Thursday 11th April 2013

Porsche four-cylinder confirmed (sort of)

But contrary to popular rumours, the new engine won't make its debut at Frankfurt

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Rumours of a Porsche four-cylinder engine have been doing the rounds for a while now, but a Porsche bigwig has now confirmed that the company is in the process of developing such a thing.

“It is no real secret that we are working on a four-cylinder engine,” the official told Autocar. “But it is still in an early development phase. On current planning it will be another three years at least before we will be ready to reveal anything official on the subject.” The man from Porsche added that such an engine is “not due before 2016”, scuppering the idea that the new engine might make its debut at the Frankfurt show before the end of the year.

Four-cylinder Porsches can be pretty epic

A turbocharged flat-four with 200hp-plus would slot neatly in beneath the current entry-level 2.7-litre, 265hp flat-six in the Boxster and while it might seem at first glance a little less impressive than the company’s current range of sixes and V8s, we shouldn’t forget that Porsche has previous with four-cylinders. Remember the 912, Porsche's entry-level model based on the 911 but powered by a thrummy flat-four? Not to mention the 914, 924 and 944, of course.

The high point of Porsche's four-cylinder history, though, had to be 968 Turbo S, a limited-run model produced at Weissach, which used a 3.0-litre eight-valve turbo mated to a six-speed manual to produce 305hp, a 0-62mph time of 4.7 seconds, and a top speed of 175mph. Who said four-pots were weedy, eh? It’s likely that the Porsche’s next turbo four won’t be quite so potent, mind, but if that’s what the company could do with four cylinders back in 1994, a modern-day version is a mouthwatering prospect. Light and rev-happy, with a boxer warble and the knowledge and experience of Stuttgart behind it, this could well be something to look forward to.

[Source: Autocar]

[SmartVenom]

Does this mean porsche are actually going to test the engine before rushing it to market!

Is this going to appear in the boxster or in a new entry level car now the current one has got a bit pricey (still a bargain though)?

[AV12]

Good news.

[W00DY]

3 years away!? Good to know it won't just be a tarted up VAG motor.


Although I reckon it'll be a replacement for the 2.7.

[LuS1fer]

W00DY said:

3 years away!? Good to know it won't just be a tarted up VAG motor.


Although I reckon it'll be a replacement for the 2.7.

Me too. It's all about emissions and I'm sure Porsche have cast an envious eye over BMW's exhausts.

[SteveO...]

W00DY said:

Although I reckon it'll be a replacement for the 2.7.

Agree with this. The O/H has a 2.9 Boxster, which is a bit gutless at low revs, and not hugely fast. I would expect a decent 200bhp turbo to have a much more torque low down, and consequently be of comparable performance.

[Mavican]

Considering what you can get with 4 cylinders and low displacement it should do decent numbers. Its just gotta avoid outdoing the bigger engined cars somehow. Otherwise Porsche will just hold it back,

[bakerstreet]

Mavican said:

Considering what you can get with 4 cylinders and low displacement it should do decent numbers. Its just gotta avoid outdoing the bigger engined cars somehow. Otherwise Porsche will just hold it back,

Its not a case of gotta avoid the bigger numbers. Its alsomost certain. It will probably end up being capped at a certain power so its stays a level beneath the lowest powered NA 6cyl engine. My guess is 200 to 240bhp or there abouts.

I can see the 6cyl engine being ditched in the base model Boxster and maybe ditched all together in 10 years time.

[JulianCharity]

The 981 boxster is already a bargain - so a 4 cyclinder engine could bring it easily sub £35k. Lovely.

[GroundEffect]

JulianCharity said:

The 981 boxster is already a bargain - so a 4 cyclinder engine could bring it easily sub £35k. Lovely.

Turbo engines cost more than N/A engines.

[CedricN]

As long as they dont go the tractor way and make it with massive midrange torque and dead top end it could be fun and tunable.

Although ammong front engined porsches i think the 275 HP 924 GTS CS is definetly the baddest street car. Super lightweight, club sport for real (Option list including dry sump system)

[mat205125]

CedricN said:

As long as they dont go the tractor way and make it with massive midrange torque and dead top end it could be fun and tunable.

Although ammong front engined porsches i think the 275 HP 924 GTS CS is definetly the baddest street car. Super lightweight, club sport for real (Option list including dry sump system)

First car I thought of when four cylinders were mentioned.

[Andrew[MG]]

Article said:

if that’s what the company could do with four cylinders back in 1994, a modern-day version is a mouthwatering prospect.

Well if it's only 200bhp then it won't be that mouthwatering, will it?

[P2BS]

Article said:

...we shouldn’t forget that Porsche has previous with four-cylinders. Remember the 912, Porsche's entry-level model based on the 911 but powered by a thrummy flat-four? Not to mention the 914, 924 and 944, of course.

No mention of the 356, where it all started?!

[marcosgt]

Andrew[MG] said:

Article said:

if that’s what the company could do with four cylinders back in 1994, a modern-day version is a mouthwatering prospect.

Well if it's only 200bhp then it won't be that mouthwatering, will it?

Depends what the car weighs.

M

[TNH]

What would be the point of a new 2.0 turbo with around 200bhp? Surely they might aswell just raid the VAG parts bin for one of those?

Obviously a Porsche boxer engine would be better, but would it make business sense?

Hopefully this is going to be something a bit more potent to replace all engines up to the 3.4...

[Rawwr]

Andrew[MG] said:

Well if it's only 200bhp then it won't be that mouthwatering, will it?

The GT86 manages to be exciting with less.

[Lowtimer]

Even normally aspirated, if they keep the development costs down by using parts commonality with the existing 3.4 six out of the 991, it would be 230 bhp and deliver very much the same sort of performance as the old 911SC. The weight reduction and lower internal friction over the six-pot will help CO2. Turbocharged I would expect it to match the existing 3.4 normally aspirated motor at least. Which would tie in nicely with the timing, which is about when we would expect to see a facelift and power increase for the Cayman / Boxster S (maybe they will get the 3.8).

[irocfan]

4 cylinder turbo-diesel anyone?

[aka_kerrly]

Andrew[MG] said:

Article said:

if that’s what the company could do with four cylinders back in 1994, a modern-day version is a mouthwatering prospect.

Well if it's only 200bhp then it won't be that mouthwatering, will it?

Come on, there is no need for this obsession with HP.

If the car weighs circa 1200kg with 200hp it will be more than capable of sub 8sec to 60 and 140mph which is perfect for an entry level Porsche.

Consider that the GT86 is 1240kg and <200hp it is only a few hairy chested driving gods who think they are slow.

The E36 328i which appears to have a lot of respect around these ways is 192hp and 1395kg yet still capable of sub 7 seconds to 60 and sub 15sec quarters which is still a respectable amount of speed!

For an entry level Porsche a 200hp 4 cylinder turbo with tuning potential is a fantastic starting point.

[dlockhart]

SteveO... said:

Agree with this. The O/H has a 2.9 Boxster, which is a bit gutless at low revs, and not hugely fast. I would expect a decent 200bhp turbo to have a much more torque low down, and consequently be of comparable performance.

you would expect a NA flat 6 engine which produces a peak of 260 to have less torque than a four cycinder turbo charged engine which produces 200 bhp at peak, at low revs(so the turbo would not have kicked in).

This is really not my experiance.Having gone from a Saab to a boxster I have round the NA flat 6 much more responsive from low revs I dont know how much things have changed recently.