[Cloud9blue]

Here is the thing. Porsche could have continue making niche market cars, just like Lotus. But it would have been a terrible business plan for them... If I have to choose a between a very well polished but a little watered down 911 or a "focused" 911 that is made by some company that is on the verge of bankruptcy and barely has enough R&D money pour into its newest product, I would pick the "watered down" one...

I don't really agree with a lot of what you said about turbo cars. You can't hear them??? Sure you can't hear a 320 or 328i at all, but you sure as hell will hear a M4 or a 911 Turbo coming from a block away. Btw, E9x M3 sounds extremely tame with stock exhaust (and honestly sounds terrible at idle), and certainly won't raise anyone's attention on the street. It is a different matter with some good aftermarket exhaust though.

And the comparison of radio-quartz vs mechanical watches (which to mind you, the Swiss watch industry is very tightly regulated to avoid water down the profit margin, much like the diamond industry) is just silly since a high performance FI engine is quite a bit more complex and expensive to produce than NA engine of equivalent output, which isn't the case with watches.

At the end of the day, it is all down to personal preference. NA has a charm of its own, so do FI (endless torque rush that is impossible to reproduce without going EV, turbo whines and blow off sounds, etc.) It is totally cool to prefer one over the other, but there is certainly no need to discredit turbo engines just for the sake of doing so, which is seems to trends these days.

The main problem with turbo of the old days is throttle response, which is again contradictory to the current trends, since it was the turbo lags that made those old school turbo engines so interesting to drive (930, 959, F40, XJ220, the list goes on...) Funny how public opinion can be shifted so dramatically over time, no?

But like you said it yourself, the newer engines has virtually no lag when the engine is in its optimal rpms... So what is not to like? The sound, is that it? The NA flat six never sounded THAT GOOD to begin with... So I am not sure how that argument works... It is not like the older 911 sounded like a Carrera GT or S85 with straight pipes, then you guys might have a point. IMO, the 9A2 engine sounds fine even without PSE exhaust, and sound much closer to the traditional sound of 993 and such, without the raspyness of the 996 and 997 engines.

GT3 (starting at $120-130K here in US) really isn't that expensive btw, a mildly optioned C2S or GTS can cost just as much if not more. The problem is the availability of the GT3, which you have to blame on Porsche for producing such limited numbers to intentionally hype up the market. Say whatever you want, Porsche is probably the best in the business when it comes to manipulating its intended market.

In all, I think the 991.2 is a great car and retain the original characteristics of the car while making it a more accessible street car for more people, and all these turbo vs NA or the 911 vs Corvette (which is a much cheaper and less practical car made by a company that I would rather not buy anything from) comparison is downright silly. The upcoming turbo flat-4 boxster and cayman on the other hands... hummm, I am not so sure.