Porsche GTS Club Coupe in Blue... Meh.

"matt miller" (mattmiller1973) 01/21/2015 at 11:19 • Filed to: None

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So Porsche just ``revealed'' (oooh!) it's 22nd? 23rd? 991 911 — it's the GTS Club Coupe.

It comes in a slightly darker blue than the 997 Speedster, kind of a royal blue?

I'm having ``image upload errors'' right now. Annoying. But the image isn't so great anyway — you know what a GTS looks like, Add a sport design package and make it a kind of lame color of royal blue. If you ask me, it should have been done in green, like the base Club Coupe.

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BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > matt miller 01/21/2015 at 11:41

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This is one-of-59, and only sold to Porsche Club of America members, commemorating their 60 years of promoting Porsche in the US. The 60th car is probably slated to be kept by the Porsche Museum or something.

It is almost a 'custom-factory-build', and isn't in their regular catalog to any Porsche buyer coming in off the street.

It is a GTS with Sport Classic package, plus some techquipment customizations, but even if a regular customer wanted to spec a blue GTS with these options, it won't be painted the same color, nor called a GTS Club Coupe, and isn't a wide-body RWD car... it would either be a narrow-body RWD Carrera GTS, or a wide-body AWD Carrera 4 GTS.

It is nice that Porsche is commemorating their enthusiast base with a special car, even if they are charging most of $140K for the privilege, and it is nice that companies actually offer the benefits of flexible manufacturing processes, where other car companies set a few packages, and it is their way or the highway.

Good on Porsche for offering so much variety, and the option for customers to get exactly what they want, and are willing to pay for.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > matt miller 01/21/2015 at 13:19

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I do love a ducktail...

matt miller > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 01/21/2015 at 14:11

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there is no such thing as a narrow body GTS — all GTS models have a big butt, even the RWD models. also, i wouldn't spec this color blue for free, but that's just, like, my opinion, man.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > matt miller 01/21/2015 at 14:18

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I stand corrected, I didn't realize that a RWD GTS was a wide-body car.

And I prefer more sophisticated blues like Cobalt and Aqua, compared to Mexico blue, 997 Speedster, and this 'Club Blau', myself.

I am just glad that Porsche hasn't gotten too arrogant for it's own customers, and offers them options, and special editions if they want them.

There are car companies that sell cars for much less money that still think that they are infallible, and their customers are chattel, and it is the manufacturer's narrow vision, or go pound sand.

It somewhat irks me that Porsche's variety and customization options gain ire from the commentariat about offering too much choice and customization, as if there is such a thing, short of losing lots of money and going out of business. Porsche is making bank on offering variation to their customers.

matt miller > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 01/21/2015 at 14:35

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agreed fully. as long as we're not talking about the cayenne or the panamera. i like the 50th anniv. a LOT. the sport classic too. too bad porsche does NOT offer a 991 GT3 with a stick.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > matt miller 01/21/2015 at 15:34

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I do wish they would offer that variety, but I can somewhat understand that GT3 is a race homologation car, and whether street or track, it is about lap times... and the PDK is faster, and a gated shifter with 7 slots might be a bit much to divert attention from the activity on hand.

I am less upset about a track car being limited to a dual-clutch gearbox (it isn't a torque-converter automatic, at least, like Tiptronic was.) I would be much more upset if nice road cars that are for the enjoyment of driving, not outright racing stats, lost their manual gearbox options.

As much as I hate to say it, a manual gearbox is becoming more of an enthusiast 'lifestyle' feature on a road car, rather than a true performance advantage that it once was.

Automated-clutch gearboxes are similarly physically friction-engaged by a clutch, not a fluid connection like a torque converter, and they shift gears faster than a human can, they can be computer optimized, more consistent with no missed shifts due to a momentary mistake by hand, losing precious time on a lap to correct the mistake, or avoid upsetting the car mid-corner, they can throttle match more quickly and easily, and can still be semi-manually activated more quickly than shifting a stick, without removing hands from the steering wheel, with just the click of a paddle.

There is a reason that those gearboxes came to production cars from F1 sorts of technology development. It is acceptable to me that the GT3 is sticking to the fastest possible option without offering the variance in the build process to put a mechanical shifter and an alternate gearbox in the car. The production expense and R&D cost is better spent making the car lighter or faster otherwise for the same overall cost, because GT3 is a solely focused race car, some of which happen to be road-legal. A composite roof skin, or other R&D seems better than doing double the driveline testing on a manual gearbox for the GT3's output.

Stick shifts are still very fun to drive, and that is their remaining appeal... being *fun*, rather than still claiming to be the fastest option.

I would be much more upset at the perfectly balanced, road-oriented 981 Boxster or Cayman sports cars losing their manual gearboxes. A pure-driving mid-engined, RWD road sports car like that is all about fun, and a manual gearbox still very much has a place there, more than a Grand Touring road car like 911s are starting to really become, with the convenience of automated shifting on long trips or commuting, with manual paddle shifting when you want it, or a race car's outright lap time performance that might slightly favor PDK.

I am glad there appears to be a GT4-oriented Cayman on the way... although it probably won't meet Carrera S/GTS's 4oo+ naturally aspirated horsepower, let alone GT3's even higher output.