The end of an era: say goodbye to the Porsche naturally aspirated engine

JimCorrigan

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....unless you want to pony up for a GT3, that is.

Source

Top Gear said:
The turbocharger continues its march across some of our most cherished engines. The next batch of Porsche 911s will get blowers for the mainstream models, Porsche's engineering chief Wolfgang Hatz told us at the Detroit show.

"You have to respect legal requirements [for lower CO2], so yes we're thinking turbos for standard 911s. You can't afford to keep an engine for 10 years any more."

He had earlier explained that the new 911 GT3 RS, which will be launched in March at the Geneva show, features an all-new very powerful naturally aspirated engine. A version of that engine, with turbos but less power, strangely, will be what's in the facelifted 911s in 2016.

"Emissions are important for us," said Hatz, "And we will reduce faster than the industry. Every new model will have lower CO2 than before. There aren't so many technologies to do it. If you look at euro per g/km then it's turbo. Then at the end of the decade electrification has to be the next huge step." Does that mean a hybrid for the all-new 911? "Yes." With expertise from the 918 and 919 racer, Porsche is in a good position.

He also acknowledged that Porsche is developing a four-cylinder turbo for the Cayman and Boxster ranges from 2016. Is it a flat four? "It's not an in-line four or a V4." Will it go into the 911? "Never. That's always a flat six." Phew.

Again in pursuit of better economy and performance, Hatz said Porsche is working on an all-new V8 for the next generation of Cayenne and Panamera. These cars also have to get lighter. He said the objective for the next Cayenne V6 is under two tonnes, even though it will add equipment. At the moment it's nearly 2100kg.

But you don't want to know about base-model SUVs, you want to know about hot semi-racers.

He confirmed there is a Cayman GT4 coming this year. He said it's developed by the motorsport department who do the GT versions of the 911. It will have about 400bhp, and be usefully lighter than a standard car. It's more hardcore than the old Cayman R, he said, and is "for customers who want an entry race car."

And the 911 GT3 RS will be at the Geneva show. Hatz said the existing GT3 surprised people by how civilised it is. He says the GT3 RS is a bigger jump from the GT3 than there was in the 997-generation GT3 to GT3 RS. So we're looking at a pretty rabid car.

But if that's not enough, what about people who want more: a GT2 with turbos? "We have so many 911 variants," - this was minutes after they'd launched the Targa 4 GTS - "but customers do ask for a GT2, and we will decide."
 
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So now, the most desirable 911 will not be the 911 Turbo, but the 911NA
 
And you thought the Porsche purists didn't like going to the water-cooled engine or electric steering...

No more NA.
 
Well, this was bound to happen eventually, surprised actually that it took them so long. The benefits (besides the green talk) are obviously more torque and more power. Both of which perhaps suits the GT-character of the 991 better than the current NA-engines. If you want a pure driving machine, you'll go for the GT3, which will remain an NA-screamer.

Besides, weren't Porsche among the first to successfully introduce a turbo engine in a road car? I wonder what will happen with the Turbo now that all "regular" 911s will be turbocharged.
 
So... 911 turbos for everyone? :burnrubber:

Yeah, not seeing this as a bad thing. "All 911s will have turbos now!" "You mean like the top of the range model?" "Yeah, isn't it awful?!"

I'm curious to see what hybrid 911s will be like, too. The 918 has proven that a hybrid Porsche most definitely doesn't have to be boring, but that's easier to do when the car is more expensive.
 
The all-turbo lineup of 911 Carrera models will likely be shown at the Frankfurt motor show in September:

An undisguised prototype of the Porsche 911 facelift has been caught on camera undergoing final testing.

It was only yesterday when Porsche signaled the imminent demise of the 991.1 version with the Black Edition and now our spy photographers have caught on camera a 991.2 prototype camo-free. At a first glance it appears to be identical to the outgoing model but upon closer inspection you will notice the front and rear bumpers have received a minor cosmetic surgery.
In addition, there are new LED daytime running lights and different graphics for the headlight and taillight clusters. It seems the rear lighting clusters have been stretched and now adopt a wraparound layout while the dual exhaust tips are now closer to one another and mounted near the center of the rear bumper.

Likely debuting in September at Frankfurt Motor Show, the revised Porsche 911 range could be all-turbo, with the exception of the 911 GT3 and 911 GT3 RS. It is believed the 911 Carrera will be equipped with a newly developed 2.5-liter 6-cylinder turbocharged engine while the Carrera S should have a larger 3.5-liter turbo engine with more than 407 PS (300 kW).
Source: Worldcarfans.

On the road:
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On the N?rburgring:
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Turbocharged 4-cylinders for the Boxster and Cayman:
Porsche chief Matthias M?ller has revealed plans to introduce a four-cylinder turbocharged engine on the Boxster & Cayman duo next year.

The four-cylinder boxer turbo engine is bound to show up in next year's facelifted Boxster and Cayman range and there are some chances of seeing it in the 911 Carrera in the future as a replacement of the 3.4-liter flat-six motor.

Technical specifications concerning this new smaller engine are not available at this point, but a report from last year indicated the 1.6-liter version will have 210 bhp (156 kW) while the 2.0-liter is expected to deliver 286 bhp (213 kW) and 295 lb-ft (399 Nm). There should also be a larger 2.5-liter generating as much as 360 bhp (268 kW) and 347 lb-ft (470 Nm) of torque. However, a recent German report states M?ller has suggested the new motor will be capable of producing "up to 395 horsepower."

We remind you Porsche is already offering a four-cylinder turbo engine for the Macan in select markets where it produces 237 bhp (177 kW) and 258 lb-ft (350 Nm). M?ller says Porsche hasn't made up its mind yet whether the four-cylinder Macan will be commercialized in United States
Source: Worldcarfans.

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I'd hate to be the engineer asked to make it sound as good as the previous generation car.
 
Besides, weren't Porsche among the first to successfully introduce a turbo engine in a road car? I wonder what will happen with the Turbo now that all "regular" 911s will be turbocharged.

Nope. Both Chevy and Oldsmobile had reliable turbos in '62. And these weren't exotics sold to only three people.
 
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End of an era? The era of what? Boring Porsche's for people who can't afford real ones? Don't even try comparing this to the bygone air-cooled era because I know that's exactly what you're trying to do. Turbocharging is a good thing, not a bad thing, and the only people who think otherwise are people who've never experienced what it's like to gain 10hp just from an air filter, 20hp from a different exhaust ... or 50hp just by fiddling with the wastegate bleed valve. And I mean REAL numbers, not the crap the adverts try to sell you. Power at the wheels, power that makes you say "holy shit, why didn't I ever buy a turbo car before?" Turbocharging brings about something we like to call "free-mods" and if you ain't heard, well you betta aks somebody.
 
End of an era? The era of what? Boring Porsche's for people who can't afford real ones? Don't even try comparing this to the bygone air-cooled era because I know that's exactly what you're trying to do. Turbocharging is a good thing, not a bad thing, and the only people who think otherwise are people who've never experienced what it's like to gain 10hp just from an air filter, 20hp from a different exhaust ... or 50hp just by fiddling with the wastegate bleed valve. And I mean REAL numbers, not the crap the adverts try to sell you. Power at the wheels, power that makes you say "holy shit, why didn't I ever buy a turbo car before?" Turbocharging brings about something we like to call "free-mods" and if you ain't heard, well you betta aks somebody.


Sooooooo, am I wrong or are you saying the only "real" Porsches are the turbocharged ones? I guess we could find a few examples or naturally aspirated ones that feel very "real" when driven hard...
Anyway, preaching that what you think is best is the only thing anyone should ever want is not a very effective way to make friends, specially in this forum.
 
End of an era? The era of what? Boring Porsche's for people who can't afford real ones? Don't even try comparing this to the bygone air-cooled era because I know that's exactly what you're trying to do. Turbocharging is a good thing, not a bad thing, and the only people who think otherwise are people who've never experienced what it's like to gain 10hp just from an air filter, 20hp from a different exhaust ... or 50hp just by fiddling with the wastegate bleed valve. And I mean REAL numbers, not the crap the adverts try to sell you. Power at the wheels, power that makes you say "holy shit, why didn't I ever buy a turbo car before?" Turbocharging brings about something we like to call "free-mods" and if you ain't heard, well you betta aks somebody.

Having owned several turbo cars, I completely disagree. I don't care about power, I care about response and balance.
 
A 1.6 in a Porsche... I'm sorry, that's just sounds so wrong.

With this strategy the Cayman GT4 will actually grow in value as it will become older.
 
The 1.6 also sounds wrong in the F1 car, so my point stands :p.
 
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