VW Boss Driving Flat8 Cayman
 

Looks like VW has managed to defy the cult of 911 worship. (the one that bars powerful engines from the 987/981). Mr. VW has stuffed a boxer 8 engine into a test cayman as part of the 960 development -- the car that will be the gas powered price tag top dog. Why is the 8 going into a Cayman and not a Carrera? Because the 960 will be a mid engine super car....

p.s.
I'd love to see the N-ring laptime of that Boxer 8 Cayman vs. the 991 S.

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The Porsche 960, known internally as "FeFi" (for "Ferrari fighter") is moving full speed ahead. We last reported that the car would employ a high-output flat six, but that engine, although frugal and light, was deemed insufficient for a vehicle that will likely cost as much as twelve-cylinder cars like the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and the Lamborghini Aventador. The solution: a boxer eight. Word has it that Volkswagen Group chief Ferdinand Piech approved this application. Piech used to drive a one-off Porsche 914 equipped with a boxer eight-cylinder, and, more recently, the chairman was said to be driving a Cayman fitted with a flat eight. Featuring four turbochargers, two intercoolers, four adjustable camshafts, a complex multistage intake manifold, and dual-stage exhaust, the 3.9-liter engine is expected to deliver 650 hp. It will be mounted low in the middle of the car, connecting to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. The 960 relies on an aluminum-intensive architecture supported by steel, carbon fiber, magnesium, titanium, and other composite elements to keep weight to about 3000 pounds. Porsche is resisting high-tech, heavy add-ons such as the 918's electric motors. All-wheel drive made the cut and adds close to 200 pounds but earns its keep by getting the power to the ground -- 0 to 60 mph allegedly takes only 2.5 seconds. An even more raw, rear-wheel-drive GT edition may follow. No convertible, for now.

The design, forecast above by our illustrator, should hew closely to that of the 918, but the underlying architecture will be shared with everything from the next Boxster to the Aventador's successor. Unlike the 918, this won't be a limited-run model. Porsche thinks it can sell 3000 to 4000 of them annually over a six-year life cycle. Production in Zuffenhausen will likely commence in early 2017.

http://image.automobilemag.com/f//fe...-side-view.jpg

Interesting, though I can't quite get my head around "Boxer V8"... A boxer engine is flat, as in horizontally opposed cylinders, there is nothing "V" shaped about it or it's configuration...;)

^ got me...fixed. I guess it should be F8? Boxer eight doesn't sound right to me...

I want the car, I don't care if it hamsters in the back!

If a regular Boxster is fun, imagine having 650hp strapped to the back of your seat? Seems almost too fast for anything!

As
Long as you have 2 million of them :D

Wow! I wonder how close the final model will be to the rendering?

If you analyze the Porsche line from a marketing standpoint, the Cayman model is definitely the most under-exploited. It's basically a Boxster with a different top, but for some reason it feels like it has more torque (I'm thinking more rigid chassis because it's not a convertible, any other ideas on that?). I'm pretty sure the hp and engine size specs were identical, at least up until a couple of years ago.

Interestingly, my kid wants a Cayman more than any other model, apparently the lines are "the coolest".

So what the heck would the price on that be? At 650hp, isn't that getting close to a McClaren? But if they expect to sell 3-4,000 of them, the price must be a lot lower, I'd guess in the $250-$300K. And HOW are they going to get that HP out of a 3.9 liter? Nitro?

This also interested me; "seven-speed dual-clutch automatic". Isn't that the PDK?

I think it would technically be called an H8. I did not mean to pick nits!:o great post!

The existing 3.6L twin turbo GT-2 RS is already rated at 620hp. 650hp from 3.9L should be a piece of cake. The engineers won't even have to break a sweat.

Ref: Awe. The new 911 GT2 RS. Then click through to Powertrain and then Engine.

Sounded exciting until I read the turbo bit.

Turbos. Bleh.

Still won't keep up with the Dangermobile !

I wonder what Engine time bombs they can design into the H8 - (2) IMS's ??

"a vehicle that will likely cost as much as twelve-cylinder cars like the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and the Lamborghini Aventador"

Piech may like driving around in Frankenstein cars, but a $350,000 Porsche will share nothing with the Cayman. They may as well call this a gen 2 Carrera GT because that's the price point you are looking at.

I am thinking that the illustrator blended in too much Ferrari F12 and not enough Porsche 918. What do you think?

To me it's kind of Maclaren 12C and a bunch of Tommy Kaira zzII

http://www.topcarzones.com/wp-conten...en-MP4-12C.jpg

http://response.jp/imgs/feed_l/7227.jpg

It's just a generic supercar rendering. Automobile can use that as an illustration of any manufacturer's next supercar.

Picture's just some p'shop cooked up by a mag.

May not be entirely true. VW's plans are nothing like Porsche's used to be. For midengine cars the plan is to have have modular platform sharing across all its brands with downsized versions going to the Cayman and the mini Boxster. Makes total sense, financially speaking, why leave the cost benefit of new development on the table? VW want to move cars, they don't care about the out-dated Carrera worship that prevented anything great from being used in the "entry level" aka midengine cars with the only exception being the sole supercar offering. Now that VW is firmly in charge I think we might see the old Porsche bias against anything that isn't rear engine go right out the window in favor of whatever can sell. The fact that Panamera and Cayenne will be outselling Carrera for the foreseeable future opens the door to rethinking the whole strategy on its actual sports cars.

Also, a boxer eight in a Cayman sounds to me like the guy is not afraid to say "let's see what these midengine can really handle....enough with the hypotheticals, let's do it". That would never have happened in the olden days...probably afraid of what N-ring laptime a big engine Cayman/Boxster could whip up. And I'm sure he knows it's the ultimate FU to the old Porsche guard.