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YOUR RESEARCHWhy no 911 folding hardtop?
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Check state-of-the-art just means "the way things are currently done."
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"Space-age" is almost as lame as "state-of-the-art." Last time I checked, state-of-the-art just means "the way things are currently done."
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It's more likely that a folding hardtop would drastically change the overall look of the car.
Use plastic rear windows in their convertibles until 2001
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Well remember this is the same company that continued to use plastic rear windows in their convertibles until 2001.
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Now even Mazda offers the retractable power folding hardtop with the Miata. BMW's Z4 has a great looking retractable top. Why hasn't Porsche offered the same with its 911? Maybe I'm missing something but nowadays a $100k convertible should have a power folding hardtop.
I agree. I'd love to see a retractable hardtop version of the 911. If I recall some of the press releases when the 991 cabriolet came out, I remember reading that Porsche said it's customers "prefer" the look of the canvas soft-top. They claim some even bought it for the look, even though they never put the top down. I doubt it.
I don't buy it. First off cabriolet buyers aren't in it for ultimate performance. And a carbon fiber folding top couldn't add that much weight. Cost wise? Cripes it's a $100k car, it can't add that much to MSRP. Although the intricate mechanicals of the new Targa will set you back an extra $14k over a coupe.
It's more likely that a folding hardtop would drastically change the overall look of the car. They need to be fairly flat and they greatly diminish the amount of headroom. So I think this is more a matter of aesthetics than performance.
Well remember this is the same company that continued to use plastic rear windows in their convertibles until 2001. Every other car manufacturer by then had gone to glass.
I think Porsche is a little slow when it comes to what we take for granted on other cars.
You're forgetting that Porsche has established a genius market strategy for itself in the car market: The less stuff the car has, the more money it costs.
On a similar note Michelangelo believed the characters were already in the rock and he was merely revealing them. By the CO paradigm why pay him? Don't we have convicts to make large rocks smaller?
I'm sure they are more than capable of designing a folding hard top that could fit in the back of the car (see: 991 Targa). But, if people are still buying them with a soft top, why devote the R&D money and investment in manufacturing equipment if they don't need to? Just like pretty much every other component in a mass-produced car, the almighty bean counters have the real final say in things, not the engineers and designers.
^ ...and why make them out of carbon fiber/titanium/carbotanium/whatever would be required to make a sufficiently light hard top when people are satisfied with a sheet of canvas...
This is generally the point where someone pipes up and says something about "if Porsche does it this way, that's obviously the best way to do it" and/or "who are we to rethink the engineering gods at Porsche."
I love that line of reasoning. It's the automotive equivalent of creationism.
^^^ Reminds me of the chuckle I get when I hear marketers using the phrase "space age technology." Yes, watch the ads and infomercials carefully....they still use this term!!!
Space-age... I guess that means any technology since the mid 1960s or so?
Well, if they can put a man on the moon, why can't Porsche or some other manufacturer invent a super-durable lightweight hard top material that folds in seconds into the size of a deck of cards? They've had nearly 50 years of "space age technology" to get this minor task developed. Lame, lame.
As I've said many times, next time they invent a universe, I want some serious input there.
"Space-age" is almost as lame as "state-of-the-art." Last time I checked, state-of-the-art just means "the way things are currently done."
This thread is wandering around like a geriatric Alzheimer's patient.
