Porsche 911 V8?

Hi, Do you guys think that Porsche will eventually use a small displacement naturally aspirated V8 or flat-8 engine in the next generation model after the 991? I think that the Flat-6 makes it somewhat unique, but it will eventually reach its limit of 6 cylinder horsepower and torque unless its forced induction.

That would be like a 1911 with a double action trigger. Or worse still...a Glock.

Don't see that happening, especially with emissions getting stricter in the future. A V8 would be too tall for the 911, so it would need to be a flat-8....but nah. Porsche has proven time and time again when they need extra power from a power plant they can do it. The 4.0 showed it nicely and they started in the 996 with 360hp and over teh years developed the engine to produce 500. The 991 GT3 is expected to have 480hp and as it is a new motor we can expect that it is going to have loads of room for power increase over teh coming years. More likely to see smaller displacement and turbos I'm afraid.

and from the other side of the fence I wonder whether we will get a 911 in its current form much after 2018? What about the 960? V8 based, on the VAG group MR chassis. Why would you want a 911 when you could have a 960 Porsche with the engine in the right place? Like the Cayman but at the top end of the Porsche line up. So for those that couldn't bring themselves to buy the Cayman/Boxster because as its at the lower end of the line up or not quite as good as the 911 on pace, they now will have a choice: Engine in the wrong place and the car engineered to make it handle great? Or mid engine Porsche with the natural balance and a V8 power plant to grow into the 2020's... I think that the 911 in the rear engine format and flat 6 is not long for this world. Shame as its a fantastic car. The 4.0 shows what can be done with the Flat 6, but i bet its not a cost effective way of achieving it with its exotic components, producing that car is an engineering exercise not a full blown production reality. IMO

9 bearing straight 8 in a really big transmission tunnel between the rear seats....

No one has read about the RUF 911 V8's engine that is shorter, lighter & and has a lower center of gravity? What's not to like?

Yes, I've read about RUF's V8 911 that's what made me think if Porsche would actually consider it in the next generation 991: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs0Gy_EK1DY Not sure how to imbed the youtube vid so I made this link

I am not a design engineer but i don't understand how you can say that the flat 6 will eventually reach it's limits. Sure, with this block it will, but you just create a new block, larger bore and appropriate stroke and you can still have a flat 6. BMW has been doing it for decades with their boxer motorcycle engines and Porsche has been doing it since the inception of the 911.

They way Porsche has been adding power to the Flat6 was adding more displacement, timing, etc. The largest so far appears to be the 4.0L to get the horsepower needed. Eventually going above 4.0L for a V6 would be a waste even with designing a new block. That's why you rarely see V6 or Flat6 engine's above 4.0L unless it's a diesel. It would be a better package to start developing a compact V8 or Flat8 once the displacement reaches past 4.2L or above. Or maybe I'm wrong?

Much as I want Porsche to move to a mid-engined V8-powered 911 using something like the Ruf V8 I think they will continue to maintain the rear-engined, flat-six configuration ... they've done so for almost 50 years, and perhaps the Porsche community would want them to maintain the status quo ... I for one would like to see them build a Ferrari-beater for 1/2 the price of the Ferrari ... a 458 competitor for $150K or less.

With so much history in the 911, I don't see Porsche moving away from the flat six rear engine design. That said, what probably will happen is we'll see the use of lighter materials, and more advanced engineering to wring more power out of the engine and overall lighter weight for even more nimble handling. Look at the new Boxsters, they are bigger cars than before, but are lighter, more fuel efficient and the base Boxster has 64 more bhp than the original one from the nineties. Whatever happens, Porsches will always be drivers cars. Meant to be enjoyed every day in all sorts of weather. That is one of the biggest differences between a Porsche and Ferraris, Lotus, other exotics. The new Porsche engines look like they will be more reliable with greater maintenance intervals and maybe even easier for enthusiasts to work on.

Reality check tells me , with the new laws enacted in Europe and the USA, Porsche is much more likely to go to Turbo 4's, in their production cars, than V8's. Cheers.

The new 918 is a mid-engined V8 engine and Porsche has already toyed with V8's in 911's. Will they change the 911 to a Boxster like mid-engined car some day ? The engineering effort has aleady been done. The rest remains to be see but it would not surprise me if they did.