The 992-series 2020 Porsche 911 overhauls the skin and everything underneath.
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2020 Porsche 911
The 992-series 2020 Porsche 911 overhauls the skin and everything underneath.
Image Credit: Porsche
2020 Porsche 911
The front and rear fascia are made of steel, the rest of the coupe fashioned from aluminum save for any optional roof, like the tilting sunroof made of steel, and the glass, carbon, or magnesium roof panels.
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2020 Porsche 911
The full-length stretch of black intake across the front inspired a colleague to say, 'It looks like the car swallowed a hockey puck.'
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2020 Porsche 911
The infinitely variable front flaps sync with a three-position adaptive rear spoiler that has 45 percent more aerodynamically-effective area. The spoiler takes up its Performance position at 57 mph in normal conditions, canceling rear axle lift.
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2020 Porsche 911
Combined with changes to the suspension, Porsche Stability Management System (PSM), tire compound, and larger rear brakes, the new 911 stops five feet sooner from 62 mph, 40 feet sooner from 180 mph.
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2020 Porsche 911
The Volkswagen Group’s new MMB modular architecture is made for mid- and rear-engined cars.
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2020 Porsche 911
Interchangeable front and center sections mate to a rear section unique to the 911. The next-generation 718 Cayman and Boxster will migrate to the MMB as well.
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2020 Porsche 911
The 992’s structure contains 30 percent steel, down from 63 percent in the 991.
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2020 Porsche 911
Aluminum content rises (green) from three percent to 25 percent, note the red A- and B-pillars in ultra-high-strength steel (red).
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2020 Porsche 911
The materials mix in the front clip.
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2020 Porsche 911
The materials mix in the rear.
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2020 Porsche 911
The material variety necessitated 14 different join techniques, like flow-drilling screws to mate aluminum and steel.
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2020 Porsche 911
The various joins methods used on the 2020 Porsche 911.
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2020 Porsche 911
An example of camera-guided roller hemming around the window frame, used to wrap the outer skin around the body-in-white.
Image Credit: Michael Harley
2020 Porsche 911
Another example of roller hemming, a technique Porsche introduced on the Panamera.
Image Credit: Michael Harley
2020 Porsche 911
And notice how the flared fenders are simply affixed to base architecture.
Image Credit: Michael Harley
2020 Porsche 911
The all-new interior takes a big step up. Porsche’s executive board member for research and development, Dr. Michael Steiner, said, 'This is our ticket for the future in terms of technology and style.'
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2020 Porsche 911
As another throwback to the 993, the instrument panel forms a conspicuous horizontal.
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2020 Porsche 911
A framed tachometer sits in the middle of the virtual dash cluster behind a 360-mm steering wheel. On the instrument panel, the 10.9-inch Porsche Communication Management (PCM) touchscreen becomes the hub for the 992’s huge step in infotainment.
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2020 Porsche 911
The changeable displays on the virtual cluster deliver images and information from a camera in the rearview mirror housing, four wide angle cameras around the coupe, an infrared camera, eight ultrasound sensors, a long-range radar up front for adaptive cruise control and another radar in back.
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2020 Porsche 911
The screen can display a single information source, like the navigation map, or be broken into up to three columns of disparate information. In the three-column setup, a user can configure the middle panel with three additional functions.
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2020 Porsche 911
Porsche said it focused “primarily on enhancing the performance” of the powertrain. Engineers made small changes in everything from the 9A2 Evo engine to the axles to reach the goal.
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2020 Porsche 911
The two turbos on the 991 were identical, the asymmetrical setup necessitating longer exhaust tubing with a tighter bend for the left-side turbo. Porsche flipped the left-side turbo on the 992, creating a symmetrical layout. The intercoolers were moved from the sides of the rear fenders to where the air filters used to be, on top of the engine under the rear decklid.
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2020 Porsche 911
A cutaway gives a glimpse of VarioCam Plus, which gains asymmetrical intake camshafts that improve combustion of the air/fuel mixture. U.S. cars won't be fitted with the gas particulate filter canisters hanging outboard.
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2020 Porsche 911
Larger turbo chambers house 48-millimeter turbine wheels, three millimeters wider than before, turning compressor wheels that have grown four millimeters to 55 mm. The bypass valves aren’t controlled by vacuum anymore, but electric stepper motors, giving finer and more precise boost control.
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2020 Porsche 911
Porsche designed new attachment points 6.6 inches further forward and 4.4 inches further outboard. The cylinder heads mount directly to the longitudinal members, and closer to the engine’s center of gravity.
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2020 Porsche 911
This is the same eight-speed concept as introduced on the Panamera two years ago, with 911-specific guts. The gears don’t sit in a sump, but are bathed from overhead with oil conveyed through plastic piping. An additional hydraulic fill bypass provides more, and faster, clutch changeover control.
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2020 Porsche 911
The front axle. Every model gets a stiffer torsion bar, a new steering controller for better feedback, and a faster rack.
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2020 Porsche 911
The rear end. Steering is ten percent faster on models with rear-wheel steering, six-percent faster without.
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2020 Porsche 911
On all-wheel-drive models, a thicker front axle can dispense up to 50 percent of the car’s torque, up from 40 percent in the 991.
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2020 Porsche 911
The new front axle gearbox houses reinforced clutch discs with higher activation torque and more accuracy, now cooled by water instead of air.
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2020 Porsche 911
Active shock absorbers come standard. Choosing Porsche Active Suspension Management provides infinitely adjustable Bilstein dampers managed by a 'Skyhook' controller that monitors rates several hundred times per second.
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2020 Porsche 911
The four wheel designs available for the 911.
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2020 Porsche 911
There's a lot of muscle and sinew jammed everywhere under that skin.
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2020 Porsche 911
The front intake shutters can now take any position between fully open and closed, moving in response to temperature, speed, and load, with some positions dictated by whether the optional sunroof is open.
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2020 Porsche 911
The 21-inch rear wheels make the body sit a touch higher. That, along with 911 interior designers lowering the seats, adds 12 mm of headspace for front passengers, 8 mm of headspace for back-seaters.
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2020 Porsche 911
The intercoolers moved from the sides of the rear fenders to where the air filters used to be, on top of the engine under the rear decklid. The placement and redesign shortens the distance air needs to travel, and makes the charge air coolers 14 percent larger, reducing airflow obstructions by 50 percent. The open channel under the rear glass is the sound symposer system.
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2020 Porsche 911
Put it all together, it's a rather tight fit.
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2020 Porsche 911
But it's still a Porsche 911, which is all that matters.
