RE: Porsche 718 Boxster - full details
Discussion
Ozzie Osmond said:
Apart from the fact it costs 911 money I'm sure you're right! Or if you want to go like-for-like on price you could always go with front of a 20-year old Exige bolted to a Camry engine for some real up-to-date sportscar engineering excellence. Trust me, unless and until some new genuine new product emerges from Norfolk at a sensible price Porsche has sadly got the £40k to £55k sector all to itself. And I wouldn't expect to see a new TVR anywhere near that price bracket either.
If it was easy, everybody would be doing it! Porsches may be the most common larger sportscars on the road but there's a good reason for that, much of which has to do with their engineering. So my car was mass-produced in a mainstream VW factory - do I care? No.
More has to do with being a product that appeals to the other 50% of the car buying public. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it! Porsches may be the most common larger sportscars on the road but there's a good reason for that, much of which has to do with their engineering. So my car was mass-produced in a mainstream VW factory - do I care? No.
Biggest buyers of convertibles are females. The Boxster from the outset has managed to tap into this market. Others have failed or not tried.
In addition to that they have made the product very practical with electric roof, seats etc etc and so that massively increases their potential target market.
The fact that they are brilliantly engineered and cheap has less of a direct impact than being a product that is useable like a conventional car and appeals to female buyers. I suspect that the Boxster has to be the most popular genuine sports convertible in the female market?
DonkeyApple said:
The fact that they are brilliantly engineered and cheap has less of a direct impact than being a product that is useable like a conventional car and appeals to female buyers. I suspect that the Boxster has to be the most popular genuine sports convertible in the female market?
MX-5?The cylinder head is designed as a single-cylinder unit. That's how engines are tested, initially. Had Lotus done a twin-cam straight-six based on Ford components, or even a tiny lightweight V6, the Elan might have been better than it was.
Alpina E30s were generally powered by all-alloy M20-based engines. They did put M30s in some of them, though, which I know had an iron block and was very long, thanks to its big bore, so was a bit heavy and bulky for the E30.
The Jag V6 is a bodge, and a borderline unforgiveable one at that. There's an Ingenium straight-six on its way to replace it, though. Mercedes-Benz are returning to inline sixes as well.
If you shorten a car's gearing and final drive to compensate for its lack of torque, you then end up pulling higher RPM at any road speed (which makes for a tiresome motorway car) and you lose top speed.
The Exige is not 20 years old. In any case, the S1 Elise was a good 20 years ahead of its time. The Exige's chassis is probably the best of any closed-body sports-car on sale today.
Alpina E30s were generally powered by all-alloy M20-based engines. They did put M30s in some of them, though, which I know had an iron block and was very long, thanks to its big bore, so was a bit heavy and bulky for the E30.
The Jag V6 is a bodge, and a borderline unforgiveable one at that. There's an Ingenium straight-six on its way to replace it, though. Mercedes-Benz are returning to inline sixes as well.
If you shorten a car's gearing and final drive to compensate for its lack of torque, you then end up pulling higher RPM at any road speed (which makes for a tiresome motorway car) and you lose top speed.
The Exige is not 20 years old. In any case, the S1 Elise was a good 20 years ahead of its time. The Exige's chassis is probably the best of any closed-body sports-car on sale today.
xRIEx said:
DonkeyApple said:
The fact that they are brilliantly engineered and cheap has less of a direct impact than being a product that is useable like a conventional car and appeals to female buyers. I suspect that the Boxster has to be the most popular genuine sports convertible in the female market?
MX-5?
Heresy!RoverP6B said:
If you shorten a car's gearing and final drive to compensate for its lack of torque, you then end up pulling higher RPM at any road speed (which makes for a tiresome motorway car) and you lose top speed.
The Exige is not 20 years old. In any case, the S1 Elise was a good 20 years ahead of its time. The Exige's chassis is probably the best of any closed-body sports-car on sale today.
So your stating that a sports car doesn't make an optimal motorway cruiser, well I never. Have you driven an S1 Exige, which is 16 years old btw. The Exige is not 20 years old. In any case, the S1 Elise was a good 20 years ahead of its time. The Exige's chassis is probably the best of any closed-body sports-car on sale today.
The Integra isn't a sports-car as such, it's a hot hatch, a daily driver when it was new... but my criticism applies generally to torque-shy engines. BMW generally got the balance right with their straight sixes, with a beautifully linear power-band, plenty of mid-range torque and a top end that makes it worth revving out.
Anyone who doesn't realise that more torque means more acceleration simply and lower engine RPM at any given road speed simply doesn't understand physics.
Anyone who doesn't realise that more torque means more acceleration simply and lower engine RPM at any given road speed simply doesn't understand physics.
RoverP6B said:
Anyone who doesn't realise that more torque means more acceleration simply and lower engine RPM at any given road speed simply doesn't understand physics.
More torque means more acceleration (for a given gear and rpm) because it's generating more power than an equivalent rpm with less torque. Acceleration is proportionate to instantaneous power. If we increase the speed at which the torque is generated, that also increases power, so more acceleration.Big torque at the expense of power is great for lazy engines, not so much for sports cars.
RoverP6B said:
The Integra isn't a sports-car as such, it's a hot hatch, a daily driver when it was new... but my criticism applies generally to torque-shy engines. BMW generally got the balance right with their straight sixes, with a beautifully linear power-band, plenty of mid-range torque and a top end that makes it worth revving out.
Anyone who doesn't realise that more torque means more acceleration simply and lower engine RPM at any given road speed simply doesn't understand physics.
But you haven't driven it. Trying to pigeon hole something like the DC2 is very difficult, it is a blurry line of a car, you should understand things like this. As for a daily driver, they do that, but that is not why they were designed. Not a sports car, like I said you haven't got a clue. The same way as a 535i is in no way a match for an N52, same physics, that's how it works right?Anyone who doesn't realise that more torque means more acceleration simply and lower engine RPM at any given road speed simply doesn't understand physics.
Anyone who doesn't understand that different engine configurations suit certain chassis designs didn't really be commenting.
RoverP6B said:
Dismissing the views of those who disagree with you is the mark of a true totalitarian.
I don't find the CRX Del Sol wholly uninteresting, but it's an oddball that never really lived up to the original concept.
I'm not, just dismissing your views on the basis that you talk total bullsI don't find the CRX Del Sol wholly uninteresting, but it's an oddball that never really lived up to the original concept.
t about things you have no experience of. 
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff