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Why won't automakers slap on a turbo badge anymore?

Where have all the turbos gone? Not the actual pieces that go in the engine, mind you, those are everywhere these days as automakers downsize cylinder counts and boost efficiency and CO2 claims. But the turbo badges and fanfare are missing. Back when turbos were something to get excited about there was "turbo-driven," "turbonium," and "The Turbo Zone," among other silly lines. But now that basically every car is getting some sort of boost even on the lowliest trims, automakers are almost sliding in the turbos under the radar. Or if you look at some of the nomenclature, pretending they don't exist at all. The 911 Turbo badge shows where the car goes from being sane to lunatic. It's an important border. The latest automaker to hide that it has boosted the turbo presence is Porsche with the 2017 911 lineup. Even the standard Carrera models now get turbocharged flat-six engines, meaning the 911 Turbo models aren't quite as special as they once were. Porsche is in a sticky situation with this. The 911 Turbo, after all, signifies where the 911 family takes off from being a sports car and becomes the Ferrari fighter. The 911 Turbo badge shows where the car goes from being sane to lunatic. It's an important border, but now Porsche has crossed it and is trying to downplay the fact. There are a lot of exaggerations with displacement badges today, with claims the 2.0-liter turbo four in a Mercedes C Class equates to a naturally aspirated 3.0-liter six to make a C300. Volvo is pretty far up there, too, saying an XC90 T8 means V8 power, even though it's a 2.0-liter turbocharged and supercharged four with electric assist. I don't know why BMW can't just call the car a 330i Turbo, rather than inflating the numbers up to 340i. Saab tried all of this back in the '90s when it decided to turbocharge its entire lineup, from light pressure units all the way up to models actually called "Saab 9-3 HOT" (for high-output turbo). But then the brand deleted any external reference to the turbo under the hood and people wondered why they were buying a $42,000 four-cylinder convertible. And that didn't turn out well. Even though these turbo replacements often make more power than their naturally aspirated predecessors, they're very different engines. People knew something changed when they exchanged their leased 328i with a 3.0-liter six for a 328i with a 2.0-liter turbo four.

McLaren rules out Porsche Cayman competitor

McLaren has gone downmarket with the introduction of its new Sports Series, but don't expect it to go any lower than that. So while the 570S goes up against the Audi R8 and Porsche 911 Turbo, the likes of the TT and Cayman can rest easy. Speaking with Autocar, McLaren designer Robert Melville ruled out the prospect of developing a sports car positioned lower than the Sports Series. Melville dismissed the idea of a Cayman rival from Woking as "a step too far" and "not exclusive enough" for McLaren. "You look at Ferrari. They are coming from very high end. [The 570S] is stretching us down to R8s and 911s and is as low as we'd want to come." The limit may be dictated, more than anything, by the building blocks. The newly introduced Sports Series adopts the same essential hard points as the higher-end Super Series (650S) and Ultimate Series (P1). Like its more expensive siblings, it features a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and bolted to the back of a carbon monocoque chassis. Only instead of selling for $265k like the 650S or over $1 million like the P1, the 570S will retail for under $190k. Volume is how the manufacturer aims to make up the difference. In fact McLaren stands to generate as much revenue (if not necessarily the same profit margin) selling 2,500 units in the Sports Series each year as it has producing all 375 examples of the P1. Making those same building blocks available at a lower price point – or developing an entirely new set – would be an entirely different proposition... one which McLaren is evidently less than keen to undertake. So while we can look forward to new versions of the Sports Series to follow – including Spider and GT variants soon to follow – more commonplace stablemate appears to be off the table. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2016 McLaren 570S: First Drive View 34 Photos News Source: AutocarImage Credit: Copyright 2015 AOL McLaren Porsche Performance Supercars mclaren 570s mclaren sports series

Porsche planning back-to-basics 911 GT

With the latest 911 GT3 and GT3 RS track toys, Porsche clearly put the emphasis on outright performance. After all, if they were all about a puristic driving experience, they'd probably have manual transmissions instead of DCTs, right? Well that's just one point where the Porsche GT division's next project is tipped to depart. According to Autocar, Zuffenhausen's skunkworks are preparing a new addition to the 911 range that will put all the emphasis on the raw driving experience, even at the expense of lap times. The yet-to-be-named model is expected to do away with the second clutch in favor of one you can operate yourself, but that's not all. We're told to expect skinnier tires to make it easier to hold at the limits of adhesion, the narrowed track from the base Carrera, and the absence of large wings and other aerodynamic features. The inspiration apparently comes less from the GT3 than from the new Cayman GT4. Look for the new back-to-basics Elfen to arrive sometime next year, after the rest of the 911 range gets updated with turbo engines. Chances look good, though, that this particular model will stick with the atmospheric boxer six. Related Video: