50 Jahre 911

Jeep?

@CJinSD Okay, Jeep, but you get my point, right? The automotive press is so biased against American cars that GM, Ford and Chrysler can seemingly do no right, while the myriad sins of the Europeans are reflexively swept under the rug.

@OneAlpha In Porsche's defense, they tried very hard to be free of the 911 by introducing better cars in the '70s. It turned out that their buyers weren't looking for great GTs. They just wanted 911s. Porsche also did an excellent job of keeping the 911 competitive in performance for as long as it lasted. When they replaced it with the 964 in 1989, it was still one of the quickest cars in its price range and had the best steering in production. Sure, they make bloated neo-classics now, but the alternative might have been to throw in towel when emissions and noise laws killed the air cooled engine. The Corvair's styling had the potential to evolve for decades. Unfortunately, GM screwed up its launch through false economy and poisoned its market. BMW ran with the look until little more than a decade ago anyway.

Porsche - there is no substitute. Stuttgart comes out with a new 911 platform about every six years - the 996 and 997 are the latest. They also offer a variety of rear engine sports car models - Carrera, Boxter, et. al. I was at my Porsche mechanic the other day for a routine oil change and maintenance. They had maybe 15 Porsches parked about ranging from a 356 (bathtub) show car, three or four air cooled 911's (one identical to one I used to own), three 911 track cars, three or four 996 & 997's, a Boxter and a few older trash Porsches (914's and 924's). Maybe I am like the aardvark who only sees beauty in other aardvarks, but I can tell the difference between them all at a glance. Now if you want to disparage the VW/Porsche SUV, OK. The Porsche sedan I know nothing about, although I don't think it is as ugly as J. Clarkson says (I don't think much of Clarkson's barber either). Business-wise, recall that a few years ago the little specialty car maker, Porsche, reportedly almost bought VW. Now I hear it may be the other way round, but my point is that Porsche seems to know how to give the public what it wants. Again, the idea of valuing change just for its own sake means to me that maybe you ain't got very much to start with - now trying to make a virtue of necessity.

@jimbob457 The Panamera sedan looks absolutely smashing. Stunning, even. As long as you never have to see the rear end. I'm pretty sure Porsche will fix that with the facelift. Pre-facelifted Cayennes were horrible bloated frogs, the post-facelift ones look stunning. - Can't argue against a very successful formula. But they're either severely hamstrung by customer expectation or extremely blessed by it. They've woven a story whose plot inexorably leads in one direction, and while the story sells, it limits what they can do with it. This limits how far in any direction their styling can go. Which is a shame. Because I thought the 944 and 928 looked fantastic, and the "slantnose" experiment was pretty interesting. - This is the same trap MINI and Aston are running into... though the Porsche brand has managed to spread the family look in more directions than either of these two.

@niky The 944 and 928, I think, are not just beautiful, but excellent cars overall. But, years later one forlorn 944 sits around my Porsche shop looking like a sad little orphan. After 60 years of success, I really doubt the 911 "brand" will trap Porsche. Look at the Boxter. It is, essentially, just another 911 variant, but it looks different and not too bad at that.