[AaronM]

Just a bit about the "lesser model" out-performing the 911. You're forgetting the 914/6. The sixes would run with the 911T in the straights and they blew by any 911 of similar vintage in the twisties. I was tempted to mention the 916 too, but that wasn't really a production model and on a price comparison the 916 was not the lesser model.

Yes the 944 engine was/is complex for its output, but given the parameters Porsche had to work with, there really wasn't much choice. The 944 engine, aside from identical bore and stroke, really isn't much related to the V8 in the 928. If I remember correctly, not even the pistons are interchangeable. (Something about the dome-ing of the pistons I think.) Also, the 944 is based on the 924, which had its engine bay built around a VW/Audi straight-four. Shoehorning a V-6 into the a chassis designed for a straight-four would have required more re-engineering of the chassis than Porsche could absorb at the time. A V-6 narrow enough to fit would have been too tall and a V-6 short enough to fit would have been too wide.

The 944/924S engine was only "half of a 928 engine" in displacement. It's not like Ford's V-8 and V-10 where the V-10 is just a V-8 with a longer block and crank. While the 944/924S engine benefitted from Porsche's experience with the 928 V-8 (for example, the use of Reynolds 390 aluminum for the block and head), it was not simply a 928 V-8 cut in half.

Aaron