mateoche:
thanks for your honesty RC! curious what you think is behind this generic-ization of the Porsche brand?
1. New EU regulations (emissions, noise, etc.)
2. VW (seriously)
3. Cheaper production using "generic" parts with other brands/models
4. Change in customer mentality and perception (seriously, the typical old school Porsche customer seems to disappear...)
5. Many new Porsche employees come from other brands like VW, Audi, BMW and Mercedes.
Just wild guesses of course...
also, how will the "new" 911 (i'm assuming you're referring to the 991.2) will be different than the current generation in terms of drive feel -- i would think/hope that they are just enhancing it in every measurable category -- and not neutering its Porsche-ness while delivery more power?
thanks again!
Chassis-wise, the facelift will be, according to many claims I heard from people who drove one, amazing. Apparently Porsche succeeded in finding some further enhancements and I even heard that AWS has been discussed as an option for the Carrera facelift but I do not know if it will be available as an option. Not for free (as on the GT3/RS and Turbo/S) of course.
The engine feels much stronger and everyone who drove the car apparently loves the engine feel. Not so much the engine sound though but it is better than many had expected and better than the Turbo/S sound.
So while Porsche seems to keep that typical Porsche feel in the chassis department, people will have to deal with something new in the engine/exhaust sound department. Judging by the many positive comments about the engine power feel, I assume that most Porsche customers will be happy with the new engines. Not so sure about us diehard hardcore old school customers, this is a different story.
For example, I do not like the Macan Turbo. It is fast, it is easy to drive and it is a wonderful daily driver but I avoid driving it as much as possible because I just don't like it. It doesn't feel like a Porsche and kind of feels much different than my previous Cayenne models. I really tried hard to like this car but the Macan is definitely something I wouldn't buy for myself. If Porsche switches the Cayenne to V6 engines, I would be done with the Cayenne as well.
I am sorry but the engine/exhaust sound are important things to me and even if they would put 700 hp into the Turbo S, I wouldn't get one with the current exhaust sound. Pure boredom.
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RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet, Porsche Macan Turbo, Ford Mustang GT500 Shelby SVT (2014), Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT (2014)