Ever since the new DFI engine was announced I have been curious about how much stronger that +25 HP would feel and what regrets I would have for not waiting. ('08 CS, August 2008)
The latest issue of Panorama has arrived and with it an article on the '09 Cayman (discussed elswere) Included is a power and torque curve. I have taken the values from the Pano article and plotted them on to the torque curve in the owner's manual. What follows is a summary of the comparison.
First, understand that the graphic in Pano is small and as a result my numbers are somewhat imprecise.
As a general observation, the dip in the torque curve of the pre '09 engine around 3500 RPM is gone.
The DFI engine torque is everywhere higher than the previous engine, but most of the difference is above 4000 RPM.
The DFI curve peaks at 4500 RPM and starts to fall off from there.
What follows is a tabulation of the increase in torque for the DFI engine at the listed RPM:
2000 RPM 8 ft-lb
2500 8
3000 8
3500 14.5 This is a result of the dip in the pre '09 engine.
4000 5
4500 21
5000 19
5500 15
6000 12
6500 20 This is a result of the rapid fall off of the pre '09 eneine
If the rule of thumb that a person can only begin to feel power increases when they exceed 10 % is valid, then below 4000 RPM the new engine will feel much like the old.
Given the rapid rise in torque from 4000 to 4500 RPM, I would expect that a nice power surge would be noticable, but even here the increase is well below 10%
Overall, my guess would be that the new car will feel about like the the old car with the Softronic/plenum/free flow cat back modification that has been much discussed here; worthwhile but not game changing.
The latest issue of Panorama has arrived and with it an article on the '09 Cayman (discussed elswere) Included is a power and torque curve. I have taken the values from the Pano article and plotted them on to the torque curve in the owner's manual. What follows is a summary of the comparison.
First, understand that the graphic in Pano is small and as a result my numbers are somewhat imprecise.
As a general observation, the dip in the torque curve of the pre '09 engine around 3500 RPM is gone.
The DFI engine torque is everywhere higher than the previous engine, but most of the difference is above 4000 RPM.
The DFI curve peaks at 4500 RPM and starts to fall off from there.
What follows is a tabulation of the increase in torque for the DFI engine at the listed RPM:
2000 RPM 8 ft-lb
2500 8
3000 8
3500 14.5 This is a result of the dip in the pre '09 engine.
4000 5
4500 21
5000 19
5500 15
6000 12
6500 20 This is a result of the rapid fall off of the pre '09 eneine
If the rule of thumb that a person can only begin to feel power increases when they exceed 10 % is valid, then below 4000 RPM the new engine will feel much like the old.
Given the rapid rise in torque from 4000 to 4500 RPM, I would expect that a nice power surge would be noticable, but even here the increase is well below 10%
Overall, my guess would be that the new car will feel about like the the old car with the Softronic/plenum/free flow cat back modification that has been much discussed here; worthwhile but not game changing.
