A few pics from Monterey just now
Trending Topics
08-17-2013, 01:09 PM
#10
Great job getting there when it wasn't crowded ten rows deep in slack jawed millionaires slobbering words like "turbo" and "next generation 911" ... the level of car knowledge in the crowd was borderline slappable. And the ramped positioning didn't make much sense to me, either. I guess I'm just cranky because I didn't have my camera with me and I wanted to get some pics of the brakes and then ran out of time. Quail was insanely "ant farm" bustling with crowds and the parking on the golf course was populated with more interesting cars than anywhere short of the fields of 911's just up the road. At least the Porsche Zentrum was civilized and those same mouth breathing millionaires were reaching for their checkbooks in the fog of listening to the "father" of the 918 (and yes, the 918 does look great on the road, and no, they didn't even do me the courtesy of scoffing at the notion of having me take the helm, though I hear some with a paid order may have popped their 918 cherry, so to speak.) Subjectively, I think the GT3 is not a "wow" car in person. It's a 911 that will reward the driver, but not the poser -- they need something that's not indistinguishable from a Carrera with an aero kit. The 918 is a car that rewards the collector and status conscious, but I have to wait and pray for a more seductive variant, it's "coolness" begins and ends with some expensive design indulgences like the dorsal exhausts. The cabin has lost it's innovative "pizzazz" and it's been too many years of seeing the same car come to maturity. Rather like the Carrera GT Porsche so flatteringly named after my login to Rennlist, it could be a decade before anyone gives a hoot about whatever car arrives as a 918 without the hybrid stuff, but they really need to at least make it look more exciting and impressive than the Boxster. I think the humble 981, in the metal, steals the whole freaking show. It's crazy, I know, an anemic, heavy, entry level Porsche that's basically an aesthetic makeover of a 90's car is really the great looking Porsche of the current generation. Good grief, curse me for the truth, but if they put a 991 GT3 engine with a simple six speed cog box in a 981 Boxster, I'd be willing to have the engine precariously buried in front of the rear wheels. So help me. As for the 918, it's another YOL car and the 991 GT3 I think is a foregone conclusion as a brilliant car to be driven, and we just have to deal with electric steering and a heavier, longer 911. That said, anyone with a 997 would do well to hold their position and be very sure before they update to the 991 (though I write that at the same time as agreeing to sell my RS 3.8 to turn the page and begin writing the next chapter.)
(Sorry but all four are just phone pics, nothing super duper high res 
08-17-2013, 02:28 PM
#14
08-17-2013, 02:33 PM
#15
Race Car
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 3,972
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Cgt, Completely agree with you regarding the 981. Subjectively, looking at Porsches complete lineup, I think it is downright gorgeous. It somehow looks far better than the Cayman and the 991. Rear flanks Are properly integrated into the design unlike the cayman. Proportions better than the 991. A gt version would b amazing Even though I don't like convertibles general.