alex_c

As it is widely known, developments in flagship vehicles eventually end up trickling down to the "lesser" models of any manufacturer as time goes by.

After watching a very entertaining documentary from the Smithsonian Channel about the development of the 918 Spyder, I couldn't help but notice how may things have trickled down to the 911 in just a few years since the 918's debut back in 2014.

What are some of these things? Perhaps a lot more than we, mere observers from the outside will ever know, but others are quite evident.

H​​​​​​ere are some that come to mind:

1. Steering wheel. The current Porsche steering wheel, modeled after the 918 made its first appearance in the Macan. Since then it morphed even more in the 991.2 when it was fitted to the 911, along with the visible screws on the GT version of the wheel, and the mode control switch, complete with the Sports Response button. Pretty cool isn't it?

2. Four dot LED running lights. As far as I am aware, these also appeared for the first time in the 918, giving now a distinctive look to all Porsche vehicles on the road.

3. 3D Sculpted Rear Lights. Again, something that has made it all the way from the 918 to the Macan and now to the 991.2, Panamera and the new Cayenne.

4. Active Air Intake Flaps. I will just copy Porsche's own description: "The active air intake flaps in the front air intakes act to reduce fuel consumption during everyday trips and to achieve superlative performance on sporty drives. Already proven on the 918 Spyder, the flaps close automatically while the car is in motion and thereby reduce drag."

5. Rear Wheel Steering. Making its first appearance in any Porsche back in 2014 behind the 918 Spyder, the full active rear-wheel steering system made its way from there to the GT3, then the Turbo and now is one more option on the 991.2 version of the 911.


As I mentioned, I'm sure there are many other places where the legacy of the 918 lives on the rest of the Porsche line of vehicles, and while a 918 may only be a dream for most of us, it definitely puts a smile on my face thinking how these cool things are now available on the 911, and particularly on my soon to be delivered Carrera T of all places!

Please feel free to contribute any other known developments from the 918 that have made it to the mainstream line of Porsche's.

Cheers!

Papa Fittig

Pretty cool. Good that the features which found their way into 911s aren't all just cosmetics.
Regarding Rear wheel steering it perhaps came to Porsche from Mitsubishi who used it in 90's with 3000GT.

worf928

FYI: A little 928 in the 918. The 928 had active intake flaps in 1987.

CarreraFahrer

Very cool.

Nissan's also had four wheel steering although not as sophisticated at Porsche's I'm sure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HICAS

Papa Fittig

Ha, although I had my 300zx (which did not have it) I did not know.

CarreraFahrer

I had a 1993 300 ZX TT and it had four wheel steering. Only the TT's had it.

TexasRider

As did the 3000GT Mitsuibsihi. It also had active aero spoilers front and rear, and digital AC controls.

As a matter of fact when it was out, Porsche dealers had mostly long faces around 92 or so. They supposedly didn't like the 951s or the 928s they had for sale before, you know water cooled and front engines and all that sacrilege - but they liked selling about 50 cars a YEAR even less than that.

gellie

Yes very cool. I remember years ago. I would buy a new 7 series every 3 years as my DD. By the end of the 3rd years all the new and cool features were already incorporated in the 5 series.

Hurricane

The Honda Prelude (April '87) was the first car to hit the U.S. market with four wheel steering (although Nissan had it in the Japanese market a little sooner, late '85), quickly followed by Mazda (a few weeks after the Prelude), Mitsubishi (late '87), Nissan ('88-'89), and Toyota (late '89).

Nice article about it here, including the 928's role:

http://autoweek.com/article/car-life...ng-demystified

Papa Fittig

good article, thx for the link

CarreraFahrer

Thanks, I had forgotten about the Prelude 4WS.

alex_c

Wow, two pages of responses about Japanese cars and nothing about Porsche...

Dewinator

jnolan

Hurricane