Porsche Working on a New 914?

[Yellowbird RS]

info

for Autospy

[SC Schrauber]

interesting story - we'll see

[JohnJL]

Still heavy. but it fits into the conspiracy theory that the 911 is getting retired while the Cayman and Boxter grow up into that segment.

There has to be something out of the merger besides the Cay-yaurug-whatever.

[Zef]

Sales of the 911 still good.Very good news for an entry low level porsche car but I think that the 911 is there to stay...

[k9handler]

I would like to see a 914 style car on the market again...even if it's only a stripped down boxster that is the direction the Cayman should go as well.

[mb911]

914 sales failure I think not. they sold 110,000 of those thats pretty good IMHo

[Gene-o]

I wonder if this is the same car as the VW ConceptR sports car. That was a mid engined job too. Picture a Boxster from the rear with a new Jetta style grille on the from. Why a mid engine car needs a grill on the front end, I'll never know.

It really looked liked VW was serious about building it, but then got cold feet. Volkswagen now seems to be pushing the Eco-racer and a Sirocco comeback.

Unless it's built somewhere other than Europe, I don't think that VW/Porsche could it build it cheap enough to compete with the Miata/Solstice/Saturn Sky.

[Zeke]

I, too, don't see the 911 going away. Isn't the Panamera based on largely a 911 platform? Or did they move the motor to the front ala 928 to get some rear room?

[yelcab1]

Retiring the 911? Like Coca Cola retired the "classic Coke."

[JohnJL]

I don't believe it either, but the theory is out there. Popular mostly among magazine editors looking to sell copy.

[Chuck Moreland]

2600 lbs and 230 hp would be a fun car. I'd like to see it.

[JP911]

Could be a direct competitor to the Lotus Elise/Exige; a vehicle fulfilling a small enthusiast segment that many here have admired. I think a lower price-point four banger would be enough to keep the wine and cheese crowd driving Boxsters and Carreras. Those VW/Audi turbo fours can be alot of fun. There was an article a few years back in European Car about a 914 track car with a hopped up 1.8T in the back putting out 300hp. Looked like fun!

[Yellowbird RS]

Originally posted by Zeke
I, too, don't see the 911 going away. Isn't the Panamera based on largely a 911 platform? Or did they move the motor to the front ala 928 to get some rear room?

Pheaton chassis and Cayenne engine

[Yellowbird RS]

Originally posted by Gene-o
I wonder if this is the same car as the VW ConceptR sports car. That was a mid engined job too. Picture a Boxster from the rear with a new Jetta style grille on the from. Why a mid engine car needs a grill on the front end, I'll never know.

It really looked liked VW was serious about building it, but then got cold feet. Volkswagen now seems to be pushing the Eco-racer and a Sirocco comeback.

Unless it's built somewhere other than Europe, I don't think that VW/Porsche could it build it cheap enough to compete with the Miata/Solstice/Saturn Sky.

Concept R front 3.2 lts. V6 260 hp rear wheel drive





the Eco racer

[Porsche_Daddy]

Originally posted by Gene-o
[B]I Why a mid engine car needs a grill on the front end, I'll never know.
/B]

For cooling just as in any car water-cooled car. The boxster has 2 radiators in the front and the boxster S has 3 radiators which are cooled by the air coming in through the front grills.

[pieterk]

Originally posted by JP911
Could be a direct competitor to the Lotus Elise/Exige; a vehicle fulfilling a small enthusiast segment that many here have admired.

Except that at the quoted weight of 2,650, the Elise would still have a 650 lbs advantage.

But in principal, I agree.

It remains a constant source of bafflement to me that most of the so-called performance car manufacturers simply refuse to make a car which they could so easily make. If Lotus can bring a unique car like the Elise to market for a little under $50k, why can't the makers of the marvelous R8 and R10? They've certainly got a world of well-amortized engines and parts lying around that could still be at the core of a wonderful car.

It really is too bad that VW abandoned the R concept car. That 3.2 VR6 really is a wonderful engine. Try to drive a car with it. It's great, especially with the short six transmission and a little tuning to help it along (and on 100 octane it will comfortably produce an estimated 285 hp). If they could have built that concept car as a RWD, and gotten the weight down under 2,500 lbs with that engine, and a good suspension and brakes package--which they do know how to do if they set their mind to it--it would be very stiff competition for a whole lot of cars out there.

And I wonder if that's not one of the back-room reasons the project was killed. Could it have been too much of a threat to Porsche?

[sketchers356]

Originally posted by JP911
Could be a direct competitor to the Lotus Elise/Exige; a vehicle fulfilling a small enthusiast segment that many here have admired. I think a lower price-point four banger would be enough to keep the wine and cheese crowd driving Boxsters and Carreras. Those VW/Audi turbo fours can be alot of fun. There was an article a few years back in European Car about a 914 track car with a hopped up 1.8T in the back putting out 300hp. Looked like fun!

Exactly! What I want Porsche to build is a lightweight, midengined, good handling car. Basically make the Elise properly (Porsche build quality, better balanced suspension). Why can't Porsche build a copy of the Elise for $40k? It certainly would not undercut Boxster sales as they would be so different. Porsche needs to develop two distinct styles of cars; race and sports luxury. They did a good job with the 996 and GTs but the 997 GT3 seems very similar to the 997CS in many ways. A 'cheap' Boxster is a big mistake. A lightweight trackable car is not.

[anthony]

My understanding was that VW was going ahead with the R Concept until Porsche bought their share of the company and nixed the idea.

Porsche will never make an entry level $40K car that is faster than a Boxster. At best it might have the VW 2L FSI turbo engine which could be easily chip tuned to 250-275hp.

In any case if Porsche-VW makes another car I do hope it's a hard top targa like the 914. I'm not a convertible kind of guy.

[Rick V]

Being a wrench I can say I hope like hell Porsche doesn't even concider using any of the sub-par VW power plants. These things suck. In my opinion VW hasn't built a damn thing since 91. JMO

[sketchers356]

OK take this the right way...
But why must Porsche go with the faster = more money constantly?
Arent all of the current models "luxury models". Couldnt a stripped down version not undercut the lux models? I mean all of the hairdressers want the leather etc. What % of Porsche buyers are guys like us that would buy a stripped car?

Dont want to bring up a R&T (?) article that showed the 951 to be faster around a track than the 930.
Anyone?