The Turbos Are A-Comin'!

[BIGJake111]

I am against the trend. But why does everything have to have more power. If we can have reasonable but more desirable performance without a turbo and maintain the emissions why not?

[OklahomaBoxster]

Originally Posted by BIGJake111

I am against the trend. But why does everything have to have more power. If we can have reasonable but more desirable performance without a turbo and maintain the emissions why not?

Look at modern F1. 1.6 liter v6's with a hybrid system and a turbo. they do they same lap times as 2.5 liter v8's with no turbo, and run on 1/3 less fuel. Sure they sound like vacuum cleaners, but its all worth it to save the enviroment right? Well, that's for someone with more power than us to decide, sadly.

[Perfectlap]

The average new Porsche buyer in 1985 would care.

The average new Porsche buyer in 1995 didn't care.
(Boom economy but no interest in Porsche)

The average new Porsche buyer in 2015 doesn't care... at all.


The new Porsches will all be quicker than anything that came before it.
They will suck down less gas. And there will still be a metric ton of used water-cooled Porsches that go faster than the dwindling supply of air-cooled cars with still relatively low costs to maintain. So for 'cars and coffee', track, AX, or just parked in the garage until the next impulse purchase takes its place, water-cooled either NA or VW Turbo, will suit 9 in 10 used Porsche buyers just fine. The one guy objecting being the one who wants to row his own gears (a shrinking pool), is nostalgic about Porsche and actually has enough money to keep bidding these air-cooled prices yet higher (another shrinking pool in the long term). The millenialls as a class, only care that it's a Porsche, they don't see the fuss in water-cooled vs. air cooled, or NA vs. Turbo.

Conclusion: this changes very little other than making Porsche even more profitable as it will no doubt be cheaper for them to make more power with these VW turbo engines. I don't buy this idea that it's because they have to meet the gubimint standards. The bulk of the sales for Porsche are from the SUVs and sedans, and will eat up even more of the pie going forward. If the standards going forward remain on a fleet basis (targeting the models that actually rack up mileage like Cayenne), then these non-purist Porsches could do nearly all the heavy lifting to keep MPG's above the very low standards set by the U.S., while keeping the smaller % of sales from the beloved flagship variants on NA power. The Maccan is predicted to push Porsche north of 200K cars this year. And if Porsche were to fall below the fleet standards, the penalties would equal a tiny drop in the ever-growing Porsche profit, largely thanks to globalization, Chinese billionaires, etc.. Bottom line, Porsche could easily afford to keep the 911 NA nostalgia going in avoiding these VW Turbos. And it could arguably be more profitable to simply pay the fines and meet the purist demand for their very high margin NA 911's. This is Porsche we're talking about here, not Lotus or Caterham.
If Porsche are getting behind VW Turbos, it's because they like the other kind of green, the Ben Franklin kind.

[70Gransport]

And the 356 guys didnt like it whenthe 911 came out, the watercooled 911 wasnt seen as a pure aircooled 911 when it was introduced and let's not get started on manual transmissions . The fact is over time Porsche needs to make advancements to stay profitable and relevant. If you can afford a six figure 911 or an optioned out cayman, boxster, cayenne or macan pushing close to six figures you shouldnt worry about repair costs. If you want to play you have to pay. I say buy what you like and can afford. No one is forcing a turbo four banger boxster on anyone when it probably will come out. Happy motoring!

[Jake Raby]

I started all my craziness with 4 cylinder Porsches, and going back to them will be fun. I own two of the last 2099 4 cylinder Porsches ever built and drove one of them 160K miles in 8 years.

[woodsman]

Maybe Porsche has no choice but to turbo everything since everyone else IS-- BMW, GTR etc. Torque is exhilarating and the majority of Porsche's new- car buyers (the people they care about- not the second, third owner and their repair expenses) don't know or care how the acceleration is produced just that it's class- leading as per Porsche's place in the world and that the occupants are surrounded by luxury while speeding forward. The exhaust note will change but Porsche is already electronically modifying that and piping it to the occupants through the driver's side A- pillar ( 991).