> I'll probably wait until my Porsche engine (which runs perfect now) has some sort of expensive failure.
Don't get me started ;)
The engine is about as far off-center as it is possible to go on a Porsche, it's hanging over behind the rear axle.
Porsche's factory race cars have been mostly mid-engined all along, and the 914, Boxster, Cayman, and 918 Spyder are mass produced mid-engined models.
Mid-engined Porsches IMO are ideally suited for EV conversion because they have no back seat, but instead have room for a battery right in the middle of the car, where the impact on handling is reduced.
Porsche had a hilarious ad campaign for the Boxster supposedly marketing it towards families with kids… pointing out that you would have to leave the kids at home.
I actually disagree that the Boxster/Cayman are underpowered just to sell 911s, I think Porsche engineers know what they are doing there. They are lighter than an 911, and have less traction with the weight further forward. They can’t really make use of as much power as a 911, and don’t need as much. Maybe with a limited slip and real race tires, but otherwise the Boxster already has as much power as it can actually transfer to the ground. It looks underpowered on paper, but I don’t think that opinion would persist past driving one hard on a winding road… they have a ton more power than other similar light roadsters like an mr2, miata, or Lotus elise.
Your son must be smiling on his school ride :)
It's true though that they could easily upstage the 911 with something more like a street legal version of their mid engine race cars. They arguably did this with the Carrera GT and later 918, but they didn't sell well at over $800k.