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The Porsche Boxter was first released in 1996 and has been overwhelmingly popular since. By 1998 the demand was so great that production in Zuffenhusen was not keeping up so Porsche signed a contract with a Finnish factory called Valmet. The contract was to only be for two years since it was thought that by that time the plant in Zuffenhausen would be able to handle the workload, that hasn’t happened and as a matter of fact the majority of Boxters headed to North America are built in the Finnish plant.

It is now not even possible to guarantee that you get a Stuttgart built car because even the vehicles designated for Tourist Delivery are sometimes coming from Valmet.

The popularity of the Boxter shows no signs of waning and if anything the introduction of the new second generation model of 2005 will only increase popularity even more. The Boxter and the Boxter S are super fast and powerful and are by the estimation of many, the best handling mass production sports cars in the world.

They have hardly changed in nearly 10 years aside from minor tweaks to increase horsepower and adding to interior options. This strategy keeps the Porsche tradition of maintaining the look of a successful model for long periods of time which is totally opposed to American car manufacturers’ philosophy where they change vehicle designs as often as every three years.

Like its precedent first offered in 1996, the second generation Boxster is a mid-engine, six-cylinder two-seater that resembles the Porsche Spyder and yet the majority of Boxster‘s construction and electronics are taken from the 911 Carrera. The 2005 Boxter has increased horsepower by 15 and its performance in acceleration and top speed is just about identical to the expensive 911 Carrera.

The base transmission offered is a 5 speed manual but a six speed is optional as is the availability of the 5-speed Porsche designed Tiptronic automatic transmission.

The overall look of the exterior of the Boxter is not overly decorative or ornate but sexy and the interior has been improved a good deal due to the earlier versions being considered too Spartan or cheap looking. The seats in the second generation are supportive and body conforming which not only makes them look good but increases comfort as well.

One of The Boxster‘s features that I like best, being in Florida, is the powered convertible top, which is very fast and easy to retract or put up. In the 2005 Boxster, the top can even operate while driving up to 30 mph, which is an added plus if you are caught in a sudden shower. The triple-layer padded cloth tops with a heated-glass rear window is as weather-tight and offers as much quiet as most fully enclosed metal roofs.

Porsche continues to prolong their tradition of building quality sports cars with the second generation Porsche Boxter.

Even though the Porsche 64 is considered by many to be the first car produced by the company it was really only a test car and was never built as a production automobile, in fact only three were built. The 364 was built by Ferdinand and Ferry Porsche after design by Erwin Komenda, while getting its engine modeled after the VW Beetle.

The 356 was offered in the beginning as a coupe, a cabriolet, and a roadster and before being taken off the market in 1965 it underwent several modifications. The models that were the most wanted were the Super 90, the Speedster, and the 356 Carrera which often fetches over $150,000 now. The original selling price for a Porsche in the latter 1950’s was only $4,000.

Max Hoffman was the only Porsche importer in the United States back then and wanted a lower priced, speedy version to market to Americans. So in 1954 the company manufactured the 356 Speedster with a removable windshield, bucket seats, and a very basic folding top. The Speedster production peaked at 1,171 cars in 1957 and was replaced in 1959 by the Convertible model D which featured a taller and more practical windshield as well as more comfortable seating.

The original 356 was featured in many Hollywood films and now brings over $100,000 at auto specialty auctions and through private dealers, if you are lucky enough to find one.

Even though minor modifications were made to it, the basic shape of the Porsche 356 stayed unchanged and its signature look was easily distinguished from others. The coupe and cabriolet editions were made each year until 1965 but the last 356 Roadster was made two years earlier.

In 1964 when Porsche introduced the popular 911, 356 vehicle production was at 14,151 and the company offered the 356 through 1965 as a lower cost alternative to the more pricey 911 which was twice that of the 356. Due to the complaining of customers that the price of the 911 was too high the company came out with the 912 which featured the cheaper engine of the 356 and it was sold until 1969.

Currently the Porsche 356 is a desirable and respected collector classic and was named on the top 10 list of the best sports cars of the 1960’s by Sports Car International. Today thousands of Porsche 356 owners carry on the tradition with well preserved vehicles that are driven on a regular basis.

What’s in a Lambo that can arouse emotional reactions and invoke a cosmos of images? Is it the Lamborghini’s razor-sharp headlights, long edgy lines of body work, deep side air intakes or maybe the fact that it is a luxury car that makes it a wonderful sight to behold?

A rental company in Washington, DC is giving everybody (but basically those who can afford only) the chance to drive a Lamborghini Gallardo. Capital Dream Cars will soon have the Lamborghini as part of their rental fleet. Oh yes, believe it or not the Capital Dream Cars, Washington, DC’s premier exotic car rental service is happy to announce that the Lamborghini Gallardo is the latest addition to its fleet of world-class rental automobiles.

Jumi Kim, Founding Partner of Capital Dream Cars, “The hard-top, E-Gear transmission Lamborghini is a nice complement to our manual Ferrari convertible and tiptronic Bentley coupe. Whether you want a coupe or convertible, a manual, semi-automatic or automatic transmission, we have a dream vehicle for every preference, season and occasion.”

The Yellow Lamborghini Gallardo has a design inspired by modern jet fighters. The Lamborghini Gallardo is a muscular car that possesses dynamic styling and performance. The Lamborghini Gallardo is called SantAgata’ raging bull and it’s because of its 5.0 liter, V10 engine that produces 500 horsepower and sprints from zero to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds. Despite its power some people who have already tested to drive a Gallardo claimed that it is smooth.

As expected from a Gallardo its interior is sleek black which Motor Trend magazine describes as “the best cabin ever bolted and stitched into a Lamborghini…an exotic-car cockpit that you’ll actually want to ride in.” it is equipped with power seats, on-board computer, heated seats/floor mats/exterior mirrors, coming home function, silver brake calipers, and 19” alloy wheels.

According to a Lamborghini of Washington spokesman, “Five thousand Lamborghini Gallardos can’t be wrong. Style, performance and fun are why the Lamborghini Gallardo is the most successful Lamborghini ever built and one of the most popular sports cars today.” In short great cars like the Lamborghini Gallardo calls for great responsibilities and attention.

About the Capital Dream Cars

Capital Dream Cars in Washington, DC is the premier exotic car rental company that provides only the finest and the most elegant marques for rent such as the red Ferrari 360 Spider, metallic gray Bentley Continental GT and the new addition to the fleet, the yellow Lamborghini Gallardo—self-drive basis; the white or silver Rolls-Royce Phantom, blue or black Maybach—on a chauffeured basis. Capital Dream cars also provides corporate incentives and programs such as the Prince Michael package or the thrilling Power Tour package which includes a visit to the rural back-roads in the Ferrari, Bentley, and Lamborghini.

About Lamborghini

Automobili-Lamborghini S.p.A., which is commonly referred to as Lamborghini is an Italian manufacturer of high performance sports cars based on the small Italian village of Sant’ Agata Bolognese, near Bologna.

Lamborghini is also a subsidiary of Audi AG which in turn is a subsidiary of Volkswagen, Europe’s largest automaker and maker of high quality VW GTI parts. Volkswagen is offering the Lamborghini as a match to the Ferrari in the Italian sports car business.

Okay, not really but the founder of Porsche, Ferdinand Porsche, was an important developer in the engineering of airplanes and race cars plus in tank building for the Wehrmacht.

Many people do not realize what a prolific inventor this man was, he had over one thousand patents issued! Early in his automotive engineering career Ferdinand was chief engineer for none other than Mercedes Benz, after being dismissed for disagreeing with their engineering methods he started his own engineering firm in Stuttgart where he was responsible for the design of the Volkswagen Beetle that be came so popular.

After the second world war, Porsche began building cars with Ferry Porsche, his son and they called their first car the Porsche 356. The car was a small sports car very similar in design to the VW with the same four cylinder rear mounted engine.

It was a far cry from the Porsche we know today with only 40 horsepower and a maximum speed of only 87 miles per hour. They first designed the 356 to be a convertible but later it was redesigned as a coupe by Erwin Komenda, a master designer for Porsche who had been the head of that department since the days when they developed the Beetle. With its new innovative fastback design, the 356 coupe became the sports car poster child.

The Porsche tradition of signature sports cars continued to grow and with the introduction of the 911 developed by Butzi Porsche, Ferdinand’s grandson, and Komenda the popularity of the Porsche nameplate exploded! With the easily distinguishable sloped nose and the big frog eye headlamps, the 911 stood apart from the crowd and screamed its name to everyone.

This new Porsche became the cornerstone that Porsche wanted to display. Attempts to move away from the roots by building cars like the 924 and 928 almost ruined the company and were nowhere near as popular as it had been thought they would be.

After narrowly escaping financial disaster in that partnership with VW on the 924 and 928, the company came to the realization that what some of the engineers had thought of as being limiting was not that at all but was actually a niche market unto itself with the timeless features of the Porsche 911 design.

Now the company went to work with a design team that focused solely on improving the 911 and by 1999 the company released the all new Boxster, re-establishing the popularity of the sports car company.