If the Porsche Turbo looked any the same as the 1976 model unleashed 33 years ago, I’d be fine with it. But that’s silly. While you go through life things get old. They need to be refreshed and eventually get redesigned. It’s a natural evolution, just look at your own hair. In the car business, people stop buying old product when there’s no buzz. If there’s no buzz [Ed: buzz cut?], the products eventually perceived as played. Then, eventually, it peters out. Hence Porsche going back to the salon for the seventh generation 911 Turbo.
Porsche will debut the “new” Porsche Turbo at the Frankfurt Motor Show (September 17 – 27). Porsche’s new model combines a new power unit displacing 3.8 liters (vs. the original 3.0 liter), delivering maximum output of 500 bhp (vs. 260 hp at launch). It does this with lower weight, enhanced driving dynamics and improved fuel efficiency.
The big news: PDK. Paddle shifty thingies. TTAC’s Cap’n Mike didn’t like them on the Cayman, but the guy flies in military jets for a living. And remember: plenty of U.S. buyers opted for Porsche’s Tiptronic. The PDK gearbox will restore their street cred—even if they never use them. Which they probably won’t.
Sales of the new Porsche 911 Turbo in both Coupé and Cabriolet form start in Germany on November 21, 2009, heading stateside in the new year. Which, as always, drops prices on pre-loved versions of the outgoing model. Know what I mean?
[click here for motormarket.com]
You forgot to add the BIG news…first time availability of the PDK dual clutch transmission and Direct Injection.
Both represent a big leap forward in technology for the venerable Turbo…it might LOOK the same, but it sure as Hell won’t drive the same!
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
That being said, as doctorv8 noted, the PDK is *big* news.
What does it weigh? Unless it’s under 3000 pounds, the 500 horses is just not that outstanding in today’s world. Any recent college grad can get a loan for $30k to buy a C6 Vette, which will keep up with this thing.
And there’s always that troublesome new Skyline which can beat the crap out of this uber car on its home track in Germany.
What did you say this car costs? One hundred and how many thousand? And I have to keep the turbos on boil or I can get dusted by the high school kid in his four banger Evo? Ouch.
I would question the relevance of this car in today’s world.
TZ
Added!
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I still have fond memories of my first car — a BRG 1967 Porsche 911S (well, until the torsion tubes rusted out). Porsche 911s are still a kick in the butt on the track (and a pain in the butt around town). Being a purist, I still love their rear engine cars. I just don’t get why they are trying to be an “everything for everyone” company with the Cayenne and Panamera.
Twotone
I’ve always thought that if you took a VW bug, and stepped on it, you’d have the design inspiration of the 911.
As to “why” the Cayenne and Panamera… It’s because they MAKE MONEY! Much as that pisses off the “purists” (snobs). A novel concept in this age of corporate wellfare no doubt.
Yes, yes, yes! This car still gives me hope. This model is like an erection without need of Viagara. I’m still young and they still make the object of my obsession and desire, only 30 years later. Never mind that I weight 130 lbs. more than I did when the first model arrived on our shores.
Cool! Just in time for record bonus payouts to all the execs at the finance Co.’s making cash for clunkers loans, and no doubt the Ibanks packaging them up for resale. Nothing like 500Hp and 4 wheel drive to get you through harsh New York winters and political campaign fundraising seasons.
At last a Porsche product announcement that doesn’t fill me with despair. I have no doubt that it will be heart palpitation inducing motoring at its best.
If they really want to shock people the “new” Porsche Turbo will be a Cayman with the Turbo engine.
Does anyone even buy the naturally aspirited 911 anymore?
I wish other brands would take a line from Porsche and update style instead of chunking it all and starting over. I read somewhere that VW considers it a strong possibility that Porsche sales could double as a result of the acquisition/merger. This makes me a little nervous…is a 400 horsepower Routan in the pipeline?
Porsche tried to get rid of their ass-engined slot car in the late 80s – early 90s. They had a nice front engined thingy – 944/968 – and a really nice GT – 928. It was a near death experience for them and they learned that for the then-foreseeable future, a 911 something or other was necessary.
I do like the idea of a Cayman RS with the GT3 engine stuffed in it. It would have about the power to weight ratio of a turbo.
no_slushbox :Does anyone even buy the naturally aspirited 911 anymore?
Just those poor bastards that can only afford the GT3.
I like the idea of a Cayman with a GT2 engine stuffed in it.
A Cayman with the turbo H6 wouldn’t suck Nissan GT-R exhaust like the 911 Turbo does.
It’s time for Porsche to stop sandbagging the superior Cayman just so douches with gold chains can feel that they have the “best” Porsche while they drive around in their late model 911s that they only bought for the name.
The aftermarket is filling the gap:
http://www.tpcracing.us/turbos/turbos/cayman_turbo,_available_now.html
I would love a 911 turbo, if money was no object I would get one and drive it everyday..but of course money is an object so I think a GT-R will do just fine
Another thought on the PDK – based on test results, it looks pretty damn impressive.
0-60 in a Boxster S PDK: 4.1 seconds (R&T)
The Cayman S should perform similarly. Who needs a 911?
The 911 is the kind of car you dream about before you dream about girls. It means it takes 30 years before those who had the dream as a little boy can afford them so changing the look isn’t wise
Actually this announcement is pretty depressing to me.
The old turbos were something special. With this evolution, it is now just a Carrera S with a turbo and a different spoiler. No one seems to notice the significance of the switch of the engine to the Carrera 3.8L. The 996 and previous 997 turbos used a different engine than the standard 911 despite the same displacement of 3.6L. The previous block has its roots in the 964 and late 1990’s Le Mans prototypes. It was still partially oil cooled and IMHO, a more rugged design than the lower-cost-to-build mainstream 3.6-3.8 L engine. From my personal use of over 55,000 miles on my ’03, I can tell you that it has been a bulletproof engine with plenty of opportunities to make it as powerful, if not more powerful, than the new offering.
For my next Porsche, I guess I now have to figure out how to get back seats into a GT3 (which still uses the 964 block) as that seems to be the last non-soft real Porsche.
The 911 is the kind of car you dream about before you dream about girls. It means it takes 30 years before those who had the dream as a little boy can afford them so changing the look isn’t wise
You can’t date Farrah (R.I.P), but you can buy the Turbo. It does not speak to the F & F generation, but for we old guys, back when we lived in a land of 185 HP Corvettes, it was THE SHip.
OK, today it’s not, but if I somehow finally chose the correct stock to buy, it would be on the list, along with a Nissan GT-R and the ZR-1.
Finally! A Turbo with PDK. Where do I sign?
@ pgreenberg
Actually (I think) the microsite says the engine is derived from that used in the GT2.
(Mind you, my reading German is crap).
@ PeteMoran
I will send to my German friends for a translation.
The PDK gearbox will restore their street cred—even if they never use them.
Not among those who know better. Flappy paddles will always be flappy paddles, doesn’t matter what they’re connected to. Lose the man pedal, and it’s “just another slushbox secretary Porsche”. I’m sure the used market in a few years will hold true to the days of old, in which girltronic Porsches command significantly less money than those with a real gearbox.
The 911 Turbo has always been the domain of the enthusiast. Less so than the GT2/3, but enough to be light years away from the Carrera 4 club. While there’s sure to be a subset of gimmic buyers and posers, I would be amazed if flappy paddled Turbos outpace sales of those with the aforementioned man pedal.
Every car show, meet, run and rally I’ve attended since PDK came out has included the same “tiptronic pity” from the hardcore demographic, aimed toward those foolish enough to buy the silly thing.
“Nice car. Automatic, huh? Shame..”
A couple years ago I was shopping for a retirement toy. Criteria were fast, good handling, rear or all wheel drive, manual transmission. It also had to be sufficiently comfortable and quiet so that I wouldn’t feel like crap after a 15 hour trip with only brief stops to refuel.
One of the cars I tried was a 2001 911 twin turbo with 25k miles in perfect condition. Aside from worrying about what maintenance costs would be, I found two problems with the car that made me turn it down.
The first was turbo lag. To test this, I started out at a steady 60 mph in top gear then dropped down two gears and floored the accelerator pedal. It took the turbos a good second to spin up and add another hundred or more horsepower. The experience caused me to add “normally aspirated” to my list of criteria.
The other problem was interior noise. I have found that high noise levels contribute significantly to fatigue after a long day. My previous toy was a first generation Mazda RX-7. Toward the end, I wore ear plugs during long trips in it. In the 911, the tires generated too much noise for me to tolerate over a long day. The engine was actually quite quiet while cruising. (I also tried a couple of Caymans. The constant drone from their engines drove me out after only 30 minutes.)
I think the Porsche I would be most likely to own is a normally aspirated Carrera 4 with a manual transmission. It is still very fast, doesn’t suffer from turbo lag and, with all wheel drive, you can use all the power. Now if Porsche would only do something about the tire noise.
Well, Australia just got the English microsite this weekend.
The cut-away CGI effort is brilliant.
@ PeteMoran
Unfortunately, it looks like the GT2 manifold only.
From the Porsche press release:
“The heart and highlight of the seventh generation of the Turbo is the new power unit displacing 3.8 litres and delivering maximum output of 500 bhp (368 kW). The first entirely new engine in the 35-year-history of the Turbo(bold added by me)comes with features such as Direct Fuel Injection and Porsche’s exclusive turbocharger with variable turbine geometry on a gasoline power unit.”
From what I have seen at the track is that the non-turbo engine on which this new turbo unit is based has not been shown to be as tough as the old 964-based unit found in the 996/old 997 turbo and GT3.
@ pgreenberg
Thanks for that. I meant to post back after I saw it on the english microsite version.