Find Reviews by Make:
Germany's AutoZeitung (via MotorAuthority) reports that Porsche is planning to create a hatchback about the size of a VW Golf. The brand defiling line extension new model is designed to help the luxury sports car maker meet Europe's proposed, tighter CO2 emission standards. Projected for introduction after the 2009 launch of the four-door Panamera, Porsche's relatively down market parts-bin special would have a front-mounted 295hp boxer engine (from the Boxster) driving all four wheels. Porsche hasn't released any official sketches yet, but we can only pray it won't look like a 5/8 scale Cayenne. Still, with the new model's engine mass in front of the wheels, handling could be interesting– kind of like driving a 911 in reverse.
21 Comments on “Porswagen? Volksche? Here We Go Again…...”
Read all comments
A new 944. Sign me up. Be a snob all you want, but the 944/968 series was the best balanced and handling Porsche ever made.
Haven’t driven a Cayman yet, so I can’t comment on that.
Sounds like a Subaru to me, could make a hell of a great driving car but I already have a Subaru. I don’t need to pay $15,000 more to have Porsche’s badge up front.
i’d go with “Porkswagen”
They already have a hatchback.
It’s called the Cayman.
295hp in a small 4×4 hatch? That’s sounds like the stuff dreams are made of. It might defile the brand, but that’s gonna be a sick ride.
Why not put 4-cyl (maybe Subaru sourced) in existing porsches?
BMW has 4-cyl in its 3- and 5-series…
sightline:
A new 944. Sign me up.
The aborted VW project was the 924, the 944 came later.
sightline
Be a snob all you want, but the 944/968 series was the best balanced and handling Porsche ever made.
I sure hope you’re kidding with that line. The 944/968 most definitely was NOT the best balanced and handling Porsche ever made. Not only is the Cayman very likely superior to the 944/968, likely a 997 Turbo is as well. Then there is the legendary 959. The 959 and 944 shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence.
Johnson, probably one of those PCA members that hates us 944 owners so much.
Tell you what, bring your Porsche of choice up to the twisty little Mont Tremblant track (long track) and take on my 944 for ten laps.
End result?
A half lap ahead and laughing like a drain
I smell WRC contender…
How did I know that someone would pull that?
Comparing any production Porsche to the uber-limited edition 959 is a pretty pointless comparison, especially considering that the 959 was essentially a Group B WRC car with street tires and exhaust.
But the fact that you’re pulling out a $1,000,000 supercar and a brand new 4WD 450-hp top-of-the-line 911 pretty much proves my point.
Used to own a used 944 back in the nineties, before getting married and having three kids and it might not have been the best Porsche ever, but it sure brings back sweet memories. And that said, the handling wasn’t that bad at all. Overall a nice and fun car, but of course not up to modern days standards.
Johnson, have you ever driven a 944 series Porsche?
Nevermind the supercar 959, the other models you mention are all from a generation that is 20 years past the era of the 944. Remember the 944 is from the era before PASM and would still pull over .90g on the skidpad when 911s were luck to manage .83g or .85g for a 911 turbo. Yes the 944 was the best balanced and handling production porsche. Remove PASM from todays 911 and you will have one scary beast on your hands.
Back in the good ole days of the mid 1980s the 944 turbo was the BEST porsche you could buy, period! The 928 was faster at the top end and the 911 turbo would out accelerate a 944 turbo but the 944 turbos real world and race track handling would put both the 928 and 911T to shame. A 944 turbo would also blow away a regular 911 with no problem.
Back then the 944 turbo put out 217 to 260hp in S trim. It produced easily 250 lb ft of torque. This was when the Carrera made do with 215hp and 195 lb ft. The 944T would do the run to 60 in less than 6 seconds, the 1/4 in the low 14s at close to 100mph. It would also top out at over 150mph and over 160mph for the S model. This car was no slouch!
BTW the 944 was the first Porsche to offer ABS and I believe the first car anywhere offer with both driver and passanger Airbags.
And the best of all is the fact that the 944t was about 30% less expensive than a base 911, a car it could easily out perform! Wow, to think Porsche used to sell cars that were price competetive with a Corvette. Go figure!
Brand defiling model, my A$$. I guess that is the view of all the posers out there that just want there little toy to be so-called “exclusive”.
No wonder Porsche is holding back on the Cayman’s performance, can’t hurt the bragging rights of all those AT equiped 911 owners.
Sooooo…. they are going to put the Boxster’s engine in the R32 and call it a day?
the 959 was essentially a Group B WRC car with street tires and exhaust.
WRC didn’t exist back then, and you’re confusing Group B Sportscar racing, of which there were only 2 contending models (959 and 288GTO) with Group B Rally racing (Audi Quattro with big wing going 0-60 in <3 seconds on gravel).
tentacles, I am more than happy to be proven wrong, but I believe the 959 was originally developed to be both a sports and a rally car and actually won the 1986 Paris-Dakar rally – hence the 4wd.
I’m using WRC to refer to the World Rally Championship which has been around since 1973, not the more recent World Rally Car.
The only way Porsche could defile their branding (unless you’re a status snob) is to essentially build a Mercedes-Benz as their own car. So long as they build great performing cars, I don’t care much what shape or configuration they are (I’ll even begrudgingly admit that the Cayenne is pretty much the best case scenario for a Porsche SUV).
I met a fellow in Atlanta a few years back that swore all over the place that his 944 turbo was the fastest, best handling, he had ever owned or raced. And then he showed me around the shop to see the other cars he owned, Ferrari Testarrosa, Ferrari 308, the 911 I was there to look at for my brother and a Lotus Esprit V8. I never had a chance to compare for myself but I believe him and the rest of you the 944 Turbo gets a bad rap it doesn’t deserve.
I still remember that day like it was yesterday because I got the treat of a lifetime while I was there, they were working on a Ferrari 375 America and they wound up that velvety V-12 so I could here that Ferrari shriek that makes my hair stand on end. Now you get my name, to much Ferrari talk I need a cold shower.
Correction 340 America not the super rare 375. I didn’t hear him that clearly over the engine noise when he told me what it was.
A spiritual successor to the 944 would certainly not be brand defiling. However, if it comes out heavy, with Cayene/Panamera styling, and poor reliability with a Porsche price tag…
I said nothing bad about the 944.
Again, going back to sightline’s original statement:
Be a snob all you want, but the 944/968 series was the best balanced and handling Porsche ever made.
This statement by sightline is blanket statement that’s saying the 944/968 is the best balanced and handling Porsche EVER, a statement which I easily proved wrong, as almost any enthusiast will tell you.
Now, if the statement had been different, such as “the 944 was the best balanced/handling mainstream Porsche ever made” or “the 944 was the best balanced/handling entry-level Porsche ever made” than that would be a different point for discussion.