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YOUR RESEARCHIgnition key location
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Use few messages back,i ask why do some people refer
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Since the term was used a few messages back,I ask why do some people refer to Porsches as P-cars.
Leading evidence: 'Use few messages back,i ask why do some people refer' (no explicit attributable resolution; this is a reported action or suggestion). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'little like the power window buttons' (1 discussions; 0 report identifying it and 1 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Use few messages back,i ask why do some people refer' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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'P' or 'P car' are general Porsche web board shorthand conventions to save writing out that frequently used word.
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Probably a little like the power window buttons on, the older, BMWs [center console] versus almost all other cars [on the door panels].
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Suggestion
For people coming from other cars where the ignition key is on the right side - does it feel strange having to use your left hand ?
The engineers at Porsche, when they first entered the race, decided that with the ignition on the left, you could put the car in gear with the right hand, while using the left hand to start the engine.
The engineers at Porsche, when they first entered the race, decided that with the ignition on the left, you could put the car in gear with the right hand, while using the left hand to start the engine.
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For people coming from other cars where the ignition key is on the right side - does it feel strange having to use your left hand ? How about people that have two cars and go back and fort ? And more general, would people like to see Porsche move to a push-button type ignition ?
Having it on the left side will feel strange to me all right. I wouldn't mind a starter button.......but its not the rarity it once was and isgetting a bit used up now IMO.
So, here's the lore on why the ignition is on the left.
Back in the days when the Le Mans 24 hour race actually used the famous 'Le Mans start' - where the cars were all lined up at an angle, nose out, on one side of the track, and the drivers stood on the other... when the gun went off to start the race, the drivers ran across the track, jumped in the cars fastened their belts (sort of), started the car, put it in gear, and roared off to start the race. The door would close as you took off. The engineers at Porsche, when they first entered the race, decided that with the ignition on the left, you could put the car in gear with the right hand, while using the left hand to start the engine. With the ignition on the right, you have to do them with the same hand, and it's not as fast.
This is one thing that will probably not change. In fact, it is really strange to me to see the UK RHD cars with the ignition on the right...
brad
Beez,
Thanks for the explanation. I was totally mystified. I assumed some sinister [get it?] engineer in the distant past decided to force his design on the right-handed world.
I'm "mostly" right handed, but I definitely do some things left-handed. I can only guess that I was meant to be left-handed and was trained to be right.
Wait until you get yourself trained... after driving my turbo across the countery and back in three weeks last summer, and getting home and driving the bimmer and the honda insight, I was constantly jamming the key into the dashboard on the left side of the wheel. Luckily I didn't leave any marks.
When I heard the reason for the left hand ignition switch, it just made me think about how well the cars are engineered, when they can come up with such a simple solution to something like that.
brad
Edited by - beez on 01/12/2006 7:07:01 PM
The story of Le Mans was also told to me, and I can see that maybe maybe there was something to it in those days /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/regular_smile.gif I recall reading about British cars, whereby to open them, one had to roll the window down, and reach outside - is the key on the left in the same category/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/wink_smile.gif
Even my Porsche sales person told me that he would get confused going between Porsche and his other car - since we have many people here new to P-cars it will be interesting if people find it hard to go back and forth.
Probably a little like the power window buttons on, the older, BMWs [center console] versus almost all other cars [on the door panels]. You can fake your self out
Brad,
Thanks for sharing that bit of info! It adds to the mystic, and is unique to Porsche, I think? Does anyone know of any other car that has theignition on the left?
Aloha Russ
Crap, my old '94 Land Rover Defender has a key on the left... somehow I don't think Le Mans has much to do with it. Interestingly, even the current RHD Defenders, still sold to innocent victims in the UK have ignition on the left.
John
I prefer it on the left side, its a unique feature. I also wish porsche would switch over to a push start button, but I agree with Atlas Croc they are too used up. Beez- I dont think bmw owns Land Rover, they only made the engine for the Range Rover
Push button start is very effective ( in terms of reducing unneccessary motion ) ONLY if there is some kind of key fob device which will also unlock your door as you approach the vehicle, and would not require any type of "token" or fob to be inserted in the dash somewhere.... Basically killing any time saving, or convenience for the driver is the action of insrting some kind of "token " into the dash. I know, as my 550i sedan has a push button start, but because I did not order the $1,000 "automatic key-fob that stays in your pocket door unlocker thingie option", I still have to insert a fob, THEN push a button. So as a button pusher, I can attest that the button is a gimmick, unless there is no "fob insertion" required. I've had the Porsche key on the left before, I knew why it was there, and I did not like it at all. Still, I've bought the car. If I were lefty, I'd love it. I don't plan on performing any Le Mans start tricks in the Cayman, unless I really piss off my wife.
Since the term was used a few messages back,I ask why do some people refer to Porsches as P-cars. No references are made to Ferraris as F-cars, or BMWs as B-cars, or VWs as V-cars, and certainly this 'contraction' does not save time in saying the word, and only the immediate persons even knowthey may be referring to a PORSCHE. I am proud to say PORSCHE. Interesting, and worthy of further comment. I hope that the CAYMAN does not become a C-car, or people may think it is a Chevrolet or Cadillac, or Corvette, or Chrysler, or.......
Yep, you got a point my friend. It is a Porsche all the way for me! The word 'P-car' somehow I see a car the size of a pea, or worse yet Pee Wee Herman. Let's keep it Porsche.
Aloha Russ
Most of the long-time Porsche owners and PCA members I know call them P-cars and Porsches interchangeably all the time... trust me, no one considers it an insult to the marque.
brad
'P' or 'P car' are general Porsche web board shorthand conventions to save writing out that frequently used word. It's not generally used in conversation. I'm sure in time most everyone here will be speaking P fluently.
On Ferrari boards (e.g., Ferrarichat.com) you'll find posters there referring to 'F cars.'
Ignition on the left... gas tank in the front... trunk in the front... these are the little things I just love about Porsches. After switching to a "regular" car it took me a good month to get used to the standard right ignition on the steering column - how backwards!
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