wanderingwheelz

And I thought I was the only guy on the planet with a 911 and a CR-V. My wife loves those things.... It's her 4th. Good lord do opposites ever attract.

RudyP

Don't know about this. Most planes have the ignition key on the left like a Porsche.

My vehicles are also quite different so I'm constantly doing the wrong thing:
Airplane: no keyless entry and ignition on the left
993 & 997: keyless entry and ignition on the left
M3 and wife's Volvo: convenience key (keep it in a pocket or bag) and pushbutton start on right side

My biggest issue is when valet parking (typically in the Volvo, sometimes the BMW) when I have a tendency to walk away with the key in my pocket. They can still drive the car (albeit with a bunch of dinging) but they can't restart it once they shut it off. So they have to hunt me down in the restaurant. Very convenient!

neanicu

There's a whole episode on TopGear about Saab. Look it up on YouTube and you'll see what I mean.

RudyP

neanicu- I wasn't really disagreeing with you and know that Saab has a lot of pride in their aviation experience, I was just pointing out that this one was a bit of strange choice since many planes don't even have keys and a lot of the planes that do have keys (smaller planes) are usually on the left. Very few actually have the keys on the console (maybe Saab planes do). But I should have explained better.

Graygoose997

This might be urban legend, but the explanation I heard was saab thought it was safer to locate the key in the console, so that in a crash, you would not be impaled on a key protruding from the dash.

wanderingwheelz

All this time I though Saab had a center console ignition because they thought most owners liked all the scratches the keys made by having to lay flat... Silly me.

neanicu

It's actually interesting to see that video. They're trying to find an explanation as to why they went bust. The best part was to see when they've made a model that was using a yoke instead of a steering wheel It was a total flop,you can imagine!

Chris from Cali

Funny, I've got an A3 TDI, a 997 S, and I'll likely be adding a Cayenne Diesel here shortly... Great minds and all that.

Mike in CA

larrytrk

I love my Saab convertible almost as much as my 09S.
It's fun, reasonably quick and plenty of tinkering to do.
Mine happens to be a 5 speed manual.
GM killed it, NEVS is rebuilding Saab into all electric vehicles, based on the 93 platform.
They should be interesting cars, when they debut.
https://picasaweb.google.com/larrytrk/Saabie

Quadcammer

I know the porsche guys make a huge deal of the key placement, but if you really think about it, its really pretty stupid.

Firstly, they could have simply had their driver work on his sprinting, probably would have saved more time.

Secondly, did they really think that this one second difference is making a difference in a 24 hour race? its ridiculous.

The things people get excited about

Mike in CA

I bet they did that too. Germans are well known for their thoroughness and attention to detail.

Maybe they wanted to get their cars off the grid more quickly to try and avoid traffic and the associated increased potential for an early shunt. Regardless of whether putting the key on the left was actually effective, or what you and I think of it, it's still a small piece of Porsche's LeMans heritage, and an interesting bit of trivia (even if you don't find it particularly exciting).

Slopeslider

I do this all of the time. Just tells me I would rather be driving my Porsche!

Chris from Cali

I like that my car has a couple of unique idiosyncrasies that have been maintained for many years and not succumbed to "the way it's supposed to be".

Straniero

I pressed the remote today, after getting out of the car, thinking I was unlocking the rear doors to get my luggage from the back... Locked it instead... I'm used to an Audi RS4.

And how often have I put my left foot down on a clutch pedal made of air in my wife's Acura...? That' a great feeling...

We do a lot "on the spine", I suppose.