I just received Automobile Magazine's new cars issue. On page page 76, they review the 991 with the following comment:

"All new 911s will come with automatic start/stop technology to help reduce fuel consumption"

Uh, is this supposed to be a good thing?

I care as little about letting the engine shut down to save a little gas as I do about getting a PDK to save 0.2 seconds going from 0 to 60...

I guess I'm just old fashioned, I want the engine running and to be able to shift the car as I feel fit at that given moment.

 

Cool advertisement, though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYDFA...e_gdata_player

 

Cool video. Thanks.

 

The new M3's come with this also but there is an option to turn it off. Not sure if that is the case on the 991.

 

Yes, it can be switched off in the 991.

 

I had a Panamera service loaner with this feature. It defaults to off, but you can set it to come back on. Pretty unobtrusive. Car doesn't cool significantly for the few minutes it can actually be off. Supposedly mainly effective in cities where traffic lights are long, and more for pollution reduction than mileage savings (although it does bring a significant mileage savings on the EPA tests, actual results are not nearly as favorable)

I couldn't tell a difference in fuel mileage with the feature enabled on my late 2011 build M3 either. And, if you needed to get away from a light in a hurry, the feature was pretty annoying.

 

The 911 engine stays hot for a long time. How can starting and starting be OK for an engine?

 

Why wouldn't it be ok? It doesn't take the huge amount of fuel to start a DI motor, and they put in a heavy duty starter to take the stress of many starts. Will the starter wear fast? Yes. Being dry sump, the concern about oil moving away from the moving bits is less of a concern too.

 

I have always been of the opinon (possibly incorrectly) that the hardest thing we do to our engines daily is start them. (I think I learned that from the marketing department of Vavoline, in an old TV commercial)

 

Start/stop is very popular in Europe, in fact I was told by euro mechanic that all new vehicles starting in 2013 need to start stop

 

I drove a Panamera 4 with start-stop as a loaner when I had my 997 serviced recently. Thankfully, just as I was thinking that the car was stalling the first time start/stop kicked in, I remembered that it was "normal."

FWIW, my review of start/stop after driving the Panamera for a day is mixed. On the one hand, I like the energy conservation benefit and it was kind of nice to have the car be quiet with no vibration while sitting at a long light. On the other hand, I found myself hoping it wouldn't kick it while waiting to turn right and knowing that I was going to have to have power immediately to fit into a slot in traffic.

Net, net, the good news is that the feature can be switched off in the Panamera and I can't imagine this won't also be the case with the 991.

 

LOL! Says a lot about it being put in a high performance sports car doesn't it!

 

man, how many buttons do i have to press before i start driving:

sport mode
pasm normal
start/stop off
psm off

 

That's because the motor is cold and has been sitting overnight; the oil will have drained away from a lot of the critical parts.

This doesn't happen in 2-3 minutes sitting at a light. Just uses less gasoline. Wear is not really an issue... but responsiveness from the light is. I go back and forth depending on my mood. I don't miss it in my C2S.

 

You forgot ventilated seats! Hehehe