Porsche Purists...
Discussion
OK, I am not one of those who thinks it is a great idea to chop off the top of the 911 turbo (or any 911 for that matter) to turn it into a cabrio, nor am I a great fan of the hideous Cayenne (in whichever guise you may choose). But when I hear of how Porsche Purists protest and moan about what a real Porsche should be or could be or how they were like in the good old days, I cringe. Why? Well, to fund the R and D to make fantastic cars such as the the GT3, GT3RS, Carrera GT, et al. the money has to come from somewhere. For all the Cayennes and Cabrios bought the money is going to making other cars that all of us have a chance to enjoy, be it on the track, our favorite B-road, or on the way to work. For a company to survive you need to diversify. Depend on one product and watch the company go nowhere, or perhaps even die. We've all seen it before... Also, product quality doesn't come cheap.
In a nut shell, I'm not saying that Porsche Purits should embrace the more commercial decisions Porsche have made, just that everytime you have a blast in your weapon of choice, remember that you have more than just 911 GT3 owners to thank for Porsche still being around.
I still beleive in the past where the cars were more raw and possibly more involving, but the cars that are coming out today from Porsche are still great cars for whatever occasions you could want.
This all came about when I met this 'Purist'... Annoying!
In a nut shell, I'm not saying that Porsche Purits should embrace the more commercial decisions Porsche have made, just that everytime you have a blast in your weapon of choice, remember that you have more than just 911 GT3 owners to thank for Porsche still being around.
I still beleive in the past where the cars were more raw and possibly more involving, but the cars that are coming out today from Porsche are still great cars for whatever occasions you could want.
This all came about when I met this 'Purist'... Annoying!
j-j said:
OK, I am not one of those who thinks it is a great idea to chop off the top of the 911 turbo (or any 911 for that matter) to turn it into a cabrio, nor am I a great fan of the hideous Cayenne (in whichever guise you may choose). But when I hear of how Porsche Purists protest and moan about what a real Porsche should be or could be or how they were like in the good old days, I cringe. Why? Well, to fund the R and D to make fantastic cars such as the the GT3, GT3RS, Carrera GT, et al. the money has to come from somewhere. For all the Cayennes and Cabrios bought the money is going to making other cars that all of us have a chance to enjoy, be it on the track, our favorite B-road, or on the way to work. For a company to survive you need to diversify. Depend on one product and watch the company go nowhere, or perhaps even die. We've all seen it before... Also, product quality doesn't come cheap.
In a nut shell, I'm not saying that Porsche Purits should embrace the more commercial decisions Porsche have made, just that everytime you have a blast in your weapon of choice, remember that you have more than just 911 GT3 owners to thank for Porsche still being around.
I still beleive in the past where the cars were more raw and possibly more involving, but the cars that are coming out today from Porsche are still great cars for whatever occasions you could want.
This all came about when I met this 'Purist'... Annoying!
In a nut shell, I'm not saying that Porsche Purits should embrace the more commercial decisions Porsche have made, just that everytime you have a blast in your weapon of choice, remember that you have more than just 911 GT3 owners to thank for Porsche still being around.
I still beleive in the past where the cars were more raw and possibly more involving, but the cars that are coming out today from Porsche are still great cars for whatever occasions you could want.
This all came about when I met this 'Purist'... Annoying!
Agreed.
And Chris Harris has been saying this ever since the Cayenne was launched.
Meh - what's being said here sounds reasonable enough, but I think it's the wrong way to look at things. The guys driving water-cooled cars get understandably irritated when the 'purists' go on about how things were better in the old days, but let's face it - some things were better in the old days - so deal with it. The Boxster and a cheaper and more accessible 911 in the form of the 996 are what saved Porsche. Costs were cut, a bit of expensive engineering was dialled out, production lines were streamlined, expensive motor racing programmes were knocked on the head, and Porsche headed back into the black. Hurray. Not to say that the 986 or the 996 were bad cars, but it is a fact that they were cheaper to produce than the cars that preceeded them, yet they generated more profit per unit despite being retailed comparitively cheaper than their forebears. Something had to give to make this miracle happen, and it's this something that the 'purists' usually go on about - usually in the form of mutterings about flimsy quality and a more conventional 911 driving experience designed to capture Mercedes SL drivers. The Cayenne was not an altruistic strategy by Porsche to fleece some American SUV addicts in order to subsidise the hard-core 911 fans and keep the flames of passion alive at Porsche AG. It was an opportunitic move to get onto the sexy and ultra-profitable 4x4 bandwagon using 986 and 996 profits - an exercise made all the more sexy and profitable because VW did most of the Cayenne's development. It was not produced to finance the GT3, and it was not produced so that funds were available to make cars to keep the 'purists' happy. Take a look at what Porsche is doing with its profits - it's buying huge stakes in VW and developing a saloon. This should tell you all you need to know about where Porsche's priorities lie. It's a company beholden to stockholders, run by a hard-nosed businessman with no real interest in cars. There's no Professor Porsche wandering the hallways these days to give a nod and a wink to some exotic and costly engineering exercise designed to eke a few tenths out of a lap around Le Mans. There will be no more 959s coming from Porsche to impress the hell out of all of us whilst pissing all over Porsche's bottom line. If it rolls off the production line, it's expected to generate profit - whether its a Cayenne, a Boxster S, a Carrera GT, a 997 Cup car or a Cayenne.
And hurray for all of that to some extent. I'd be happy with pretty much anything Porsche makes today - it's a hell of a line-up. But there's little doubt a bit of the old romance is missing, and it's a little sad to watch a company that was once the tiny, all-conquering jewel of the German car industry get all tough and indifferent to what made it great, as it pursues a bunch of non-sportscar niche markets and high production volumes.
And hurray for all of that to some extent. I'd be happy with pretty much anything Porsche makes today - it's a hell of a line-up. But there's little doubt a bit of the old romance is missing, and it's a little sad to watch a company that was once the tiny, all-conquering jewel of the German car industry get all tough and indifferent to what made it great, as it pursues a bunch of non-sportscar niche markets and high production volumes.
loach said:
Meh - what's being said here sounds reasonable enough, but I think it's the wrong way to look at things. The guys driving water-cooled cars get understandably irritated when the 'purists' go on about how things were better in the old days, but let's face it - some things were better in the old days - so deal with it. The Boxster and a cheaper and more accessible 911 in the form of the 996 are what saved Porsche. Costs were cut, a bit of expensive engineering was dialled out, production lines were streamlined, expensive motor racing programmes were knocked on the head, and Porsche headed back into the black. Hurray. Not to say that the 986 or the 996 were bad cars, but it is a fact that they were cheaper to produce than the cars that preceeded them, yet they generated more profit per unit despite being retailed comparitively cheaper than their forebears. Something had to give to make this miracle happen, and it's this something that the 'purists' usually go on about - usually in the form of mutterings about flimsy quality and a more conventional 911 driving experience designed to capture Mercedes SL drivers. The Cayenne was not an altruistic strategy by Porsche to fleece some American SUV addicts in order to subsidise the hard-core 911 fans and keep the flames of passion alive at Porsche AG. It was an opportunitic move to get onto the sexy and ultra-profitable 4x4 bandwagon using 986 and 996 profits - an exercise made all the more sexy and profitable because VW did most of the Cayenne's development. It was not produced to finance the GT3, and it was not produced so that funds were available to make cars to keep the 'purists' happy. Take a look at what Porsche is doing with its profits - it's buying huge stakes in VW and developing a saloon. This should tell you all you need to know about where Porsche's priorities lie. It's a company beholden to stockholders, run by a hard-nosed businessman with no real interest in cars. There's no Professor Porsche wandering the hallways these days to give a nod and a wink to some exotic and costly engineering exercise designed to eke a few tenths out of a lap around Le Mans. There will be no more 959s coming from Porsche to impress the hell out of all of us whilst pissing all over Porsche's bottom line. If it rolls off the production line, it's expected to generate profit - whether its a Cayenne, a Boxster S, a Carrera GT, a 997 Cup car or a Cayenne.
And hurray for all of that to some extent. I'd be happy with pretty much anything Porsche makes today - it's a hell of a line-up. But there's little doubt a bit of the old romance is missing, and it's a little sad to watch a company that was once the tiny, all-conquering jewel of the German car industry get all tough and indifferent to what made it great, as it pursues a bunch of non-sportscar niche markets and high production volumes.
And hurray for all of that to some extent. I'd be happy with pretty much anything Porsche makes today - it's a hell of a line-up. But there's little doubt a bit of the old romance is missing, and it's a little sad to watch a company that was once the tiny, all-conquering jewel of the German car industry get all tough and indifferent to what made it great, as it pursues a bunch of non-sportscar niche markets and high production volumes.
Couldn't have put it better myself, this ticks all the box's
I would totally agree with the sentiments expressed here except that in this months PCGB magazine there was a feature on Weissach.
Some - no - ALL of the pictures give serious wood. I wish I had a scanner....
Clearly, a heart still beats with a passion in there - they are not all dyed-in-the-wool buisnessmen.
Some - no - ALL of the pictures give serious wood. I wish I had a scanner....
Clearly, a heart still beats with a passion in there - they are not all dyed-in-the-wool buisnessmen.
Autocar road test top fives April 25th
Top Coupes - Porsche Cayman
Top Roadsters - Porsche Boxster
Top Sports cars - Porsche Carrera S
Tops Sports SUVs - Porsche Cayenne
Oh and GT3 came 3rd in "hardcore"
They would have won more categories but they ran out of models!!!
Top post J-J
DW
Top Coupes - Porsche Cayman
Top Roadsters - Porsche Boxster
Top Sports cars - Porsche Carrera S
Tops Sports SUVs - Porsche Cayenne
Oh and GT3 came 3rd in "hardcore"
They would have won more categories but they ran out of models!!!
Top post J-J
DW
David W. said:
Autocar road test top fives April 25th
Top Coupes - Porsche Cayman
Top Roadsters - Porsche Boxster
Top Sports cars - Porsche Carrera S
Tops Sports SUVs - Porsche Cayenne
Oh and GT3 came 3rd in "hardcore"
They would have won more categories but they ran out of models!!!
Top post J-J
DW
Top Coupes - Porsche Cayman
Top Roadsters - Porsche Boxster
Top Sports cars - Porsche Carrera S
Tops Sports SUVs - Porsche Cayenne
Oh and GT3 came 3rd in "hardcore"
They would have won more categories but they ran out of models!!!
Top post J-J
DW
Top Tackstar - 997 GT3 / RS
Loach, agreed. Some of the old romance is gone. That is why I keep my old 993 as well as some new machinery. For example; when I shut the door on the 993 it closes with a real 'clunk'. It just feels more substantial than any other model I have had since. Its because of the bean counters and share holders grip on spending and essentially profits.
I guess now we are spoilt in a way. With the reliabilty and quality of the past we can have slice of the good old days by buying an older model (with so many around and in such good condition this is as good as second hand buying gets!), as well as the readily available new cars for not so stupid money (not yet anyway!!!!) we can all find an era worth defending. It is a bit of a shame that the romance has been watered down, but the opportunity to find it is still there. We just have to look in the classified sections!
I guess now we are spoilt in a way. With the reliabilty and quality of the past we can have slice of the good old days by buying an older model (with so many around and in such good condition this is as good as second hand buying gets!), as well as the readily available new cars for not so stupid money (not yet anyway!!!!) we can all find an era worth defending. It is a bit of a shame that the romance has been watered down, but the opportunity to find it is still there. We just have to look in the classified sections!
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