rpilot

And so will the last one...

Justin N

All of this will be moot in a few years as self driving will be the norm sooner than you think.

So, my prediction, The 911 of 2025 will a self driving electric that can run the Nurbering without you even touching the pedal.

reidry

I can hear it now ...

"Grand-dad, back in the day, did you actually have to use your feet and hands to make the car go, stop and turn?"

...I'm going to go drive around the block.

Ryan

MKW

actually, Lotus Engineering and others have for a while been doing skunk work on driver selectable in - car synthesized sounds for future electric vehicles that are " virtually " realistic , with surround sound mimicking front, mid or rear engine location . To the world outside, you are a super quiet law abiding citizen driving an eco friendly box. Inside you can choose to be driving a Formula 1 racer, a late 60s big block Covette, a Bentley , a V12 Ferrari, a 911 GT3 ,golf cart , etc at the push of a button.

This may threaten more than a few expensive iconic cars out there, lol, which are bought sometimes more for their sound at WOT than for handling which many drivers can't access anyway due to locale or talent or basic nebishness.

and dont think that a certain electric car brand beloved in leafy suburbs hasn't already thought about this feature for their coming models .. wink wink

rpilot

"Yes grandson and we put in a liquid called gas to make them go and cars had tailpipes that belched smoke. For a while we even had something called a manual transmission and we had to keep moving our hands to make the engine send power to the wheels properly"

Grandson is silent for a minute.. "Grand-dad, did you actually have to use an outhouse like in the western movie we saw on the oldies netstream?"

rpilot

How much of a smaller market before the 250K car slotted between the 911 and 918 costs much less to develop and build both by virtue of demand and the amortization of mid engine car development between the 918 or successors and the cayman?

FWIW, I don't buy the standard idea promoted by Porsche, albeit indirectly, that Cayenes & Macans & Panameras keep them in business to build better sports cars.

I think there is a complete shift underway in the company where the 991 by virtue of it's higher pricetag serves as the intial development / test platform for a variety of ideas/technologies before the partially amortized development costs are the cost basis for the technologies incorporated downstream.

It is a worthwhile symbiosis but one I see threatened in the future.

chuck911

Nothing new here, bud. There have been people saying its not a "real" 911 for years now already. Before that, you should have heard the 356 guys lamenting the cheap shoddy feel and sound closing the door on a 911. Yeah, something everyone else in the world considers a trademark, but to those used to the "bank vault" 356 the solid "thunk" of a 911 reeked of cheap.

So years go by and now if you talk about it not being a 911 because its water cooled, well do half the 991 buyers even know it was air cooled? I'd be surprised if its half. You say the engine cg is forward of the rear axle? Do even half the market even know what cg is?

Sadly, my bet is: no. Happily, it doesn't matter! Because just as what makes the 911 the world's greatest driver's car has little to do with 0-60, 60-0 or lap times, what makes the 911 a 911 has very little to do with any of these other things.

This is something people - especially people driving a 991 - could really benefit from thinking about a lot more. What is it that makes a 911 a 911?

Well, I think a good place to start is with this idea of the 911 being the worlds best drivers car.

If the 911 really is the worlds best drivers car- AND IT IS!- then why? Why, when its not nearly the fastest? I could go on with "why's" but I think we all know there's hardly a single performance category where the 911 beats much more than about half the contenders. So, why?

Obviously (to me, anyway) it has to do with the way Porsche has combined not just power, but control. The precision, and perception of precision, of every input. People get a glimpse of this when talking about steering feedback, but it really applies to every aspect of the car.

With that my relief is here, gotta go. Sorry!

chuck911

Sorry 'bout that. I was at work and it was time to go home. Along the way the ONE CAR on I-90 was a slow-moving Carrera in the left lane. Two cars on the whole freeway and the slow one is in the left lane. So what does he do just as he's about to be passed? Move into the right lane right in front of me. PLEASE PEOPLE do not be like this idiot! You have responsibilities! You're driving a 911!

Sorry, now where was I? Oh yeah, what makes a 911. It sure ain't driving slow in the left lane! Sorry! Sorry! But seriously, it has nothing to do with any of the usual suspects. The things you're talking about- as far back as I can recall people have debated whether the 911 is a sports car or a GT. Does not matter! Air cooled? Does not matter! Rear engine? DOES NOT MATTER!!! (Argue all you like, they already are racing a 911 with electric motors, and they sure aren't located in the rear!)

Of course its not like they can just quit making the 911, put more power in the Cayman and call it a 911. They'd have to be stupid, and these guys are anything but stupid. They know that on top of everything else the 911 has going for it, its ace in the hole is history. On this subject the average 911 buyer may not have a clue, but the legions of racers built up over the decades sure do.

So they will keep making, and evolving, the 911, and well past 2025. It will have about as much in common with today's 911 as the 991 has in common with, well I was going to say the 901 but given the pace of technology lets say the 356. It won't be the fastest Porsche. But that's nothing new. The 911 hasn't been the fastest Porsche since the Carrera GT. Or 918. But it will always be a 911. And there will always be people ready to argue the point!

Harold1898

The engine will be smaller, much smaller, the performance will be similar through higher revs and the car will be lighter. It will still look like a 911 and it will still do all the things our 991's do, only better.

reidry

In 10 years we could be printing car chasiss out of some new 3D printable material that makes today's hand laid pre-preg carbon fiber look heavy. Regardless of the propulsion technology it will be exciting.

If the 911 remains the Porsche racing identity then the 911 will remain in the road car lineup as a regular production car. If the 960 overtakes the 911 as the race car or Porsche decides to go the way of Audi, BMW, Corvette and develop a specific racing widebody (perhaps Cayman based) for sports car racing then 911 production could change significantly. If no longer racing the 911, Porsche could choose to go boutique and hand build 911s on an order basis, would make the very special, extremely customizable (retro, classic, modern, etc) but also very expensive.

Ryan

chuckbdc

Bingo!

stealthboy

I hope the new 960 idea comes out soon because I feel like they've been pushing the 911 up too high too quickly. They need something above to go truly crazy with. I don't see the 911 going totally niche and more expensive - I see it getting squeezed a little more between Cayman and 960. And I think that's a good thing.

I think the 911 has changed too much too quickly. I would love to see them slow down with their generations. Heck, the G-series was around for what, 17 years?

rpilot

I bet the 960 is actually a hybrid and hybrid only. If I was a betting man I would say it will either have the newer 3.0 or 3.6 V6 that Porsche has just put in the Macans in a different state of tune coupled with electric motor(s).

shake-em-on-down

Hybrid options across the entire range. More colour options... maybe colours will make a come back in popularity and we won't see so many grey/black/silver 911s.

I saw the Macan for the first time on Sunday. I was impressed by a lot of the little touches - on the front and rear lights and interior and wouldn't be surprised if we saw some of those on the 991.2 next year.

Z356

Don't bet anything valuable, rpilot...because you are bound to lose that wager!

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel