Although the very idea of a Porsche powered by a four-cylinder engine makes some of the sports-car brand's enthusiasts reach for stakes and garlic, Stuttgart has considerable form in making cars with just a quartet of cylinders. The 924, 944, and 968 all used inline fours under their over-long hoods. Go further back and the 914, 912, and 356 all had air-cooled flat-fours.
This isn't just an interesting historical diversion—four-hole engines are going to be playing a big part in Porsche's future as well. The company has already tacitly admitted that the Macan crossover will ultimately gain four-cylinder engines; we won't get them (we're getting a diesel instead) but they're critical for those parts of the world where punitive CO2 taxation punishes displacement. And company R&D boss Wolfgang Hatz has confirmed that we will be seeing turbocharged flat-fours in both the Boxster and the Cayman when they receive their midcycle refreshes. "We are working hard on it," he told journalists, "it will be a flat-four. You can calculate [its introduction] from when we launched the Cayman."
That suggests 2016 or 2017, although perhaps the biggest surprise here is that it's taken so long. Porsche has been discussing small-capacity turbo engines for its junior sports cars for years and years and years. Indeed, some were surprised when the current 981-generation Boxster launched without the option of a flat-four. But according to Hatz, the company's commitment to reducing CO2 emissions by at least 15 percent between product generations mean that both the Boxster/Cayman and the 911 will have to be switched to turbocharged power. (Witness our just-published spy shots of sub-Turbo turbo 911s.) "It has to be part of the strategy," said Hatz.
Leading to the next question: Will there still be a six-cylinder Boxster or Cayman alongside the new models? Hatz said that the forthcoming Cayman GT4 and 911 GT3 RS will definitely have naturally aspirated flat-sixes, but refused to confirm that Porsche will continue to offer non-turbocharged engines in anything other than 'GT' models beyond that. With the current Boxster sixes producing between 265 and 330 horsepower it's not hard to envisage a new turbo-four engine, likely with around 2.0 liters of displacement, being able to match or beat those outputs.
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In other words, if you'd like a naturally aspirated Porsche but can't afford a GT version, it might be a good idea to move your purchase plans forward.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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