Porsche 911 styling by deja vu - how would you redesign it?

edkwon

edkwon

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Of course its the running joke in TG, Porsche fans, and forums members here that Porsche hire the laziest designers in the world and never change the look of the 911.

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So let's just agree Porsche needs to significantly change the design of the car to avoid these jokes. What would you do to significantly redesign the car so its not a slightly tweaked rehash of the same tired old profile.

If you already have sketches made feel free to link images here in this thread.
 
You know, the last time porsche actually changed something on the 911, everyone whined about it. It's better to be the same then to change and be ugly I guess. Just look at Jaguar :lol:
 
I don't think the 911 should change, but when a company wants to make different models look the same, issues arise.. The problem with Porsche is not how the 911 looks, it's how the Boxster, the Cockster, the Gayenne and the Panamera have been made to look like it.
 
Just keep pumping out 993s. Loose the fatzo 911s.
 
Posmo said:
I don't think the 911 should change, but when a company wants to make different models look the same, issues arise.. The problem with Porsche is not how the 911 looks, it's how the Boxster, the Cockster, the Gayenne and the Panamera have been made to look like it.
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I agree with all of that, but my question is specifically directed towards those ppl who feel specifically the 911 design is repetitive and tired (Clarkson and co, all the FG forum members who feel the same way). I want to hear from them how they would specifically redesign the 911 so its simply not the 'same car over and over again'.

Personally I like the 911 design and dont think it needs to change much.
 
This is a stupid argument. The 911 shape is an ICON.

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If anything I think the 911 should be smaller, it's grown too fat. Otherwise it has aged quite while. I can spout off numerous marques with designs that went to shit as they got older and fatter. Maybe I will, Fox Body, C4 Corvette, F-Body, Thunderbird, any late model Ferrari barring the new Italia, etc.
 
Posmo said:
I don't think the 911 should change, but when a company wants to make different models look the same, issues arise.. The problem with Porsche is not how the 911 looks, it's how the Boxster, the Cockster, the Gayenne and the Panamera have been made to look like it.
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Agreed completely. The 911 isn't so bad, it's when they glue a 911 front end to an Austin Maxi or a garden shed that's the real problem.

That said, I can't help but think that doing noticeably different things with the details in the same shape should be possible. The 993 was a good example, still iconic, but also recognizably different from the previous model and significantly better. Not this "we changed the taillights, kinda, well you probably won't notice without a magnifying glass and us telling you where the change is, but we totally changed them," attitude they've got going now.
 
I'll agree that the Boxster, Cayman, and Panamera are all a bit similar. Look at how great the 928, 356, 550 were.
 
first off, the Turbo would be the second best car after GT2, not GT3. Second, ditch that AWD nonsense since Porsche doesn't seem to get it work well with the layout of the car. Third, whaletails must be brought back.
 
Most of you guys seem to have missed the point by miles. Edkwon isn't saying he hates the 911, instead he wants to see how the critics would like to change it. And I am intrigued as well. I am a huge fan of 911 also and I too think it should not be messed with.

However I do think it would be cool to see some ideas from people who think it should be changed, just for the hell of it. Even more fascinating would be to see some sketches, photoshops or other ideas transferred into picture form.

So those more photoshop savvy than me....get cracking !
 
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IMO Rockstar was onto something when they ripped the car off for GTA4.

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In short, I am of the belief that the 911's distinct styling points come from the physical requirements of having the engine where it absolutely should not be on any sane car, and having the headlights sharply cut into the front end. It seems that with every iteration of the 911, the headlights creep forward just a teeny tiny bit.

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What we need to do here is take those headlights, rotate them a bit to be more vertical, and shove them backwards a few inches.

If we can tweak the windshield a few degrees more towards the vertical it would benefit as well.

And then start gluing insane whale-tail spoilers to the asses of the high end models. The spoiler on that GT2 is WAY too understated.

The Porsche 911 is a sports car that should be designed primarily for people without taste and common sense. Pornographers, rock stars, drug dealers and 5 year olds. The problem is that it's lost the pantomime bizarreness that makes it appeal to those sort of people and has settled into looking like a generic sportscar suited to golfers and old men (granted, these are Porsche's primary actual buyers) by slowly smoothing away ridiculous looking bits.

The engine is still in the wrong place and continues to gently tick that "I have no common sense" box on that basis, though - so we still have something to work with.
 
It's got a unique shape, no one's disputing that (no one sane anyway ;) ). But it's been largely the same for nigh on 10 years now (since the 996).

You see the Cayman? I'd take cues from that. The 911, for lack of a better term, is somewhat bulbous.

I'd take the sinewy cues from the Cayman and try to integrate them with the 911 shape. The 911 needs to progress to the next level of sexiness. It seems like it's been on the same sexiness standard for a while now. It still looks like it came from the late 90's/y2k.

I hate to compare the two, but look what Ferrari has done with the new Italia. The design has that Enzo shape, but it looks completely different. That's what I wanna see happen with the 911.
 
i think porsche have dug their own hole, if they had just not announced a new style update every year (when it was clearly the same car) they would have been fine, when you look at the OPs pic the cars are all very clearly differnt, its the barrage of tiney tiny facelifts that have caused this negative attitude towards porsche's design dept.

if they held off on the updates, and only announced a new car when it really was a new car then they would be fine.
 
Agree with what people have been saying about the other Porsches. Corperate faces of car brands are dictated by them all looking the same, without you knowing that they are from the same manufacturer, eg Saab's hockeystick rear end design http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_hockey_stick and the Kidney grille design of BMWs.

also, was or is there any reason that the Cayman/ Boxster can't have the pop front headlights ala Porsche 944/ 928? It's an underused design feature IMO these days.
 
EyeMWing said:
IMO Rockstar was onto something when they ripped the car off for GTA4.

Comet_%28GTA4%29_%28front%29.jpg


In short, I am of the belief that the 911's distinct styling points come from the physical requirements of having the engine where it absolutely should not be on any sane car, and having the headlights sharply cut into the front end. It seems that with every iteration of the 911, the headlights creep forward just a teeny tiny bit.
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Thanks for getting the point of this thread with your suggestions. Everyone else who keeps veering off topic and talking about the Cayenne, Cayman, Panamera, etc...not the point! I implore you to please focus and stay on topic. Thanks.
 
I'm interested in seeing what people can come up with too. I'm personally of the opinion that Porsche's other styling jobs have been mediocre at best. I don't see the point in making the 911 look different just for the sake of making it look different. I'd rather it look the same then look worse.

If they completely abandon the style, then they might as well abandon the rear-engine configuration and make it mid-engined. And if they do that, then they should simply retire the 911 name and call it the 918 or something.
 
waydee said:
Popup headlights are deemed too dangerous for pedestrians these days.
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what? really? surely they could make them pop-up a bit less aggressively then?

Back on topic
to be honest I would the side window look more like that of the Targa than the standard Carrera cars, I think it looks better
 
I'm really satisfied with the styling, but it would be more perfect (for me) if it's lower to the ground whether the roof or the whole car it's self to improve the center of mass.

Something else I wish that they would do, is to move the engine to the middle, and gearbox to the front, or come out with an idea or something to equalize the weight distribution.
 
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