[OttawaSteve]

Re: The Worst Review of any Porsche I've read

Wow, that is pretty scathing. Is Stuart Gallagher a P9 member? Review reads like a number of threads here predicted.

 

[OttawaSteve]

Re: The Worst Review of any Porsche I've read

The next move is hybrid versions of ALL models. Porsche aims to offer hybrids across model range: CEO in paper - Yahoo Finance

I am so friggin glad that I got a 981. I feel like getting another one, as a spare.

 

[OttawaSteve]

Re: The Worst Review of any Porsche I've read

Agreed - and from a similar perspective, if you want that famous F6 howl, well then you are just going to have to get a 911. Unless they make another GT4 with one...

Or a used 981. If enough people want that sound, the prices for used 981's may hold better than usual. I personally don't think that enough people will care about the sound to make a significant difference. Most of the flat 6 sound junkies already have cars, and the next generation is being raised on smaller engines with forced induction. I took a friends 20 year old son for a spin in the Cayman, and while he loved the car and the sound, he also loves the Subaru sound.

 

[OttawaSteve]

Re: The Worst Review of any Porsche I've read

Point 1 is a given, 2 to 4 are subjective and 5 to 15 I don't care about. However, the most convincing point wasn't numbered. It was the statement "...every time I was in the 981 I couldn’t wait to park it and get into the 718".

 

[OttawaSteve]

Re: The Worst Review of any Porsche I've read

As to the brakes being better, if they had to put bigger brakes on the car because the performance has increased, that tells me something about what they think about the car.

Don't think I buy that one. It seems to me that bigger brakes might be called for if the car was heavier, not because it had more low-end torque and a bit more power. The 981's brakes seem awfully good and I'm not sure that larger one's were really necessary, although the bigger ones are probably pretty nice. Can't have too much braking.

 

[OttawaSteve]

Re: The Worst Review of any Porsche I've read

Agree with Chow's. Soul is the main reason I bought a Porsche rather than a cheaper but relatively capable alternative with more bells and whistles. I am all for fancy technological improvements to my transportation conveyance , but I don't need or want them in my sports car.

 

[OttawaSteve]

Even if the car is leased, sooner or later it will need new turbos.

No kidding. Turbocharger breakdowns are like the elephant in the room, but it seems that few can see the elephant. Those babies spin at hundreds of thousands of RPM. Anything moving that fast that gets that hot will eventually have reliability and maintenance challenges. As you infer, Porsche's are very well built, but when they break, they cost an arm and a leg to fix. It's not like popping a new turbo on your Tucson.

 

[OttawaSteve]

“According to Karesh, many of his participants’ vehicles typically have fewer than 100,000 miles on their odometers. He doesn’t have much data for cars that have gone farther than that."

Exactly. Porsche's also tend to be driven harder than your average family vehicle, although I would expect that the superior engineering and quality of our cars would offset that. I suppose that we will find out in 5-10 years.

 

[OttawaSteve]

As a result of the bickering, I haven't glanced at at 718 thread in a while. This thread is now way off topic (Worst 718 review), but has become quite interesting. It might be worth breaking the discussion on future transportation to a separate thread.

Unless you are all done!

 

[OttawaSteve]

If you talk to MACAN Buyers, they are not soccer moms. The car is too small. Its targeted to DINKS and empty nester baby boomers. Some view it as an AWD version of a sports sedan. Some think its a "sports car" because marketing tells them so. You will find few soccer moms in Macans. Not enuff cargo space, only 4 seats and pretty cramped. But perfect for two people.

You would think they might migrate to the 718 if they want a sport car but whats the point? A Macan Turbo PP is just as fast on the street and they don't care about tracking. Macans will continue to dominate all sales.

I see Macan buyers as people who are in the compact SUV market, and have more money than most of this segment. They buy it because it is well appointed, powerful and because it is a Porsche and the brand has snob appeal. I don't think many are interested in high performance driving. I would consider a Macan as my winter beater, but never as a replacement for a real sports car.

 

[OttawaSteve]

Last year of an outgoing model compared to first year of new model. Figures are upside down. Market has spoken.

Cheers

Maybe, but that is PCNA, not Porsche world wide. While the US market is important, it only represents about 20% of Porsche vehicle sales. There are compelling reasons to offer cars with smaller displacement engines in other parts of the world. I can't find any 2017 global sales. Anybody got them?

 

[OttawaSteve]

acan


They sell Porsches in Canada? Didn't know that. How many? 30-40 a year. Sorry couldn't resist. After all we are living in a surreal world right now in the US. Who knows what is true and what is fake? But we sure are great.

The usual US to Canadian conversion rule is divide by ten. We have been a bit ahead of it for the past few years. 2016 total sales were 54,280 US and 7,061 Canada.

So there. :taunt:

 

[OttawaSteve]

Last sentence of the article probably says it best.

Regardless, the Cayman remains among the best driver’s cars you can buy at any price.

Too bad the controversy over the turbo 4 has interfered with what is really essence of these superb automobiles. I dislike the sound of the four and I don't particularly like forced induction, especially when justified as a measure to reduce emissions, but its still a Cayman or Boxster.

 

[OttawaSteve]

The move to 4 cylinder has at least 3 purposes: 1) an entry point to Porsche vehicles for enthusiasts coming from less expensive 4 cylinder cars 2) in ROW - handle the tax/displacement issues 3) in U.S. - reduce the overlap of the entry level cars with the more profitable 911 (i.e., you want the classic Porsche flat 6, you gonna pay for it).

I don't think it has much to do with gas mileage or emissions at all.

My point wasn't that the move to 4 cylinders was an emission/mileage thing. It is the turbocharging that was done for mileage/emissions, and there is lots of documentation from Porsche confirming that. You will notice that virtually the entire 911 line is now turbo.

 

[OttawaSteve]

To be real, if you drive a "turbo" car aggressively,(of anywhere near 1 to 1.5 L capacity), you are going to get much worse mileage/ fuel consumption than the naturally aspirated engine car. The numbers might look better on the "silly" unrealistic government test, but in real life , it is not happening. Engineering to a test rather than to "reality".

And that was my point

 

[OttawaSteve]

Re: Chris Harris on Top Gear reviews 718 Cayman S

So what does a Porsche sound like? This is a real Porsche, and this is just a new sound they've introduced. They've been doing that throughout the history of the company, and I'm sure it won't end with the 718.

Unfortunately, the next engine sound they introduce is likely to be no sound at all

 

[OttawaSteve]

Not possible the Subaru EJ207/257 has UELH thats why they have a distinctive sound,..........just goes to show........some people do TV shows, some people own the cars. BTW I have had a 500HP Cosworth long block variant and 8 other WRX STI at various times. Chris Harris hasn't. So he's just repeating nonsense.

Don't know if he ever owned a Subaru, but he did buy a Cayman. With his own money.

 

[OttawaSteve]

They want to sell a few cars to a niche market. Turbos are here to stay and should be.

Lol. Define stay. Turbos en masse are here due to emission and mileage requirements. Within a few years, the requirements will force automakers to move to hybrids/electrics. Turbocharging is not an effective way to reduce emissions, particularly in a high performance car.

 

[OttawaSteve]

Panamera's comfortably outselling 718's. Even outsold 911's in May. Are there that many movie stars?