Porsche 911, Porsche Boxster and Rolls-Royce

Porsche 911True enough, you'll be able to buy the familiar Porsche 911 for a good deal of model year '98, but the curvaceous new-generation '99 model (shown here) is enticingly close and will probably be on sale as early as spring of 1998. Powered by a new liquid-cooled flat six (about 3.5 liters/300 horsepower) related to the one in the Boxster, the new 911 will continue with its traditional rear-engine placement, but will be longer and wider than the current car. Meantime, the normally aspirated versions of the existing 911 return for '98 with no significant changes; for now, the Turbo has been discontinued. All share the same enthralling 3.6-liter/282-horsepower flat-six and the same intensely pleasurable driving experience.

Porsche BoxsterThink of it as a taste of things to come. Porsche's highly successful Boxster reveals much of the thinking that will go into the next-generation 911. And it's a fabulous sports car in its own right. Driven by an advanced mid-placed liquid-cooled 2.5-liter boxer six that sports four-valve cylinder heads, this seductive roadster hits 60 mph in 6.0 seconds. The 201-horsepower at your command arrive in typical Porsche fashion-with immediacy, but in precise measure to your throttle movements. Transmissions in both manual and five-speed Tiptronic configurations let you chose a drivetrain that suits your unique needs. Introduced just last season, the Boxster returns for '98 unaltered.

Rolls-RoyceWhen does a limousine look like something out of a rental car lot? When it's parked next to a Rolls-Royce, of course. Here you'll find lambs' wool rugs so deep you can lose your prize Bichon Frise for hours, Connolly leather of impossible suppleness, and acres of burled walnut polished to a high sheen. And if there's anything else you'd like (as long as it's not illegal) Rolls-Royce would be only too happy to build it into your car. Two models are now offered: the Silver Spur and the by-order-only Park Ward Limousine. The normally aspirated V-8 has been dropped, and now both are powered by the same 6.75-liter/385-horse turbocharged V-8. Later in '98, substantial changes to the Rolls-Royce line are anticipated.