[BoxerSix]

Originally Posted by Cavi Mike

God I hate this wicked small font. Anyways, here's my argument:

First of all I never compared the two but just to make a point, almost half of the Boxster is made from 911 parts(or vice-versa). I brought up the Boxster because both of you are bitching about removing the rear seat to make room for the engine. The engine in the 911 currently sits behind the transmission(and rear axle) and to make good use of a large boxer 8, it must be placed midship. That's where the rear seat is. Or should I say, that's where the engine in a Boxster is. Oh shit, I brought up the Boxster again, and for good reason. The Boxster was a test and it flew over well...in the American market. Front-engined and mid-engine Porsche's have never gone over well but the rear-engined 4 seater has since it's inception.

The 911 has never fundamentally changed in 40+ years and with that, Porsche has achieved something no manufacturer has ever done. I just can't believe you guys are really arguing this point. I think you guys would only believe in Porsche if they withdrew altogether and went back to their family car roots. Maybe that's what they need to do but I wish they didn't have to go to that extreme for people to see.

Now my head hurts. You should really stop making statements when it's apparent you don't deal with the Porsche field and don't have your facts straight. First off the 986 was not a test car. It was a fully developed and tested chassis that Porsche released in high hopes to pull them out of an inevitable chapter 11. It was not a test car that they released on a whim just to put it out there. It was a sporatic yet smart move by Porsche to save their ass from going under.

Second Porsche has developed a 4.2L flat 10 and mating G96 transaxle that can fit in the 996/997 based 911 tubs without the need for running a mid engine setup. Many 911 gurus have done swaps that make the basic 3.6L engine look small and feeble. Flat fan 906, 908, even 917 engines in 911's and they still run rear engine configuration in the smaller, older 930/964/965 tubs let alone a 993 or even larger 996/997 car. There's be no reason for Porsche to change the drivetrain layout to disrupt the 911 feel, aside from re-utilizing the wasted space behind the rear seats. Put a small storage compartment back there for all I care........it'll still be a rear engine 911 that will sell faster then the current lineup ever could....the whole reason Porsche has not done this is because of the basis around the 911 fundamentals, your correct. 8/10 cylinder in a 911? Blasphemy!!!! Not in my books and according to well over 80% of Porsche customer base....not in theirs either.....

And the boxster/996 share about 20% of their parts, not close to half. Some engine stuff and some interior stuff. That's it. Compare the 986/996 base models to the likes of the same chassis GT2/3 and Turbo and that percentage drops even farther as NOTHING from the entire wiring/drivetrain is compatible between the two cars....

Originally Posted by JClark

THE BOXSTER/CAYMAN LAYOUT IS BETTER THAN THE 911!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS WHY IT EXISTS!!!! That was my point. Porsche hangs on to the 911 for the purist, but the design is flawed. It was swell back in the late 60s but with the invention of basic physics it was proven STUPID around 1975. They've done some pretty cool stuff to offset a crappy layout (the new 997 race models are head and shoulders above the 996 re: weight distribution and suspension balance). If Porsche would man up and replace the 911 with a high performance Cayman, Porsche would dominate BMW (better layout for overall race performance) and Ferrari (same layout, but dramatically more extensive driver/team network to test with).

BMW, Porsche, Ferrari are NOT prep 2 because the only place it would be useful (or legal) is in GAC Rolex. While better, prob not worth the development time. Even then, prep 1 European cars absolutely ROCK the prep 2 purpose-built racers from America and Japan once the obvious advantages are dealt with by the GAC rules nazis. God Bless European engineering.

Clark hit this point home. Unfortunately you will not see this from the factory. Reason being Porsche will never allow a lower base lineup(aka cayman) out gun their high end 911's(read GT3RS) out on the tracks. Porsche looks at this as a bad marketing standpoint. How can they sell a $110K 911 when the $75K Cayman is whooping their ass all day long. Porsche won't have anything to do with that. They had a hard enough time marketing the coupe 986(Cayman) at a haigher base price than your rag top boxster. Soft tops/targa's have ALWAYS pulled more weight in Porsche income than the coupes and still do pound for pound. Porsche will eventually ride the tide in and see what they should have done at the commencement of the 997 chassis. Release a better balanced 2 seat 911 with a bigger motor. It's the only way the 911 can and will survive over the next couple decades. Porsche has managed to keep the 911 line running strong because of cars like the RS, RSA, 3.8RS, GT3RS, etc. All which BTW, have no backseats and sold better than any other 911 per equal volume...even though limited.

Clark look forward to the 986/cayman spec classes that are slowly evolving. They're the new 944/968 of this day and age and will be tearing ass in stripped format very soon. RUF has a very nice Cayman based supercar.

There's only a handful of privateer CGT-"GTR's" in the world and their all chassis modified way beyond a factory CGT. Porsche never put racing into the CGT's bag of tricks from the start and has managed to keep it that way for good reason. It's just not cost effective for Porsche to do so. They back any private team looking to do so with technical support and drop shipped parts but will never fund a factory back team for a CGT. Problem with the CGT's isn't so much that the car is twitchy, it's just 95% of them were gobbled up by rich pops who are used to driving a 450hp Turbo with all the fancy wuss features like PASM and traction control......not a 610hp mid engine rocket which can put most of that to the ground at the blip of the throttle.