hets72

Any thoughts as to when presentation of the 718 Cayman will be - I would guess the car will be shown at the Beijing Motorshow in April and would guess that it will be presented online a bit before - any insights would be appreciated. Thanks.

Milehigh981

Don't know but the Cayman was spotted yesterday in Italy:
http://www.carscoops.com/2016/04/por...-in-italy.html

Phil G.

Article speculates that Cayman GT4 will still be made. Damn, do I have to change my avatar and my license plate??

erik_plus8

Depends if you want to go the high-boost-4cyl route... I am convinced that at the time when 718GT4 is presented (say in ~18 mths), there are no N/A 6cyls in the parts bin to build from. Sure, if they downtune a GT3 engine, but then the price will be in GT3 territory. No, I think the 718GTS will get 360-365hp from the 2.5l and then a year later the 718GT4 will have 390-400hp from same base engine.

Think about it - if they don't go all in with 4cyls in 718, they will prove to the market that they are not standing by their own decision and that 6cyl N/A is really what you should have...

Evo X

Andreas Preuninger said that any GT3/GT4 for the foreseeable future will remain N/A since it provides the best throttle response and linear power.

Gravs

A cleaning lady said 911 GTS could remain NA, which would be same engine as for GT4. Apparently you can't fit a GT3 engine or a 991.2 F6 turbo in a Cayman.

erik_plus8

I really would like to trust both the cleaning lady and AP (because then I would put down a deposit on both a new GT4 and a 991.2GTS...).

However, from a high-profit-making-company point of view, I doubt it. In the 911GTS - no way there's going to be an NA engine. Where would this 6-cyl, NA, non-GT3 engine come from? It would cost a lot to develop...

GTS is just a well-balanced option-pack for the std cars and an NA engine there would compete way too much with the GT3. Plus, remember that the reason for PAG going T/C is mainly efficiency/fuel consumption/CO2 - calculated on all sold vehicles. With only Carrera cars T/C the impact on those numbers could be too small. They need T/C cars in high volumes.

And again - with PAG now making big noises about how brilliant the 4-cyl T/C engine is in 718 - wouldn't it be seen as a shot in the foot if the 718GT4 was 6-cyl NA...?

Don't misunderstand me - I would truly love it and it would also mean that my CGTS isn't my last new Porsche... But I think in this case, no matter what AP said, he will have to bow down for higher company politics.

Would be happy to be corrected in a couple of years, though.

rk-d

AP is a great guy, but he is a salesman at the end of the day

Remember this? "..flappy paddles are for grandmas..."

I'm sure we'll hear a song and dance about how they've expertly tuned the turbo and how it's the best choice, etc. etc.

There is some precedence -- the e9x m3 was a high strung NA v8, while the base 3 series was turbo. While the s65 was unquestionably more motorsport, the 335i was faster in practical use on the street. It made for a difficult sell.

I would not be at all surprised if Porsche went FI with the next GT4. There are not many common parts between the GT3 version of the 9A1, so you'd have to maintain two versions of the 9A1 just to keep the GT4 NA. That, or somehow shoehorn the GT3 motor in there, which is improbable. I'd expect a substantial price increase in either case.

And if Porsche does make a Cayman GTS - how are they going to maintain an adequate performance delta with the GT4 and stay NA without substantially changing the current power plant? It will be a challenge to do so.

Spyder Man

718 Boxster S vs BMW M2

okie981

100%

It will be a long time, I think, before a turbo car will have predictable throttle response to match a N/A engine, probably until MGU-H and MGU-K from F1 technology makes it's way to production turbo cars, and the ever-so-complex software algorithms that accompany those technologies are tuned for seamless and predictable behavior in the street driving environment. Or not.

MGU-H is pretty cool. Using the harvested electrical energy to spool up the turbo upon software demand to fill in gaps of boost. I don't think there is a production car available yet that has full MGU-H capability. I did hear Volvo has a car with a turbo that can be spun up by electric motor, but it isn't used as a motor-generator, and can't harvest heat to electricity.

patdonahue

It is amazing how history repeats itself. Back in the 1950s Curtiss Wright developed a R 3350 (cu.in.) Turbo Compound engine for aircraft ( mainly airliners) which had 3 power recovery turbines feeding the forced induction AND each turbo had a shaft coming off of the turbo that was geared directly to the crankshaft via a fluid drive and recovered about 20% of the exhaust energy.
Back to cars- I has a 944 Turbo S with a rechiped engine control modules but it still suffered from turbo lag to an unacceptable degree with revs below 3000. Great once you got going and very reliable ( I drove it over 90000 miles with almost "0" unscheduled shop visits) but driving in in stop and go city traffic it felt like a caged cheetah in the zoo..
The base 2.0 718 will not it appears have the variable turbine to reduce lag. It will be interesting to read and see first drive reports on that model, as even the 2.5 model with the VTG still has a perceivable lag.

Ferrarisimo

Why not put down a deposit anyway? I've got one down for a 718 GT4 on the assumption that it will retain a NA engine. If it's announced that it's a turbo four, then I'll withdraw my deposit and some other lucky person gets my spot.

erik_plus8

Yes, I'll probably do that because as it was with 981GT4, when you heard about it, you were too late. Better to be on a list if 718GT4 should go NA.

Goons

The base 718 Cayman will be words different in power delivery from the base 981. The gap between the base and s has been closed. I don't see this faring too well for resale values of the 981 base car.

ir_fuel

McLaren P1?