Ocean 13

[charles.y]

Went to see Ocean 13 last night and was rather disappointed with the setup and plots etc. I still think the original Ocean 11 (i.e. series 1) is the best.

Something things don't usually get evolved/revised to the expectation with the exception of the 944 of course where they evolved to the final superb S2 and Turbo forms. The 968 was supposed to be 944 S3 and I am glad that they didn't cos I never like the shape and styling anyway esp. the 928 headlamps.

 

[John Sims]

And I thought this had nothing to do with 944's [] Clever link.

I like the 968 and wouldn't have had any issues with it being a 944 S3. It might have kept the price of 968's down a bit []. It's just as well there aren't readily available 968 Turbos or that would be my ultimate Porsche.

It is strange how people still see 930's, 964's, 993/6/7 all as 911's (the 997 even has a 911 badge on the rear) but consider the 968 as something different to the 944. There again, shouldn't the 944 be a 924 S2/S3 etc?

 

[H823ENM]

Blasphemy, the 944's a 944, it might share the odd component with the 924, but it also does with the 911 and the golf (both legends), I guess they all wanted perfection and the S2 has it ((but not in black or Red, (one fades and the other always looks dirty, apparently)).

I do think the 968 is quite pretty though, however I'm told that the 944 has considerable more presence when approaching the rear view mirror, something to do with the width , ahem!

M

 

[Diver944]

Charles surely has to win an award for the most off topic on topic title of the day

I've always seen the 924, 944, 968 as one in the same car, they do share the same chassis after all and I'm sure the name (or number) changes were only dreamt up by the marketing department.

 

[sawood12]

I too like the 968 however it always seemed to me to be one of those rare things where the new car was not quite as good as the car it replaced. By that I mean the uprated suspension and brakes were not carried over from the turbo. In a recent article in the PP it claims the 968 was 80% all new!! Seems like Porsche beat Tony Blair to the punch when it comes to Spin. I struggle to see where the all new elements come from apart from the obvious appearance of the thing.

 

[Justin85]

The only problem with 968's is the price. I've no doubt that the 968 was an improvement in most respects over the 944S2, albeit through gentle evolution, but there's no way it's enough of an improvement to justify such a large premium over a decent 944S2.

 

[sawood12]

Well it depends upon your definition of improvement. It had the same suspension and brakes as the S2 so the dynamically it was the same. It almost had as much power as the 250 turbo's, but they had uprated suspension and brakes and had LSD's so dynamically were better than the 968's. Maybe if they ever did a 968 turbo so the normal 968 was the S2 mk2 and the 968 turbo was the 944 turbo mk2 then things may have made more sense and it would have been a true successor. I hate to sound negative about the 968 because I really do like it, but where each variant of the 911 was a general improvement and step forward over the previous model somehow I fail to see how the 968 made similar strides over the 944. They should have given it 928 style double wishbone rear suspension. They should have done a turbo version. Porsche missed a golden opportunity. Maybe it was held back, even moreso than the 944, so as not to step on the toes of the 911. And unfortunately it spelt the demise of the Porsche front engined sportscar to this day, which is an accolade it doesn't deserve.

 

[944Turbo]

There was a 968 turbo, but it was built by the motorsport department and it is very rare and was very expensive (around £75k IIRC). It also only produced around 300BHP in road trim so many modded 944T;s have eclipsed it.

I dont know how accurate it is not having weighed them, but in the back of a number of magazines (eg EVO) the weight of an s2 is listed as less than a 968CS.
Tony

 

[wizard]

The 968 would be considered as a 'facelift' 944 in todays terminology. I get the impression Porsche wanted to bring the style of the car more in line with the 928 and 993 at that time an get away from what was really a late 1970's early 80's style.

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: wizard

The 968 would be considered as a 'facelift' 944 in todays terminology......

I agree 100% - pretty much as are all 911's.

The 968 has many components carried over from the 944 but there may be more subtle differences that make more of a difference.

We all know the 968 caster mount is better. It has a six speed gearbox. The rear windows are larger, and bonded in so they are smoother. None of us know if the 968 shell is more rigid than the 944 but I doubt it would have been designed to be less rigid.

While I don't think I would part exchange Beaky for a 968 I could be tempted to swap for a good Sport.