Modern Buddy

Okay, these have nothing to do with the PGO we know & love but they're kind of cool and interesting. This PGO has been around since 2000 but I don't recall seeing them mentioned here before.

They set out to recreate and update old Porsche models and sort of took it from there. What they wound up with is sort of the Porsche-inspired versions of the modern Mini, Beetle or Fiat 500. Hardcore Porsche guys might scoff at them (the way some old-school Vespa guys turn might their noses up at the moderns); maybe more so because they're French. I think they look great at least!

http://www.pgo.fr/index-en.htm

The Cevennes:






The Speedster II:




The Hemera:

They do look like the older Porsches- pretty classy!

I'm not so sure about the rear hatch, but the Hemera? Ooh la la!

Sadly, much of what I'm reading now says the power's a bit lacking. The Cévennes is powered by a 4-cyl. turbo Peugeot engine.

It runs about £40,00, so roughly around $61,000.

The last photo reminds me of our Chevy HHr, but with the back end smoothed out.

I like all but the Hemera. First of all the name just sounds to much like.....well...with a name like that you know it's going to be a pain in the ass!

The others....I really like the looks..The Cevennes remindes me of the older Jagsstuff a 6 carb V12 or a Chevy 6.0 LS2 motor in there with a six speed manual tranny and then it might be fun!

Oh I forgot. I was taking Bocette to the airport at the end of her visit and we had dinner in Jaffa (no no....not Teal'c's place...what a bunch of Sci Fi geeks! ) and outside was a little Piaggio pickup. I'll post some picks when I can get her to send them to me.

Meh.

At least some of them come with a rear rack.

Too bad these DON'T have something to do with the PGO we all know and love....there might be a ray of hope to get these if there were a connection.

I am quite digging that Cevennes. A turbo 4 wouldn't be a bad mill if it's the weight of a Miata or like auto. Very nice lines. Of course, no hope of getting it here... sadly

ericalm wrote:Sadly, much of what I'm reading now says the power's a bit lacking. The Cévennes is powered by a 4-cyl. turbo Peugeot engine.

In fairness, the first 356 Porches had a flat four that put out about 40 hp. Through time the engine output creeped up to 70 and later 100 hp or so. The early Porches, like the British roadsters, never got by on pure power. What made the Porche stand out was its beautiful handling and suspension (something that was lacking in many of the British cars).

(looks like the turboed Peugeot engine puts out about 137 hp. That is more power than came stock in any model of the 356)

Dooglas wrote:

ericalm wrote:Sadly, much of what I'm reading now says the power's a bit lacking. The Cévennes is powered by a 4-cyl. turbo Peugeot engine.

In fairness, the first 356 Porches had a flat four that put out about 40 hp. Through time the engine output creeped up to 70 and later 100 hp or so. The early Porches, like the British roadsters, never got by on pure power. What made the Porche stand out was its beautiful handling and suspension (something that was lacking in many of the British cars).

(looks like the turboed Peugeot engine puts out about 137 hp. That is more power than came stock in any model of the 356)

Kind of like comparing a Mini Cooper S to an original Mini.

Sure it's better… not bad, even… but not equivalent to what you'd get in another $60K sportscar. Of course, there's a trade off for style and scarcity.

ericalm wrote:Sure it's better… not bad, even… but not equivalent to what you'd get in another $60K sportscar.

If the point is to build a modern reincarnation of the speedster, you could do worse than copying the power to weight ratio of the best of the originals.