Global Warming = Furture Turbo Porsches

[copbait73]

Who can escape the Global Warming debate, but have you been following how it’s impacting the future automotive industry?
Regardless of how you fall on mankind’s blame in the process it’s no longer disputed that the politicians have picked up on this being a perfect opportunity to advance personal, national and yes, for some, altruistic global agendas.
Several big changes, the EU is going big into legislating serious CO2 reductions to slow global warming (they will also see lower oil purchase driven national trade defects PLUS close their markets to super cheap small cars from China and India which will lag in the necessary technologies to sell there). What this means for Europe is serious engine displacement reductions across the board, probably turbos, probably direct injection, and probably variable cam timing. The largest German automotive suppliers are gearing up now. Seimens already big in injection is adding turbos to their product line. Mahle is also adding turbos, new small lightweight valves and small ultra light weight pistons. Guys what this says is every German engine maker is putting these combinations center stage. See it’s not just us Americans, the Germans are moving back from their big displacement, multi-cylinder, gross HP, fuel guzzler excesses of late.
Now, add this situation to California suing in courts for the same Global Warming reasons and winning recent cases (plus US business and Washington are thinking of the above national advantages also). What we have here is a perfect storm to move Porsche back from their recent excesses to smaller, lighter, turbocharged sports cars and trucks (hey they sold them not me).
Porsche has all the technologies plus it really wasn’t that long ago they built small, light, nimble, powerful and fuel efficient sports cars. Their trucks? They’ll go through the hybrid stage then finally settle into one of the multitude of existing automotive diesel engines.
What of Japan? They seem to think we’ll all be satisfied going around town in silent electric packages, battery powered or with tiny gasser-gen hybrids. Damn, if that is my future I hope I make my transition into the light FIRST.
Marty

[Komenda Fan]

They make some interesting hybrids nowadays...

Sad but true, regardless of anyones personal opinion, global warming affects us because new environmental regs will, and Ferrari for one has already announced that its future is lighter and smaller....so this could work out beneficial in the end. The challenge is that companies like Porsche have really shifted away from a sporting bias to a luxury bias. Not that the current gen isn't fast, they make very capable machines, but they are heavily biased towards luxury, and that will be difficult to reconcile with these environmental requirements.

[h20cooled7]

The damege is already done, its not only automobiles.

[Komenda Fan]

Yeah, I heard cars only account for 12%. My biggest problem is that I can see global warming in action - no doubt about that - but that living up here in the great white north, it doesn't seem a big problem...warmer temperatures, and we have a big % of the worlds water to sell to you yanks...

[930gt-40r]

Hey Porsche is very green- in fact the 996 GT-3 met the LEV (low emissions vehicle) standards. I dont think that our life styles will be changed very much. The lives that will be affected are the morons and I mean real idiots that by big trucks just to look cool in along with the tiny housewife that drives a tank SUV. I cant tell you how pissed and anoyed I get when I see an F-350 super-duty with no scratches or dents in the bed- That means its supposed to be a pretty boy toy when it is really supposed to be for real men who work. Or the national security risks of 4'9" women driving Ford excursions (why the hell this is legal I dont know). I hope that the government sections the last 8 to 10 years of these supersized $h!tboxes and burns (unless for industrial work) them with no return. They are the route for many problems in the U.S- Higher gas demand= higher prices for us, clogging up the left lane, backing into our cars, higher insurance rates from too many cell phone accidents, and just general hazards and useless waste.
As for our cars- we make up such a small portion of the carbon foot print that the gov. will barely bother us. Think about the displacement and emission coming from our motors (if left stock) off boost. We run 8/1 compression which means less fuel being burned than a high compression motor- and the amount we get to really get on it is so little. We are not the threat.
Four of our cars make up about the same carbon foot print as Rosie O'donnels breath when she is talking B.S.

[930gt-40r]

By the way- I bathe in C-16 leaded and burn my self to ash before driving an electric car-
Part of the feeling of driving is the sound and the fact that there is something alive under the hood...

[RarlyL8]

My friends in the R&D world tell me they are all working on small displacement direct injected turbocharged engines capable of 300HP and 70mpg, designed for cars ~1000Kg.

[h20cooled7]

Im all for micro cars ,Why Volkswagen doesnt import the Polo is beyond me? Hell I would take a GTI with heat and a radio,but they have to pack 10 lbs of Sheet in a 5lb bag and charge out the wazoo! No wonder why there sales #s suck.

[DDDD]

Porsche is so screwed up right now about what image they are portraying, I just have lost all interest in their newer cars.

Give me a light and fast car with a minimum of electronic crap, thank you. Like, say, a 930...

So I don't think I will be getting a new, hybrid, 4 wheel drive, steer itself, built in computer, PASM, stability control, traction control, FUN control, Porsche anytime soon.

[RarlyL8]

These same guys are also working on crash avoidance systems and expect cars to drive themselves in the not-so-distant future ...

[9dreizig]

Originally Posted by RarlyL8

These same guys are also working on crash avoidance systems and expect cars to drive themselves in the not-so-distant future ...

That would be sooooo cool, able to drive us home from the bar,, OR a long trip x country and let you sleep in the back seat!!! Then just drive when it's fun!!

[h20cooled7]

yeah im up for the drinking and the car driving home!

[h20cooled7]

that would be like taking a cab without the BO smell

[RarlyL8]

It's an interesting deal. You drive to the interstate where your GPS takes over and your car becomes part of a computerized coordinated bumper to bumper "train". When your exit is reached the car leaves the train and you take over.

[9dreizig]

So Brian, will rarly8.com be offering the systems as a retrofit ?? LOL

[RarlyL8]

I can't imagine a more sad sight than a 911 in that computerized train.

A couple of questions come to mind in a system such as that.
Will lanes be available for cars with active drivers?
What happens when you have a flat tire or car trouble?

Lets hope big brother thinks past the control issue and includes a little reality.

As for the future of the 911Turbo, they will become lighter, more fuel efficient, and more computer assisted, just like everything else.

[WERK I]

I fear the uninformed public reactionary's more than the government bureaucrats. We have more control over the bureaucrats than the fringe groups, Left and Right. It's the PETA's, the Green militants, the fringe groups that go over the top in terms of dictating their beliefs on the public. Destroying property that does not meet their approval at worst, disseminating misinformation at best.
As this carbon usage plan heats up, you are going to see reactionary's react in demanding vintage cars being removed from the public thoroughfares. Carbon footprints will be the mantra for old and new cars, alike. Face it, car enthusiasts are a minority and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

[sand_man]

...My uncle has a country place,
that no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm,
before the Motor Law
On Sundays I elude the Eyes,
And hop the turbine freight
To far outside the Wire,
where my white-haired uncle waits
Jump to the ground
As the turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind,
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me, an old machine -
For fifty-odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream
I strip away the old debris, that hides the shining car...

sums up my fears...

[sand_man]

ahh what the hell? Might as well throw in the rest of the lyrics:

...A brilliant red 911 Turbo, from a better, vanished time
Fire up the willing engine, responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel, I commit my weekly crime ...
Wind in my hair -
Shifting and drifting -
Mechanical music -
Adrenaline surge -
Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware
Suddenly, ahead of me, across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air-car shoots toward me,
two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires,
to run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley as another
joins the chase
Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud
With fear and hope, I've got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded
At the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle
At the fireside ...

[Emission]

At the Press Introduction for Porsche, at the LA Auto Show, Porsche said something along the lines of, "...if every single Porsche on the planet was turned off, there isn't a scientific instrument sensitive enough to notice the change in atmospheric emissions or global warming."

In a nutshell, our beloved cars are an insignificant contributor to global warming.