RE: Porsche plans four-seat mid-engined coupe

[kambites]

Would this be the first ever mid-engined four-door production car? I can't actually think of any others. It'll have to be very long, unless they put the engine entirely under the rear seats.

[ewenm]

kambites said:

Would this be the first ever mid-engined four-door production car? I can't actually think of any others. It'll have to be very long, unless they put the engine entirely under the rear seats.

I don't see what this offers over the "traditional" front-engine 4 seater with the engine as far back as possible.

I guess you'll get better interior space if it's RWD (as opposed to AWD) as there will be no transmission tunnel.

[LordFlathead]

mogjay said:

Don't make this Porsche, hurry up and cut up the brilliant but ugly panamera and make a 928 for the 21st century instead please

About time!

[needham]

ThunderSpook said:

tommy vercetti said:

Just hope it does not look like a Panamera. fk me that car is hideously ugly

Have you actually seen one out on the open road, or had one come up behind you on the motorway?

The Panamera is a fantastic looking car when it's on the road, big and graceful yet still sporty. It's a brilliant thing. It just doesn't take good pictures.

Should have gone to Specsavers.

[Twincam16]

kambites said:

Would this be the first ever mid-engined four-door production car? I can't actually think of any others. It'll have to be very long, unless they put the engine entirely under the rear seats.

Mk1 Toyota Previa beat them to it.

[kambites]

Twincam16 said:

kambites said:

Would this be the first ever mid-engined four-door production car? I can't actually think of any others. It'll have to be very long, unless they put the engine entirely under the rear seats.

Mk1 Toyota Previa beat them to it.

Never come across them before. That's really quite odd.

[urquattro]

kambites said:

Twincam16 said:

kambites said:

Would this be the first ever mid-engined four-door production car? I can't actually think of any others. It'll have to be very long, unless they put the engine entirely under the rear seats.

Mk1 Toyota Previa beat them to it.

Never come across them before. That's really quite odd.

Hardly a Porsche !!, is rwd and mid engined - faithfully reliable and safe, now favourites of the school run g.p.
Its too good to get rid off and never been a problem, only ever needed consumables - probably the engine shares block with the 2.4 diesel and petrols produced by the million in Japan.

[Twincam16]

kambites said:

Twincam16 said:

kambites said:

Would this be the first ever mid-engined four-door production car? I can't actually think of any others. It'll have to be very long, unless they put the engine entirely under the rear seats.

Mk1 Toyota Previa beat them to it.

Never come across them before. That's really quite odd.

They don't look like they should be, but they are:



Mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive, six-seater MPV.

I've often wondered whether there'd be some mileage in having a kind of 'MPV Supercar', a kind of cross between an S-Max and an Espace F1. The 'supercar' angle wouldn't be completely out as they have cab-forward architecture, but you could put a flat-six/eight/twelve powerplant low in the floorpan, seats either side of the central engine block plus a couple in the rear, and body it all extremely sleek like a Ford S-Max (which already looks like what Aston Martin would come up with if they built an MPV).

It surprises me that so many high-end sports-related manufacturers have gone down the SUV route with their 'practical' cars. The novelty supercar-powered vans and MPVs that get wheeled out at Goodwood (Espace F1, Ford Supervan) suggest to me that the architecture of an MPV is easier to retain supercar DNA within than an SUV, which needs 4WD, a bulkier gearbox and dreadful aerodynamics.

Funnily enough, I'm not the only one that thought this. Lamborghini considered it with the Genesis:



Which is a billion times cooler than a platform-engineered VW Toerag with predictable styling.

[Richard A]

kambites said:

Would this be the first ever mid-engined four-door production car? I can't actually think of any others. It'll have to be very long, unless they put the engine entirely under the rear seats.

The Tatra 613 is sometimes described as a rear/mid. You can see in this pic that the rear seats are somewhat ahead of the rear window. The air-cooled V8 is directly over the rear axle, the gearbox slightly to the side, the longer of the asymmetric driveshafts passes through the sump of the engine, between the centre lines of the second and third pair of cylinders. The rear part of the engine compartment contains ancillaries, oil cooler etc.

[wildman0609]

kambites said:

Would this be the first ever mid-engined four-door production car? I can't actually think of any others. It'll have to be very long, unless they put the engine entirely under the rear seats.

have i missed something, but where does it say 4 door? its says 4 seat.

[urquattro]

Snap on the two Previa x 2
We both posted within 3 minutes of one another.
Probably the most reliable and useful vehicle I have ever owned, and carried massive amount of bits/spares/junk for the other five collectables.

[tommy vercetti]

ThunderSpook said:

tommy vercetti said:

Just hope it does not look like a Panamera. fk me that car is hideously ugly

Have you actually seen one out on the open road, or had one come up behind you on the motorway?

The Panamera is a fantastic looking car when it's on the road, big and graceful yet still sporty. It's a brilliant thing. It just doesn't take good pictures.

I've seen two Panameras. One was blue and the other was silver. Front end is not that bad, but it all goes terribly wrong at the rear, imo.

[Johnboy Mac]

kambites said:

Never come across them before. That's really quite odd.

Killer on juice but well built & an easy drive.

[Richie C]

wildman0609 said:

have i missed something, but where does it say 4 door? its says 4 seat.

Here:

"Porsche 960, a four-door coupe due in late 2015. The 960 will be the lead car for the new MSB-M platform."

[UK952]

Porsche Rx8 front/mid engine - updated 944.

[UK952]

Porsche Rx8 front/mid engine - updated 944.

[dvs_dave]

I think it's pretty obvious why VAG are developing such an outlandish platform.

Packaging wise how is a 4-seat mid-engined (everyone seems to be confusing mid with rear???) platform ever going to make sense for a mainstream-ish car? Unless it's being developed to underpin the new Lamborghihi Urus SUV. Tadaaaaa....all of a sudden it makes sense!

I reckon the current Urus concept's proportions are a deliberate red herring and why techinical details on it are so scant. A platform such as this would make for an SUV with devastating performance both on AND offroad. It's so unique and bonkers that it works, and would be a slam dunk for Lambo.

Please Lambo, redeem yourselves by doing something this crazy.....it's in your blood!

[4rephill]

lgomgf said:

Inst the Panamera front engined like the FF... so I am missing something here...

Yes you are, the FF is a mid-engined car!

allow Me to explain:

Definition of a Mid-engined car: A mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine between the rear and front axles.
(Note: There is no mention of the engine having to be behind the cabin, it merely has to sit between the axles)

In the case of the Ferrari FF's engine position (from: http://carshowbiz.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/ferrari... ):


Clearly the engine sits behind the front axle and ahead of the rear axle.
(As noted in the text: "Nestled behind the front axle is a 6.3-litre V12 with a mighty 651bhp produced at 8000rpm and 503lb ft arriving at 6000rpm.")

So the Panamera is front engined, unlike the FF.

[thinfourth2]

goron59 said:

Will they put the engine between the front and rear seats?

It would make it perfect those those with children

[dvs_dave]

4rephill said:

Yes you are, the FF is a mid-engined car! allow Me to explain:

Definition of a Mid-engined car: A mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine between the rear and front axles.

Clearly the engine sits behind the front axle and ahead of the rear axle.
So the Panamera is front engined, unlike the FF.

Allow me to explain a little less one dimensionally:
Technically it's front-mid like all front engined Ferrari's, not mid-engined in the traditional and globally accepted sense. And there's nothing new about front-mid. Ton's of cars have a similar layout.