Topic: More Lightweight Porsche Cars?

[Turbo Bob]

Porsche need to make more cars like this:

http://www.wheels.ca/article/783312



Not only because it's a great car, but also because of their commitment to emmission targets in the EU.  By selling lots of very profitable but also very polluting high powered Cayenne's, Porsche have increased their average CO2 far above their target.  The only way to lower the average would be to pull back on the turbo SUV's and start to produce cars with smaller engines.  Therefore to keep the sporty handling and acceleration, they would also need to be lighter weight.  But they also need to invest in proper weight saving design, not just leaving off a useful roof...   

The Cayman doesn't need 911 slaying power to be a great car, it just needs lighter weight IMHO.  If they could make a stripped out Cayman S that weighed less than 1100kg... now that would be my ideal Porsche.

 

This is why I think older Porsches are such good cars, you can feel you are driving a true sports car, and they are light too.  Everyone I know who has owned a newer Porsche (996+) has got bored of it relatively quickly, mainly because it was too luxurious and didn't feel like a sports car unless being pushed really hard.  Bring back some NVH for real men! (and women) 

[rrocket]

^^Yea..they may have lighter ones, but watch the price skyrocket.  911 used to be a decent value.  But now a base on is close to $100K.  Hard to get excited about it...

What about bringing back the Porsche 912??  (911 body with 4 cylinder power)

[Turbo Bob]

^^Yea..they may have lighter ones, but watch the price skyrocket.  911 used to be a decent value.  But now a base on is close to $100K.  Hard to get excited about it...

What about bringing back the Porsche 912??  (911 body with 4 cylinder power)

They should do what some of the other European brands do, reduce the price the more you strip out.    There goes the air-con, that'll be $1K less then sir.

[vdk]

^^Yea..they may have lighter ones, but watch the price skyrocket.  911 used to be a decent value.  But now a base on is close to $100K.  Hard to get excited about it...

What about bringing back the Porsche 912??  (911 body with 4 cylinder power)

They should do what some of the other European brands do, reduce the price the more you strip out.    There goes the air-con, that'll be $1K less then sir.

Only that for Porsche it goes the other way. You don't want aircon? That'll be 5 grand, Sir. No electric windows? Easy, 1 grand please. And then you're left with a stripper that's $50k more than a fully loaded Turbo (i.e. GT3, GT2). Of course there's more to it than that, but you get my point.

[No H2O]

Ahhhh, it probably has cup holders. 

[No H2O]

The Cayman doesn't need 911 slaying power to be a great car, it just needs lighter weight IMHO.  If they could make a stripped out Cayman S that weighed less than 1100kg... now that would be my ideal Porsche.

Yes but "consumers" demand all the crap found on cars these days...including those damn cup holders. 

[The Mighty Duck]

Did anyone else catch this?

Other weight savings stem from aluminum door skins, lighter non-power seats and those new alloy wheels, smaller fuel tank and battery, and the omission of both a radio and air conditioning from the standard equipment list.

I guess that's one way to reduce weight... 

[Turbo Bob]

The Cayman doesn't need 911 slaying power to be a great car, it just needs lighter weight IMHO.  If they could make a stripped out Cayman S that weighed less than 1100kg... now that would be my ideal Porsche.

Yes but "consumers" demand all the crap found on cars these days...including those damn cup holders. 

Cup holders don't weigh anything:



 

It's all the padding, heavy seats, ICE systems, sat nav, headlight washers, luxury carpeting etc.  None of it is needed in a sports car.  Even lightweight cars can still have air-con without it adding too much weight, so you don't have to sacrifice everything.

The problem is in the design stage, lazy designers just raid the corporate parts bin, if cars were designed from the ground up to be light weight they could save at least 200kgs.  I mean look at the latest Gallardo, 70kgs saved from the current model, that's a pretty amazing reduction considering it's relatively light (given the engine) to begin with.

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=21297

I just wish more manufacturers would realise that lower weight and sufficient power handles and performs so much better than more weight and more power.  They seem to all be on a power trip at the moment, which is ridiculous given the direction of oil prices in the long term.  Porsche should do what Renault do with some of their range, offer the Boxster with all the trimmings for those that want them, and offer a stripped out version for a little more cash but 200kgs lighter.

And yes, a smaller fuel tank is just a joke! 

[No H2O]

Cup holders don't weigh anything:



 

I was just kidding.

By the way, is that something one could wear. 

But yes, its all that extra standard equipment stuff they're putting in cars that I never even asked for.

[huota]

I just wish more manufacturers would realise that lower weight and sufficient power handles and performs so much better than more weight and more power.  They seem to all be on a power trip at the moment, which is ridiculous given the direction of oil prices in the long term.  Porsche should do what Renault do with some of their range, offer the Boxster with all the trimmings for those that want them, and offer a stripped out version for a little more cash but 200kgs lighter.

I agree, but I think it is the vast majority of buyers who don't realize the facts, not the manufacturers. They just cater to the market.

I hope that as the emission standards get more stringent, the manufacturers will have to look more into saving weight to make their cars more "eco-friendly" and sporty at the same time.

[safristi]

..was the above PIC a JOKE or yer JOCK.....!!!!!!! ...come Chastity let us away the nonce......

[TopGun]

AutoBlog had a discussion on their excellent PodCast talking about this (amongst other things).

Instead of bringing back the 912, there was a discussion of using a flat-4 turbo that would be used in the Cayman/Boxster AND a new sub-Boxster model.