Quote:
Originally Posted by ruff
Swamp,
Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to stimulate discussion. Nice work and write up.
Porsche seems to be the only sports car manufacture who's actions speak louder than their marketing, at least in the weight department. They dropped 408 lbs on the the new Cayenne Turbo. The seats in the GT3 and Cayman are light because they are not loaded with electronic gizmos. That is because most Poschephiles abhor the comfy adaptive sports seats option due to the weight penalty.
On the other hand, the vast majority of new BMW enthusiasts won't buy an M car that isn't loaded to the gills with heavy comfy options, audio systems and and electronic do dads. And these same "enthusiasts" then complain about wanting BMW to build cars that are lighter and perform better on the track. Sorry, but it just doesn't work that way.
It reminds me of complaints about elected officials. We want them to bring the deficit under control but the second they cut one of our entitlements, we throw them out of office.
The simple adage remains true: "you can't have your cake and eat it to."
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Great point and great anology ruff. Not following Porsche nearly as closely as BMW I don't know the details of their weight savings achievements. Can you tell us more about what models in the 997 line up (or Boxster, Cayman) have achieved in terms of weight reduction?
The odd thing about weight reduction from Porsche is that for every "real" Porsche "enthusiast" out there, there are 100 dentists, lawyers and wealthy housewives who don't give a damn about handling (or perhaps slightly more accurate - handling anywhere close to a the car's limits).
I think the new 1M shows that BMW is willing to get back to roots a bit. Sure the car is not an E30 M3 but it is fairly spartan compared to a loaded M3. And, as I've mentioned, it is lighter than the 135i.