Prospective 981 GT4 Owners Discussion Forum.
Discussion
franki68 said:
if all the cars they intend to build are sold why would they bother with pdk ?
What will most likely happen demand for all 981.1 will tail off this year if this is not the case already with the Boxster 981.2 due to be announced at end of year so there will be capacity to build more cars or Pdk as extra!maybe even the next years quota may be Pdk only and manual build only this year!the Pdk won't step on the 991s toes as that would have also moved on come September !cc3 said:
av185 said:
Reliable OPC DPs as opposed to unreliable ones.
Clutch pedal quite heavy as you would expect but could be a pain in traffic. Still car designed for the track rather than a daily drive av185 said:
cc3 said:
av185 said:
Reliable OPC DPs as opposed to unreliable ones.
Clutch pedal quite heavy as you would expect but could be a pain in traffic. Still car designed for the track rather than a daily drive YESTERDAY AT GENEVA
GT4 and GT3 RS
Of all the cars at the show the GT4 looked the one best suited to playing on a winding road. The only car that looked more tempting to grab by the scruff was the Radical, but not on the road. The Alfa 4C is small and light but looks like a toy and as we have read is unresolved; the piecemeal styling of the Lotuses made me wonder if the engineering is the same; and everything thing else high-performance appeared too big for less than an A road.
The GT4 looks like a clean sheet design with the aero perfectly integrated and proportioned. Visually it is a massive step up from the Cayman/ S/ GTS which, in comparison, are indistinguishable from each other and look more like Carreras than the GT4. The rear wing, though large, nestles in comfortably. The ducktail and diffuser give the GT4 a Ruf Ctr3 look from the side. From the rear quarter it could use some broadening of the hips but from every other angle it is perfect. I actually prefer the front to the 918, it looks more purposeful than the very soft front styling of the Spyder.
Although after seeing photos of the car in several colours I had switched from yellow to silver, in real life (or the semi-reality of artificial lighting) Racing Yellow is THE colour. Very few cars can pull off bright yellow but, with its hunkered down stance and contrasting black details this is one of them. It’s difficult to separate the importance of the shape and the colour in achieving the overall effect when there are no direct comparisons available. However I spent a lot of time comparing the other cars that had GT4 colours: a Rhodium Silver Cayman S, Carmine Red Boxster GTS and, in the Porsche Exclusive room, a Sapphire Blue Cayenne. Actually, I didn’t spend much time on the Sapphire. It is brighter than in the photos and looks (again under artificial light) like Subaru WRX blue. I don’t like Rhodium Silver as much as the old Arctic Silver, which is more like GT Silver, but even if the 2,364€ GT Silver was no-cost I would choose yellow; its flamboyance suits the car. For some reason I assumed Carmine was metallic but it is solid, similar to BMW Imola Red and also looks a bit restrained for the GT4. Guards Red might be good but there was nothing there in it and in the photos I prefer yellow. The front spoiler (painted part as well as black lip) flexes upwards easily so hopefully will push up rather than getting scraped on the front by speed humps.
Inside, the driving position is excellent and at 6’3½” I can sit as low if not lower than I want and with more than enough helmet room. It feels like being in a go-kart. The gearshift feels short, precise and very mechanical. cc3 found the clutch quite heavy but I didn't notice that. Unfortunately the seats aren’t quite as tight a fit as the 996 GT3’s (and probably Carrera GT/ 997 GT3/ RS’s) but seem more difficult to get in and out of. I don’t think they offer a great deal more lateral support than the standard sports seats but certainly look cooler. Like the earlier buckets they could use some more lumbar support but I forgot to check that the centre cushions are just attached with velcro, allowing you can add foam behind. My French dealer said that buckets and leather with stitching in the paint colour are the only two options that will really add value (he said PCCB won’t because second buyers are afraid of replacement costs). From the photos I had wondered whether the yellow stitching looked over-detailed but, together with the Alcantara that accompanies the leather, it does add life and character to the interior and from outside looks great with the yellow paint. My only reservation is that the stitching on top of the centre of the dash is clearly reflected in vertical yellow lines up the centre of the windscreen.
Given that someone raised the issue a few days ago I checked the matching of the yellows. Paint, stitching, door straps and seat belts are all a good match. The strip of yellow Alcantara at the top of the steering wheel is paler and greyer. The callipers are slightly darker and more mustard than the body. Nothing to worry about.
The dealer said the factory now says there are 60 GT4s coming to France vs 100 GT3 RS.
Moving on to the RS, I first had to get around the solid colour that looks like month-old carrots. It’s nothing like the vibrant colour in the photos. The aero is not as well integrated as the GT4’s. From the front and front quarter the car looks the dogs b
ks, but from other angles, more a canine breakfast. The black lip running up the front of the front arches to the indicators does not work as well as on the GT4 where it stops short of them. The stuck-on black sills detract compared to the integral painted sills of the GT4 and the intakes in the rear wings suffer the impression of an afterthought that has plagued the similar openings in water-cooled Turbos and pre-981 Boxsters and Caymans. The rear apron is even more over-detailed than the GT3’s and the rear wing looks WAY over the top for a road car but it’s weirdly organic styling, not evident in the photos, looks at odds with race car functionalism. From the rear quarter, in contrast to the GT4’s slight under-endowment, the bulk of its tail and wing is massive. Despite the incongruous wing styling it does look like a very serious track weapon, but so much so that, combined with it’s bulk, it looks too intimidating for the road.
The seats in the RS are, apart from colour, the same as in the GT4 and I find it even more strange in the RS that they have electric rather than manual or bolted height adjustment.
OTHER MARQUES
The McLaren 675LT differs only in detail tweaks to the 650S and still can’t shake off the blandness of the 12C. In fact whereas the 12C is elegantly bland the 650 is try-hard (to be a P1) bland, and the 675LT is try-harder. Time to start afresh.
Koenigsegg is obviously trying to match Pagani’s quality of detail and finish but still has some way to go despite the Savile Row carbon weave matching on the Agera R. Surface mounted rubber windscreen seals… Please! And the Pagani-aping interior of the Regera was truly appalling. Why you would pay the money for a Koenigsegg or Zenvo unless you already had a Pagani, La Ferrari, P1 and 918 Spyder is beyond me. But then I’d ditch the lot for a Carrera GT.
The Ferrari 488 is beautiful and, probably more to the point looks very expensive, but from the 458 it looks to have crossed the threshold from a sports coupe, albeit with supercar performance, to a fully paid up supercar with a touch of grand tourer. It appears to be almost Aventador-sized and the front is quite Murcielago-like in form and bulk, which is not evident in the photos. Even without knowing it is turbocharged it looks less inviting as a driver’s car than the lithe 458 and more a competitor to the F12. As usual Ferrari cheat by quoting dry weight with lightweight options: 1,370 kg, which probably means about 1520kg kerb weight in standard spec. Light for the size and power, but nearly 200kg more than the GT4.
Every iteration of the Aston Vantage loses a little more of its stunningly beautiful purity. The Vantage GT3 takes the biggest leap yet with awful graphics and a rear wing that looks even more ludicrous on a road car than the one on the GT3 RS. At least the RS looks, organic wing styling aside, like a race car whereas despite aping the Vantage racers, the road version can’t quite shake off it’s gentleman’s GT origin, which despite a diet resulting in a £250,000 price tag, is reflected in its 1,565kg weight. The claim in Evo of twice the downforce of the Vantage GT4 race car is surprising given that the trailing edge of the wing appears to be slightly lower than the leading edge.
Re-entering the real world, the rear of the Evora 400 has been transplanted from the Alfa 4C and looks quite good from directly behind but the front looks like a binned prototype from Detroit and the sides, well, still look like an Evora. The Elise S Cup has apparently had it’s aero addenda folded up from old gardening tools.
Hopefully the Golf R400 is close to a reality. The concept was one of the best looking cars at Geneva, combining an aggressive stance with elegant minimalism and beautifully resolved detailing.
The difference between European and Asian design sensibilities could not be illustrated more starkly than with the Honda Civic Type R. It is simply eye-searingly ugly in every possible way. The new NSX almost compensates by being nicely proportioned and fairly compact in profile but its width is not suited to small roads, and rather than by subtle shaving of a clay model, the front appears to have been fashioned with a frenzy of axe strokes.
Strolling along to the Ford stand, the Focus RS might not achieve the depths of the the Type R, but it looks more like a people mover than a hot hatch.
While front aside the NSX is an improvement on the first one, the passing of the original R8 is very sad. Gone is the supercar massing, flowing curves and powerful gills, replaced by stiff, hard edges, a rear that without the spoiler on the V10S looks like a flattened A5, and flimsy plastic mesh over the front intakes.
Just as tragic is the destruction of the Smart. While the Mk 2 lost a little of the character of the original, the front of the new one looks to have been belted with the same ugly stick as recent versions of the Mini. I was so shocked I didn’t even look at what they might have done to the back.
In my haste to traverse the Mercedes display I almost walked past the AMG GT without noticing it. From some directions it is a little bland; from others it is very bland. Still, you only have to look at the rest of the Mercedes range to realise it could be worse. One can only wonder at the descent into styling hell of the company that designed the 300SL roadster, 280SL pagoda roof and 280 SE 3.5 cabriolet, especially when you see a perfectly restored example of each right alongside at the Kahn stand, not to mention a gullwing in Mercedes' own display.
CONCLUSION
All in all, I would say that if you want to pose, the star of the show is the 488; if you want to track it is out of the McLaren P1 GTR, Radical or GT3 RS; but if you want to drive it is the GT4 - and in yellow it will be pretty good for posing too!
GT4 and GT3 RS
Of all the cars at the show the GT4 looked the one best suited to playing on a winding road. The only car that looked more tempting to grab by the scruff was the Radical, but not on the road. The Alfa 4C is small and light but looks like a toy and as we have read is unresolved; the piecemeal styling of the Lotuses made me wonder if the engineering is the same; and everything thing else high-performance appeared too big for less than an A road.
The GT4 looks like a clean sheet design with the aero perfectly integrated and proportioned. Visually it is a massive step up from the Cayman/ S/ GTS which, in comparison, are indistinguishable from each other and look more like Carreras than the GT4. The rear wing, though large, nestles in comfortably. The ducktail and diffuser give the GT4 a Ruf Ctr3 look from the side. From the rear quarter it could use some broadening of the hips but from every other angle it is perfect. I actually prefer the front to the 918, it looks more purposeful than the very soft front styling of the Spyder.
Although after seeing photos of the car in several colours I had switched from yellow to silver, in real life (or the semi-reality of artificial lighting) Racing Yellow is THE colour. Very few cars can pull off bright yellow but, with its hunkered down stance and contrasting black details this is one of them. It’s difficult to separate the importance of the shape and the colour in achieving the overall effect when there are no direct comparisons available. However I spent a lot of time comparing the other cars that had GT4 colours: a Rhodium Silver Cayman S, Carmine Red Boxster GTS and, in the Porsche Exclusive room, a Sapphire Blue Cayenne. Actually, I didn’t spend much time on the Sapphire. It is brighter than in the photos and looks (again under artificial light) like Subaru WRX blue. I don’t like Rhodium Silver as much as the old Arctic Silver, which is more like GT Silver, but even if the 2,364€ GT Silver was no-cost I would choose yellow; its flamboyance suits the car. For some reason I assumed Carmine was metallic but it is solid, similar to BMW Imola Red and also looks a bit restrained for the GT4. Guards Red might be good but there was nothing there in it and in the photos I prefer yellow. The front spoiler (painted part as well as black lip) flexes upwards easily so hopefully will push up rather than getting scraped on the front by speed humps.
Inside, the driving position is excellent and at 6’3½” I can sit as low if not lower than I want and with more than enough helmet room. It feels like being in a go-kart. The gearshift feels short, precise and very mechanical. cc3 found the clutch quite heavy but I didn't notice that. Unfortunately the seats aren’t quite as tight a fit as the 996 GT3’s (and probably Carrera GT/ 997 GT3/ RS’s) but seem more difficult to get in and out of. I don’t think they offer a great deal more lateral support than the standard sports seats but certainly look cooler. Like the earlier buckets they could use some more lumbar support but I forgot to check that the centre cushions are just attached with velcro, allowing you can add foam behind. My French dealer said that buckets and leather with stitching in the paint colour are the only two options that will really add value (he said PCCB won’t because second buyers are afraid of replacement costs). From the photos I had wondered whether the yellow stitching looked over-detailed but, together with the Alcantara that accompanies the leather, it does add life and character to the interior and from outside looks great with the yellow paint. My only reservation is that the stitching on top of the centre of the dash is clearly reflected in vertical yellow lines up the centre of the windscreen.
Given that someone raised the issue a few days ago I checked the matching of the yellows. Paint, stitching, door straps and seat belts are all a good match. The strip of yellow Alcantara at the top of the steering wheel is paler and greyer. The callipers are slightly darker and more mustard than the body. Nothing to worry about.
The dealer said the factory now says there are 60 GT4s coming to France vs 100 GT3 RS.
Moving on to the RS, I first had to get around the solid colour that looks like month-old carrots. It’s nothing like the vibrant colour in the photos. The aero is not as well integrated as the GT4’s. From the front and front quarter the car looks the dogs b
ks, but from other angles, more a canine breakfast. The black lip running up the front of the front arches to the indicators does not work as well as on the GT4 where it stops short of them. The stuck-on black sills detract compared to the integral painted sills of the GT4 and the intakes in the rear wings suffer the impression of an afterthought that has plagued the similar openings in water-cooled Turbos and pre-981 Boxsters and Caymans. The rear apron is even more over-detailed than the GT3’s and the rear wing looks WAY over the top for a road car but it’s weirdly organic styling, not evident in the photos, looks at odds with race car functionalism. From the rear quarter, in contrast to the GT4’s slight under-endowment, the bulk of its tail and wing is massive. Despite the incongruous wing styling it does look like a very serious track weapon, but so much so that, combined with it’s bulk, it looks too intimidating for the road.The seats in the RS are, apart from colour, the same as in the GT4 and I find it even more strange in the RS that they have electric rather than manual or bolted height adjustment.
OTHER MARQUES
The McLaren 675LT differs only in detail tweaks to the 650S and still can’t shake off the blandness of the 12C. In fact whereas the 12C is elegantly bland the 650 is try-hard (to be a P1) bland, and the 675LT is try-harder. Time to start afresh.
Koenigsegg is obviously trying to match Pagani’s quality of detail and finish but still has some way to go despite the Savile Row carbon weave matching on the Agera R. Surface mounted rubber windscreen seals… Please! And the Pagani-aping interior of the Regera was truly appalling. Why you would pay the money for a Koenigsegg or Zenvo unless you already had a Pagani, La Ferrari, P1 and 918 Spyder is beyond me. But then I’d ditch the lot for a Carrera GT.
The Ferrari 488 is beautiful and, probably more to the point looks very expensive, but from the 458 it looks to have crossed the threshold from a sports coupe, albeit with supercar performance, to a fully paid up supercar with a touch of grand tourer. It appears to be almost Aventador-sized and the front is quite Murcielago-like in form and bulk, which is not evident in the photos. Even without knowing it is turbocharged it looks less inviting as a driver’s car than the lithe 458 and more a competitor to the F12. As usual Ferrari cheat by quoting dry weight with lightweight options: 1,370 kg, which probably means about 1520kg kerb weight in standard spec. Light for the size and power, but nearly 200kg more than the GT4.
Every iteration of the Aston Vantage loses a little more of its stunningly beautiful purity. The Vantage GT3 takes the biggest leap yet with awful graphics and a rear wing that looks even more ludicrous on a road car than the one on the GT3 RS. At least the RS looks, organic wing styling aside, like a race car whereas despite aping the Vantage racers, the road version can’t quite shake off it’s gentleman’s GT origin, which despite a diet resulting in a £250,000 price tag, is reflected in its 1,565kg weight. The claim in Evo of twice the downforce of the Vantage GT4 race car is surprising given that the trailing edge of the wing appears to be slightly lower than the leading edge.
Re-entering the real world, the rear of the Evora 400 has been transplanted from the Alfa 4C and looks quite good from directly behind but the front looks like a binned prototype from Detroit and the sides, well, still look like an Evora. The Elise S Cup has apparently had it’s aero addenda folded up from old gardening tools.
Hopefully the Golf R400 is close to a reality. The concept was one of the best looking cars at Geneva, combining an aggressive stance with elegant minimalism and beautifully resolved detailing.
The difference between European and Asian design sensibilities could not be illustrated more starkly than with the Honda Civic Type R. It is simply eye-searingly ugly in every possible way. The new NSX almost compensates by being nicely proportioned and fairly compact in profile but its width is not suited to small roads, and rather than by subtle shaving of a clay model, the front appears to have been fashioned with a frenzy of axe strokes.
Strolling along to the Ford stand, the Focus RS might not achieve the depths of the the Type R, but it looks more like a people mover than a hot hatch.
While front aside the NSX is an improvement on the first one, the passing of the original R8 is very sad. Gone is the supercar massing, flowing curves and powerful gills, replaced by stiff, hard edges, a rear that without the spoiler on the V10S looks like a flattened A5, and flimsy plastic mesh over the front intakes.
Just as tragic is the destruction of the Smart. While the Mk 2 lost a little of the character of the original, the front of the new one looks to have been belted with the same ugly stick as recent versions of the Mini. I was so shocked I didn’t even look at what they might have done to the back.
In my haste to traverse the Mercedes display I almost walked past the AMG GT without noticing it. From some directions it is a little bland; from others it is very bland. Still, you only have to look at the rest of the Mercedes range to realise it could be worse. One can only wonder at the descent into styling hell of the company that designed the 300SL roadster, 280SL pagoda roof and 280 SE 3.5 cabriolet, especially when you see a perfectly restored example of each right alongside at the Kahn stand, not to mention a gullwing in Mercedes' own display.
CONCLUSION
All in all, I would say that if you want to pose, the star of the show is the 488; if you want to track it is out of the McLaren P1 GTR, Radical or GT3 RS; but if you want to drive it is the GT4 - and in yellow it will be pretty good for posing too!
U
turbofreeFLAT6 said:
YESTERDAY AT GENEVA
GT4 and GT3 RS
Of all the cars at the show the GT4 looked the one best suited to playing on a winding road. The only car that looked more tempting to grab by the scruff was the Radical, but not on the road. The Alfa 4C is small and light but looks like a toy and as we have read is unresolved; the piecemeal styling of the Lotuses made me wonder if the engineering is the same; and everything thing else high-performance appeared too big for less than an A road.
The GT4 looks like a clean sheet design with the aero perfectly integrated and proportioned. Visually it is a massive step up from the Cayman/ S/ GTS which, in comparison, are indistinguishable from each other and look more like Carreras than the GT4. The rear wing, though large, nestles in comfortably. The ducktail and diffuser give the GT4 a Ruf Ctr3 look from the side. From the rear quarter it could use some broadening of the hips but from every other angle it is perfect. I actually prefer the front to the 918, it looks more purposeful than the very soft front styling of the Spyder.
Although after seeing photos of the car in several colours I had switched from yellow to silver, in real life (or the semi-reality of artificial lighting) Racing Yellow is THE colour. Very few cars can pull off bright yellow but, with its hunkered down stance and contrasting black details this is one of them. It’s difficult to separate the importance of the shape and the colour in achieving the overall effect when there are no direct comparisons available. However I spent a lot of time comparing the other cars that had GT4 colours: a Rhodium Silver Cayman S, Carmine Red Boxster GTS and, in the Porsche Exclusive room, a Sapphire Blue Cayenne. Actually, I didn’t spend much time on the Sapphire. It is brighter than in the photos and looks (again under artificial light) like Subaru WRX blue. I don’t like Rhodium Silver as much as the old Arctic Silver, which is more like GT Silver, but even if the 2,364€ GT Silver was no-cost I would choose yellow; its flamboyance suits the car. For some reason I assumed Carmine was metallic but it is solid, similar to BMW Imola Red and also looks a bit restrained for the GT4. Guards Red might be good but there was nothing there in it and in the photos I prefer yellow. The front spoiler (painted part as well as black lip) flexes upwards easily so hopefully will push up rather than getting scraped on the front by speed humps.
Inside, the driving position is excellent and at 6’3½” I can sit as low if not lower than I want and with more than enough helmet room. It feels like being in a go-kart. The gearshift feels short, precise and very mechanical. cc3 found the clutch quite heavy but I didn't notice that. Unfortunately the seats aren’t quite as tight a fit as the 996 GT3’s (and probably Carrera GT/ 997 GT3/ RS’s) but seem more difficult to get in and out of. I don’t think they offer a great deal more lateral support than the standard sports seats but certainly look cooler. Like the earlier buckets they could use some more lumbar support but I forgot to check that the centre cushions are just attached with velcro, allowing you can add foam behind. My French dealer said that buckets and leather with stitching in the paint colour are the only two options that will really add value (he said PCCB won’t because second buyers are afraid of replacement costs). From the photos I had wondered whether the yellow stitching looked over-detailed but, together with the Alcantara that accompanies the leather, it does add life and character to the interior and from outside looks great with the yellow paint. My only reservation is that the stitching on top of the centre of the dash is clearly reflected in vertical yellow lines up the centre of the windscreen.
Given that someone raised the issue a few days ago I checked the matching of the yellows. Paint, stitching, door straps and seat belts are all a good match. The strip of yellow Alcantara at the top of the steering wheel is paler and greyer. The callipers are slightly darker and more mustard than the body. Nothing to worry about.
The dealer said the factory now says there are 60 GT4s coming to France vs 100 GT3 RS.
Moving on to the RS, I first had to get around the solid colour that looks like month-old carrots. It’s nothing like the vibrant colour in the photos. The aero is not as well integrated as the GT4’s. From the front and front quarter the car looks the dogs bks, but from other angles, more a canine breakfast. The black lip running up the front of the front arches to the indicators does not work as well as on the GT4 where it stops short of them. The stuck-on black sills detract compared to the integral painted sills of the GT4 and the intakes in the rear wings suffer the impression of an afterthought that has plagued the similar openings in water-cooled Turbos and pre-981 Boxsters and Caymans. The rear apron is even more over-detailed than the GT3’s and the rear wing looks WAY over the top for a road car but it’s weirdly organic styling, not evident in the photos, looks at odds with race car functionalism. From the rear quarter, in contrast to the GT4’s slight under-endowment, the bulk of its tail and wing is massive. Despite the incongruous wing styling it does look like a very serious track weapon, but so much so that, combined with it’s bulk, it looks too intimidating for the road.
The seats in the RS are, apart from colour, the same as in the GT4 and I find it even more strange in the RS that they have electric rather than manual or bolted height adjustment.
OTHER MARQUES
The McLaren 675LT differs only in detail tweaks to the 650S and still can’t shake off the blandness of the 12C. In fact whereas the 12C is elegantly bland the 650 is try-hard (to be a P1) bland, and the 675LT is try-harder. Time to start afresh.
Koenigsegg is obviously trying to match Pagani’s quality of detail and finish but still has some way to go despite the Savile Row carbon weave matching on the Agera R. Surface mounted rubber windscreen seals… Please! And the Pagani-aping interior of the Regera was truly appalling. Why you would pay the money for a Koenigsegg or Zenvo unless you already had a Pagani, La Ferrari, P1 and 918 Spyder is beyond me. But then I’d ditch the lot for a Carrera GT.
The Ferrari 488 is beautiful and, probably more to the point looks very expensive, but from the 458 it looks to have crossed the threshold from a sports coupe, albeit with supercar performance, to a fully paid up supercar with a touch of grand tourer. It appears to be almost Aventador-sized and the front is quite Murcielago-like in form and bulk, which is not evident in the photos. Even without knowing it is turbocharged it looks less inviting as a driver’s car than the lithe 458 and more a competitor to the F12. As usual Ferrari cheat by quoting dry weight with lightweight options: 1,370 kg, which probably means about 1520kg kerb weight in standard spec. Light for the size and power, but nearly 200kg more than the GT4.
Every iteration of the Aston Vantage loses a little more of its stunningly beautiful purity. The Vantage GT3 takes the biggest leap yet with awful graphics and a rear wing that looks even more ludicrous on a road car than the one on the GT3 RS. At least the RS looks, organic wing styling aside, like a race car whereas despite aping the Vantage racers, the road version can’t quite shake off it’s gentleman’s GT origin, which despite a diet resulting in a £250,000 price tag, is reflected in its 1,565kg weight. The claim in Evo of twice the downforce of the Vantage GT4 race car is surprising given that the trailing edge of the wing appears to be slightly lower than the leading edge.
Re-entering the real world, the rear of the Evora 400 has been transplanted from the Alfa 4C and looks quite good from directly behind but the front looks like a binned prototype from Detroit and the sides, well, still look like an Evora. The Elise S Cup has apparently had it’s aero addenda folded up from old gardening tools.
Hopefully the Golf R400 is close to a reality. The concept was one of the best looking cars at Geneva, combining an aggressive stance with elegant minimalism and beautifully resolved detailing.
The difference between European and Asian design sensibilities could not be illustrated more starkly than with the Honda Civic Type R. It is simply eye-searingly ugly in every possible way. The new NSX almost compensates by being nicely proportioned and fairly compact in profile but its width is not suited to small roads, and rather than by subtle shaving of a clay model, the front appears to have been fashioned with a frenzy of axe strokes.
Strolling along to the Ford stand, the Focus RS might not achieve the depths of the the Type R, but it looks more like a people mover than a hot hatch.
While front aside the NSX is an improvement on the first one, the passing of the original R8 is very sad. Gone is the supercar massing, flowing curves and powerful gills, replaced by stiff, hard edges, a rear that without the spoiler on the V10S looks like a flattened A5, and flimsy plastic mesh over the front intakes.
Just as tragic is the destruction of the Smart. While the Mk 2 lost a little of the character of the original, the front of the new one looks to have been belted with the same ugly stick as recent versions of the Mini. I was so shocked I didn’t even look at what they might have done to the back.
In my haste to traverse the Mercedes display I almost walked past the AMG GT without noticing it. From some directions it is a little bland; from others it is very bland. Still, you only have to look at the rest of the Mercedes range to realise it could be worse. One can only wonder at the descent into styling hell of the company that designed the 300SL roadster, 280SL pagoda roof and 280 SE 3.5 cabriolet, especially when you see a perfectly restored example of each right alongside at the Kahn stand, not to mention a gullwing in Mercedes' own display.
CONCLUSION
All in all, I would say that if you want to pose, the star of the show is the 488; if you want to track it is out of the McLaren P1 GTR, Radical or GT3 RS; but if you want to drive it is the GT4 - and in yellow it will be pretty good for posing too!
You forgot to mention the best looking car there, probably the biggest leap forward in super car design, the GT40. Simply stunning.GT4 and GT3 RS
Of all the cars at the show the GT4 looked the one best suited to playing on a winding road. The only car that looked more tempting to grab by the scruff was the Radical, but not on the road. The Alfa 4C is small and light but looks like a toy and as we have read is unresolved; the piecemeal styling of the Lotuses made me wonder if the engineering is the same; and everything thing else high-performance appeared too big for less than an A road.
The GT4 looks like a clean sheet design with the aero perfectly integrated and proportioned. Visually it is a massive step up from the Cayman/ S/ GTS which, in comparison, are indistinguishable from each other and look more like Carreras than the GT4. The rear wing, though large, nestles in comfortably. The ducktail and diffuser give the GT4 a Ruf Ctr3 look from the side. From the rear quarter it could use some broadening of the hips but from every other angle it is perfect. I actually prefer the front to the 918, it looks more purposeful than the very soft front styling of the Spyder.
Although after seeing photos of the car in several colours I had switched from yellow to silver, in real life (or the semi-reality of artificial lighting) Racing Yellow is THE colour. Very few cars can pull off bright yellow but, with its hunkered down stance and contrasting black details this is one of them. It’s difficult to separate the importance of the shape and the colour in achieving the overall effect when there are no direct comparisons available. However I spent a lot of time comparing the other cars that had GT4 colours: a Rhodium Silver Cayman S, Carmine Red Boxster GTS and, in the Porsche Exclusive room, a Sapphire Blue Cayenne. Actually, I didn’t spend much time on the Sapphire. It is brighter than in the photos and looks (again under artificial light) like Subaru WRX blue. I don’t like Rhodium Silver as much as the old Arctic Silver, which is more like GT Silver, but even if the 2,364€ GT Silver was no-cost I would choose yellow; its flamboyance suits the car. For some reason I assumed Carmine was metallic but it is solid, similar to BMW Imola Red and also looks a bit restrained for the GT4. Guards Red might be good but there was nothing there in it and in the photos I prefer yellow. The front spoiler (painted part as well as black lip) flexes upwards easily so hopefully will push up rather than getting scraped on the front by speed humps.
Inside, the driving position is excellent and at 6’3½” I can sit as low if not lower than I want and with more than enough helmet room. It feels like being in a go-kart. The gearshift feels short, precise and very mechanical. cc3 found the clutch quite heavy but I didn't notice that. Unfortunately the seats aren’t quite as tight a fit as the 996 GT3’s (and probably Carrera GT/ 997 GT3/ RS’s) but seem more difficult to get in and out of. I don’t think they offer a great deal more lateral support than the standard sports seats but certainly look cooler. Like the earlier buckets they could use some more lumbar support but I forgot to check that the centre cushions are just attached with velcro, allowing you can add foam behind. My French dealer said that buckets and leather with stitching in the paint colour are the only two options that will really add value (he said PCCB won’t because second buyers are afraid of replacement costs). From the photos I had wondered whether the yellow stitching looked over-detailed but, together with the Alcantara that accompanies the leather, it does add life and character to the interior and from outside looks great with the yellow paint. My only reservation is that the stitching on top of the centre of the dash is clearly reflected in vertical yellow lines up the centre of the windscreen.
Given that someone raised the issue a few days ago I checked the matching of the yellows. Paint, stitching, door straps and seat belts are all a good match. The strip of yellow Alcantara at the top of the steering wheel is paler and greyer. The callipers are slightly darker and more mustard than the body. Nothing to worry about.
The dealer said the factory now says there are 60 GT4s coming to France vs 100 GT3 RS.
Moving on to the RS, I first had to get around the solid colour that looks like month-old carrots. It’s nothing like the vibrant colour in the photos. The aero is not as well integrated as the GT4’s. From the front and front quarter the car looks the dogs b
ks, but from other angles, more a canine breakfast. The black lip running up the front of the front arches to the indicators does not work as well as on the GT4 where it stops short of them. The stuck-on black sills detract compared to the integral painted sills of the GT4 and the intakes in the rear wings suffer the impression of an afterthought that has plagued the similar openings in water-cooled Turbos and pre-981 Boxsters and Caymans. The rear apron is even more over-detailed than the GT3’s and the rear wing looks WAY over the top for a road car but it’s weirdly organic styling, not evident in the photos, looks at odds with race car functionalism. From the rear quarter, in contrast to the GT4’s slight under-endowment, the bulk of its tail and wing is massive. Despite the incongruous wing styling it does look like a very serious track weapon, but so much so that, combined with it’s bulk, it looks too intimidating for the road.The seats in the RS are, apart from colour, the same as in the GT4 and I find it even more strange in the RS that they have electric rather than manual or bolted height adjustment.
OTHER MARQUES
The McLaren 675LT differs only in detail tweaks to the 650S and still can’t shake off the blandness of the 12C. In fact whereas the 12C is elegantly bland the 650 is try-hard (to be a P1) bland, and the 675LT is try-harder. Time to start afresh.
Koenigsegg is obviously trying to match Pagani’s quality of detail and finish but still has some way to go despite the Savile Row carbon weave matching on the Agera R. Surface mounted rubber windscreen seals… Please! And the Pagani-aping interior of the Regera was truly appalling. Why you would pay the money for a Koenigsegg or Zenvo unless you already had a Pagani, La Ferrari, P1 and 918 Spyder is beyond me. But then I’d ditch the lot for a Carrera GT.
The Ferrari 488 is beautiful and, probably more to the point looks very expensive, but from the 458 it looks to have crossed the threshold from a sports coupe, albeit with supercar performance, to a fully paid up supercar with a touch of grand tourer. It appears to be almost Aventador-sized and the front is quite Murcielago-like in form and bulk, which is not evident in the photos. Even without knowing it is turbocharged it looks less inviting as a driver’s car than the lithe 458 and more a competitor to the F12. As usual Ferrari cheat by quoting dry weight with lightweight options: 1,370 kg, which probably means about 1520kg kerb weight in standard spec. Light for the size and power, but nearly 200kg more than the GT4.
Every iteration of the Aston Vantage loses a little more of its stunningly beautiful purity. The Vantage GT3 takes the biggest leap yet with awful graphics and a rear wing that looks even more ludicrous on a road car than the one on the GT3 RS. At least the RS looks, organic wing styling aside, like a race car whereas despite aping the Vantage racers, the road version can’t quite shake off it’s gentleman’s GT origin, which despite a diet resulting in a £250,000 price tag, is reflected in its 1,565kg weight. The claim in Evo of twice the downforce of the Vantage GT4 race car is surprising given that the trailing edge of the wing appears to be slightly lower than the leading edge.
Re-entering the real world, the rear of the Evora 400 has been transplanted from the Alfa 4C and looks quite good from directly behind but the front looks like a binned prototype from Detroit and the sides, well, still look like an Evora. The Elise S Cup has apparently had it’s aero addenda folded up from old gardening tools.
Hopefully the Golf R400 is close to a reality. The concept was one of the best looking cars at Geneva, combining an aggressive stance with elegant minimalism and beautifully resolved detailing.
The difference between European and Asian design sensibilities could not be illustrated more starkly than with the Honda Civic Type R. It is simply eye-searingly ugly in every possible way. The new NSX almost compensates by being nicely proportioned and fairly compact in profile but its width is not suited to small roads, and rather than by subtle shaving of a clay model, the front appears to have been fashioned with a frenzy of axe strokes.
Strolling along to the Ford stand, the Focus RS might not achieve the depths of the the Type R, but it looks more like a people mover than a hot hatch.
While front aside the NSX is an improvement on the first one, the passing of the original R8 is very sad. Gone is the supercar massing, flowing curves and powerful gills, replaced by stiff, hard edges, a rear that without the spoiler on the V10S looks like a flattened A5, and flimsy plastic mesh over the front intakes.
Just as tragic is the destruction of the Smart. While the Mk 2 lost a little of the character of the original, the front of the new one looks to have been belted with the same ugly stick as recent versions of the Mini. I was so shocked I didn’t even look at what they might have done to the back.
In my haste to traverse the Mercedes display I almost walked past the AMG GT without noticing it. From some directions it is a little bland; from others it is very bland. Still, you only have to look at the rest of the Mercedes range to realise it could be worse. One can only wonder at the descent into styling hell of the company that designed the 300SL roadster, 280SL pagoda roof and 280 SE 3.5 cabriolet, especially when you see a perfectly restored example of each right alongside at the Kahn stand, not to mention a gullwing in Mercedes' own display.
CONCLUSION
All in all, I would say that if you want to pose, the star of the show is the 488; if you want to track it is out of the McLaren P1 GTR, Radical or GT3 RS; but if you want to drive it is the GT4 - and in yellow it will be pretty good for posing too!
LeftHooker said:
You forgot to mention the best looking car there, probably the biggest leap forward in super car design, the GT40. Simply stunning.
I agree. The Ford GT was comfortably the highlight of the show for me. This is going to be a very special car.
Getting back on topic, the GT4 show car had a centre marker on the steering wheel which is normal reserved for RS variants. I don't think I've seen this on any other pictures. Can anyone explain this or is it possible this was a remnant of something Porsche tried on the car, like the door handle straps, but dismissed.
Sierra Mike said:
Getting back on topic, the GT4 show car had a centre marker on the steering wheel which is normal reserved for RS variants. I don't think I've seen this on any other pictures. Can anyone explain this or is it possible this was a remnant of something Porsche tried on the car, like the door handle straps, but dismissed.
On that point, the 991 RS has colour coded door pulls, stitching i.e lava or "silver" ( not sure about red - although were always red previously) - and then you have yellow centre marker on the steering wheel. Why not have all in the same colour?
EVO video review by Richard Meaden with yet more superlatives.
Was swaying between White and Guards. This has convinced me which way to go. Stunning.
http://youtu.be/8MbLeygcY8o
Was swaying between White and Guards. This has convinced me which way to go. Stunning.
http://youtu.be/8MbLeygcY8o
Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff