Ajjra

I must admit that there ae so many Audi parts in a 944 that it's a toss up

FormerH22a4

I think honda come out on the short end of the stick. The Honda Tiptronic sucks big time, you thought the 2nd gear grind was a problem

yu888

Not sure which tiptronic Honda car you have, but mine (in my Acura TL) seems to work very well, and considering my other car is my S2000, you get an idea of how I drive . Which one do you have that you detest so much? ...(then again, I dont get 2nd gear grind now either)

I can see why Honda and Porsche would partner in such a way, as they rarely would compete, and Honda doea do production very well. I hope Honda got nmore than the Tiptronic out of the deal, but we may never know

Thanks Bieg for the post.

FormerH22a4

[QUOTE]Originally posted by yu888
[B]

Not sure which tiptronic Honda car you have, but mine (in my Acura TL) seems to work very well, and considering my other car is my S2000, you get an idea of how I drive .

S2kRob

I don't think it was Honda, but rather Toyota. I believe Toyota has the highest quality control of any manufacturer in the world. They are at 6 sigma levels.

Anyways, if you look at a 993 and then at a 996, the differences are quite obvious. The 996 is much cheaper to manufacture. For example, the door latch on a 993 is held on by 3 large bolts, while on the 996, two much less heavy duty bolts suffice. Perhaps Japanese efficiency does not suit a Porsche (at least to that degree.)

TimSJ

I seem to recall reading a similar story, except that the help came from Toyota rather than Honda. Several manufacturing engineer types from Toyota were brought in to streamline the Boxster/996 lines to operate with a Just In Time system. The explanation that was given as to why Toyota was working with another company is that Porsche was one of very few car companies that was not on Toyota's list of "competitors." Honda may have had a part in this as well.

Porsche collaborating with another company is not unusual. The Volkswagen/Audi ties are well known. Porsche has also shared technology with Mercedes. The automatic transmission in the 928 was a Mercedes box, and Porsche did much of the assembly of the Merc 500E several years back.

The fact that Porsche has remained independent is really amazing. Fiat owns Ferrari, Ford has bought up Jag, Aston Martin, etc. The article I read also stated that Porsche does a lot of engineering consulting on many non-automotive products. They are very careful, though, about keeping the clients from name dropping in their advertising out of fear of tarnishing their image (i.e. this toaster designed by Porsche).

The success of the Boxster and Carrera also has a lot to do with the sharing of components between the models. A company like Honda can build an NSX as an image builder and it doesn't really matter how profitable the car is. Even if the NSX was 100% profit it wouldn't make a ripple in Honda's bottom line. Porsche, on the other hand, needs every model to be profitable to stay alive, and they have to do it with small production numbers. In addition, they have to build and develope front running race cars in order to maintain the "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" theme. That's why I support the upcoming Cayenne. I hate SUV's and cringe at the thought of a sports car builder such as Porsche building one, but if that's what it takes for them to stay alive, so be it.

Tim

dbw

the last real porsche was built in 1959.

S2kRob

Tim,

Actually, Porsche has a huge consulting business, and I am sure that they consulted on the ride and handling on some Toyota vehicles as an exchange. Porsche keeps their clients very secretive, but I do know that Subaru is certainly among them, in fact the very yummy Subaru Legacy Blitzen is a model that is tuned aerodynamically and dynamically by Porsche and sold at Subaru dealers (sadly only in Japan).

Ulrich

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TimSJ
[B]I seem to recall reading a similar story, except that the help came from Toyota rather than Honda.

Ulrich

[QUOTE]Originally posted by S2kRob
[B]Tim,

Actually, Porsche has a huge consulting business, and I am sure that they consulted on the ride and handling on some Toyota vehicles as an exchange.