New Boxster launched yeasterday, its grown bigger!

Here's a few side-by-side shots to show how the 987 (Cayman/Boxster) has grown in size to become the New 981.

As a sports car nut, I'd always been from the school that "smaller is better" so I kind of hate to see cars get bigger... but I guess as people get bigger, so does everything else
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Whoa! WAY Bigger.

 

Perhaps they are moving it a but more upmarket I make room for a smaller more "pure" model?

 

Launched yesterday?

I drove it six weeks ago.

 

Launched in the sense that many Porsche dealers had offical launch parties yesterday. I heard from a few friends, that their cars were in country for weeks, but being held until June 28th as its Porsche's official launch date.

 

the mazda miata grew in the last generation compared to it's previous one. many cried foul but after it was released the enthusiasts backed off. it remained light weight and upped the power a tad. although it wasn't quite as nimble as the first gen it still retained that "X factor" the first had. hopefully the same is true with the 981. i heard it's a few lbs lighter than the outgoing model and more powerful. on a wider platform i would only imagine that that equates to a great driving car. also, i read recently (on motor trend i believe?) that porsche has no plans for a four cylinder boxter/cayman and that the 981 was not designed to accommodate one. that could be the usual misdirection typical with experimental models. as good as the 981's are rated for fuel economy and accounting for how many they sell i can't imagine that they need a 4 banger boxter to keep up with CAFE standards yet.

if porsche comes out with a 4 cylinder car, i'd love to see a successor to the 924/944/968

 

I'd be curious to see the size compared to my Boxster Spyder. I'll try to snap a side-by-side shot if I can pull next to one at the dealer on Sunday morning.

Based on the early pics I thought it looked quite MR2ish and not too impressive. I have to admit that they're really slick after seeing one on the road. Can't wait to see how the new Cayman turns out.

 

Yep... to save weight it looks like they left-off most of the hard cover that use to hide the folded top.

And... I was wondering why they added an extra seam above the air intake on the rear quarter body panel? (see white car photos below). From a style point of view... the seam doesn't line-up with the new lateral lines in the door (it misses by just an inch). The unofficial answer I got was that its now plastic.
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I think it looks great now. I couldnt stand the boxster at all before.

 

Went to the launch party at my local dealer last night as well.....beautiful car.....they've pre sold about a dozen already.

 

guess that means it will be a different color from the rest of the car now on the side sill :\ maybe not at first but after inevitable fading/exposure

 

I'd guess everything below the tail lights is plastic also?

 

yea the front and rear bumpers are FRP on pretty much all cars these days if they aren't carbon. i also think they went to all aluminum on the body panels didn't they? that surely dropped a few lbs.

 

drove one at NJMP last week on an autox track - nicely balance and now with a little more get up and go .

 

I really like the round steel fenders from the current model (2nd photo below)... but you are right, they went to aluminum body panels, and I think that's why they needed the new creases (front and back fenders) to substantially stiffens that aluminum fender in the longitudinal direction. I'm guessing they had to strengthen the panel because sheet aluminum is flimsy until you give it some curves and creases, much more so than sheet steel.
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+1

I think it's a huge improvement.

 

I concur. Saw a white one at Hoehn Porsche and it's a seriously great looking car. I would now put it ahead of the 911 (991).

 

makes sense to me

 

Great! A new model for all the secretaries!

 

:shrugs: somebody's gotta be buying all those v6 mustangs...

 

Chris Harris seems to think its pretty damn good, and he drives a GT3 RS 4.0

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk-6s-ZhlYs[/ame]

 

that is quite a size increase ...the front end looks like the new 911 ...do they share body panels, front end ones at least? ...that could explain some of the size increase if so

 

Bear in mind that when you put black next to silver, black will look smaller even if they are the same size. I'll withhold judgement until I see/drive the next cayman.

Dave

 

Handsome car. Looking at the photo (and knowing how the Boxster grew between gen 1 and 2) makes me wish Porsche made it 75% scale -- about the size of the original. That, I think, would be an all-time beauty.

Of course, I also stood next to an Alfa spider today and thought 'wow - tiny car'

 

Unfortunate...