Mike in Chi

Bill Hodges sent this article from a Detroit paper to his e-mail list. Sounds like somebody in Zuffenhausen is listening.

c) Copyright 2003, The Detroit News. All Rights Reserved.

"Porsche is preparing an extensive face-lift in 2004 for its long-lived 911 series. According to sources in Europe, the revamped 911 coupe and cabriolet will get reshaped fenders and bumpers, and will re-introduce round headlamps from the previous generation.

At the same time, Porsche will bump the displacement of its twin-cam
flat-six engine from 3.6 to 3.8 liters. In normally aspirated form, the power plant will produce around 340 horsepower -- with twin turbochargers, more than 400 horsepower. Base models will sport new
19-inch wheels and tires.

In the meantime, the German sports-car specialist will add several variants to the existing 911 range, which was just reworked less than two years ago. This spring, the high-performance GT3 is launched in Europe, followed by the introduction in late summer of the 911 Turbo Cabrio and in early 2004 of the Carrera GT."

The "reshaped fenders and bumpers" sounds promising.
(Not sure if any of us were asking for 19' wheels though)

Todd

Yup,
there have been a few pics posted previously of the possible model. Reverts to the older style. Still has plenty of 996 in it, but more muscular hips, rounds lights, and the blinkers are in the front cover. Maybe someone can post the spy shot.

Arthur Del Mundo

You can look at one of the brit magazines, either GT or 911 and Porsche, which has the spy shots of the 997. I'm glad they are going back to the old style and bumping up the power. Looks like they are targeting the old crowd who love the look of pre-996 cars and the new crowd who like the updated Porsche characteristics (water cooled engines, updated interiors, etc.). Looks like Porsche is appeasing both crowds!

Jack Ennuste

These spy shot clearly show that new headlights are round. Good-bye fried-eggs.

<a href="http://www.0-100.it/news/frame_english_2.htm" target="_blank">Spy shots</a>

This website didn't allow to link images directly.

Randy M

Hopefully the round headlights would be the same as the ones we have now. That way maybe I could get litronics for less than the current price of $2,300

PeanutinCA

Just my opinion, throwing a spanner into the mix of a lot of peoples hopes (round headlights). In these pics and others shown, TO ME, it looks like they have attached a facia to the car which happens to cover the ACTUAL front nose of the car? If you look closely, the indicators can be seen through the front grills/air intakes of that front bumper and half way up the hard, you can see a line or join. I would think they would do this to hide the acutal new look of the car coming out for the very reason that there would be these spy shots. People trying to get a glimpse of the new car. I think from memory also at those previously posted spy shots, the rear guards also had that same join half way along the guard. I'd hate to think people are rasing their hopes only to be let down if these are infact disguises? Just my opinion from looking at the shots?

Dylan.

Jay H

Isn't there talk of the next 911 getting Cayenne guages instead of the 5 dial guage? What next...

STLPCA

All of this brings us back to the previously discussed possibility/probability that the 996 series will be left as another of the aberrational failed Porsche model concepts (e.g., 912, 914, 924) with a plummeting resale value.

Arthur Del Mundo

True since 996 prices have been falling alot harder than the 993's lately that in some ways some older 993's are actually priced higher than 996's.

MetalSolid

Took 45 man hours to build a 993. How many hours to build a 996, 24?

os993

Someone once posted a spy photo of the 993, and it looked so 964/non-993, that I couldn't believe it was an actual spy photo...

Moral of the story - Porsche knows how to disguise 'em

Michael Elmore

MetalSolid:

Is that really true? Where did you read/hear that? (Not that I am surprised!)

MetalSolid

An article in <a href="http://www.fortune.com/fortune/ceo/articles/0,15114,418670-1,00.html" target="_blank">Fortune</a> , but there is no mention of how long it takes to build a 996.

Anir

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Originally posted by Michael Elmore:
<strong>MetalSolid:

Is that really true? Where did you read/hear that? (Not that I am surprised!)</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Arial,Helvetica,Geneva">Michael,

From <a href="http://www.fortune.com/fortune/ceo/articles/0,15114,418670-2,00.html" target="_blank">Fortune, 2/3/03 issue</a> :

"By 1997, Porsche workers took only 45 hours to build a 911, compared with 120 hours in 1991. The time required to develop a new model shrank to three years from seven, and finished cars drove out of the plant after just three days of work, vs. six weeks previously."

Don't know about 996 production figures. Interesting data, though, and I still believe that the 993 was a well-built, high-quality car.