Archive for Porsche

That ad tussle between BMW and Audi in South Africa back in 2006 is nothing compared to this latest feud, this time between Porsche and Nissan. What Porsche is doing right now is basically accusing the makers of the Nissan GT-R of cheating with the infamous 7 minutes 29 seconds lap time around the Nurburgring earlier this year.

Porsche purchased a Nissan GT-R and tried it out on the Nurburgring driven by one of Porsche’s chassis development engineers who they claim is an expert with the Nurburgring. According to Porsche, they only managed to get a lap time of 7 minutes and 54 seconds. On the same day, Porsche says the 911 Turbo managed 7 minutes and 38 seconds while the 911 GT2 managed 7 minutes and 34 seconds.

“This wonder car with 7:29 could not have been a regular series production car. For us, it’s not clear how this time is possible. What we can imagine with this Nissan is they used other tyres such as a semi-slick race-style tyre and not standard road tyres. The Nissan is a good car. I don’t want to make anything bad with my words. It’s a very consistent car. But this car is about 20 kilos heavier than the Turbo. For us it has been clearly the result. This technical puzzle now fits together. With the other (Nissan’s) numbers we had problems understanding it,” said Porsche’s product chief for the 911, August Achleitner.

Nissan has come out to defend itself, in a cheeky manner too! They say the tyres used during the Nissan GT-R’s 7 minute and 29 seconds lap driven by former F1 driver Toshio Suzuki are the standard Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST CTT tyres that come with the car. In fact, the company still has the very same tyres used on the run and will be happy to exhibit the tyres along with the lap footage shot by the Japanese magazine Best Motoring.

But it’s worthwhile to note that in certain regions the car also comes with Bridgestone Potenza RE070R tyres, which so happens to be the tyres fitted on the GT-R that Porsche bought. Based on this, can we conclude that the Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST CTT are better tyres than the Bridgestone Potenza RE070R?

The Japanese automaker added that it was pointless for Nissan to conduct tests using non-standard equipment as the GT-R was designed from the start to be a supercar that could be driven anywhere, anytime and by anyone so it is much more relevant and meaningful to test the car using standard production specification. In fact, the lap car was carrying an additional 50kg of equipment that was used for lap data logging and could have gone even faster without that equipment.

Nissan said Porsche’s inability to match their lap times could be because of improper run-in procedures and cheekily, “lack of driver skill”.

“We are aware that several auto makers have purchased the GT-R for their own testing and evaluation. Like all GT-R customers, we recommend that any auto maker buying a GT-R should follow the recommended run-in procedures, service schedules and maintenance to ensure the maximum performance from their car. In addition, we offer performance driving courses for prospective and current GT-R owners to help them get the best performance from their car. We would welcome the opportunity to help any auto manufacturer with understanding the full capabilities of the GT-R,” they said, probably while trying hard to suppress a snigger.

Source

Porsche has released a teaser image of the upcoming four door Porsche Panamera GT cruiser. It doesn’t reveal much except a side profile of the front of the car.

I think we’ve pretty much expected the front end of the car to look like this already given how Porsche is “committed” to its traditional design cues. We also see some nice double 5 spoke wheels and big brakes with a red caliper hiding behind it.

More teasers will be unveiled by Porsche soon, leading up to the Panamera’s official unveiling.

This special edition Porsche Boxster will also, like its Cayman S Sport cousin get a 8 horsepower boost resulting in its flat-6 engine producing 303 horsepower, thanks to a new sports exhaust. Called the Porsche Boxster S Porsche Design Edition 2, it is available only in Carrara White with 19 inch SportDesign wheels. Included in the package is a specially designed Porsche Design Edition 2 Chronograph watch featuring a white face.

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The 700-unit limited series Porsche Cayman S Sport makes its debut with a 3.4 liter flat-6 engine tuned to produce 303hp, and comes standard in the two colours of the 911 GT3 RS - orange or green. Other colour options available at extra cost include Black, Guards Red, Speed Yellow and Carrara White, and Arctic Silver Metallic.

The “junior GT3 RS” Cayman S Sport features Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) as standard., lowering the car by 10mm. The black-painted 19 inch SportDesign wheels are pushed out further than the Cayman S via the use of 5mm spacers. Other standard equipment include the Porsche Sports Chrono Package, sports seats in leather, twin tailpipes and bi-xenon headlamps.

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Porsche has added the Targa variant to its new line-up of facelifted Type 997 cars. Like the rest of the facelifted 997 cars, the new Porsche 911 Targa will get the new Direct Fuel Injection engines and have its Tiptronic S automatic replaced by the Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe 7-speed double clutch gearbox.

The Targa top is a large 1.54 square meter glass sliding roof made out of two components: the glass sliding roof itself and the top-hinted tailgate. The roof will slide beneath the tailgate within 7 seconds to give the passenger compartment an open roof. The glass roof and tailgate’s glass are made of specially-treated glass designed to effectively deflect the sun’s glate and repel UV radiation and excessive heat.

The Targa models are only available in all-wheel drive. The 911 Targa 4 features a 3.6 liter 6 cylinder boxer engine producing 345 horsepower. The manual transmission model takes it from 0 to 100km/h in 5.2 seconds, but when equipped with the 7-speed twin clutch PDK gearbox, this time is cut down to 5.0 seconds. The 911 Targa 4S is powered by a 3.8 liter unit producing 385 horsepower and with a manual transmission its 0 to 100km/h sprint time is 4.9 seconds, with the PDK gearbox bringing it down to 4.7 seconds. The fuel injection system injects fuel into the combustion chamber at a 120 bar pressure.

The Porsche 911 Targa4 is priced from £72,980 while the Targa 4S goes for a minimum of £80,270. PDK is part of the various options available and is priced at an additional £2,338 over the base prices.

More hi-res photos after the jump.

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This is a promotional video of the V8-powered Porsche Cayenne GTS featuring a rock climber, a glider, and a Porsche Cayenne GTS, with no apparent connection between the three at first… but you’ll see in the end.

Related Posts:
2008 Porsche Cayenne GTS - Specifications

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This video from Porsche takes us inside the new Porsche PDK twin clutch gearbox to see how it works, and is a must watch for those who can’t quite imagine how all the gear pre-selection and two clutches inside a twin clutch gearbox gel together and work to result in ultra fast and near-gapless torque transmission from the engine to the wheels.

Watch the video after the jump.

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Porsche unveiled the facelifed Carrera earlier this month, but now it has facelifted another variant of the 911 family, the Porsche 911 Carrera 4 and Carrera 4S.

Read more about the newly facelifted Carrera 4 series after the jump.

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German car magazine AutoBild reported this month that Porsche was planning to make a new compact hot hatch based on the next generation Volkswagen Golf Mk6 platform. The magazine claims that this new Porsche Golf will make it to the production lines in 2012, with concept versions likely to be shown in a year or two before that. Shown above is Theophilus Chin’s artist impression of the new Golf-based Porsche.

I can see why Porsche is doing this though - the same reason why you’ll see more and more premium manufacturers introducing smaller yet premium models into their line-up. The answer is the USA’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, which requires car manufacturers to have certain fuel economy standards according to the footprint of the vehicle, which is measured by track multiplied by wheelbase.

Porsches which have large engines but very small wheelbases are hit badly by CAFE standards, but because CAFE is calculated by considering the average fuel economy of all cars the manufacturer is producing, adding a small compact car to its line-up with great fuel economy due to the smaller engine needed is a smart way to comply.

The new Golf-based Porsche will go against the likes of the BMW 135i, the Volkswagen Golf R32, and the Audi S3. It could be powered by the same engine as the R32, or the 3.6 liter direct injection V6 from the baseline Cayenne.

You will find one more rear-view rendering after the jump.

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Porsche has just unveiled the facelifted Porsche 911 with a new 7-speed twin clutch gearbox replacing the old 6 speed Tiptronic automatic. We already knew this was coming, as Porsche had patented the Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) gearbox back in the second half of 2006.

All 911 models will get the PDK gearbox. The facelift initially introduces the new Carrera and Carrera S models. The 911 Carrera’s 3.6 liter boxer-6 gets its power upped to 345 horsepower, an increase of 20 horses. The Carrera S also gets a power boost, with its 3.8 liter boxer-6 engine now making 385 horsepower, an increase of 30 horses. These power increases can be attributed to various improvements including the introduction of direct fuel injection.

The Carrera retails for Euro 69,600, and the Carrera Cabriolet goes for Euro 78,000. The Carrera S and Carrera S Cabriolet retails for Euro 78,000 and Euro 88,000 respectively.

More images after the jump.

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