graham_mitchell

The 997 is a beautiful car, imho, but the one criticism I have of the exterior is that the headlights are a little too large, and 'bug eyed'.

What does everyone else think?

Here is the modification I would make:

danoberer

Before looks much better than after!! Does anyone remember those Strosek cars with the tiny little headlights? I won't even say what those looked like...

03-turbo911

TechArt thinks the same thing so they have headlight rings that help in making the headlight appear smaller.

graham_mitchell

I do, and I agree that they looked terrible. I wasn't suggesting anything nearly so extreme!

gota911

The strosek "headlights" look like a pair of exhaust ports that were installed "bass-ackwards!" This poor car doesn’t know if it's coming or going!

tarpon1

I much prefer the new styling to the 996 version which looks like someone forgot to cut the tab off. I had larger "european" headlights on my '84 911 carrera and eventually had rings installed by the dealer to give it the more traditional look which I preferred at the time.

Sanjeevan

I like everything about the 997 except the front, I had hoped it will grow on me...I still like the 996's "fried egg", "forgot to cut tab" light's better than the 997. Making it smaller helps it a bit. Just to clarify that I am not totally insane, I like the 964 front lights the best followed by 993, 996 post-face lift and 996 pre face lift and lastly the 997.
IMO it's not totally the size of it, round lights need to be more perpendicular (like the 964) on side profile...
To me what messes up the front end treatment on the 997 is how they have rounded the edges of the hood, this gives it the "beatle" look, Graham if you can sharpen the edges of the hood on a shot taken from a higher vantage point and make the lights smaller and straighter, I know it will look hot.

graham_mitchell

I agree but it is more easily overlooked. I've added your feature request here:

Sanjeevan

Wow! you are slick with photoshop...and now, would anyone disagree, those sharp edges and the smaller lights give it a whole different look, I love it.
Thanks
Jeeva

MMD

Thanks to Graham for showing us these options.

I don't think the headlights are a big deal either way. It's hard to tell and impossible to see cars in person to compare differences. The somewhat squared-off hood would make more sense since they added that trendy excessively sharp-edged tail light which it would refer back to.

I say design this car with the absolute minimal "new" design elements and just take all cues from the old 911s. If the olds ones have squared hoods add the square. If they have big headlights make the new ones big.

I even wonder about the fake grille which does nothing in the center (except for Tip cars). Did the early ones have that? NO! Why put it there if it has NO use in 80% of cars which are Tip-less? Answer: because trends of "macho" sell the car. Nothing makes sense anymore!!

Sanjeevan

MMD. in very hot regions it helps to install a third radiator if one tracks their car a lot..I know, then the question is why porsche is building 911's that may need an extra radiator in very hot climate for racing....I think only a small percentage falls under this category, and obviously porsche is cost cutting. my $0.02

Sanjeevan

Graham, I am appreciating the smaller lights when i look at the fog/blinker light on the fender and the headlights as a whole. Earlier I thought it was the lights on the fender that was excessively large...but, looking at you mods., the whole complex some how looks better (I would have thought making the headlights smaller would make the foglight complex appear even bulkier), I like this look.

joeacc

I love the size of our headlights, although I still highly recommend the techart headlight rings. In my opinion they clean up the headlight by eliminating the cheap looking plastic area around the lense, and in a sense bring the face of the lense right up to the edge of the fender. Now you have headlights which appear smaller and more 993 like.

Paul523

The 997 front end styling is a 9.5 in my book. Rear styling -- from any angle -- is a perfect 10.0 hands down...really unusual, just mho but what other car looks better from the rear than from the front?

My only quarrel with front end is maybe a bit too much * grin * due to the hood's rounded edges...also the fugly black plastic toddler-tray below the front bumper.

The Techart body-color headlight rings might improve the look, planning to investigate when my car comes in; photos seen thus far make it inconclusive.

The headlights' integration into the front quarters is very well done imho.
Looks like many hours spent on clay models to sculpt it just right.

First impressions upon seeing the 997 in the metal last September:
Waaaay too much 997 deep-thinking here, but from certain angles--if you blur your vision and squint a little + hold your thumb over the hood scoop and grill-- the flowing lines of the front fenders into the headlights are vaguely reminiscent of AM DB5.
Not bad stylistic pedigree.

MMD

LOL!

Perfect description for it! I'm going to try painting my toddler tray silver (car will be AS) to see what happens visually. Not only to eliminate it's fakeness but I want to drop the plate mount as low as it can go without getting the buck teeth look.

IMO Porsche should have allowed for possible lic plate installation there without causing the cartoon frog smile face look.