I have a newbie question that im dying to find an answer. I read somewhere that the boxer engines in Subarus are similar to the ones in Porshes. Is that true, and if so how are they similar. Do the same company make the engines for both Subaru and Porshe? thanks in advance.

They are similar to Porsche in that they are both flat engine designs. Porsche uses both flat 4s and flat 6s in their cars, the current 996 is a flat 6.

There's a tad more info here (http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/Forum28/HTML/003026.html) if you are interested.

I can't say I know alot about the boxer engine, but I think the concept is very good, and has the possibility to take over the sports car market.


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thank you for the reply. keep em coming.

Porsche isn't the only other manufacture that has used boxer engines.....The Ferrari Testerosa used a 48 valve 12 cylinder boxer engine, but for some reason they didn't throw a turbo or two on it. http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/wink.gif

Philip

I don't think its gonna overthrow the market...its been around since the original VWs and Porsches in the 20s and 30s.

i don't think so neither. the maintanence is kinda expensive, compared to inline 4's like those in honda and toyota. but they sure provide a good reason as to be THE engine equipped in sports car.

even sweeter would be a flat 4 or 6 in a MAWD configuration, wouldn't it? haha

Mid AWD is VERY difficult with a Flat motor, given that there is little to no room to run a shaft forward to the front diff. It might be possible if you ran a slightly offset shaft through the oil pan, and then on. Still it would be expensive.

Flat engines are great, but they have there problems, and I doubt that any manufacturer would ditch the huge capital investment in the current engine configureations. This is one reason I think GM was flat stupid to buy into subaru. They have NO platforms remotly like the subaru ones, and they are in every market with SOMETHING. I also have grave doubts that the Subaru paltform can be made into much more than Subaru sells now, or was planning on selling in the near future. A Mini van might be possible, but it would be strange and expensive. The Boxer engines have to little stroke to make more than a Very light pickup, and the engien tranny layout is far to large to make a car smaller than the impreza unless you like having an interior the size of a MR2 spyder with the same cargo room.

The easy drivetrain configurations are FF, FR, FA, F/MF, MR, with a F/M A possible using the shaft through the oilpan as mentioned above.

What I would love to see is a Subaru that is simmular to the S2000, with a WRX motor sitting behind the front tires, that turns a rear transaxle (944/C5). A AWD version would ROCK but the tranny would be riding bitch. Interestingly enough other than the tranny and design time for the shell it would be an easy task, as the rest could be derived from the legacy/impreza. The Transaxle could be sourced from many makers, but porsche's 944 turbo would make a great canidate if the tooling still exists

I don't think that Subaru would produce a little racer coupe. It doesnt fit in with thier "our-cars-can-take-a-serious-offroad-ass-whoopin" style. But then again, it'd be a pleasant surprise if they did.

What I love about the boxer is its balance. Inline 4s usually need counter balancers to keep the engine from being a shaking, noisy, mess. That means more rotating mass (and we ALL know that's bad, eh). A well balanced engine is going to last longer, as it won't shake itself apart over the course of 100,000mi, as well.

I dunno. I have a Legacy and a Snudfire (sic). The Legacy is as smooth as silk above 5000rpm. The pontiac? Well, at higher revs I just hope to God that she holds together.

To answer the original post some more, Subaru and Porsche both mill thier own engines. Porsche does it with thier higher product costs, and Subaru does it because they have the backing of a HUGE industrial corporation behind them (Fuji Heavy Indust.) and can put out some serious volume.

To borrow a bit from the trite WRX literature, Porsche has tried a myriad of different engine configurations, but Subaru has stayed tried and true to the boxer. After damn near 30 years of doing something, you tend to get it right.

dirk

Actually there are other auto mfgs that make boxer engines. BMW and Honda comes to mind other than those mentioned. Their boxer engines are used in their motorcycles.

Flat engine have their weight balance lower, which helps in curves (the car don't twist horizontally as easily). I like the sound of the flat. Why other manufacturers don't use boxers, I believe it'd be too hard to start the production out of nothing and the benefits for a major of drivers would be minimal.

This is my first Subaru so it's my 1st experience with the boxer engine. The this that I was most impressed with was the fact that when cruising at high speeds, the engine was uncannily smooth. All the four bangers I drove in the past (Elantra, Cavalier, Avenger), whenever I hit high speeds, the engine would sound like it was about to come apart. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think one of the benefits of the flat four design is that the 2 opposed cylinders cancel out each other in terms of vibration so the engine seems to run a lot smoother than in-line 4's.

Dave

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