caymannyc

You know, I'm just curious now. We've seen people say Porsche has no choice but to make their cars bigger to meet the "market". They now sell more Macans than any other car by far. Macan sales alone beat 911 + Cayman + Boxster sales. Same for the Cayenne. So I have to wonder, with such great sales of the Macan and Cayenne (Panamera is tanking), why doesn't Porsche go out and make a small "pure" sports car? Something as small and tiny as the Lotus Evora or Elise?

rodH

I have yet to see a real good detailed explanation as to why all the companies are going to turbos and improving MPG. Yes, its good for the enviro, less gas, emissions, etc...BUT why can companies like Ford make a GT350? Why can Chevy make the Camero and Vette? Dodge make a hell cat? Non of these cars are turbo cars and have much larger displacement than the porsches. Why and who is twisting the arms of BMW for the M2/3/4, Porsche, Ferrari, etc...?

And I kind of agree with the person above that mentioned that, if this was the case, shouldn't cars be getting smaller, lighter and not larger and heavier? (Ironically it is the "big american muscle cars" that are getting smaller and lighter. Crazy that the 991 is longer than a Viper, who ever thought?)

Mumbles

I know my P dealer would have almost nothing to service if it wasn't for the SUV's as 95% of the cars are off the road for Winter

Para82

The 991 GT3 is a beautiful car but I have zero interest in owning an automatic sports car. I also would fear owning one outside of warranty, it seems they have catastrophic engine issues. Again the halo for me is a 997.2 GT3...

ATSR

+1

No automatic sports car for me either. I love the 911R but for the amount of money they are going for, I rather have a Singer.

rodH

I do agree with this, I was referring to the visual appeal. An auto, no matter how good, just takes too much away for what I want out of the car and my uses.

voiceprint1

these guys don't mind an automatic?

http://www.automobilemag.com/news/20...e-week-review/

Hula

I'm afraid it involves math. Corporate Average Fuel Economy is just that. All of the cars sold under the corporate umbrella must meet a certain average. Ford can make the GT350 because it sells a lot of Fiestas. Audi and Lambo are under the VW umbrella. They can get away making V10 R8's and V12 Aventadors since they sell a lot of Jettas (I'm going to leave aside VW's recent purchase of Porsche).

But the standards are getting tighter. The shell game is getting tougher to work around. BMW had Mini to lower it's average but it wasn't enough hence the switch to turbos. One of the big motivators for automakers to offer all-electric options is to average down the CAFE.

There are other factors as well. For instance China is trying to clamp down on conspicuous consumption so they slapped down a tariff based on displacement. Tariffs start getting steep at 3.0 liters so Porsche made sure the 991.2 engine shrunk to 2.981 liters.

KNS

It's not the market, it has to do with fuel economy and the size of the vehicle's track and wheelbase.

Starting in 2011, the CAFE standards are newly expressed as mathematical functions depending on vehicle footprint, a measure of vehicle size determined by multiplying the vehicle’s wheelbase by its average track width. A complicated 2011 mathematical formula was replaced starting in 2012 with a simpler inverse-linear formula with cutoff values. CAFE footprint requirements are set up such that a vehicle with a larger footprint has a lower fuel economy requirement than a vehicle with a smaller footprint.

Porsche really didn't have a choice if they were to offer a sports car with so much horsepower and still meet MPG requirements.

I hate it - I don't ever want to own such a gigantic (to me) 911.

Suitcase

European CO2 volume ....Global warming Police.

dbv1

I'm with (most of you) guys. Don't want large, automatic, electric, comfort, GT. 997 is definitely big already. I don't mind them selling Cayennes and Macans at all, they are the best vehicles in their segments, but leave the 911 alone.

My dealer has one of those million dollar electric things in the show room (forgot the model designation). Nobody is ever looking at it. They also have a sweet black 930 SC that's always got someone looking at it (myself included).

Fined

*******the more you know*********

good info. did not know about that as a reasoning.

sandwedge

This looks good? No matter how hard you work with the camera, you could never make a 997 look like a Panamera as much as this one.

caymannyc

I consider that a "side" shot

When I say rear, I mean straight from the back.

gasongasoff

Hold up. 89 posts and nobody mentioned how the 991 eliminated the turn-in understeer from the 997?