Ok I'm starting to get enough questions of "Hey are you trading your existing GT4 in on a new one?" that I thought I would pose the question to all of you about what would make the new 718 GT4 a success or failure.
While I am not planning to trade or buy one, here are some thoughts from my perspective about what would potentially make the car a "success" in my eyes.
1) Need to get the HP over 400, preferably up to 450 given that the GT3 is over 500 and just about anything with bragging rights these days talk about 500+
2) Needs to be faster around the track than a Tesla Model 3 Performance Sedan
3) Needs to keep the weight down, can they make the new GT4 weigh less than the old one? If they can, then that's a success, if they start talking about "minimal weight gain" then I'm scratching my head wondering why
4) 4L ? You know engine size in and of itself doesn't matter that much to me but a lot of people judge by size so it would be nice to get the 4.0L at least, but a properly tuned 3.8L would be just fine too.
5) Interior - Can we do something about those 718 cheese grater air vents please? The dash better be leather, there better be interior color bits and I better be able to have stitching on anything I want!
6) Colors - Can we get a unique color please? Something offered only for the GT4, like that peridot green for the Cayman R, except something different? I'd like to see one of those paints from the new Acura NSX line with the metallic sheen to them.
7) Ring Times - Personally I don't care as these have become essentially meaningless these days but I'm guessing we will see sub 7:30 and really ought to see sub 7:15
8 ) High Speed Braking - For the love of all that is holy can we PLEASE get a solution for the back end of the car getting squirrely under high speed braking (meaning 130+ mph and hammering on the brakes), the back end ping pongs back and forth so much as to make the car feel unstable.
9) Convenience features - Probably never happen, but keyless entry and other convenience features thrown in as opposed to yet more line items to drive up the cost of the car even further.
10) Cost - Even though I know Porsche isn't going to throw in items like adaptive headlights, etc. and we all know the base cost will go up the question is really how much. I'm guessing the base comes in just under 100K, maybe $99,300 but that would be for a stripper which no one orders, out the door price is more likely to be something in the $125k range I'm guessing for a decently equipped car.
11) Option pricing - Why hasn't the price of PCCB's come down? The technology is proven, economies of scale should have taken place, a lot more cars offer similar brakes, yet the option from Porsche is sky high still. Again I'd either like to see some option packs that make sense "track pack options" "convenience pack options" or a more reasonable option pricing structure. Total ala carte where everything is at a premium just rubs me the wrong way, I'd rather have a bundle and then a few ala carte items so I don't at least feel like I'm getting gouged at every turn.
12) Make it easier to add the factory roll cage option to US cars, in other words PUT THE DAMN MOUNTING POINTS IN! That was a ridiculous attempt at cost savings in the first GT4, really no excuse for not making the option to mount worldwide and then sell the cage wherever allowed by law. I get that the US "supposedly" doesn't allow it unless they crash test a car with it, which Porsche doesn't want to go to the expense of doing, but still there is no excuse for not having the mounting points already there as the cost savings on that is truly minimal.
13) Better information on adjusting the sway bars and aero elements, seemed like a lot of trial and error guess work on the first GT4. It would be better to have a set of recommended settings for different purposes. Autocross? Set A, Track HPDE? Set B, High Speed runs? Set C, etc. Sure you could still tweak them, but why not make it easier to get a sound "base" point to launch from for each performance envelope type.
14) Track Precision App should be integrated into the car then dump the results to memory card or phone. After awhile I gave up on it and used the app that came with my Garmin VIRB XE camera to produce track videos as the Track Precision app simply failed 9 times out of 10. Someone has to be able to do better at Porsche than what this thing turned out to be. Take a clue from Tesla and have ANY track that someone drives on be able to be uploaded and shared with all other drivers, not just a select few tracks that Porsche happened to visit in their own back yard.
15) Battery Tender - Can we get some sort of plug or maybe a pass through point to enable installing a battery tender on the car's battery easier please? I'm always having to leave the battery cover plastic loose somewhere to fish cords through and no I don't want to use one that goes in the lighter socket where I have to leave the window cracked open either. Porsche either needs to fix their high battery drain problem or they need to come to terms with plugging the car in whenever it is going to sit for awhile and make that process easier.
Ok that's what I've got that comes to mind, I'm sure I've probably missed a few things but will see what the rest of you come up with...
While I am not planning to trade or buy one, here are some thoughts from my perspective about what would potentially make the car a "success" in my eyes.
1) Need to get the HP over 400, preferably up to 450 given that the GT3 is over 500 and just about anything with bragging rights these days talk about 500+
2) Needs to be faster around the track than a Tesla Model 3 Performance Sedan
3) Needs to keep the weight down, can they make the new GT4 weigh less than the old one? If they can, then that's a success, if they start talking about "minimal weight gain" then I'm scratching my head wondering why
4) 4L ? You know engine size in and of itself doesn't matter that much to me but a lot of people judge by size so it would be nice to get the 4.0L at least, but a properly tuned 3.8L would be just fine too.
5) Interior - Can we do something about those 718 cheese grater air vents please? The dash better be leather, there better be interior color bits and I better be able to have stitching on anything I want!
6) Colors - Can we get a unique color please? Something offered only for the GT4, like that peridot green for the Cayman R, except something different? I'd like to see one of those paints from the new Acura NSX line with the metallic sheen to them.
7) Ring Times - Personally I don't care as these have become essentially meaningless these days but I'm guessing we will see sub 7:30 and really ought to see sub 7:15
8 ) High Speed Braking - For the love of all that is holy can we PLEASE get a solution for the back end of the car getting squirrely under high speed braking (meaning 130+ mph and hammering on the brakes), the back end ping pongs back and forth so much as to make the car feel unstable.
9) Convenience features - Probably never happen, but keyless entry and other convenience features thrown in as opposed to yet more line items to drive up the cost of the car even further.
10) Cost - Even though I know Porsche isn't going to throw in items like adaptive headlights, etc. and we all know the base cost will go up the question is really how much. I'm guessing the base comes in just under 100K, maybe $99,300 but that would be for a stripper which no one orders, out the door price is more likely to be something in the $125k range I'm guessing for a decently equipped car.
11) Option pricing - Why hasn't the price of PCCB's come down? The technology is proven, economies of scale should have taken place, a lot more cars offer similar brakes, yet the option from Porsche is sky high still. Again I'd either like to see some option packs that make sense "track pack options" "convenience pack options" or a more reasonable option pricing structure. Total ala carte where everything is at a premium just rubs me the wrong way, I'd rather have a bundle and then a few ala carte items so I don't at least feel like I'm getting gouged at every turn.
12) Make it easier to add the factory roll cage option to US cars, in other words PUT THE DAMN MOUNTING POINTS IN! That was a ridiculous attempt at cost savings in the first GT4, really no excuse for not making the option to mount worldwide and then sell the cage wherever allowed by law. I get that the US "supposedly" doesn't allow it unless they crash test a car with it, which Porsche doesn't want to go to the expense of doing, but still there is no excuse for not having the mounting points already there as the cost savings on that is truly minimal.
13) Better information on adjusting the sway bars and aero elements, seemed like a lot of trial and error guess work on the first GT4. It would be better to have a set of recommended settings for different purposes. Autocross? Set A, Track HPDE? Set B, High Speed runs? Set C, etc. Sure you could still tweak them, but why not make it easier to get a sound "base" point to launch from for each performance envelope type.
14) Track Precision App should be integrated into the car then dump the results to memory card or phone. After awhile I gave up on it and used the app that came with my Garmin VIRB XE camera to produce track videos as the Track Precision app simply failed 9 times out of 10. Someone has to be able to do better at Porsche than what this thing turned out to be. Take a clue from Tesla and have ANY track that someone drives on be able to be uploaded and shared with all other drivers, not just a select few tracks that Porsche happened to visit in their own back yard.
15) Battery Tender - Can we get some sort of plug or maybe a pass through point to enable installing a battery tender on the car's battery easier please? I'm always having to leave the battery cover plastic loose somewhere to fish cords through and no I don't want to use one that goes in the lighter socket where I have to leave the window cracked open either. Porsche either needs to fix their high battery drain problem or they need to come to terms with plugging the car in whenever it is going to sit for awhile and make that process easier.
Ok that's what I've got that comes to mind, I'm sure I've probably missed a few things but will see what the rest of you come up with...