2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

[P Arkus]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

Sounds like this car is too much of a dangerous monster to drive on the streets. I hope I never see one













Said NO ONE













EVER!!!!

[100%VAGitarian]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

i have no doubt that this car would put a smile on my face. absolutely. but i personally would never want to drive it daily like that, which i would hazard a guess is what most of these porsche buyers are going to do. never track it, but crawl thru traffic all day showing off their money, light to light. it seems to me that is what they are catering too. the ease of driving a super car downtown. that is stupid.

[RONDAL]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

the fact that less than 10% of cars sold in 2012 were manual should tell you something.
you can complain about experience all you want, at the end of the day no one is buying manuals even when offered. Porsche sold more PDK transmissions in the 997 platform than they did manual by a large margin...
you would think if the people actually buyign these cars were so up in arms about it they would do something

[Kor]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

Hey way to quote misleading statistics.

Obviously the vast, vast majority of cars sold are not sports cars. Yeah I'm not surprised 99% of minivans dont come with a 5 speed. You don't say!

According to a story by USA Today in 2012, cars with manual transmissions are actually selling more than in the past - the percentage of manual cars sold out of all cars sold has doubled since 2007 in the US and is at peak since the early 2000's.

In the spots car segment a decent amount of cars do sell with manuals and those people make that choice. Far more than three times the car average, showing you that yes, sports car drivers do choose this WAY more than average car buyers. They give a ****.

Manual drivers may not be in the majority, but they do still choose it. To say that there are no customers buying manuals or presume that Porsche shouldnt care about losing those customers is naive. If you lose 5% or 10% of your customers that is a BAD YEAR. Those customers are at least somewhat likely to buy a different make of car if they cannot get the options they want.

Face it people have bought a different brand of car over a lot less. "Cup holder too small - **** it I'm buying a Ford."

You said obviously people buying these cars arent doing anything - I am telling you that people actually buying these cars ARE doing something.

Look at this thread. How many of us are Porsche customers. Oh thats right, me, Ginch... we are the ones complaining. I won't be buying an automatic Porsche for my next car. I'll be buying something else. Porsche is losing a customer. If 1 in 10 sports car buyers are like me, they will buy something else too. That is a lot of car sales out the window.

[MechEngg]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

****, people have bought a different brand of car over a lot less. "Cup holder too small - **** it I'm buying a Ford."

Because 'merica?

That is all i have to offer up.

Looks like a cool car, won't ever be able to afford such a car, and if i did have that money probably different things i would be spending it on anyways. I will still admire them as they drive by in traffic

[kujiwara]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

Performance figures look great but it has to be the ugliest 911 ever. Always loved 911s but this is just hideous.. That face..

[RONDAL]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

Hey way to quote misleading statistics.

Obviously the vast, vast majority of cars sold are not sports cars. Yeah I'm not surprised 99% of minivans dont come with a 5 speed. You don't say!

According to a story by USA Today in 2012, cars with manual transmissions are actually selling more than in the past - the percentage of manual cars sold out of all cars sold has doubled since 2007 in the US and is at peak since the early 2000's.

In the spots car segment a decent amount of cars do sell with manuals and those people make that choice. Far more than three times the car average, showing you that yes, sports car drivers do choose this WAY more than average car buyers. They give a ****.

Manual drivers may not be in the majority, but they do still choose it. To say that there are no customers buying manuals or presume that Porsche shouldnt care about losing those customers is naive. If you lose 5% or 10% of your customers that is a BAD YEAR. Those customers are at least somewhat likely to buy a different make of car if they cannot get the options they want.

Face it people have bought a different brand of car over a lot less. "Cup holder too small - **** it I'm buying a Ford."

You said obviously people buying these cars arent doing anything - I am telling you that people actually buying these cars ARE doing something.

Look at this thread. How many of us are Porsche customers. Oh thats right, me, Ginch... we are the ones complaining. I won't be buying an automatic Porsche for my next car. I'll be buying something else. Porsche is losing a customer. If 1 in 10 sports car buyers are like me, they will buy something else too. That is a lot of car sales out the window.

so speak with your wallet and don't buy one.

but lets be clear here (and i dont mean to be a dick dragging financials into it but)...buying a cayman isn't a $180,000 Turbo or GT3, and buying an older model porsche isn't exactly the car sales porsche is going after.

if the people that care, care enough, and dont buy these cars....and if porsche feels that this is hurting them financially, maybe you will see a change.
my bet, it wont matter.

the cost savings alone from switching to a single transmission and not having to produce both is likely more saved than they will lose from the odd guy here and there being SOOO fed up with porsche that they dont buy it.

There's an interesting article from the head of porsche recently where he said the only people complaining about the new gearbox are those that haven't driven it. I'll stand behind what he is saying and reserve judgment before saying the new porsche is crap because it has no manual option.

[RONDAL]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

Article from head of porsche
Autos: What are the GT cars, and the GT3 specifically.

Preuninger: The GT branch of cars came up in 1999 when we needed a car to homologate for the races. And at that time the race class we wanted to compete in was the GT3 class. So the codename for this car was the Carrera GT3. We didn’t think it was the name for the car. But it attached so much to the car, even the sales guys said why not name it the GT3? And that’s how GT3 came about.


Q: Is there still a connection between the GT3 cars and the race cars?

A: This is a unique point in Porsche, because it is really the same people taking care of the street legal cars and the race cars. We never develop the GT3 street car without the Cup car or RSR in mind, and visa versa. It is one big development project with different branches I would say.

You could consider them the special cars —the GTX cars. These are the cars developed by motorsport and not by the “normal” development centre that we have in Weissach.


Q: Can you give some background on these special homologation cars?

A: We always had the very sporty versions of the 911.

Everybody knows that in ’72 we had the 2.7 RS. That was done mainly for the same reasons why we did 996 GT3, the first one, we needed a basis for homologation of a race car. You have to have a number, 200 cars legally on the street to homologate all the gizmos onboard for racing.

After the 2.7 RS, there was not so much going on. In the beginning of the ‘80s we had the SC RS models.

But the tailwind to this whole RS/GT3 idea came from my perception with the 964 RS, a car that really hit the market big. It was such a blast to drive, so enjoyable, so direct, so pure. And after that with the 993 RS, same thing.

You tend to glorify things so it’s always good to drive these cars from time to time. People might say there was never a car which was so good as the 993 RS… which is a joke. Drive one today and you see what progress did since then.


Q: What was it like to develop the first GT3?

A: The first 996 GT3, if you look at the differentiation to the base model: We use the same rims that were available through Techquipment, slightly different tires, but it was the same aero kit you could buy on a normal Carrera. So we developed the bucket seats and threw everything out and made a complete new suspension; took the turbo engine and detuned it, put away the turbochargers and loaded the thing up with more compression. And that’s how the first GT3 model came about. It had 3.6-litres and 360 horsepower: 100 hp per litre. This was HUGE at that time.

Some people didn’t believe in the car. The same thing happened in ’72 with the RS. They said no, you can’t sell that car. Nobody will want that. Something similar happened with the 996 GT3. We sold so many more cars than were actually in the busness concept. And so a star was born.

I remember the headlines: the 911 is back! We had so much criticism about converting to water cooled engines: 'This car is like a piece of soap and it’s not raw enough.' And then the GT3 came, and they said, 'YES! Here is the 911 again.'

All these people that I started with in 1999, 80 percent of the people are still on my [GT] team. The development process of eight GT3 cars—this is the eighth we're doing now—all the lessons learned don’t go away.


Q: What was the challenge for this new 991-gen GT3?

A: This was the absolute biggest GTX project we ever did. Absoluately. New drivetrain including a complete new engine family—it’s not a 991 engine with a hotter cam. We just use the crank case. Everything else is new stuff. I dare say, the distance, the gap is wider now between GT3 and Carrera. There are 700 new parts in that new [GT3] car.


Q: Here’s the question you’re getting a lot: Why PDK only and no manual transmission?

A: The PDK that is so discussed so much—‘Why! How can you do this! Holy Manual and skip it overboard’—I say it’s a shut up and drive.

It’s a crucial period now, people complain, forming strong opinions about something they can’t judge because they didn’t have any opportunity to drive it and judge it realistically. But that will pass as soon as the first journalists come back with their feedback—and I know exactly what this feedback is going to be like.

I experience it too often. With every new RS: ‘Oh no! This colour scheme; Oh no! These decals; How can they do this; Blah blah bloop.’ And everybody bought it nevertheless and is happy.


Q: So the new GT3 hasn’t gone soft?

A: It’s more usable, but it’s not softer. If you look at the spring rates of the car, they’re way stiffer than on the 997—way stiffer. The ride is better because of the wheelbase, so the car has less roll, less pitch than the old one. But at the same time through the length of the body, it has more lets say, residual comfort.


Q: Can you explain the ‘Neutral’ function built into the paddle shifters? Can we use it like a clutch kick?

A: That’s easy. If you pull both paddles towards you, it’s the same as if in a manual you press the clutch with your foot. And you can do that at any time, middle of a corner. That’s why we did it because in the middle of a corner when you want to initiate a drift you can use the jolt it gives when you let go of the clutch. You have to disengage the traction control stuff and then it comes exactly like a SNAP.

Or, if you have all the systems engaged, and you just want to make all your rear wheels load free this is good too. Just imagine you’re coming down a wet street, you’re too fast which can happen, and there’s a curve and there’s a big puddle of water standing there. Not good. So, what do you do? Normally, when I encounter a problem like that I press the clutch. Why? I want the rear wheel to be free of any overrun or traction influence to have the maximum potential of the tire for building up side forces. And that’s what you do simply by pressing the paddles.

It gives you more freedom, There’s additional man-machine interface. There’s no automatic upshifts in manual mode either. If you hit the rev limiter, you hit the rev limiter.


Q: So this is the future then, obviously?

A: Even in racing you have to have [computerized, electronic] systems to get faster. And we don’t want to lose the podium on that car just to have more involvement of driving. It’s a different involvement now. Okay, you lose your left foot action. You can’t modulate the clutch when you go. But there’s so many other things that you get instead, that overcompensate, clearly, from the emotional side.

Normally, when I’m going in an automatic gearbox car I’m bored in 10 minutes and I put it into full auto mode. Not on that [new GT3] car. Not at all. And I’m sure 99% of our followers will see that as soon as they’ve driven the car.

We did [GT cars] eight times. And we did it right. And I don’t think we’ll fail this time.


Q: What makes a car thrilling for you?

A: Precision. Precision and feedback. It’s these two things.

When you’re sitting in this bucket seat that you get all the information through the seat rails, through the hands, everything. So the information the car gives you about the status it’s in, this is the satisfying thing for me. And this is what the GT3 stands for: feedback.

But you can’t put it in one word. It’s emotional. It’s things like noises as well. I like a car to have a satisfying noise. It doesn’t have to be too quiet because I grew up with combustion engines. I couldn’t live with electric – it just bores the hell out of me with: zzzzzzzz. It’s not my thing.

Yeah, I think it’s the precision and feedback….

But why is something fun? It’s hard to pin down. Nobody needs a GT3. But most people want to have one. So why is that? Because it’s pleasure.

[turbomeyers]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

This = win

[BaggedGLI]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

This = win

You = Troll

[Deuce]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

I'm a little disappointed too... but since I'm not a Turbo fan I suppose it doesn't really matter.
Just another reminder for a stickshift-dinosaur like me to complete my collection before its too late.

Oh well... at least all my cars will have the best built-in security system ever invented by the end of the decade.

[Geobmx4life]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

You = Troll

Sorry Collin...no troll...sad fact...the way shitz going...hard truth

[turbomeyers]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

I am lost as to what makes a troll .... I say get with the times and support all positives about the car that started this thread and i am a troll . You jump on a new technology and hate because its not like your car....? How many porsches have you owned ..or sports cars at all ... and then how many Paddle shifters have been able to compare back to back .........All the cars i have been able to drive were made significantly better with the addition of a padle shift .(minus the 360 modena early ferrari stuff is crap)

[GINCH]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut

Most frustrating thread ever!!! Your version of "better", is faster. Thats not what everyone is looking for in a sports car!!!

[Deuce]

Re: 2014 991 Porsche Turbo Debut