Originally Posted by 500

A lot of posts read like every other Porsche new model/face lift thread: Lots of hand wringing about how bad the styling is. Really, the changes are quite small in that department. I think the car looks good, but still it looks a lot like a 981.1. We will all probably do double takes when we see one on the road the first time, trying to figure out if it is a .1 or a .2. The general public probably won't notice at all.

The mechanical side is a big change though... The increase in power is much more than I expected. I am not of the camp that feels 4 is a downgrade from 6... (Heck, Porsche won Le Mans and the WEC with a V4... maybe Porsche is becoming a 4 cylinder company )

That could be because I also have a WRX... But before anyone decries that Porsche putting a flat 4 in the Boxster moves it downmarket into Subaru territory, it worth remembering that Subaru also has a flat 6 in their line-up... so the downgrade was already in!

Based on what I have read about the characteristics of the new 991.2 engines, I am expecting this to be a great car.

Originally Posted by Archimedes

I think it's marketing genius renaming the car 718 and restyling it the way they have. Add in the big power increase, particularly the torque, and Porsche kinda takes the focus away from the whole 4banger issue and gets the consumer to basically see it as a new car, rather than some kind of downgrade from the 981. It's working on me.

Originally Posted by Phil G.

Porsche is doing everything it can to take the focus away from the fact that the 718 is now a four cylinder car. No question that it's faster, more powerful,etc., but it's still a four. And for a base price of $5000 more! I see it as a downgrade, and clearly not working for me or many other RL posters. Marketing genius? Time will tell.

Originally Posted by Phil G.

Porsche is doing everything it can to take the focus away from the fact that the 718 is now a four cylinder car. No question that it's faster, more powerful,etc., but it's still a four. And for a base price of $5000 more! I see it as a downgrade, and clearly not working for me or many other RL posters. Marketing genius? Time will tell.

Originally Posted by croctor

The perfect solution for Porsche is to raise price of 911 sufficiently to keep the mid engined cars positioned correctly in their marketing scheme.
Is it disingenuous to roll out a 4banger(albeit Excellent) and still command a premium dollar?

Originally Posted by Milehigh981

I was thinking about Archimedes statement this morning..
I'm not in the market for one thankfully as it doesn't excite me. if something happened to the Spyder I would not be looking at a mid $80's 4cyl boxster s replacement. At that price, if I stayed with Porsche, I'd move into a CPO 911. But most (non enthusiast) won't fall into this category.

It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out. When the reviews start coming in, we'll get a better sense of how this will do.

Originally Posted by Phil G.

Agree that Porsche will need to keep both a significant price and performance difference between the 718 and 991 cars. Is it disingenuous to bump the price of a lesser styled (IMO), now 4 cylinder mid-engine car by a whopping $5000? I think it's outrageous.

Originally Posted by manitou202

Here's the major reason the 4-cyl engine kills the 718 for me. When I purchased my 981.1 Cayman, I originally headed to the local dealer to check out a 911. But after driving the Cayman and realizing that it essentially had the same engine as the 911 (-25hp), it became very hard to justify spending the extra money. Now with completely different engines between the 718 and the 911, it makes for a bigger separation between the models. When I replace my 981.1, its going to be a really hard sell to not spend the extra money for a 911.

Originally Posted by Archimedes

The difference between the 981 and the 991 is a lot more than a little horsepower. They're entirely different cars, at a much, much different price point. And if you went for the new 911, you'd be buying a turbo anyway, just a 6 over a 4. The power gap is even narrower now than before, and the price difference, after considering what comes standard on each, is basically the same. I doubt there are a whole lot of people cross shopping a Boxster and a Carrera.

Let's face it, they're all turbo now, they're all not going to sound as good, and they're all going to have less of a rush up top. Difference, IMO, is they did a much better job with the styling tweaks on the 718 than the mess they made of the front and back of the 991.2.

I was negative on this 4 before, but I'm very curious to see how it actually performs and sounds. If the car kicks *** on the road, it's going to sell. Then again, this platform sells pretty poorly as it is, so not sure what Porsche's goals with it really are.

Originally Posted by Chris3963

The 981 sells very poorly across the world. I privately suspect that the 718 may change this somewhat. With performance close to the 911 but now an entirely different car, it sales prospects are more promising I think.