4-Cylinder Porsches! The end of days?

[Arkaign]

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle...-cayman-cars-to-get-4cyl-engine-30124482.html

Haha, gotcha with the sensationalist headline, eh?

Actually if this is true, it's Boxer 4 + hybrid power, which *should* be better than current 6-cylinder options in fuel economy + low end torque.

Bring on the digital future, but please, leave some vehicles that we can row ourselves

 

[Skurge]

It won't be a hybrid, it will be a 4 Cylinder Turbo. They were comparing it to the 919 race car.

 

[toronado97]

Didn't Porsche have a ton of 4-cylinder engined cars in the 80's? Not exactly their first time doing it. The technology is definitely there at this point for them to get similar performance with increased economy out of a 4 cylinder vs a 6 cylinder, the only issue is whether the engines will last as long. Direct injected engines are far from trouble free still.

 

[_Rick_]

The Porsche 914, 924 and 944 have all been four-cylinders (I4), and the Porsche 919 LMP is using a V4 (or Boxer?).
Aren't the latest 6 cylinder engines DI'd also? I'd imagine so.
And Porsche has been building turbo'd engines since the 930, so I'd expect there to be a reasonable amount of know-how in the company.

Anyway, look at the Alfa 4C, from what I've seen, engine-wise it works just fine, as a mid-engined sports car. I think the Boxster and Cayman will eventually get closer to the 4C in mentality -i.e. lighter- if not quite as hardcore, except for a few low-volume specials.

Edit:

Other Porsche 4 cyl's: All 356s, 912 (flat 4), 968, 550/1500RS, "904" Carrera GTS

 

[Vdubchaos]

OP, have you ever heard of one of the most popular/greatest/most obtainable Porsches ever made?

944

The end of days? I think it's the beginning of days.

I would love to have a proper sports car/Porsche with a 4 cyl engine. Have you ever worked on a flat 6 mid engine Porsche? It's a f'in nightmare, no thanks.

 

[Arkaign]

True, but those are old school porches, before most people. I'm older than dirt, and the only ones I think I've commonly seen were the 924/944s

Damn, so it's not a hybrid? Ah well, at least the turbos are fairly good, I imagine it will be an improvement from the NA 6 models.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Less complexity and more room to service is ALWAYS good when it comes to German cars in my opinion.

Germans go up and beyond (at times) to make owners life miserable.....

Mid engine Porsche usually = no way in HELL on my end. Especially since early Boxters have been nightmares on owners and their wallets. I won't even get into poor performance.....

944 is probably one of the best racing Porsche ever made (especially on Amateur level and most likely professional).

 

[tweakmonkey]

I was going to say, I had a 1968 Porsche 912, that was a flat-4! Don't forget the 356 and 914, Porsche started their mass production with 4 bangers. I work for a Porsche tuner and I think the turbo-4 Cayman/Boxster will be very cool. Finally people will start to see some high HP numbers from the engines without attempting to swap them out. We just need the tuning to catch up with the car now since the ECU on 991s/981s are a lot harder to work with than 997/987.

 

[Zenmervolt]

The Porsche 914, 924 and 944 have all been four-cylinders (I4),

The 914 is a boxer 4, not an I4. And it's basically a VW engine.

ZV

 

[Tormac]

If they actually shaved some weight off of the current line up and went back to a lightweight sports car rather than the GT/luxury line up that Porsche is going towards, a flat four with around 200-250 hp would be fine.

A 2500 pound cayman with a 250 horse flat four would be an improvement over the current one.

 

[RGN]

The 914 is a boxer 4, not an I4. And it's basically a VW engine.

ZV

And the I4 from the 944 series is basically half of a V8 from the 928.

And half the parts on the 944 have either a VW logo or the quad rings.

My point is, that it doesn't matter, all the different versions are a blast.

Porsche's are like a hate fuck. Feels so good to ride, but you know you are gonna end up swearing at it later.

 

[Zenmervolt]

And the I4 from the 944 series is basically half of a V8 from the 928.

This is a very persistent myth, but it is a myth nonetheless. The engine used in the 944 has exactly zero interchangeable parts with the 928 aside from minor things like electrical sensors that are often common across a manufacturer's range. The two engine designs do not share any common ancestry aside from the alloy (Alusil) used to cast the blocks and the stroke length at the time of the 944's release. While the 928 did, two years later, receive a bump in displacement to 5.0 liters (and, at that point, did share the same bore and stroke as the 944's engine), the pistons were still not interchangeable between the two units.

Basically, the engines had the same bore and used the same alloy for the block and heads and that's the limit of the commonality between the two at the time of the 944's release.

And half the parts on the 944 have either a VW logo or the quad rings.

I've owned a 924S, and a 944 2.7 in the past. I currently own a 914 and a 944 Turbo. I'm well aware of the number of Audi/VW-stamped parts on these cars.

ZV