Pauly Posted 21July, 2014 Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 Seriously what makes a 911? I ask this because each time Porsche changes something with the 911, people think it's less desirable even though Porsche is moving with technology. Someone always has something to say about something new. Originally It use to be that 911 shape rear engine H6 air cooled engine with carbs and no electronic assists. Now it has a similar look, more modern, Everything is electronic, engine is watercooled and the newest update is the electronic steering which replaced the hydraulic systems. Over the years things have changed, for example introduction of K-jetronic to replace the carbs, then came along the DME which gave digital fuel injection and digital ignition. Electronic assistance traction control ect Manual steering rack to hydraulic to electronic Aircooled to watercooled. Turbocharging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airhead Posted 21July, 2014 Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 A bunch of German blokes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleazius Posted 21July, 2014 Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 If it has 911 on the back of it, its good enough for me. Everyone loves different things in their cars, and any time you change something you risk alienating part of your 'fanbase'. I'm also into Lotuses and the rift it caused when they dropped a v6 into the back of the Exige... 'its too heavy, the centre of gravity is too high, etc etc' vs 'its more comfortable, more usable, and it is less wheezy'. Some of us love things the way they are, and some of us embrace change when it improves upon the original. The aforementioned will claim that any change is bad, and the latter group will try and see the positives of moving with the times. Each to their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevepGT3 Posted 21July, 2014 Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 A bunch of German blokes. And japanese robots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter M Posted 21July, 2014 Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 A bunch of German blokes....who started with a concept that made little rational sense but with persistence over many years created something widely appreciated by others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZ930 Posted 21July, 2014 Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 ...who started with a concept that made little rational sense but with persistence over many years created something widely appreciated by others. …and didn't have Ralph Nader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrera28 Posted 21July, 2014 Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 A bunch of German blokes. Technically they were Austrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hounddub Posted 21July, 2014 Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 OP.....a 911 is the best "useable" performance car on earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pauly Posted 21July, 2014 Author Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 OP.....a 911 is the best "useable" performance car on earth. I think the M5 would take that title IMO. seats 5 people, can handle, twin turbo V8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hounddub Posted 21July, 2014 Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 Maybe I should have said "useable sportscar" I'll give you the M5, even if it's just a hot-rod 520i Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazzieman Posted 21July, 2014 Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 20 years ago this would have been an easier question to answer. Now I'm not so sure, given the profusion of other models spanning the GT through sports car range. Now people are saying 911s are not pure sportscars , and only at the limit show advantages over the Cayman - which in itself may be debateable. Few 911 owners will take them near those limits as we know. For me the appeal was the racing heritage , and the 911s ability to excel across the broad domain of endurance , rally and circuit competition was what attracted me to the brand. Obviously the styling and quirks including the rear engine were distinctive - but not unique to the 911. But nowadays , I'm not so sure. I sometimes mistake them for Nissans! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coastr Posted 21July, 2014 Report Share Posted 21July, 2014 It's the engine. The characteristics, the sound, the quirkiness, the ability to get more out of it. It's the same reason an rx3 is a desirable car but a 808 is just another small old Japanese economy-box. Quirky engine, awesome delivery, wicked sound, and the ability to tune it to higher output. Old rotaries are intoxicating but extremely flawed in many ways, so people love them. You could argue that, had the 911 only been the 912, it wouldn't still be around today. Fine cars in their own right, but not quite the legend. I have not driven a late model 911. I am sure they are wicked cars. The problem these days is that it's relativity simple to make a car go fast, and cars are supposed to do everything well. They're still closeLy related to proper racing cars though, and that is a very rare thing nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f3nr15 Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 For me, what makes a 911 is its unmistakable link to a bygone era - the enduring formula of rear-engined, air-cooled, prominent front guards w/upright headlights that harkens back to before WW2 - and a company so focussed on perfecting its character as an everyday sportscar that it would leave this basic formula untouched for 30 years. Everything that came after the 964 has been a fitting tribute to the 911, but still not a 911. Even the 993 flattened the headlamps, a crucial change that signalled the end of the post-WW2-leftovers aesthetic. And it's not that I have an air-cooled bias - I am absolutely loving my 928 GTS to death, it's a real Porsche in every sense. Flame away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozracer Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 It would have to be the body design timeless classic lines which have become iconic and a flat 6 engine........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgy Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 Easy question to over think! Simple answer; the basic formula of flat a 6 in the back and that same silhouette its had for 50 years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazzieman Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 Flat 6? I thought it was a 180 degree V6, a wondrous marvel of German Engineering. Or was it Austrian? Or was it a German in the 19th century called Karl Benz ? And is it air cooled or actually oil cooled? And now water cooled? It gets rather confusing , especially as the Czechoslovakian Tatra 77 of 1934, partly designed by a guy of Hungarian-Jewish descent who was born in Austria, was a rear engined , air cooled , dry sumped car that looks suspiciously like a VW Beetle. Which gave components to many of the road going Porsches up until 1965 , and indeed spawned bits and pieces of similar ilk found on 1989 Porsches. A 911 is a road car you can take to the track. Or not , if it isn't Metzger engined Metzger was German, in fact he still is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michel Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 Flat 6? I thought it was a 180 degree V6, a wondrous marvel of German Engineering. Or was it Austrian? Or was it a German in the 19th century called Karl Benz ? And is it air cooled or actually oil cooled? And now water cooled? It gets rather confusing , especially as the Czechoslovakian Tatra 77 of 1934, partly designed by a guy of Hungarian-Jewish descent who was born in Austria, was a rear engined , air cooled , dry sumped car that looks suspiciously like a VW Beetle. Which gave components to many of the road going Porsches up until 1965 , and indeed spawned bits and pieces of similar ilk found on 1989 Porsches. A 911 is a road car you can take to the track. Or not , if it isn't Metzger engined Metzger was German, in fact he still is. i tihnk we should have a beer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazzieman Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 i tihnk we should have a beer What flavour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michel Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 you guys got it all ass about...its not the car... its us.. in all our diverse swaggering curmudgeonly pompous pontifying postulating perfidious, pleasure taken in the talking driving and tinkering and bullshitting..that make the 911 a 911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OZ930 Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 Presence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazzieman Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 Other Porsches have presence too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hugh Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 take your pick? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJM Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 All of the above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazzieman Posted 22July, 2014 Report Share Posted 22July, 2014 And also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBayChris Posted 23July, 2014 Report Share Posted 23July, 2014 take your pick? Looks like your bucket list? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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