Porsche Ferrier - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

CJ_Boxster · 02-14-2007, 04:15 PM

Actually there is a porsche/truck looking thing in switzerland, the people at rennsport or renn something made it. seen it on discovery channel

MNBoxster · 02-14-2007, 05:58 PM

Hi,

Porsche has talked about a pick-up for years. Whatever, they are increasingly not the company they have been for 50 years, diluting the brand tremendously all the while pretending not to...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

blue2000s · 02-14-2007, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MNBoxster

Hi,

Porsche has talked about a pick-up for years. Whatever, they are increasingly not the company they have been for 50 years, diluting the brand tremendously all the while pretending not to...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Yeah, what's next, a front drive Lotus or a Lamborghini SUV or a 4 door Maserati or...oh...

Auto manufacturers are continually trying out new markets. It's nothing new. Some see it as dilution, others see it as survival.

Grizzly · 02-14-2007, 07:51 PM

This won't be Porsche's first venture into the truck business. Check out this little sedan delivery from the early years...

April Fools.

MNBoxster · 02-14-2007, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue2000s

Yeah, what's next, a front drive Lotus or a Lamborghini SUV or a 4 door Maserati or...oh...

Auto manufacturers are continually trying out new markets. It's nothing new. Some see it as dilution, others see it as survival.

Hi,

Darwinism - what a concept! Some things maybe should pass to the Ages rather than seeing their greatness fade incrementally away instead...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

z12358 · 02-15-2007, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MNBoxster

Hi,

Darwinism - what a concept! Some things maybe should pass to the Ages rather than seeing their greatness fade incrementally away instead...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Actually, the "throw some new s**t on the wall and see how it sticks" concept is exactly how evolution works -- random mutation followed by natural selection. If the amoeba thought it was the best thing since sliced bread and looked down on stupid mutations, we wouldn't be here pontificating. So I say, let the designers experiment (mutation) and the free markets decide (selection). It's the only way.

Z.

Dr. Kill · 02-15-2007, 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue2000s

Yeah, what's next, a front drive Lotus or a Lamborghini SUV or a 4 door Maserati or...oh...

Ack, I didn't have enough coffee this morning. Please disregard my deleted post.

What was the FWD Lotus? I am unaware of it.

blue2000s · 02-15-2007, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Kill

Ack, I didn't have enough coffee this morning. Please disregard my deleted post.

What was the FWD Lotus? I am unaware of it.

The second coming of the Elan.

MNBoxster · 02-15-2007, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Kill

Ack, I didn't have enough coffee this morning. Please disregard my deleted post.

What was the FWD Lotus? I am unaware of it.

Hi,

The M100 (new Elan). Produced jointly by Lotus, GM, and Isuzu when the General owned them both. It was the last project (X100) that Colin Chapman had a direct hand in, albeit slight, as he died in late 1983.

It was a hand-made low production two seater. While it never really caught on, it was a pretty nice car. Very reliable and easy to maintain.

Had an initial issue with the CAS (Cam Angle Sensor), but these were corrected on production models and through recall. The only other real issue was that the top tended to leak, not a lot, but annoyingly so, drivers used to drape a towel across their lap because the leak was at the winshield header - known as Wet Thigh Syndrome.

It was a front mid-engine design, transverse DOC in-line turbocharged 1.6L 4 cyl. producing 162BHP and 148 ft.lbs. of torque, with a maximum boost of 9.7PSI or 0.65BAR. It was also available as an NA model to ROW, not the US. The block was from Isuzu, but Lotus created a special twin cam head, crank, pistons, intake (using the same technology they (Lotus) developed for their creation of the Corvette ZR-1 Motor - LT5 for GM) and exhaust.

With a Curb Weight of 2,422lbs., the Elan went from 0-60 in 6.2 sec. and a Top Speed of 137 MPH (220KPH).

Lotus produced 3,855 M100 Elans in total with only 539 being imported to the US (117 of these in California Spec) between January 1990 and July 1992. Later, Bugatti bought the rights to the design, after purchasing a Lotus Factory warehouse and finding 1,200 Isuzu 1.6L Crate engines inside. They produced another 1,100 Gen II M100s from July 1994 to August 1995, though none of these were imported to the US.

I actually looked for one instead of the Boxster, but it sold out from under me and so I went ahead with the Porsche. To me, they were same-same with the M100 having a slight edge because it handles much better than the Boxster, lighter, more nimble...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Dr. Kill · 02-15-2007, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MNBoxster

Hi,

The M100 (new Elan). Produced jointly by Lotus, GM, and Isuzu when the General owned them both.

It was a hand-made low production two seater. While it never really caught on, it was a pretty nice car. Very reliable and easy to maintain.

Had an initial issue with the CAS (Cam Angle Sensor), but these were corrected on production models and through recall. The only other real issue was that the top tended to leak, not a lot, but annoyingly so, drivers used to drape a towel across their lap because the leak was at the winshield header - known as Wet Thigh Syndrome.

It was a front mid-engine design, transverse DOC in-line turbocharged 1.6L 4 cyl. producing 162BHP and 148 ft.lbs. of torque, with a maximum boost of 9.7PSI or 0.65BAR.

With a Curb Weight of 2,422lbs., the Elan went from 0-60 in 6.2 sec. and a Top Speed of 137 MPH (220KPH).

Lotus produced 3,855 M100 Elans in total with only 539 being imported to the US (117 of these in California Spec). Later, Bugatti bought the rights to the design, after purchasing a Lotus Factory wharehouse and finding 1,200 Isuzu 1.6L Crate engines inside. They produced another 1,100 Gen II M100s, though none of these were imported to the US.

I actually looked for one instead of the Boxster, but it sold out from under me and so I went ahead with the Porsche. To me, they were same-same with the M100 having a slight edge because it handles much better than the Boxster, lighter, more nimble...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

Thank you for this detailed response. It was very interesting!

Blue2000, thank you for your response also.

porschegeorg · 02-15-2007, 08:50 AM

The picture looks strangely similar to my 914....I wonder if Porsche will set the price point at $3999.00? They may have to.

porsche986spyder · 02-15-2007, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blue2000s

Yeah, what's next, a front drive Lotus or a Lamborghini SUV or a 4 door Maserati or...oh...

Auto manufacturers are continually trying out new markets. It's nothing new. Some see it as dilution, others see it as survival.

Actually there is a 4-door Maserati too. Or at least a protoype that I have seen made.

The SUV killed the high end car market when Catalac introduced the Escalade. Soon after it was BMW then Porsche and Volvo and etc... Now trucks are next????? Horible. Next will be Ferrari.