Original Twin Porsche 914...

[venturaII]

Lifelong VW fan here, and yet I'll never own another.

[Wendynfxbj]

as i remember, cobywan has an original TT... not sure if it is WSC or VOLKS... have u done building the kit???

[Yardjass]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

But the failure of the 914 meant we had to wait 20 years for Porsche to attempt a mid-engined sports car again. But oh how life could have been different, an evolution of the intention of the 914 could be a V8 Mustang priced, mid-engined, flat four powered corner carver. But alas, Porsche was banished to the luxury market. Instead we got Toyota, Mazda, and Nissan doing their best to slay the Germans on a budget, so life didn't turn out too bad.

It would still be nice if VW, and other companies in general would try and make something. A non-turbo and non-luxury Cayman badged as a VW would be interesting, especially if they kept the engine and all of the internals the same so you could just turbocharge it afterwards anyway. I was a big fan of that VW bluesport concept that came out a few years back too. Shame they never made that.

[WolfpackS2k]

I suppose some sound deadening could be removed, but other than the leather seats, motorized recline motion of the seats (all other adjustments are manual) and 9 speaker standard stereo I'm not really sure what else you could remove from my Cayman to make it a lesser, non-luxury, VW version.

BTW even my VW base trim spec Golf has motorized recline for the front seats. Must be a weird German thing.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

BTW even my VW base trim spec Golf has motorized recline for the front seats. Must be a weird German thing.

Those silly Germans. They so gangsta.

[Yardjass]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

I suppose some sound deadening could be removed, but other than the leather seats, motorized recline motion of the seats (all other adjustments are manual) and 9 speaker standard stereo I'm not really sure what else you could remove from my Cayman to make it a lesser, non-luxury, VW version.

BTW even my VW base trim spec Golf has motorized recline for the front seats. Must be a weird German thing.

The Chevy Malibu rental I am driving right now has a full power driver's seat. Maybe that's just a given for new cars anymore. I think if they did it, most of the price reduction would have to come from economies of scale, with a little bit supplemented by actual cost cutting of materials.

[Ganthrithor]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

I suppose some sound deadening could be removed, but other than the leather seats, motorized recline motion of the seats (all other adjustments are manual) and 9 speaker standard stereo I'm not really sure what else you could remove from my Cayman to make it a lesser, non-luxury, VW version.

Why do that when you could put manual seats and strip out the stereo and sound deadening, put a decal on the hood instead of a badge and sell it for even more money as a GT product? :P

[TommyW]

I had a '72 1.7 and a '73 2.0. Those cars were amazing. I didn't care about the "Dude it isn't a Porsche" mentality I was in my 20's back then and I owned several 911's after that however the 914's were in a class of their own handling wise. My 86 gives me what I got from the 914's. I saw a nice '73 at Cars and Coffee last week for 30 grand. Damn shoulda kept it but my '73 911S is worth a fortune now. Oh well.....

[ben721364]

Originally Posted by venturaII

Sadly, the 914 was never allowed to wear the Porsche badge. All 914s you see with the Porsche crest on the hood were added by the owner.

How does a 'badge' affect performance or in any way improve the vehicle?

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by ben721364

How does a 'badge' affect performance or in any way improve the vehicle?

Did I say it did either? The shame is that internal marketing squabbles prevented it from wearing the badge of it's rightful designers and engineers.

[Yardjass]

Originally Posted by ben721364

How does a 'badge' affect performance or in any way improve the vehicle?

Nope, only stickers featuring the logos of companies that aren't even sponsoring you improve performance.

[Face_Plant]

If there was any Porsche I'd compare an FR-S/BRZ/86 to it would have to be the 944. My FR-S reminds me so much of my old 944 that is not even funny. Hell, it's even the same damn color as my old 944!

In terms of driving experience I think the 944 is as close as you'll get to an FR-S/BRZ/86. On a Porsche forum I used to be a member of there was a thread in the 924/944/951 section when the FR-S/BRZ was released about how it was a "modern day 944".