Ok, so the 997 was released a while ago. So far we have the Cabriolet and Cab S and that is on the website under their models. then they released the C4 and C4S, but those arent in the model list, but they've already released pictures of the Cab4 and Cab4S, all without putting the cayman S on the model list yet... why do they keep letting pictures of new models when they havent finished the previous ones yet? allllsoooo, does the release of the Cab4S mean that the 997 Turbo is next?

The Turbo is coming in September, probably with the Targa at the same time (if they produce a 997 Targa at all...that's still up in the air). I would bet on the GT3 coming after the Turbo, maybe around Christmas.

i heard that there wasnt even a chance of the Targa for the 997. where did you hear different?

Excellence magazine leads me to believe that it's possible but not definite, but that was awhile ago...back when the 997 was just first coming out. I dunno if anything's changed.

Well according to my sources from my friend at the Porsche dealer. A Targa "is" being looked over but it's very uncertain whether they want to pull through with the car. Poor sales in 2004-2005 will probably mean the end of the Targa.

i heard originally that porsche would not be making a Targa or a GT2, and this was from Excellence, SCI and GT Purely Porsche. However in more recent atricles in all of these magazines Porsche
executives have made reference to "the release of the GT2 and Targa, following the release of the Turbo and GT3.

so my interpretation has been that the 997 range will not be very different from the out-going 996 range

looking at This logically, the only panel om the 997 which has not been changed between the 996 and 997 is the roof, which I would say, means it would be veery very cheap for porsche to make a Targa Version of this car, seeing as how the main difference between a Targa and a coupe is the roof.

Personally i wish the targa wasnt a stand alone model, i liked the old days when nearly every 911 (except the cabrio of course) could be ordered as a targa, I love the idea of the glass roof targa, but have never been a serious fan of the 996 C2, however i would seriously drool over a 996 Turbo targa.

so take home message, good likely hood there will be a 997 targe, but as for the next "ALL NEW" 911 (remember the 997 is only an interm series) I wouldn't hold my breath for one.

That may be true, but the 996 targa was Cabrio-based, and the 997 cabrio body is different (aka, the 'hump' is smaller and flatter, yadda yadda) so it's not just a matter of plopping the 996 roof onto the 997 Cabriolet to make a 997 Targa...they'd have to make a new top mechanism. Besides, knowing Porsche, they'd probably end up redesigning the whole top anyway to make it better if they didn't really have to.

As for the 997 being an interim model, remember than the 993 shared a lot of things with 911 #1...despite its production ending 34 years after 901 production started in 1964. Hell, the 993 had the same basic interior design, the same roof, similar windows, and the same wheelbase as the '69 911. I know, I know, times are a'changin' and Porsche will probably never run a model's basic architecture for 34 years again, but I sincerely doubt the 998 will be a particularly radical departure from the 997 structurally...it certainly won't be clean sheet.

I know the original 1982 Cabrio' was based on the targa, and that subsequent targas may have been based on the Cabrio, but I was under the impression that because the new (993 & 996) Targas retained the side rails they could be based on the coupe, making them cheaper to produce, as you dont need all of the re-enforcement you require in a proper cabrio', and giving them better structural rigidity.

I may be wrong, Ill have to go back in time and read my excellence which first talks about the 996 Targa...im sure they mention which model they based the 996 targa on in there, spring of 2002 if im not mistaken.

I think the 993 was based on the coupe, which made it more expensive to produce, but I know for a fact that the 996 Targa was cabrio based. The cabrio's stiffer floor structure and open-ness makes it an ideal start for the Targa.

I have just read Excellence 107, and it says that the 996 Targa is not based on the Cabrio,"unlike previous targa models" (page 89).

i think because the main structural supports are still retained in the 993 & 996 Targa (the beams extending from the windshield to the rear deck) you dont need the added body rigidity which is designed into the cabrio's chassis

Yeah, i just read that article this morning...I got it exactly backward. 993 was cabrio-based and 996 coupe-based, not the other way around.

And leif: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2088448

XD

very nice, thanks for the link...