German Car Zone

Screw pedestrians, if they can't keep on the sidewalk, let them pay for it...

Video: http://www.motorauthority.com/spy-shots-998-porsche-911-test-mule.html

I'd be a happy Pedestrian if the car that hit me were a 911. I could tell all my friends!... from the hospital bed that is... hehehe

Bloody hell, the pedestrian laws are killing car design!!! Just look how freaking upright the front end is, utterly terrible. Certainly hope the final product doesn't have to be that upright. Good to see that development is steaming on. I see the rear end is covered up in the same manner as the Panamera. Pop-up expandable wing is pretty expected as it will be featured on every upcoming Porsche. The 997 GT3 is a work of art so I can't even dream of what I would want the next generation to be.

The test mule looks quite long though which makes me believe that Porsche are bumping up the cylinders to 8 as the flat 6 seem to has reached it's limit. I'm very curious about the so called "engine of the future" that TechArt got their hands on last year from a guy that stole a couple of them from the Porsche R&D center.

The test mule reminds me of the 959. The back of the car harks back to the 935 Le Mans racers of the early 1980's.

I doubt Porsche will put a flat-8 engine into the 998 given the need to reduce emissions and fuel economy. I think one of the Porsche engineers did say on the record at the launch of the facelift 997 that the 998 will continue to use the an improved version of the new DFI flat-6 engine and drivetrain (PDK and new 4WD system). But a little flat-8 engine would be an absolute gem!

Yes, the overzealous EU pedestrian safety laws have made cars uglier no doubt. But I thought mid and rear engined Porsches might be less affected because there is no need to artificially create additional "space" between the bonnet and the top of the engine to lessen the impact between the car and the pedestrian as you would in a front engined car. We shall see how the Porsche designers and engineers deal with this problem.

True the less cylinders the better but in the end Porsche is a sports car manufacturer and won't slow down, likewise Lamborghini or Ferrari. A flat 8 is quite a drastic move but with the 997 facelift Porsche has squuezed out the last juice out of the flat-6. The only options are to bump up the displacement or increase the number of cylinders. You can go flat-8 and still be environmental friendly by designing a system that can shut of 2 cynlinders. Either way I'm not seeing that coming. Porsche will most likely retain the current engine modify it and focus on keeping the weight on the car down.

or simply go BMW's way. Turbo but small ones.

lol!!!!!

There is another way to squeeze out more power from the flat 6. Those cam-less engines are not far away from production, so there is a possibility that the 998 will use such a device.