08-24-2006, 05:23 PM
After reading the trash talking thread http://www.968forums.com/index.php?showtopic=2900&st=20 I noticed the discussion leaning towards the power and grace of our 968s vs other cars post 2000 and I felt the topic was worthy of its own thread.
IMHO, from a driver’s point of view our 968s are considered inadequate simply do to the smooth feel at high speeds. I’ve found that 90mph in 5th is very smooth and pretty quiet w/ no strain on the engine what so ever. While 80 in most Japanese sports cars, MR2, S2000, 350Z all feel very fast and complement that feel with engine sound.
Point number 2. The aero dynamics of this car is amazing. I can travel at very high speeds roll down the windows and have little air enter the cabin. Air moves around this car so efficiently that there’s little drag. No loud blasts of air on the wind shield and mirrors that cause so much noise in other cars.
Now onto my strongest point, which is that of POWER. I found that a lot of sports cars, particularly Japanese, do a good job of running up to 80 or 100MPH but afterwards the engine begins to strain. My Porsche tends to pull harder at high speeds and I have yet to feel it wane. When I first got the 68 I still had my MR2 Turbo and would drive both. I use to assume the MR2 was faster, do to feel. But after running them both hard and past 80.I found that the power in the 2 would wane. The Turbo provides a nice kick and the feel of speed is there. However running with my friends 951 proved that it was in a different league. Same 951 (twin chipped and pushing 18PSI) runs w/ my stock 68 and couldn’t walk away from me.
Bottom Line- Porsche does an outstanding job of building quality refined sports cars that despite the numbers (HP, Torque, etc) can run with and beat many of the newer cars today boasting bigger numbers.
Take the Cayman for example, no one considers that a lightweight car. Now look at the numbers.
· 245-horsepower 2.7-liter flat-6 engine
· 5-speed manual transmission standard, 6-speed manual
IMHO, from a driver’s point of view our 968s are considered inadequate simply do to the smooth feel at high speeds. I’ve found that 90mph in 5th is very smooth and pretty quiet w/ no strain on the engine what so ever. While 80 in most Japanese sports cars, MR2, S2000, 350Z all feel very fast and complement that feel with engine sound.
Point number 2. The aero dynamics of this car is amazing. I can travel at very high speeds roll down the windows and have little air enter the cabin. Air moves around this car so efficiently that there’s little drag. No loud blasts of air on the wind shield and mirrors that cause so much noise in other cars.
Now onto my strongest point, which is that of POWER. I found that a lot of sports cars, particularly Japanese, do a good job of running up to 80 or 100MPH but afterwards the engine begins to strain. My Porsche tends to pull harder at high speeds and I have yet to feel it wane. When I first got the 68 I still had my MR2 Turbo and would drive both. I use to assume the MR2 was faster, do to feel. But after running them both hard and past 80.I found that the power in the 2 would wane. The Turbo provides a nice kick and the feel of speed is there. However running with my friends 951 proved that it was in a different league. Same 951 (twin chipped and pushing 18PSI) runs w/ my stock 68 and couldn’t walk away from me.
Bottom Line- Porsche does an outstanding job of building quality refined sports cars that despite the numbers (HP, Torque, etc) can run with and beat many of the newer cars today boasting bigger numbers.
Take the Cayman for example, no one considers that a lightweight car. Now look at the numbers.
· 245-horsepower 2.7-liter flat-6 engine
· 5-speed manual transmission standard, 6-speed manual
