf blower to dry Porsche Boxster, burns down mansion instead? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unlikely Ire: Dan Neil excoriates 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

Filed under: Convertible, Performance, Porsche, Design/Style

2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder – Click above for high-res image gallery

When we look at the 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder rap sheet, it’s hard not go get a bit excited. It looks seriously terrific, it weighs but 2,811 pounds, and it packs 320 mid-mounted ponies. Good stuff. When we spent some time behind the wheel of the Spyder, we fell more than deeply in love with this, the purest of Boxsters. If only automotive super-journo Dan Neil agreed.

Neil’s review of the Boxster Spyder in The Wall Street Journal falls somewhere short of glowing prose – in fact, it’s about 500 miles short of glowing and a mere six inches past poor. The Pulitzer prize-winning author pans the Spyder’s top as beyond difficult (we called it “trick”). Okay, so a convertible top that was designed to save 46 pounds is probably going to shape up as less than ideal (Neil: “Find me the guy who designed the canvas top. Bring me his head on a platter”), but if Neil thinks this top is Erector Set hell, he should get his hands on a Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster.

Anything else wrong here? Well, there’s the power for starters. Neil feels the Spyder’s 320 horses are hamstrung by 273 pound-feet of torque that can only be best accessed when pushing the flat-six hard. And then there is the six-speed manual transmission, which Neil feels is inferior in every way to the PDK dual-clutch tranny (“Those purists out there still clinging to your six-speed manuals, please go home. Your black-and-white TV is on the fritz.”).

So… is the Boxster Spyder God’s gift to lightweight roasters or is it a reason to fire the engineers who designed this Porsche’s lightweight top? We know Dan – he’s a swell guy and one hell of a writer, but even though we’re decidedly short on Pulitzers, we can’t help but think that to slate the Spyder for not being a great everyday car is to miss its point altogether. Factory lightweight specials like this one are always a bit silly for street use, always ask for more concessions of their drivers, and, if they’re German, they always cost a bunch more, too. And yet… we’d still rock the top Boxster any day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Oh, and we’re just fine with the three-pedal setup, thanks – like seemingly every dual clutch gearbox, the PDK still has lousy low-speed drivability – and you can call us hopeless romantics, but when it’s not about chalking up lap times, we still love to row our own gears.

Head over to the WSJ to read Neil’s scathing review for yourself.

Gallery: First Drive: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder

[Source: The Wall Street Journal – sub. req.]

Unlikely Ire: Dan Neil excoriates 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: 17-year-old swaps old phone for Porsche Boxster on Craigslist

Filed under: Convertible, Videos, Porsche

Click above to watch the video after the jump

If you don’t currently own a Porsche Boxster, you probably wouldn’t mind having one in the garage. Seventeen-year-old Steven Ortiz turned wishes and hopes into hard work and determination to finally land a shiny silver 2000 Boxster, but he didn’t tap into a trust fund or bust open a few piggy banks to meet his goal. All he used was an old cell phone, Craigslist and a lot of time.

Ortiz bartered that phone for an iPod, then traded the iPod for a dirt bike and from the dirt bike came a series of cars, an SUV and finally one mighty attractive drop-top with an engine in the boot. The man just got his license and he’s already rocking a Porsche… what a country.

The local ABC affiliate in Glendora, California interviewed Ortiz, and from the limited shots of the car, the man’s Boxster looks far better than even the smartest of smart phones. Hit the jump to watch the video for yourself, and if you’re thinking of asking Ortiz to swap some old junk for an Italian exotic, his friends already beat you to it. It’s apparently harder to do than it sounds.

[Source: ABC News]

Continue reading Video: 17-year-old swaps old phone for Porsche Boxster on Craigslist

Video: 17-year-old swaps old phone for Porsche Boxster on Craigslist originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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