Friday 17th July 2015

Porsche 991 facelift undisguised

Clearest look yet at the Gen 2 991 ahead of Frankfurt; let the specualtion escalate!

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It's no secret that the 'normal' 2016 Porsche 911 Carreras will feature a whole range of downsized, turbocharged motors. But imagine our surprise when this beautiful blue machine emerged for a cheeky lap of that German race track earlier today.

So what do those exhausts allude to?

Up until now, the best views of the upcoming 991.2 update have been from dirty black test mules in various degrees of disguise. But this pearl blue machine looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor.

With the scheduled debut not expected until closer to the Frankfurt Show in September, we can only guess as to the reasons for Porsche choosing to lap the car in front of the cameras at the Nordschleife. Whether it's stealing another brand's thunder, or a carefully considered effort at building hype, it's probably had the right effect.

However, despite the clarity of our recent spyshots, there are still a few questions unanswered. Most obviously, what's the link between the exhaust arrangements and the power? The lower-powered motor is allegedly to be invoking the historic displacement of 2.7 litres with somewhere around 365hp, while the full power car could be 3.0 or more with 415hp. There have been two arrangements of exhaust pipes shown so far, this being the slightly wider variation. What do you think? Does a narrow arrangement signify more power, like the centre-exit GT3? Or is it the wider pipers that will show the bigger brother, as with the current Turbo?

We're probably reading too much into this but all thoughts gratefully received!

[Images: BridgeToGantry]

 

[rtz62]

May I be the first to ask.... What facelift?

I'm sure the grubby bits will fall in with the tree hungers desire for all internal combustion engines of any performance to require the use of turbos to adhere to emissions laws, and that's ok.
But this to me isn't an evolution of any real kind looks-wise

Now I'm a big Porsche fan, but I'd have thought the cone-heads at Porsche HQ would have put a bit more effort into the body design.

With that I'm off to don my Kevlar vest as I prepare to be shot down for the above comments....

[rtz62]

Not sure about insane Goonii, I'm just thinking that if I was slapping the ££££ down for one of these, and I was of a certain mindset, I'd be thinking that my neighbours or colleagues wouldn't really be able to see what the difference is between mine and their 2 year old one for instance.
Obviously, carnouseurs and anoraks will immediately spot the minute of the refresh, but I'm afraid I'd be out.
That's why my money is going on an older, more hardcore version....