Thursday, April 10, 2008

2009 Porsche 911 - 997 facelift - or 998?



It doesnt seem all that long ago that Porsche put the "broken-egg" eyed 996 911 to pasture and brought out the tasteful 997 model with mid 90's 993 stle headlights - notice the focus upon headlights - well as it is with 911's of late thats pretty much how you tell one model from another.

Already though spy shots and rumors have been spreading about next years facelift [or new model - 998] to come from Stuttgart, on the next generation of bloated and water cooled version of the classic sports car.

One such rumor is of the traditional flat 6 motor being accompanied in the model line up by a Cayenne sourced direct injection V8 - However this is very unlikely, and could be derived from news that the new 911 will actually have a "Direct Injection" system from the Cayenne - Not the whole motor thank god.

So the new generation is rumored and labelled as the new 998 model series - which is highly unlikely since the 996 Porsche 911 was produced from 1998 until 2004 - a run of 6 years, not counting the 996 Turbo models still sold when 997 Carreras were. the 997 model has only been in production for 3 years so this is likely a facelift for the 997... for what reason -who knows -if it aint broke, dont fix it!

From the spy pictures circulating nearly the only indicator of a new 911 is the tailights - again Porsche deciding to update just the lighting on the car [seems like it] The new tailights obviously inspired by the Cayenne's, perhaps Porsches attempt to get some of the S.U.V's sales succes to rub off on "the other" model in showrooms.

The 2009 911 will most likely come to market in the late 3rd or early 4th quater of 2008, sporting significant technologic upgrades under the bonnet, [the one at the back] and in the gearbox [between the rear wheels.]

The flat 6 motors will receive a Direct Injection system in an effort to improve fuel efficiency, and reduce emissions to pass future Euro legislation, while increasing power - Why havnt all cars got Direct injection? and have it ages ago - not just diesels and VW Golf's.

The next part of the driveline to be upgraded is the gearbox, in which the old automatic "Tiptronic" which receives power through a dopey old inefficient torque converter. In favour of this old sloshbox will be the new "DSG" like Dual Clutch "Porsche Doppel Kupplungen" (PDK for short) which swaps gears just like VW's DSG gearbox - without boring you and getting technical - its quicker than an auto - and it is technically a manual gearbox with a clutch [2 actually] but a computer predicts that you'lll want to move up or down a gear and choses the time to change gears.
Improved efficiency greatly, aswell as vastly improving shift times.

Were all going to have to wait a bit longer to see exactly how it all plays out from the Germans - but weather its a facelift or a 998 - it will be another improvement in the 40-year old 911 model from Stuttgart.



autoblog.it
via
germancarblog

4 comments:

Unknown said...

wicked car.

taylor427 said...

It sure is Olly,
till the money is there to buy it thought, might have to do with an aircooled 70's or 80's model though.

Unknown said...

yer bro it will have to be a late 70s cos the ones made before i think 76 or 78 are the ones that rust like no tomorrow and aint cool living next to the beach and all.

taylor427 said...

yeah they started to fully galvanise the 911 bodies in 1978, yeah around here it wouldnt go too well with the salt air and whatnot.