Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Pilot2519j
Is all in the cachet. The 911 has it and the Boxster does not. Porsche as many have stated will modify the 911 adnaseum till doomsday. No matter how you slice that car it is a VW on steroids. The Ferrari 430 Modena has clocked the 911 countless times and will continue to do so in the racing series televised by Speedvision. The 911 brew is elitest snobs that look down at anything that is not a 911. As a matter of fact they don't even acknowledge you as if the Boxster drivers were some sort of subhuman species. The Boxster is a quantum leap over the 911 Steredzoid. Design wise handling and fun to drive there no car that can top the Boxster. I was very happy and pleased when the Cayman beat the 911 time in N-ring. Oops! Imagine if the Boxster and Cayman had the same engines as the 911, they would from fast to super rediculous fast in a jiffy.
|
HI,
All of what you say is very true. There is alot of cachet surrounding the 911, but this can also be deceiving. There are several variants to that cachet.
There are those who feel it's cachet stems from it's longevity (and at least through the 993 series, it remained essentially the same car since 1964 (albeit continuously tweaked in order to
keep up). As for the 996, it shares much more with the Boxster than it ever did with the 993 or earlier variants.
Then there are those who point to it's racing prowess. Interestingly enough, Porsche has always maintained that the 911 (not including the specific racing variants) was a Rally car rather than a Race car. This makes sense, because Porsche has always restricted it's Motorsports activities to venues where it clearly has advantages over other existing technology, they have rarely gone shoulder-to-shoulder with any other marque. The recent RS Spyder's entry into L2 instead of L1 is a case in point, though the ALMS appeared to be about to clip their wings. They couldn't win in Champ, or F1, so they just decided not to play.
Then there are those who believe such cachet stems from it's economic niche, that only those breathing
rarified air can afford one. And so, to do so makes someone
special. All this leads to the air of Superiority one sometimes encounters. But, 914 owners have been at the forefront of this Superior bravado for over 30 years, and yet this Porsche/VW always gave the 911 a good run for the money.
Mention it's dated design, or the fact that many more modern cars will outperform it, and these same people will revert to praising it's
Classic stature. And that's really what it is now, more of a
Classic.
But, this cachet was not the product of some group of Mag writers, rather from it's flock of faithful owners. If the Boxster is ever to achieve such high and long-lived status, IMHO, it will be up to Boxster owners to create it...
Happy Motoring!... Jim'99