The End, And The Beginning, Of The Porsche Turbo
So. They finally did it, didn’t they?
Porsche followed the lead of Ferrari (with either the California T or 208GTS, depending on your awareness of history) and Ford (with the Fiesta EcoBoost, of course) by making the entry-level 911 a small-displacement turbo. It had to happen, because in its successful quest to become primarily a manufacturer of unibody “trucks” Porsche became too large to reasonably plead an indulgence, er, exemption from Europe’s state religion of carbon-emissions laws. By the way, the next time you’re reading about the sale of indulgences and all of the other ridiculous behavior practiced by Christian Europe six hundred years ago and you’re feeling very smug about living in era where reason holds sway over craven superstition, take a nice long look at this and tell me how much difference you truly see between now and the era of Leo X.
Will Porsche’s switch to smaller, force-fed engines counterbalance even an hour of one region of China’s use of coal for power? It’s best not to think too much about that. Could Porsche accomplish a similar amount of carbon-production reduction by changing the engines in the Macan and Cayenne, perhaps giving them all ludicrous-pressure four bangers like the one in the AMG CLA 45 and therefore leaving the naturally-aspirated sports cars alone? We really don’t want to think about that. It would be like a husband wondering why his wife comes to bed in curlers but insists on a manicure before his brother stops by for dinner. Could it be that he’s no longer the most important member of the family?
This is not a train that we, the occasional Porsche buyers of America, can stop. And it especially is not a train that you, the person from the Internet who has never bought a Porsche but plans on picking up a Carrera G50 some time in the next ten years if the prices come back down, can stop. All we can do is look back at a few great Porsche Turbos and Monday-morning quarterback Porsche’s new product line.
Let’s do that, shall we?
Regardless, “Porsche Turbo” has always meant something, and here are the reasons why. We’ll leave the race cars out because racing is not real life and that’s why the Plymouth Neon was not the finest compact sedan of the Nineties. Without further ado:
1975 Turbo Carrera 3.0
1988 944 Turbo S Silver Rose
The best of them was the Silver Rose 1988 Turbo S. It had 247 horsepower delivered like the proverbial hammer to the forehead. The interior was as good as those cars ever got, meaning better than a 911. There was plenty of tire width on stunning polished wheels. The plain Turbo of the following year got most of the improvements but it wasn’t as cool as the debut Silver Rose model. It took Porsche fifteen years to come up with a non-911 that was actually faster; that car was the Cayman S, good used examples of which can be had for less than what you’ll pay for an original-condition ’88 Silver Rose.
1996 993 Turbo
2011 GT2RS
* * *
The new 911 Carrera turbo will not be called the 911 Turbo Carrera. Just as well. We’d expect it to be something that it wasn’t. In much the same way that “Carrera” started off meaning “the best 911” but ended up meaning “the cheapest 911”, adding “turbo” to the badging would only reinforce the fall from grace of forced-air Porsches. Instead, for the near future the best 911 will be the only one without a turbocharger. It’s called “GT3RS”, and its claim to fame will be that it makes its power the old-fashioned way. Just like a 1969 911T. Which never meant “turbo”, obviously. But it also never meant “targa”. Which just goes to show that Porsche likes to keep us guessing, doesn’t it?More by Jack Baruth
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Next up: All PDK, all the time. Then it's on to robot Porsches.
Smaller displacement, over boosted, direct injection engines are overstressed, expensive power plants. They cost a fortune, and they won't last very long. This is turning into a farce. That's the point BTSR is trying to drive home, and he's right.