Fox944

The 986 Boxster isnt the reason Porsche didnt build more 968 Turbo's. The 911 is. Porsche will never make their entry level car faster then their flagship....which is why there is not Turbocharged 986/987 and why the Cayman S has longer gears then a 911.

There was some overlap when the 930 was on its last legs in 1988 when the 944 Turbo S was introduced and offered similiar performance for 30-35K less. The following year the 930 was upgraded to a 5 speed gearbox and there was no return of an entry level Turbo car with the exception of the extremly limited 968 Turbo.

odurandina

great post,+ 1,000,000...


please look at my new avatar... i regetted not adding what you just said when i made that post ahahahaha.



we can also add that at this time they were really building up to the "993 as afordable 9-5-9" context... imagine the scandal of having the 968 being almost able to keep up with the world's fastest and agile production car of 1993, (the Ferrari F-50) on any natural-terrain, road racing venue in the world @ only fractions of the cost.


not only did they produce the car in a microburst just to please a few engineers,

but they tacked on 60 grand to the cost of subtracting the variocam and luxury features and adding a turbo.


the new management at Porsche saved the company, and made all these great parts available... but they're also a bunch of ********.

Thom

Porsche stopped building the front engined cars as they were getting too expensive to produce and as the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. They just couldn't get going without investing in a whole new car such as the Boxster.
US$120k for a 968 turbo S back in 1993 got you some more exotic machinery than an ageing 4 cylinder engine.

odurandina

i did a study of the German Mark US dollar average exchange rate for the year of the Turbo S and RS a while back and came up with something like $104,600.00 for the Turbo S and about $140,000 for the Turbo RS, if my memory serves me.....

RajDatta

Let's not all forget, the 968 turbo S was a homologation special. They needed to build a certain number of copies to be able to race it as an RS. The run of turbo S cars was enough to allow them to race in different forms of racing. I doubt Porsche ever built the turbo S to be a production car.
One needs to look at all the components it took to build a turbo S before accusing Porsche for overcharging and giving less.
There are a lot of components on a turbo S that were one off's. This drives costs. Also, porsche did experiment a lot with 4 valve heads but in the end decided against it. They were able to get their desired results with 2 valves (They had this stance for all turbocharged cars of that era. All cars had 2 valve cylinder heads). With forced induction, they did not see the need to complicate things when they were already surpassing their expectations.
Now to list a few items that were either upgrades or one off's to drive the cost up:
Nikasil block
Special pistons
Unique head
Unique torque tube
Unique transmission
Unique CV shafts and 1/2 shafts
Bigger brakes in the front
Unique Bilstein suspension all around
Unique and super expensive Speedline wheels
Unique body parts: hood, front bumper cover, splitter, spoiler
Modifications to the body to fit intercooler
Turbo charger/intercooler and it's plumbing
Unique exhaust
Recaro seats

I am sure, I am missing a bunch of items.
Raj

Thom

Raj, not sure Porsche ever used aftermarket rods in any of their cars

RajDatta

Thom, I will have to confirm on that. Could very well be the case. In the meantime, I will remove it from the list .

FRporscheman

For me personally, the line is drawn here: If I look at the car in a picture and can't tell if it's real or not, then it's a replica / clone / dupe / whatever term you like.

Looking at it in person is another story!

Miles, not at all, your car is really nice btw.


It's easy to say "oh they should have made more 968 t S cars" or "they're asshats for charging so much", but the two go hand in hand and the reasoning for which is already described. My only complaint is this: Porsche has the best and brightest engineering potential on tap, yet they choose to hold back the automotive future and restrict the awesomeness of the cars they make by limiting all their cars against their 911 carrera. At least there is ruf and farnbacher loles for people with an open mind.

Vilhuer

Turbo S had to be bought from factory directly. It wasn't available from just any P car dealer anywhere close by. This alone removed many potential buyers.

odurandina

there are 18 distinct 911s available for purchase at the dealership.


in a perfect world, the 968 and 928 could have been combined into a 4 cylinder turbo, (which is also eco-friendly for a performance car)... and received the front valence and interior updates offered with the 1998 996...


n/a versions of the front engine p-car could have been dropped...

FRporscheman

But what niche would that car have filled? Where could it fit in the lineup?

Maybe what you have in mind is something like an audi TT 1.8t.

With the 986/S and 996/tt, they pretty much covered the performance range, you (and I) just don't like that that whole range is being covered by essentially 1 engine.

Luis de Prat

Well executed replicas are few and far between. The 911 ducktail is a good example of this.

We can complain, but that strategy (Mr. Wiedeking) has made Porsche rich and kept the company independent. Most companies are in business to make money, and Porsche is no exception.

odurandina

by building a good front engine car for front engine enthusiasts...


the 968, was always a way better car than the 928 anyway, add the turbo and make about 320 horsepower, strive to go a little higher on reliability, add those interior upgrades, including sport seats with airbags, big brakes, and somehow solving whatever emissions dilemmas came about...


maybe have sold it for about $ 65 - 70 k in 1997 when the economy had turned. yep, they could have built such a car...


if they had built such a car, it would have cost them money. it would have cut into boxster and 911 sales... the entry level car could have remained the boxster in such a perfect world.


btw, what the hell were they thinking with the first generations of boxster engines ? not their best work.


the real problem is the money. Porsche being unwilling to produce a proper 968 for 70 thousand dollasrs. that still doesn't make a lot of sense to me. bigger brakes, turbos and a proper interior shouldn't cost a trillion dollars.


a few here have taken matters into their own hands, of course - but it's a near monumental task in the afterworld.

Crazy Canuck

OBDII came into force in 1996 model year.

That's the main reason 968 & 928 production ended in 1995.

The volume of sales didn't justify the investment required to make both models compliant.

odurandina

your avatar needs to visit my computer in full size. can you make it happen at "i'd hit it ?"