But luckily, my father owns a 1997 Boxster of his own, so I took a field trip to put our family roadster up against a 2021 Boxster GTS 4.0 to see if the driving experience offers a congruency similar to the design. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get behind the wheel of that particular 1997 Boxster. Though it looks much lower and wider, the 2021 Boxster has only grown slightly to 172.4 inches long and 70.9 inches wide, with a 97.4-inch wheelbase. The dimensions of the Boxster have changed little over the last two decades, the 1997 car was 170.9 inches long and 70.1 inches wide, with a 95.1-inch wheelbase. But the concept’s design remained very much intact on the final vehicle.ġ997 Porsche Boxster and 2021 Porsche 718 Boxster The two cars would share the same hood, interior, headlights, front bumper, and engine architecture. The production Boxster (generation 986) would end up borrowing heavily from the forthcoming 996 generation of the 911 in large part to save money. Though we’ve grown used to the Boxster’s mid-engine design, it was a huge departure from the Porsche designs at the time with its curvier front and rear styling. This put a lot of pressure on the Boxster (a portmanteau of boxer, in reference to its flat-6 engine, and roadster) to reverse the company’s fortunes and the mid-engine convertible debuted as a concept car at the 1993 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The less loved 928 and 968 were discontinued in 1995, with only an aging air-cooled 911 carrying on after that until the Boxster’s arrival. At the time, Porsche’s model lineup was much more limited. It’s not an overstatement to say that this is the car that saved Porsche, which is hard to believe looking at the company’s success in the present day. The Porsche Boxster celebrates its 25th birthday this year, having made its debut in late 1996 as a 1997 model.
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