Discussion
Huskyman every turbo car I have been in or owned runs on a bit for a fraction of second, they have nothing like the responsiveness of good N/A engines. This was well known to those who used to race cars like the 944 turbo for example (951) that you really didn't want to be lifting once you had that peddle down, in fact I know a couple of people who have crashed off the road in road going 951s because they got the car a little out of shape and ended up fishtailing off as they couldn't synchronise power and steering.
Seems Autocaar aren't fans of the noise http://youtu.be/kon9hlFts94
Rest of the package seems a good improvement however.
Rest of the package seems a good improvement however.
Edited by DaveGB on Monday 4th April 20:31
DaveGB said:
Seems Autocaar aren't fans of the noise http://youtu.be/kon9hlFts94
Rest of the package seems a good improvement however.
I think that's called damning with faint praise Rest of the package seems a good improvement however.
Edited by DaveGB on Monday 4th April 20:31
Never heard anyone talk about a car saying that it was still a class leader sound more depressed as they were delivering the words. Think this might be the straw that broke the came's back. I think even the most die hard air-cooled fans eventually got on board with watercooling as while you lost some of the air cooled noise, you fundamentally got a better sportscar engine: higher revving, good sound if a bit different etc.
Arguably the 996.1 3.4 litre unit was the best non-Mezger one until the 997.2/991.1 ones - the former still needed revving hard to get the best with peak torque coming quite late like a 993 lump and the latter producing nicely over 100 bhp/litre. I'm just not sure there's any way to dress up a flat 4 turbo as a better sportcar engine than what came before it, even when we will have 10 years worth of hindsight
ORD said:
If you are watching his face and body language and listening to his tone, it's clear that he thinks the engine is terrible and largely ruins the car.
This^^. He's desperately trying to hide his disappointment. The words to camera say one thing, his tone of voice is screaming the opposite.I was just about to post that as well as the Autocar vid popped out in my Youtube stream. One of most luke warm new car presentations I can remember.
Also on the previous point about drifting and turbos well they prove my point. When driving fast on track the one thing we are trying not to do is drift the car under power as this is slow, you also need to keep a fairly surprising amount of power in to keep the rear wheels spinning which is why drift cars are huge power monsters, makes it much easier to drift at high speed.
What I and I think many others who care about these things want is the opposite, using your right foot to accurately control how much traction the car has is one of the greatest feelings you can have on 4 wheels. I haven't done it more than a handful of times in the dry but my god you feel like a super hero when you get it right, get a bit of angle on the car whilst still sling shooting out of the corner after carrying more speed in than you dare. Strange we sacrifice so much to get a few seconds of pure vehicular ecstasy but if not for that what else.
Also on the previous point about drifting and turbos well they prove my point. When driving fast on track the one thing we are trying not to do is drift the car under power as this is slow, you also need to keep a fairly surprising amount of power in to keep the rear wheels spinning which is why drift cars are huge power monsters, makes it much easier to drift at high speed.
What I and I think many others who care about these things want is the opposite, using your right foot to accurately control how much traction the car has is one of the greatest feelings you can have on 4 wheels. I haven't done it more than a handful of times in the dry but my god you feel like a super hero when you get it right, get a bit of angle on the car whilst still sling shooting out of the corner after carrying more speed in than you dare. Strange we sacrifice so much to get a few seconds of pure vehicular ecstasy but if not for that what else.
cowboyengineer said:
Was thinking of this too....enuf said!After reading many of the comments, watching the video I didn't find him nearly as weaselly as suggested; I think the PH audience can pretty easily translate when he uses words like "slightly" and "a little bit" to describe the loss of character, he actually means "a crapload."
There are barely any superlatives in the review, which is the norm for these first drive videos.
But the general Autocar audience may struggle to separate that from all the objective stats that have 'improved', and read it has him being b
hy and unfair.
As he says, the car world is being forced to find efficiency by regulation, and it seems turbo is currently the easiest/cheapest path.
Longer term, I would hope that some sort of 918-style hybrid system could be implemented. Let's say a small flat six, with battery power for stop start traffic and motorway coasting. Limited or no intervention when pushing on. The combustion engine could be tuned to be quite top end focused in this scenario.
I guess the weight of the batteries is the elephant in the boot...
There are barely any superlatives in the review, which is the norm for these first drive videos.
But the general Autocar audience may struggle to separate that from all the objective stats that have 'improved', and read it has him being b
hy and unfair.As he says, the car world is being forced to find efficiency by regulation, and it seems turbo is currently the easiest/cheapest path.
Longer term, I would hope that some sort of 918-style hybrid system could be implemented. Let's say a small flat six, with battery power for stop start traffic and motorway coasting. Limited or no intervention when pushing on. The combustion engine could be tuned to be quite top end focused in this scenario.
I guess the weight of the batteries is the elephant in the boot...
Edited by Sustenpass on Tuesday 5th April 04:03
Having said all that, the Evo review also moans extensively about the engine, but it still rates 4.5 stars. To only penalise it half a star given what they have to say about it, is disappointing from Evo, who tell us they're about the thrill of driving. I guess declining readership is a factor.
What in a car could be more specifically thrilling than a great engine?
What in a car could be more specifically thrilling than a great engine?
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