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Autocar staff
http://www.autocar.co.uk
07/08/2008 - 01:56 PM
London, UK
Subtle appearance changes are less significant than the major engineering steps forward under the skin. (Autocar photo) ยป More Photos
You do wonder sometimes whether Porsche isn’t a touch too understated for its own good, particularly when it comes to the mid-life revamping of its various models. Take the latest “heavily revised” 997 as an example.
Here is a car which, to the untrained eye, looks all but identical to the original 997 of 2004, yet under the skin it has a brand-new range of direct injection flat six engines, not to mention the gearbox Porsche has been threatening to put into one of its road cars for the past 25 years: a road-going version of the double-clutch PDK unit pioneered by Weissach’s Le Mans cars in 1983.
On the surface, the only items that telegraph just how different this car is compared with its predecessor are – wait for it – a pair of slightly bigger door mirrors, some LED lights front and rear and a mildly new design of 18 and 19-inch wheel.
Worryingly committed 997 fans might also spot that there is no longer a big central radiator to be seen behind the front grille, the new engines being so much more efficient at self-cooling that they no longer require the centrally mounted front radiator of old. But while such styling restraint is actually quite refreshing in an era of increasingly garish fast cars from Audi, Mercedes et al, in this instance you can’t help thinking that Porsche’s designers have undersold the achievements of their colleagues in engineering. Surely a car this new and this
No matter; the 2009 model year 997 may well be one of the most unobvious redesigns of the modern era outwardly, but inwardly it’s a seriously impressive piece of work. The new engines alone deserve to be clothed in a brand-new car. Both the 3.6 of the entry-level Carrera and the 3.8 of the Carrera S have come in for exactly the same treatment, and both are effectively brand new units. The big news is the fitment of a Bosch direct injection system, which, claims Porsche, improves emissions and economy as much as it does pure horsepower.
The base 3.6 now produces just 225g/km of CO2, a 15 percent reduction compared with the previous model, but at the same time it boasts an extra 20hp, making 341hp at 6500rpm in total. The 3.8 unit from the CS model jumps 30hp to 380hp, and in both cases the blocks are an incredible 22 percent stiffer thanks to the fact that there are, says Porsche, around 40 percent fewer moving parts.
Just as crucially, both engines are also 11lbs lighter than before and feature a radical new design of electronically regulated oil pump that pumps only when the ECU asks it to – in other words, on demand. This, alongside various other clever engineering solutions, means there’s also a two percent reduction in oil consumption, not to mention a 14.3 percent improvement in economy for the 3.6 (12.8 percent for the 3.8).
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