Porsche First Drives

Porsche is a brand of high-end luxury and sportscars with headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, the company is best known for the 911 that's been on sale since 1964. It's also credited with designing the original Volkswagen Beetle in the 1930s under contract for the German government. This connection with Volkswagen exists today, as the latter became full owner of Porsche in July 2012.

Porsche Vehicles:

Indicates a Reviewed Model

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First Drive: 2012 Porsche Panamera S Hybrid 1305820680

Green Speed I had been anticipating the pre-dawn run to the airport for a few days. Having spent the week with a Porsche Panamera Turbo, complete with the torque-boosting Sport Chrono pack (yes, that one), the blast to SFO was a fitting sendoff. It was also perfectly timed. I was boarding a marathon flight to Austria for the global launch of the ...
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First Drive: First Drive: 2011 Porsche Cayman R 1299776220

Taking A Deep Breath Of R-ified Air Nearly every Porsche has a Sport button, and the 2011 Cayman R is no different. It quickens the PDK gearbox's shifts, tightens throttle response and allows a bit more slip. I should've paid more attention to those last two bits during our morning briefing. On the rain- and occasionally hail-battered island roads of ...
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First Drive: 2011 Porsche 911 Speedster 1293123420

It May Be Humpbacked, But It's No Quasimodo. It's rare. It's fast. It's expensive. Meet the 2011 Porsche 911 Speedster. First shown in October at the Paris Auto Show, the $204,400 humpbacked 911 arrives at U.S. dealerships early next year. On paper, the rear-wheel-drive 911 Speedster appears to be a heavily optioned 911 GTS Cabriolet, albeit one with ...
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First Drive: 2011 Porsche Panamera conceals a V6 but gives up little else in the transplant 1278431880

We're the lone vehicle in the far left lane of the Autobahn outside of Köln, Germany. The traffic has lightened, so we mash the accelerator to the floor. While we pull strongly up to about 200 km/h (about 125 mph), the speedometer counts much more slowly as it spins around the right side of the dial. Moments later, the digital indicator on the ...
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First Drive: 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder drops a weight class and hits harder than ever 1275926220

The blueprint goes something like this: Take an aging sports car and raid the corporate parts bin for a few high-performance items likely stolen from a flagship model. Tweak the suspension tuning, throw on some wider rubber, pare down the standard features, add a smidgen more horsepower and then make a few cosmetic changes so it stands out on the ...
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First Drive: 2011 Porsche Cayenne Turbo sheds 4,177 Twinkies - and it shows 1275062280

Imagine, for a moment, that the Porsche engineering team has dropped 4,177 individually wrapped Twinkies on the lab floor. The yellow cream-filled sponge cakes are scattered shin-deep across the smooth ceramic tiles and kicked into the corners by technicians wearing white lab coats as more hit the floor. Individually, the cakes aren't very heavy. ...
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First Drive: 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo is Stuttgart's quickest car yet 1257180960

It's faster to 60 mph than a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 or Ferrari Enzo. Porsche's fastest offerings, including the Carrera GT, GT2 and road-going 911 GT1 "Strassenversion" will only see its LED tail lamps during a typical sprint. Only the unlikely – make that incomprehensible – meeting of an SSC Ultimate Aero or Bugatti Veyron at a stop ...
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First Drive: 2010 Porsche Panamera a 4-door sedan 78 years in the making 1245945300

Porsche invited us to Germany to be one of the first to drive its all-new Panamera, the company's first four-door sedan. We spent three days assailing the Bavarian Alps, streaking across the German Autobahn, and meandering through picturesque Alpine towns. We touched 170 mph at one point and sat stagnant in city traffic during another. What were ...
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First Drive: Sailing in Stuttgart with Porsche's Cayenne S Hybrid 1236700680

While charging along at 85 mph with a particularly poker-faced Porsche engineer riding shotgun, traffic begins to cluster on the horizon. Not willing to risk our seven-figure prototype, I gently roll off the accelerator, at which point a funny thing happens: Without warning, the tachometer needle dies, unceremoniously plunging to zero RPM. The ...
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First Drive: 2009 Porsche Boxster S with PDK 1233334680

The Italian countryside passes by in a blur. At an indicated 265 km/h (164 mph), we have hit the invisible wall. The accelerator pedal has been jammed into the carpet for the last ten seconds, yet the sleek Porsche cannot push the molecules of air away any faster. Thanks to a stiff headwind, simple aerodynamic drag has overcome the 310 horsepower engine ...