TexaZ3

It all started when they made Cayenne - a 4 door SUV! Porshce is dilluting its brand. Sad really.

BetterMakeWay

Indeed just imagine a longer version of the 911 with 4 doors.... :thumbsdown:

Iceman

Repost

silver bullet

As a 911 owner I agree that it would be nice if they did indeed pour that money back into making the 911 a true exotic again, but they do not. They make it good enough to get by on the name. Well at least that is what they do with the 911. I think they are putting the R&D back into the Turbo and GT3. I have never seen a company nickel and dime you to death with things that should be standard equipment. Can anyone imagine that the 30k Mustang GT comes with a short shifter standard, but on the 911 it is now a $700 option? Are you effing kidding me? No dry sump standard, an underpowered engine HP and torque wise compared to much cheaper options. To even come close to the Vette Z06 performance in a 911 you have to spend double the 70k that the Vette costs to get to a 911TT just to compete. Porsche owners retort with "well the interior is nicer". Uh. well it really isn't that much nicer. Hell to get full leather seats in a 911 you need to spend 3k. Still, I love my car, but they have lost focus I think and now make cars simply for profit. I of course understand that profit is the goal of any company, but the true passion for the driver and making their 911 the true innovation it once was no longer seems to be the concer. Making the 911 that people will buy in masse is much more the concern rather than making it as good as it can be. Of course I will listen to arguments that they are "locked" in to what they can do with a 911 because the purists will scream bloody freaking hell if they ever think about maknig substantial changes. By that I mean putting the engine in the middle rather than on the rear bumper. Blasphomous I know, but it could open up a world of opportunity to really improve the car without stripping the legendary shape of the car. They have also boxed themselves into a corner with what they can do with the engine at this point too. Anyway, still a great car, and I in fact do not mind seeing the Panamera come to light because I think it will set a new benchmark for the company and be a fantastic car. There seems to be some passion behind it that has only recently been found in the Carrera GT and 911TT . This can only be a good thing for the driver.

swajames

Look back a few years and see if Porsche was always as financially robust as it is today - it wasn't, and then as now it looked to new markets with cars like the 924 which at the time was dismissed, much like the Cayenne (wrongly), as not being a "true" Porsche. The critical difference is that now Porsche has the luxury of expanding into new markets because it can, and because it wants to - not because it needs to. At the end of the day Porsche like any car company is in business to sell cars and it is the market that will be the ultimate arbiter of whether or not a car company has gone too far. Who are we to tell Porsche how many cars they should sell or whether a four door saloon or an SUV is true to the brand?

Back to the Panamera, personally I like it. Aston Martin is doing the same thing with the Rapide, and I like that too. As long as Porsche keeps turning out cars as good as its current range who are we to argue!

Heiss5

Why does everyone dislike the Cayenne? BMW didn't start out with an SUV but nobody says that they hate the X5. BMW didn't even start out with cars, should pilots have been screaming bloody murder back in the day? Who cares what Porsche or any other company decides to produce, they're not forcing you to buy it. And as long as they still have what everyone seems to love, the 911, what difference does it make if they offer a few other models that apply to people with difference needs that also happen to love Porsche. I for one do not like the look of the new Panamera and I wouldn't buy it for that reason alone, but I could care less if Porsche decides to produce it. It's not like they're getting rid of the 911 to make the Panamera.

swajames

I agree. I'm not a big fan of SUV's in general but I do like the Cayenne. If I were to get an SUV I'd test the Cayenne for sure. I also agree with your X5 comment - what BMW did is no different to Porsche's intent with the Cayenne.

Heiss5

How many people have actually driven a Cayenne? Cause I for one, was a little sketchy about the whole thing at first, thinking there was no way they could make an SUV handle like a sports car, which is what they claimed. But I've had two Cayennes, an S and a Turbo, and they are real Porsches, I don't care what anyone says. I also had a 911 Carrera S, and I've driven around a few 996's, so it's not like I don't know what a Porsche feels like.

0700700

well i have driven a cayenne s, and although nice i find it completely pointless. hence i went for a x5 3.0d

Heiss5

Why did you find it pointless?