For the past twelve years, the Boxster has been playing the chase-the-911 with its styling. Now the 2009 refreshed Boxster gets more of its own look, sorta. Instead of taking its styling cues from the 911, it looks a little more like the ultra-fast Carrera GT.
Porsche officially unveiled today at the Los Angeles Auto Show the new Boxster and Boxster S. Both models will go on sale in Europe by February 2009. It’s expected that the new Boxster will reach these shores soon afterward with only a marginal price increase.
The new Boxster features a newly designed front and rear ends. The new halogen headlights with their integrated direction indicators are reminiscent of the lights on the Carrera GT, the new LED rear lights tapering out to the outside and integrated elegantly in the modified rear end of the car.
Under the hood, Porsche placed a 2.9-liter engine that delivers 255 bhp (an increase of 10 hp). The S version gets a 3.4-liter power unit that delivers 310 hp (up 15hp). Mated to a the standard six-speed manual gearbox, the new Boxter makes the 0 to 60 mph sprint in 5.9 seconds. Equipped with the PDK double-clutch gearbox, the sprint will be made 0.1 seconds faster.
As it turns out the increase in power will not mean worse fuel economy. The Boxster equipped with PDK averages 26.3 mpg, and 25.5 mpg for the Boxster S. That’s about a 4 mpg improvement from the Tiptronic automatic transmission cars.
Full details in the press release after the jump.
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As previously reported, Volkswagen was preparing a concept roadster for a debut at this month’s Los Angeles Auto Show. But it seems like many of the other large auto companies out there, the project has been delayed. Now the roadster has traded in the fair weather LA for fun-in-the-sun Detroit in January.
Volkswagen likes to get the most out of its platforms (that’s why the upper class Audi TT is on the same platform as the budget Skoda Octavia.) So it seems that the VW Group wants to possibly make a little more cash back on the Audi R8/Lamborghini Gallardo platform by sharing bits with the new middle class roadster. The design should take cues from the Scirocco, and will likely be It will be offered in both coupe and roadster/targa versions.
Its rumored that Audi will get its own version of this concept to replace the current TT. There also a small rumor that VW’s new owner Porsche may get in bed with this car as well. But that is less likely if Porsche goes through with plans to give the similarly-sized Boxster a four cylinder engine.
Engine choices will likely come from the VW Group’s stable of four-cylinders making between 105 hp to 220 hp depending on the car brand and trim level.
As we expected from rumors back in September, Ferrari chopped the top off the F430 Scuderia. The latest prancing horse is called the Scuderia Spider 16M in honor of it’s 16th constructor’s championship win in F1 racing. Originally the car was rumored to be limited to 300 units, but it seems Ferrari has upped that to 499 (they must have determined demand to be 500 cars.)
The Scuderia Spider 16M is powered by a naturally-aspired V8, 4308 cc engine that delivers 510 hp at 8500 rpm and about 350 ft. lbs. of torque at 5250 rpm. The engine is mated to a six-speed F1 style gearbox. The 0 to 60 mph sprint takes 3.7 seconds and tops out at 195 mph.
Original rumors pegged this as a retractable hardtop. Not only is this a story we cannot confirm, but it also would not make too much sense on a car that is supposed to be ultra light and race-ready. What we do know is Ferrari is not letting this horse out of the stable without a little Italian style. It will be available in a choice of two new signature color schemes: black with grey trim and a tricolor scheme.
Press release after the jump.
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It will likely take a year for Nissan to replace the full 350Z line with the 370Z, so it won’t be until the 2010 model year that the 370Z roadster will be at dealerships. There shouldn’t be too many surprises from the design of the ragtop version. Just like the current roadster, the lines will remain relatively the same as the coupe. The 370Z roadster will feature a fully automatic fabric roof and has been structurally reinforced to be much stiffer than the current car.
The basic technical parts will be shared with the coupe version: the 340 hp 3.7-liter V6, six-speed transmission, the rear-drive chassis, and a the two-seater cabin. The model changeover may also add a few thousand more to the current base of about $36,800.
Audi today announced pricing on the 2009 TTS Coupe and Roadster. Sales will begin in late 2008 at a price of $45,500 for the TTS Coupe and $47,500 for the TTS Roadster.
The TTS is powered by a 2.0 TFSI engine that delivers (265 hp @ 6000 rpm and 258 lb.-ft. @2500-5000 rpm. The TTS Coupe races from 0-60 mph in 4.9 seconds, and achieves a combined fuel economy of 24 mpg. The TTS Roadster offers comparable performance with a 0-60 mph time of 5.1 seconds and a class-leading combined fuel economy of 24 mpg. Both version are electronically limited to 155 mph.
Press release after the jump.
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As mentioned earlier today, the SEMA Show will be all about going retro with the Camaro and Challenger, and here’s more proof: the Challenger SRT8 Roadster concept by Group Five.
The car features chopped windscreen and seats only for two with the rear passenger area being hidden by a tonneau cover. On the exterior the roadster concept will feature a front spoiler, a hood shaker, a redesigned rear bumper with new exhaust pipes and a set of restyled rear LED lights.
Group Five aims to put the car into limited production.
Bugatti is going from ultra-exclusive to uber-exclusive with the Veyron Grand Sport. The company has promised to make only 150 examples of the open top Veyron, and yet it feels the need to make a speciality version. According to Car the Veryon 16.4 Grand Sport will have a Sang Noir edition limited to only 15 units (like the coupe version) and will be launched after the "normal" 987bhp Grand Sport becomes available to customers in April.
It’s likely that the Grand Sport version will carry similar traits to the coupe. This means a redesigned front grille, a black background for the headlights, side mirrors featuring same color as the front grille, deep black exterior paint and custom alloy wheels in black.
McLaren has plans to lose the top on its P11 supercar. It’s unclear if the roadster is considered a second car in the three car plan, but the rendering above does seem like the P11 was always made for open top motoring.
The setup of the car is geared toward lightweight and strength. Under the skin of the P11 seems to be a carbon fiber tub connecting two aluminum subframes. One subframe carries the front suspension, and the other carries the engine, transmission and rear suspension assembly.
Previous reports suggested that the engine for the P11 would be a 6.2-liter V8 sourced from Mercedes. According to Autocar, McLaren will be utilizing the smaller 5.5-liter unit and will have the German engineering firm Mahle rework the entire unit.
The 2009 Nissan 370Z hasn’t had its official debut, so how can we be looking at pics of the convertible? Simple, Inside Line was able to get some information on the new droptop Z and have assemble a pretty convincing picture.
Unlike the G37 Convertible that features a retractable hardtop, the future 370Z Roadster will come with a power-operated soft top. Nissan wants to keep the 370Z as reasonable as possible, and a lower cost, lighter weight fabric roof makes the most sense. Like the coupe version, the future 370Z Roadster will come with a 3.7-liter Nissan VQ engine currently used in the G37 Coupe. The engine will be offered with a choice of seven-speed automatic and a six-speed manual transmission.
Expect to see the the real convertible in April at the New York Auto Show.
After announcing that the small iQ might be offered on the US market, Toyota also announced that a roadster version of the iQ will be revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show (23 October to November 8). The car will come as a study, but will keep the same design line as the coupe version.
The spider version will be offered with a choice of 1.0 - and a 1.3-liter gasoline and diesel engine; while the safety features will include: numerous airbags, ABS and ESP.
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