Porsche has been building liquid-cooled 911s for 25 years

The liquid-cooled Porsche 911 was once unimaginable, but the automaker has been building it for 25 years now.

Porsche started introducing liquid-cooled road cars in the 1980s. 924944, and 928Still, the automaker’s flagship 911 continued to embrace liquid cooling, which was considered a key part of its identity. Porsche had been building air-cooled rear-engined sports cars from the beginning, so it was difficult to break tradition.

The end of air-cooled Porsche came in 1997, when the 996 generation of the 911 was unveiled at that year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. The horizontally opposed 6-cylinder engine was in the usual place, but this time it is air-cooled.

August Achleitner, who was in charge of technical product planning, vehicle concept and packaging at the time, said: “The air-cooled two-valve design per cylinder had reached its technical limits in terms of emissions and power. , conducted an experiment with this engine.” Porsche said in a statement. “And various air-cooled 4-valve boxers didn’t work because of various hotspots they couldn’t deal with.”

Porsche 911 (996 generation)

Porsche had been experimenting with the 911 V-8 in 1989, says Achleitner, but the 996 provided the perfect opportunity to implement it. This was the most thorough redesign of the 911 to date, with unorthodox styling that eliminated the classic round headlights (returned in the 997 911) and shared parts with the first generation. Porsche BoxsterSo it was perfect timing to switch to liquid cooling.

Predictably, some Porsche enthusiasts were dumbfounded, claiming they would never touch a liquid-cooled 911. However, the car was a success and he sold 175,000 during its run. The parts-sharing concept allowed Porsche to develop and produce the Boxster on a relatively tight budget.No longer bound by tradition, the Porsche of the time Cayenne launched, secured its financial future. This would not have been possible without the 996 911. I mean, pardon the pun. It was a turning point for Porsche.