Car Reviews

Overfed pussycat gets its claws back. More

From the October 2002 issue of Car and Driver.
Porsche’s Boxster and Boxster S have been heavy favorites around here since the first model was introduced in late 1996. It’s been on our 10Best list five times, won three comparison tests, and is one of the most fought-over cars to ever grace our car board.

But the Boxster competes in the notoriously fickle sports-car genre, a segment that favors the freshest face or newest model. Not so this car. Boxster sales have only recently started to fall off as the cars have aged, and Porsche credits the Boxster with pulling the company out of its money-losing days of the early 1990s.
Power updates over the years have certainly helped. In 1999, the $51,430 250-hp Boxster S version debuted, a healthy bump from the original $41,605 201-hp base model. In 2000, the base car’s 2.5-liter engine was enlarged to 2.7 liters, with the horsepower rising from 201 to 217.

Still, it’s been six years of the same face, so when we flew to Rome for the 2003 Boxster introduction, we expected a major change. Guess again. The new model gets only minor bodywork changes and a few noteworthy mechanical revisions. Since there’s been no big redesign, the prices will stay about the same, $43,365 for the Boxster and $52,365 for the Boxster S. We’re willing to bet that Porsche’s engineering resources were likely sucked up by the upcoming Cayenne sport-ute, a concept we’re still lukewarm about. But that’s another story.
Mechanically, the biggest change is the addition of Porsche’s VarioCam variable-valve-timing mechanism. It’s been installed on the intake cams of both the 2.7-liter and 3.2-liter engines. By optimizing valve timing a maximum of 40 degrees over the rpm band, VarioCam increases engine efficiency, yielding more power and a two-percent reduction in fuel consumption. The 2.7-liter engine now produces 225 horsepower at 6300 rpm (from 217 hp), and torque holds the line at 192 pound-feet. The 3.2-liter mill of the Boxster S has eight more ponies this year for a total of 258 at 6200 rpm. The base five-speed manual transmission, the S six-speed unit, and the five-speed automatic are all unchanged.
The base model got the lion’s share of the suspension changes as the 2003 model inherits its springs and shocks from the 2002 Boxster S. That top-of-the-line model remains the same, save for a larger rear anti-roll bar. Brakes on both cars carry over from last year. Standard wheels on the base Boxster are now 17-inchers, but they are a total of 4.4 pounds lighter than the old 16-inch wheels. The S model now has 18-inch, five-spoke wheels that save 22.5 pounds over the base 17-inch wheels.

Specifications

SPECIFICATIONS
2003 Porsche Boxster
VEHICLE TYPE mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door roadster
BASE PRICE $43,365-$52,365
ENGINE TYPE DOHC 24-valve 2.7-liter flat-6, 225 hp, 192 lbft; DOHC 24-valve 3.2-liter flat-6, 258 hp, 228 lb-f
TRANSMISSIONS 5- or 6-speed manual, 5-speed automatic with lockup torque converter
DIMENSIONSWheelbase: 95.1 inLength: 170.1 inWidth: 70.1 inHeight: 50.8 inCurb weight: 2800-3000 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D est)Zero to 60 mph: 5.1-6.8 secStanding 1/4-mile: 13.8-15.2 secTop speed (drag limited): 150-162 mph
ESTIMATED FUEL ECONOMYEPA city/ highway driving: 17-19/24-28 mpg

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

From the Archive: We bring out five American contenders—the 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am, Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Chevrolet Corvette L48, Mercury Capri, and Pontiac Phoenix SJ—to find the cornering champ. More

From the Archive: Who’d believe you could stuff the 390 engine into the Mustang and make it handle? More

From the October 1966 issue of Car and Driver.
Barney Clark is a talented, well-paid writer who would prefer to be an automotive designer, or an architect, or an ill-tempered mystic, or almost anything other than what he’s doing at any particular moment. His life is a curious blend of Enlightened Victorian, Big-Time Ad Agency Vice President, and Deadly Enemy of Practically Everybody. His love is jealously hoarded for a handful of old friends, his family, every car he ever owned, and fighting the system. Barney Clark is a one-man Berkeley Student Revolution trying to set a world record for the quarter-mile in a flathead Morris Minor.

Station Wagons That You Forgot Ever Existed

Best Station Wagons of 2020

Best Muscle Cars for $10K: Window Shop with C/D

He has always been a car nut of some stature, and be has always managed to hang out with a pretty good automotive crowd. He can say that he knew Denise McCluggage before she’d even seen her first automotive competition; that he knew Phil Hill when Phil Hill was yet to buy his first Ferrari; and that he has dirtied his hands on the insides of some of the best cars that ever ran on courses with names like Golden Gate Park, Pebble Beach, and Torrey Pines.
It was only natural then that an enthusiast of this magnitude should have decided to build himself a dream car. We’ve all decided that at one time or another, right? If Enzo Ferrari, Carroll Shelby, Ettore Bugatti, W. O. Bentley and Henry Ford can do it, we can do it! We are undeterred by the fact that people like Jack Griffith, Preston Tucker, Henry Kaiser, Briggs Cunningham, Mad Man Muntz and Sterling Edwards have tried and failed. Barney Clark had the vision, the enthusiasm, the money, and the friends to help him—he would, by God, build an automobile!

View Photos

GENE BUTERA

The main collaborator in this scheme was Bob Cumberford, the young designer who has written several pieces for this magazine, and who is receiving more and more notice from the world’s automotive Establishment. Clark and Cumberford shared the belief that the special character of the “personal car” was applicable to a broader range of vehicle types than was generally acknowledged. They both appreciated the charm and usefulness of the original Chevrolet Nomad—a more-or-less compact two-door station wagon of the mid-Fifties—and they had spent long, happy hours reflecting on the possibilities of Ford’s super-successful Mustang applied to a wagon of the Nomad genre. Barney Clark had in fact put together a hot station wagon in the late Fifties, using a deceptively dull-looking ’55 Chevy wagon with Corvette-type engine and suspension modifications (Barney’s Chevy led us to build up the C/D Plymouth “Boss Wagon”).
Their random thoughts on the subject became a plan, and Cumberford transferred the whole notion to paper. The basis for the design was a 1964 Mustang coupe, with the 260 hp, 289 cu.in. V-8 engine, and automatic transmission. Clark, Cumberford, and an enthusiast-associate of Cumberford’s named Jim Licata shared equally in the financial arrangements, and the car was shipped to Italy for its metamorphosis.

View Photos

GENE BUTERA

Cumberford was already working with Frank Reisner of Intermeccanica in Turin, on the Griffith GT project (C/D, July ’66) and Reisner was given the responsibility for executing Cumberford’s design. His Intermeccanica workmen removed the stock roof and rear deck, and fabricated a new roof, tailgate, rear windows, cargo floor, and folding rear seat. The Mustang has a fully disappearing tailgate window, and the owners had hoped to redesign the gas tank and spare tire location with an eye to lowering the cargo floor and increasing the available load space, but the money ran out. This feature will probably appear on future models. Aside from this small item, things worked out just about the way everybody had hoped they would—a rare occurrence in ventures of this kind. The car went to Italy in March, 1965, and Reisner returned it to New York this February.
It now has a combination of ’66 and ’67 Mustang GT exterior trim, and they’ve added Koni shock absorbers, Ford ‘s optional mag-type wheels, and big, fat Pirelli Cinturato (radial-ply) tires to improve its handling and braking performance. It is a very impressive car by any standard of measurement, and the furor it creates on the street certainly seems to bear out its owners’ belief in the compact station wagon concept. We drove it over a thousand miles, and people actually waved us to the side of the road to ask us about it.

View Photos

GENE BUTERA

In performance, the Mustang wagon is like any well-prepared, properly-suspended Mustang—maybe slightly better in handling and directional stability, slightly down on acceleration and throttle response (mostly due to the automatic box). It works well as a station wagon too, but the driver would never notice its added bulk. The overall dimensions have remained the same, and Cumberford’s design has lost none of the distinctive Mustang flavor. The cargo area measures about 44 in. wide and 36 in. deep with the rear seat down for a volume of 27-and 50-cu. ft. respectively.
Clark and Cumberford would like to build Mustang wagons as a commercial venture. The public response to their car has been spectacular, and they believe that they could build it reasonably enough to sell in this country at an attractive price. Although Ford has shown no official interest in the project, there are pretty good indications that GM is exploring the concept for both their Chevrolet/Pontiac Mustang-challenger and their more expensive Toronado/Riviera-class cars.
In fact, some poor GM type who knew of his company’s top-secret experiments in this area got the shock of his life one morning when he saw Barney’s fully-appointed, apparently-production, ’66 Mustang wagon whizzing along Detroit’s Southfield Expressway. Within an hour telephones were ringing all over the Motor City as various firms’ intelligence agents tried to ferret out the truth about this latest bombshell from Dearborn. As far as Barney was concerned, that alone was worth the time, trouble, and expense. His enemies were confounded.

View Photos

GENE BUTERA

We were delighted by our experience with the Clark-Cumberford wagon. The craftsmanship is beautiful. Even C/D’s most reliable nitpickers came away with a lot of affection for the car. The country’s automotive mood seems to be just right for highly specialized vehicles. Brooks Stevens is doing very well with his anachronistic Excalibur SS, Carroll Shelby is selling Cobras and GT-350s like they were going out of style, and John Fitch and Don Yenko are doing very well with their custom Corvairs. We’d bet that the irascible Mr. Clark could sell quite a few of their Mustang wagons. If you are interested in such a car, write Cumberford/Clark Inc., 322 E. 30 St., New York, N.Y. 10016.
While our two heroes continue to puzzle over the problem of getting their Mustang station wagon project off the ground, they’re wasting no time. Cumberford is designing a new race car for Buck Fulp, and laboring to salvage the ill-fated Griffith GT project. Barney Clark, as this is being written, is celebrating his survival of a very serious heart attack. The world—automotive and otherwise—should look to its defenses, because every minute Clark spends scheming in his hospital bed is going to cost the squares dearly. He might just lose his temper and sell every cotton-picking one of us a Mustang station wagon.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io More

From the Archive: Getting that old-time hot-rod religion. More

From the Archive: Outwardly a blend of dragster and Trans-Am sedan, the sum is far short of its parts. More

From the Archive: What to drive until the perpetual-motion machine arrives. More