"it would not have cost Porsche anything" - not true

I was reading an article in Excellence about the GTS. "According to the drive train engineer Matthias Hofstetter, there are no mechanical changes to the engine internals, and the modest power and torque increases come from a combination of ECU remapping and the slightly reduced back pressure of the sports exhaust system." I guess I must already have some of that extra hp since I have the PSE. However, the additional hp is "free" to Porsche (just different programming for the ECU). The only reason I don't have 340 hp of the new Cayman GTS (or more?) is so Porsche can protect the image of the 911. Then Porsche has compounded it by making it extremely difficult (and expensive) to re-flash the ECU in the 981. As a practical matter, that 25 hp probably would not change my driving experience at all - it just bugs me that the Boxster is not "all it can be" - especially since it would not have cost Porsche anything to give it to me. (I do wonder how much the PSE adds - maybe 2 or 3 hp???).

Simple solution:
Open your Owners' Manual to the Specification page.
On the line that's titled "horsepower," scratch out 315 and write in 340.
Then drive the car hard. Fast, huh?
See? It worked!

Yeah, driving around town, cruising on the highway, we use a small fraction. But even in aggressive driving....... Sure, we all want more HP... but I never, never thought I would say this, but the 385 in 2009 C2S is enough. It really is.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

... roads.

On the track, OTOH, every last one of them. And give me more Scotty, i need more power!

So its a binary equation in my mind.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

I wonder what is involved to "re-flash" a Boxster CPU to get the extra 25 hp? Is that something we could do with a group purchase? So, for example, say 20 guys in DC (were I live) approached an indy shop do this. They do the research, set things up, and arrange a dedicated half or full day to re-flash 20 cars. Let's say it's $100/car = $2,000 to the shop for probably no parts, just one man's day of computer work. I'd do it for $100. 25 hp is not huge, but I bet it is noticeable. More noticeable than changing a number in my manual

Then again, once it's out of warranty-- maybe a reflash will be more appealing.

[www.evoms.com]

Peace
Bruce in Philly

I've got my marker out - think I'll change it to 400 hp!

On U.S. public roads, you are right. It just bugs me that the marketing people at Porsche took away that extra h.p. OTOH, on German public roads, that extra would come in handy. Last year, I drove both a base 911 and a 911S on the autobahn. Over 150 mph, the extra horses make a difference.


Lawdevil
2013 Boxster S - Agate Grey,
2016 Macan Turbo - jet black
Cashiers, NC & Atlanta

Quote
Lawdevil & CURVN8R
I've got my marker out - think I'll change it to 400 hp!

On U.S. public roads, you are right. It just bugs me that the marketing people at Porsche took away that extra h.p. OTOH, on German public roads, that extra would come in handy. Last year, I drove both a base 911 and a 911S on the autobahn. Over 150 mph, the extra horses make a difference.

[www.planet-9.com]

A number of people have been working on this for quite a while and nobody to this point has "cracked " the ECU.
It's interesting that the 987.2 ECU has been modded by Softtronic but not the 981 at this point.

If they could make you happier without it costing them anything they would do it. They rely on their 911 sales to stay in business, at least for the time being.

I think it is pretty speculative to say it would cost Porsche money to "un-detune" the 981. I doubt that the GTS will hurt 911 sales (it is only 10 hp short of the base 911); I really wonder how many 911 buyers would buy a 981 anyway if the 981 had the same hp. Of course, the other solution is to up the hp in the base 911. While we are on the topic, why detune the Boxster to have 10 hp less than the Cayman? I know I could never tell the difference (1/10th second 0-60), but it wold seem pretty easy to have the same ECU programming for both cars.

for people who buy cars by the numbers.

Where's the first place that most people look when they're comparing car test reports? It's all about the HP and 0 - 60 mph time.

There are enough people that either can afford it or want to look like they can, will buy a Porsche turbo. Why? Because they want the most powerful car. And, some of them will be the slowest drivers in a fun run - and we're only talking about enthusiastic driving, not race track speeds.

So, yes. The 0.1 second time difference to 60 mph is really important to some - even if they can't (really) tell the difference. It's all marketing.

In the case of the Boxster=Cayman hp differential, I guess they need it to justify the price relationship between the two cars - the only case I know where the couple is more expensive than the convertible.

Lawdevil
2013 Boxster S - Agate Grey,
2016 Macan Turbo - jet black
Cashiers, NC & Atlanta

Is it clear that there actually IS a horsepower difference between the Boxster and the Cayman? On the Porsche website, all the Boxster HP ratings (normal, S, GTS) are at 6700 RPM while the Cayman HP ratings (normal, S, GTS) are all at 7400 RPM. And all the Cayman HP ratings are 10 HP higher than the similar Boxster. FWIW.

Although it's been reported that the 981 has a tough time achieving its top speed. (Perhaps due to its relatively early hp peak.)