-hh
David Fritzinger wrote:

-hh <recscuba_google@huntzinger.com>wrote: Brake Dive, Acceleration Squat, Body Roll Works LLC wrote:

Brake Dive, Acceleration Squat, Body Roll Works LLC
But, alas, there is no manual, I think, only DSG or a slushbox.

-hh
The Porsche USA's Configurator for the Cayenne (base)...However... Similarly, the specs on the forthcoming Macan are similarly indicating auto-only, at least for the time being; I believe it is going to be using a DSG (meh). But the early reviews seem pretty positive and even the current base trim would spank a Q7 TDI in Nicolas's "drag race wannabe" mode. IIRC, the very first production samples are due at US dealers later this spring; perhaps I'll see if they'll let me take one out for a test drive...

David Fritzinger
I realize that the Cayenne saved Porsche's bacon, since Porsche was in some financial trouble at the time. However, a Porsche SUV still seems sacreligous to me.

-hh
Understandable. I believe that what transpired was that markets have to adapt to changing consumer interests and they were confronted with the decision of either going smaller and into the narrower niche occupied by the Italians (Ferrari, etc), or trying to figure out a way to grow (some) in a direction that would generally foster existing customers to buy a second instance at the same time. With the popularity growth of SUVs then (and continuing to today), a product that was more utilitarian looked like a good opportunity, particularly with VWAG looking to break into that same market for platform sharing of development & manufacturing costs.

Another direction that they probably considered would have been some sort of revival of the affordable two door hot hatchback such as was the 924/944/968...but as one can see from what products exist in the US Market, that's a small niche and not a growth segment - they never would have been able to have offered a product that would sell 50-80K units/year such as the Cayman has. With the Macan, I suspect that more would claim that its design is closer to their heritage roots, but from the business side of the books, current industry reports are suggesting that based on wait times in key markets, it looks like they're going to easily exceed their introductory year goal of 50K units, and thus be another good ROI. Time will tell what that means in regards to their future direction - - for the classical enthusiast it probably isn't all that rosy, as the 911 continues to be a stray from its austere roots, and the scuttlebutt is that the next product (7th) will be a "Panamera Junior", to potentially compete in the 5 Series and E Class range...which IMO probably then also includes the new Maserati Ghibli. But all of that aside: at 5.2sec, it also utterly smokes the 7.7sec 0-60mph time of the Q7 3.0 TDI that EgoBoy has been trying to brag about as the "Ultimate Performer". :-)

-hh