2009 Porsche Boxster
The 2012 Porsche Boxster will have a 4-cylinder engine instead of the current model's 6-cylinder. The 2009 Porsche Boxster is shown here. See pictures of the 2010 Porsche Boxster.
Consumer Guide's Impressions of the 2012 Porsche Boxster

Porsche's mid-engine convertible will lighten up and shift down to 4-cylinder power for better fuel economy with no loss in performance. The redesigned Boxster won't look very different, but its prices probably will.

What We Know About the 2012 Porsche Boxster

Constantly changing government regulations are a burden for carmakers everywhere, but 2011 will be a tougher year than most. That's when Europe begins phasing in lower CO2 emissions limits and tougher fuel-economy standards start ramping up in the U.S. Both laws carry stiff fines for failure to comply.

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As luck would have it, lowering CO2 generally flows from lowering fuel consumption, and vice versa, which largely explains reports of a redesigned 2012 Porsche Boxster downshifting from 6-cylinder to 4-cylinder power. Not all sources concur, but most insist that the next-generation Boxster will be the first 4-cylinder Porsche since the front-engine 968 models departed in the early 1990s.

The coming CO2 and mpg imperatives drive other reported changes in the 2012 Porsche Boxster. Prime among them are reduced weight, which should also benefit handling, and a new aerodynamics package (see "Notable Feature" below). These same revisions also mark the next rear-engine 911s, the redesigned 991-series that's expected to start a U.S. rollout for model-year 2012. The new Boxsters, known to Porsche as project 981, reportedly bow about six months later, at least in Europe. They could be tagged 2013s by the time U.S. sales kick off.

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