Does it ever occur to Porsche-philes that their darling 911 sports a horrible, outmoded, dangerous basic design? It is little more than an Xth Generation VW Beetle, on steroids.
If you gave a hundred car designers a clean sheet of paper and told them to create the perfect sports car, NONE of them would propose putting the engine (center of mass) behind the rear, driven wheels. It is preposterous. None of them would design a car with a 96" wheelbase and two toddler seats in back.
In fact, when Porsche started putting serious power in the 911 (say, over 200bhp), the car became a death trap, just waiting to slide your ass into the nearest utility pole the first time you were too aggressive through a turn. The ONLY thing that makes them relatively safe now is the electronic wizardry (ABS, Traction Control, Stability Control) that keeps the tail end from flying out of control in hard cornering. (NOTE: A recent-year 911 is a wonderful car to drive - no denying it).
So the interesting thing is that the people at Porsche know all this, which is why none of their other vehicles has a rear engine, but they continue to tweak the 911, despite its horrible basic design, because that's what Porsche owners and fans expect. People who actually know about handling know that the Boxter/Cayman is a better sportscar, just not as well loved.
And similar things might be said about Harley Davidson. Their basic engine design is...stupid. NOBODY designing a modern engine today would create a 45 degree air-cooled V-twin with a single-pin crank. So year after year, they tweak this terrible design, trying to squeeze more and more torque (and HP) out of what is simply a bad design. The Japanese get more power out of engines with half the displacement, and some of them are even V-twins - but they are modern, balanced, water-cooled engines, unlike the Harley lump.
What brought this to mind for me is a new series of videos by a source called, "Bikes and Beards," where they are trying their best to accessorize a Road King so that it will produce 200bhp, with a turbo being the "icing on the cake." While they will probably never get there, they will no doubt spend more in add-ons than the cost of a used 'Busa that would eat that Road King alive in any sort of race.
Can you think of any other motorized products that continue to utilize obsolete technology or features, simply because that's what their customers expect?
If you gave a hundred car designers a clean sheet of paper and told them to create the perfect sports car, NONE of them would propose putting the engine (center of mass) behind the rear, driven wheels. It is preposterous. None of them would design a car with a 96" wheelbase and two toddler seats in back.
In fact, when Porsche started putting serious power in the 911 (say, over 200bhp), the car became a death trap, just waiting to slide your ass into the nearest utility pole the first time you were too aggressive through a turn. The ONLY thing that makes them relatively safe now is the electronic wizardry (ABS, Traction Control, Stability Control) that keeps the tail end from flying out of control in hard cornering. (NOTE: A recent-year 911 is a wonderful car to drive - no denying it).
So the interesting thing is that the people at Porsche know all this, which is why none of their other vehicles has a rear engine, but they continue to tweak the 911, despite its horrible basic design, because that's what Porsche owners and fans expect. People who actually know about handling know that the Boxter/Cayman is a better sportscar, just not as well loved.
And similar things might be said about Harley Davidson. Their basic engine design is...stupid. NOBODY designing a modern engine today would create a 45 degree air-cooled V-twin with a single-pin crank. So year after year, they tweak this terrible design, trying to squeeze more and more torque (and HP) out of what is simply a bad design. The Japanese get more power out of engines with half the displacement, and some of them are even V-twins - but they are modern, balanced, water-cooled engines, unlike the Harley lump.
What brought this to mind for me is a new series of videos by a source called, "Bikes and Beards," where they are trying their best to accessorize a Road King so that it will produce 200bhp, with a turbo being the "icing on the cake." While they will probably never get there, they will no doubt spend more in add-ons than the cost of a used 'Busa that would eat that Road King alive in any sort of race.
Can you think of any other motorized products that continue to utilize obsolete technology or features, simply because that's what their customers expect?
