Whither Porche

Whither Porche. I had a good look at a 991 next to the outgoing GTS. So porche has designed a new 928 with the engine in the back and called it a 911. The intimacy of the car is lost, the styling more caritature than real, and while I am sure it can lap faster, the joy of a 911 was that it was alive and had to be DRIVEN at all speeds, which made it fun and engaging even for casual drivers. Now all is lost in the 991 pastiche, a good car no doubt, but no longer great, just another R8 competitor.

Porche has always wanted to kill the 911, it just irked those german engineers, and now they have. The 928 died in irrelevance and the 911 without much development survived and prospered because it was special, the feeling was of a machine alive. Now they have manged to kill that, and why. Why not just desgn a two door panermera, and then go for a proper 911.

 

Yes, I concur. I drove a 991 at speed Saturday at a racetrack for several Laps. The car has plenty of go, fast without a doubt, but it is indeed a two door Panamera as you mention.

It makes good noise, it is very comfortable, I even approve of the "new" look / but its a fast cruiser 991 - not much like a 911.

Then I drove the new Ferrari FF - and assumed I would feel it too was lackluster for me. But instead I was thoroughly impressed. I am not an FF customer but the car was/is stellar. An astonishing achievement.

 

so one heavy, bloated, luxo-barge is fantastic and the other is the death knell of an entire company? interesting.

I like the 991, but I think if I wanted to buy a new Porsche with an old-school Porsche enthusiast flavor to it I'd be buying a Cayman R. and there's something a little wrong with that to me.

 

That is an interesting fact - is it not?

You will note that I prefaced that description with "would feel it too was lackluster" but I am here to tell ya it wasn't.

I luv Porsche, but Ferrari has it figured out better when comparing these two.

Hardly fair of course seeing that one was $122k & the other was $400k, but it is what it is.

Oh BTW. the 991 is in no way a death knell... I would venture a guess that they will sell a sh*tload of them. Just not to me.

 

I don't know... with the Boxster/Cayman, Porsche more or less owns the upscale sports car market, so the 991 as grand tourer makes sense. The 981-based cars look great, and with the Lotus Elise/Exige over and done they're about the only game in town.

I saw my first 991 in the metal today, and it's a seriously beautiful car. Not the raw little machine of 911-993 days, but fast and expensive-looking. I hated the 996, liked the 997, but with the 991 I think you have to go to the Aston dealer to find a better looking GT coupe available new today. Also, Porsche seems to have figured out the weight thing. Ferrari still has the 599 at 2 tons. Hopefully the F12 is less of a whale.

 

^^^ this almost perfectly sums up my thoughts as well.

 

I was thinking along those lines after I spent the day with a 991 in St Pete. The new 991 has ironed out the last of the beetle's curves, in favor of Aston's GT beauty. Nice car, but I miss the retro look that Porsche had kept alive for the last 60+ years.
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Title of this thread should have been "whither 911", as Porsche will make a $&@?load of money off this car...where's the diesel lol? I'm hearing it is a wonderful car but not necessarily a better 911....

 

I test drove one last week- Obviously a major, major step up in comfort and ergonmics. (While criticized- I like the Panamera inspired interior)Just didn't ever feel "quick"... felt fast at speed and plenty of grunt, just nothing about it felt like a 911.

I HATED the feel of the car.. as a 911 lover and owner, and just thought the car looked bloated and "poser"-ish... but everyone else who saw the car was blown away. I think if you're not a Porsche guy you love it- the same way ALL the Porsche guys despised the 996 and it was Porsche's great success story.

On the other hand i also drove a new Boxster and could not believe how great that car felt- never really took them seriously before.

 

I think the Cayman/Boxster is the new 911 and the 991 is the new 928...

 

This.

 

i must be the rare exception.
i love the way the new 911 drives.
and the new pdk tranny is a true improvement.

the only thing i dislike about the new 911 is the price.
i ordered a white 2012 911 cabriolet and will take delivery in 6 weeks or so.
this will be my 4th 911.
i expect porsche will make a nice profit on this new vehicle.

 

Joel

Congrats on the new 911- truly a wonderful car.

for me it's just not 911 enough- to each his own...

 

Ummmm........ALL the Porsche guys did NOT despise the 996. Why would you make such an outrageous statement?

 

i'm sure the 991 is great easy fast driving car, but being old school to me the true soul and feel of the 911 died when the last 993 was built.

 

I'd buy a 991. In fact I might think about buying an older 911 to round out some of the old school aspects that are supposedly missing?

 

Porsche did have to make the 997 with oval headlights because of apparent complaints about the 996's lights. Personally I think the 996 is better looking than the 997 because of the headlights.

Pete

 

I'm curious as to what you make of the steering on track?

I drove one fairly recently and echo your thoughts. I've had a bunch of 911's with a 996 GT3 being the newest and a 912 (does that count?) being the oldest. The 991 has little if any of the classic 911 character. IMO, Porsche is doing everything possible to make the 911 not feel like a rear engine car.

 

Because when the 996 was introduced all the Porsche guys I hung out with HATED the car. I spent a day at Lime Rock with some Porsche race teams and after listening to the banter in the pits was convinced they would never sell a single one. Of course I started seeing them all over the place, with those damned Boxster headlamp.

Having owned a 996 I can say it was a really good car- mine was dead reliable as well.

 

This months Evo Magazine test the 991 against the R8 and GTR... just picked it up on the new-stand today.

Not to give anything away, but they seem to agree with our thread from what I've read so far.

 

I drove the new 991 at the Mayport Naval Base while at the Amelia Island Concour a few weeks ago. It drove a lot like my DD Audi S5, i.e., a luxury GT. I wish I still had my 993. That was the last real 911 IMHO.

 

Photos of the new Cayman look very cool.

 

This is why I have a 993 C4S.

 

And that's why I have a 1982 sc coupe....