Very true.

There is a bunch of people in Ludwigsburg just north of Zuffenhausen who call themselves the Porsche Marketing Department. They are the ones burdened with the delicate task of convincing us that a base 991 Cabriolet is supposed to be more than $30k more expensive than a 981 S. The solution they have come up with is easy: make sure the Boxster always have less hp than the Carrera.

As long as these people in Ludwigsburg have a say in anything that matters within Porsche AG, we will never see a Boxster or a Cayman with more hp than a Carrera. It's as simple as that.

 

I myself am surprised at the quality and performance of this car considering it is an entry level porsche. Somehow some bean counter didn't figure that if they made the car this well, they may lose sales on the 911's.

I know that sounds like an atrocity to the 911 guys but I have 10 bucks that says as this Boxster encroaches on the performance for the value of the car, a lot of 911 owners will buy one.

Mark

 

I feel that my new 981 HP is a little underwhelming.

This thread is interesting.

Hoping for more discussions.

Hoping that with an ECU flash we can obtain more power similar to the 991.

 

I'm happy with the way it is from the factory but I see myself either squeezing more HP from a tune or going with a turbo in the future.


Mark

 

Since it's a naturally aspirated engine, you can't gain very much by just updating the ECU. If it was a turbo, it would be another matter, though...

 

Yeah, we had this discussion on the other forum. I'm use to doing a tune on a turbo and pulling an extra 60-90HP

I was told that a tune on a aspirated engine would yield me 10HP if I were lucky.


Having said that... I don't know what to expect. The reason I say that is because the 3.4 is rated at 315HP.

315HP is not very much by today's standards but yet the car runs sub 5 second 0-60 times and a 174mph top end. Now, THAT is impressive.

I realize the car is not overly heavy but if you can make a car run sub 5's in a 0-60 time, you're getting into Corvette territory.

Point is, I never expected a mere 315HP to run as well as it does so based on that logic, who knows, 10 more HP might make a huge difference.

I personally am hoping these engines are severely undertuned from the factory. We're back to our original discussion... Porsche can't have a 3.4 in a 981 kick the tail of their flagship 911 for half the price. What better way to do so than by detuning it.


Mark

 

I'm bit sure how true it is, but I've heard that Porsche are slightly conservative with their stated HP figures.
With other manufacturers, you're lucky if you get the stated amount of HP in the car they deliver to you. In a Porsche, you'll get at least what they are stating.

I've seen some tests in car magazines where Porsches actually show better 0-100 km/h figures than the official spec says, while the other cars show the more common "slightly slower than spec". That supports the theory above.

 

Porsche has always been very conservative with their 0-60 mph times. I don't know why, but it's well-known by auto journalists that they've always done this. When Porsche claims 4.4 sec in 0-62 mph (0-100 kph), you can bet huge amounts of money that it will be close to 4 sec or even less. Somewhat like under-promise and over-deliver...

Anyway, extracting 350 hp from 315 hp will NOT be easy. Different intake, head, exhaust, higher redline, different ECU map, etc., etc. With 2008 295 hp engines, the max you could get was approx. 340-345 with bolt-on mods... if you're lucky.

As far as that M6 guy, 315-350 bhp from a NA 3.4 L is NOT "very low". Show me another engine that makes same hp from a NA 3.4. No, not exactly very many. You're confusing it with 4.7 L+ engines or forced induction. If it still doesn't make sense to you, I'd suggest sticking with an M6... or a Viper.

 

Official Nurburgring times (quickest variant):

991 S: 7:40
997 S: 7:50
981 S: 7:58

 

This may shed some light on what a mod of intake, exhAust and software does to the 987 cayman numbers, run 1 is modded with Flash and intake, exhaust, run 3 is stock. The are some decent pickups to be had:

Run 1 Max HP at rear wheel dyne: 319 vs run 3 at rear wheel stock of 289. That's a nice pickup IMO.

 

You picked up 30 RWHP from a tune, exhaust and intake??

I'd be thrilled with those numbers...


Mark

 

Not my car, but go to EVOMSITNOT website and search for the HO dyno graphs on the cayman RS350. Charts are there.

 

Spend some time on www.rri.se and you'll see Porsche like about all other brands over states power figures. RRI hasn't posted the 981 S yet but I'm guessing conservatively it produces maybe 290 hp. You cannot count manufacturer hp claims as genuine as Marketing rules. I don't know of more trustworthy source for comparing power than RRI.

 

If you know Porsche, you know they have a history of understating the performance numbers (0-60 times, etc). That being said, you are right, the great evaluator is the dyno, but understand that the dyno measure HP at the rear wheel; but HP claims by all manufacturers are stated as HP ratings at the crank, which as any informed tuner will tell you is about 20 or so HP more than at the rear wheel, so a claimed 315 on the Box S and a rear wheel of 290-295 as you suggest, would entirely be a credible HP claim.

 

I'm confused by both your posts. Steve997S says that "Porsche... overstates power figures." If they overstate their HP, assuming a 15% drivetrain loss, 315HP at the crank should be roughly 268 at the wheels yet TD says that Porsche understates their HP rating and that 290-295 rwhp is not unrealistic.


So who's right? Does Porsche understate or overstate their power ratings? From what I've felt, I'd say severely understated.




Mark