911 (991) [Official] 2014 Porsche 911 GT3

[klier]

Would I want a 458 with a manual? Of course not.

Huh? Of course you need a manual in a 458! Would be utterly fantastic to have one in a Ferrari again, and there would surely be a market for them.

Anyways, it's a miss to not have a manual in the new GT3, but it looks like the GT3 RS will fix this...
And.......4.0 over any current 991 clearly.

 

[martinbo]

Huh? Of course you need a manual in a 458! Would be utterly fantastic to have one in a Ferrari again, and there would surely be a market for them.

Nope, sales stats showed that less than 2% of F430s were sold with manuals. There is no longer a market for manuals in the top echelon of motoring - seems like the people with the money don't necessarily have the ability to pedal properly. A dying breed, sadly.

 

[Sunny]

^Same with 911. Not sure what the exact % is, but I remember some 80+% of cars sold are PDK. I bet this is probably the last generation where manual is probably even an option.

 

[Levi68]

^Same with 911. Not sure what the exact % is, but I remember some 80+% of cars sold are PDK. I bet this is probably the last generation where manual is probably even an option.

Exactly. It was even said by somebody from Porsche in an interview.

 

[PC Valkyrie]

^All good points PC. Can't say I really disagree with any of them. For what it is worth, here is my (hopefully) nuanced take on them-

1. The car being heavier - Can any one really feel 30kg? Hell no. But at a philosophical level it kind of takes away from the genesis of the GT3 (and the RS brand even way before that) as lightweight versions of the normal cars.

2. RWS - unlike a lot of the "purists", I absolutely have no problem with it.

3. PTV - again I have no problem with it. But I get why the GT3/RS track crowd hates it -it apparently accelerates your brake pad/rotor wear. Moot point for me, but if you are a hardcore track rat, it effects your running costs.

4. Mezger - Yes, Porsche had to stop using those engines at some point. A more worrying prospect for me would have been if Porsche didn't have the wherewithal to come up with another world class engine (and of course they do). The racing heritage is nice - you can boast to your friends about your car sharing the engine with Le Mans winning cars, but outside that pretty useless. At a philosophical level, again considering the GT3's genesis as a homologation special, it would have been nice if Porsche was racing the new engine, but I am guessing that will happen soon.

It's clear the Porsche feels that the PDK/extra weight/RWS/PTV/new engine are worth it, given the improvements in performance/laptimes. It does boil down to some people having a philosophical problem with this approach. The question I have is the following: was it the fanbase/previous GT3 owners, or was it Porsche that "defined" what GT3 car should/should not be?

 

[Sunny]

It's clear the Porsche feels that the PDK/extra weight/RWS/PTV/new engine are worth it, given the improvements in performance/laptimes. It does boil down to some people having a philosophical problem with this approach. The question I have is the following: was it the fanbase/previous GT3 owners, or was it Porsche that "defined" what GT3 car should/should not be?

Obviously Porsche created it, marketed it and sold it and they been doing light stripped out focused 911s for a very long time (since 1967, I think). And of course that approach engendered a small but dedicated following.

Thing is for the longest time, the most obvious way to make a car go faster short of adding power was making it lighter. That obviously is not the case any more in this "GTR era" (and I use that term very loosely) and Porsche feels compelled to adopt and compete (Preuninger admitted as much). I don't fault them for it. Disappointed a bit? Yes.

 

[PC Valkyrie]

Hmm. Was it always that obvious, that the philosophy was simply to make a lighter car and not to employ newer go-faster technologies that weren't available when the first 996 GT3 was developed? I completely understand that making a car lighter is an easy and effective way to improve performance.

In the 991, they are using lighter weight materials (more aluminum).....otherwise the new car would even be heavier. I don't think Porsche ever said it won't bestow upon the GT3 cars newer go-faster technologies.

You can argue that a mechanical limited slip differential is a technology which improves cornering performance that helps the driver too.

 

[Soup]

http://www.edmunds.com/porsche/911/2014/road-test.html

 

[330CIZHP]

I think this dual clutch GT3 will sell better than the 997 GT3, but then again, if it were my own money, I would pick a used 997.2 GT3 RS 4.0.

 

[Sunny]

I think this dual clutch GT3 will sell better than the 997 GT3, but then again, if it were my own money, I would pick a used 997.2 GT3 RS 4.0.

Used RS 4.0s are appreciating quite a lot. There are two for sale in US, one is for 250k and other they were asking even more (260k I believe, I can't find it any more, so it might be sold) - i.e almost twice a 991GT3 base MSRP.

ps. The red 991 GT3 looks fantastic. Best color, I think for the car.

 

[Soup]

http://i.imgur.com/jjfp3yi.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1QT5XDR.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/U1FdejJ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/4ypsat9.jpg

 

[Soup]

 

[hoffmeister_fan]

Looks like the German greats are well-repped in this issue of Autocar...GT, S-class, and the legendary Quattro.

 

[LaArtist]

^revised BMW 5 series also

 

[hoffmeister_fan]

And, upon further examination, the RS6

 

[Soup]

Picked it up today, cover should be in chrome

 

[klier]

Can't wait for the scans

 

[Soup]

http://i.imgur.com/ASXOIiy.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/v5bE5Jk.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7AcMoaY.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SLcUKas.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/r8IuICf.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0qX9NEJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2UhBmRU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Wngidts.jpg

 

[Sunny]

Evo Review

 

[Soup]

Everyone seems to agree about the manual part