Gallery: 2010 Singer Porsche 911

Continue reading Singer 911 offers vintage looks, modern appointments, exotic performance

Singer 911 offers vintage looks, modern appointments, exotic performance originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Porsche test engineer killed in autobahn crash originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 13 Feb 2009 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: In the Autoblog Garage - 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S

Continue reading Review: 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S

Review: 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

2009 Porsche 911 Carrera S with PDK - Click above for high-res image gallery

Introduced in 1963, the Porsche 911 is one of the most successful competition cars ever built. Despite its unconventional rear-engine platform, the 911 Carrera holds recorded wins in nearly every type of automotive competition. Continuously upgraded and refined, Porsche has introduced a mid-cycle refresh for the 2009 model year. While the cosmetic changes are immediately apparent, the most significant improvements - two new engines and a new double-clutch transmission - are hidden under its sleek skin. We spent a long day putting the 2009 911 Carrera through its paces on a race track near Salt Lake City framed by the spectacular snow-capped surrounding mountains of Utah. Read our impressions after the jump.

Gallery: First Drive: 2009 Porsche Carrera 911 PDK

Continue reading First Drive: 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera S with PDK

First Drive: 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera S with PDK originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera and Carrera S

Continue reading Officially Official: 2009 Porsche 911 gets direct injection and dual-clutch gearbox

Officially Official: 2009 Porsche 911 gets direct injection and dual-clutch gearbox originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Dad, I've totalled the (insert name of first car here)." Chances are that even if you haven't had to use that phrase, you know someone who has. But in an unusual twist, Anthony Hamilton may be making the sheepish call to his son this morning.

Lewis Hamilton's dad has put someone's Carrera GT through a hedge just a couple of hundred meters from the family home in the village of Tewin, just north of London. He's not saying who the Porsche belongs to, but it appears to have German license plates, which unfortunately makes it unlikely that the car belongs to new Swiss immigrant Lewis. That would have made the story so much sweeter.

Follow the jump to The Daily Mail's version of events, but we take the tabloid's assertation that Mr. Hamilton "somehow lost control on a straight road," with a pinch of salt. The road is a sweeping right hander and was greasy at the time of the accident. Given the proximity to the Hamilton home and the GT's reputation for snap over steer, it's pretty easy to imagine what happened. Thanks for the tip Robert!

[Source: The Daily Mail]

Hamilton Senior takes a Carrera GT for a spin originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Drifting a supercar takes a certain amount of fortitude in the trouser department. All the more so on narrow mountain roads. And even more so when the car you're drifting is the Porsche Carrera GT, which aside from being worth a good half-a-mill easy, is also reputed to be one of the most difficult cars to control.

That's what makes this video so damned impressive. If you're a fan of supercars, of Porsches or of drifting - and chances are if you're reading Autoblog you're in at least two of those camps - then this video can't be missed. Never mind that the spoken language is German. "Vroom" is universal.

Follow the jump, turn up the volume and sit back.

[Source: The German Car Blog]

Continue reading VIDEO: Drifting a Porsche Carrera GT in the Alps

VIDEO: Drifting a Porsche Carrera GT in the Alps originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Porrera

Continue reading Porrera: Beetle-based faux 911

Porrera: Beetle-based faux 911 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 13:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When you're ridin' dirty a couple of inches off the ground, you'll swerve to avoid anything more than a few microns thick sitting on the road in front of you. When it comes to driveways and speedbumps, that's when the lowest of riders crank the wheel back and forth, trying to sort out the right angle-of-attack to prevent that horrific scraping sound. If that's you and you're a Carrera GT owner, it's Ruf to the rescue. The Porsche tuner has created a driver-controlled, pushbutton-operated, hydraulic, height-adjustable front suspension that raises the front bumper two inches, at speeds up to 40 mph. You can get yourself out of a crunch for just 14,800 euros plus tax.

[Source: Winding Road]

RUF gives Carrera GT owners a lift originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Most commercials we see on television pitch products like soft drinks and toilet paper - you know, the kind of things that most people buy and most people can afford. There's certainly no shortage of car commercials, either, but they likewise typically focus on mass-market automobiles like the Volkswagen Rabbit or Dodge Caliber. But a commercial for a million-dollar supercar?

The superlative Carrera GT is a piece of automotive excellence that can speak for itself, but the fellas down in Stuttgart evidently felt it deserved a promo ad and threw this one together. The video after the jump draws on Porsche's innovations and racing experience to introduce the race-bred Carrera GT, highlighting its lightweight V10 engine, carbon ceramic brakes and ceramic clutch.

Okay, Porsche, we're sold.

[Source: German Car Scene]

Continue reading Video: Porsche Carrera GT promo

Video: Porsche Carrera GT promo originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 22 Apr 2007 17:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There could hardly be two more different approaches to the exotic supercar than the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano and the Porsche Carrera GT. One's a production Italian gran tourismo with a front-mounted V12, and the other's a rare German targa with a mid-mounted V10. The Ferrari was designed and executed to be easy to drive, while the Porsche is reportedly twitchier than a monkey drinking coffee. As far as exotic sportscars go, they're like apples and oranges.

The question is, which one is faster? The video after the jump has your answer. The two supercars make two runs from a rolling start. One pulls ahead but by the end of the drag strip the second is ahead by a couple car-lengths. Follow the jump to find out which took the checkered flag.

(If you're thinking the Enzo would be a more fitting adversary for the Carrera GT, you're not the only one.)

[Source: German Car Blog]

Continue reading VIDEO: Ferrari 599 GTB vs. Porche Carrera GT

VIDEO: Ferrari 599 GTB vs. Porche Carrera GT originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A hapless Porsche test driver has apparently made the mistake of driving an undisguised (albeit unlabeled) next-generation Porsche 911 Carrera S on public roads and right in front of the lens of a spy photographer. Oops! His mistake, our pleasure to bring you the result.

This is a Porsche, after all, so don't be expecting anything groundbreaking here. Just a slight tweaking of the iconic shape to keep it fresh and the money flowing in Stuttgart. So what's changed? New headlights up front featuring HID units on top of larger air intakes with integrated horizontal turn indicators. A subtle line surrounds the bottom of the car, flowing from the chin spoiler, down the rocker panels and meeting the rear bumper, which has been restyled to incorporate new LED taillights.

We can expect a revised interior to go with the new exterior. As we reported earlier, we also anticipate a few changes mechanically. The direct-injection technology from the Cayenne is making its way into the 911 range, and we're looking forward to Porsche's first application of its new DSG - just one perk of owning a significant chunk of the VW/Audi group that cooked up the dual-clutch system.

[Source: Car and Driver via German Car Blog]

Spy Shots: 2009 Porsche 911 originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If we've said it once, we've said it a thousand times: the Porsche 911 is the iconic, staple sports car. So when Stuttgart rolls out a revision, however minor, it's headline news. And the latest reports indicate that the 2008 911 will feature a few revisions, as the current version has been on the market for four years already.

Don't expect anything drastic in the styling department, as the 911's design progression has fallen squarely in the evolutionary, not revolutionary category. And once again, we can forecast that only automotive enthusiasts and Porshephiles with a keen eye will be able to differentiate the new model from the old. Expect a bigger air intake in the front fascia and new tail-lights. Since Porsche designers appear to be hyperconservative when it comes to tinkering with the 911's overall look, that should be about the extent of the visible changes.

Pop the hood and...well, you can never see much under the hood of a 911, anyway, but rest assured there will be changes. We swear. For starters, as backwards as it may seem to derive technology from a sport-ute into a sports-car, the new direct-injection engines that debuted in the latest Cayenne will be turned around and shoehorned into the back of the 911. Porsche is claiming that will net a 10-15% improvement in fuel economy, which of course is the first consideration for most Porsche buyers - read previous with sarcasm - and a power increase of five to twenty-five horsepower across the range. The bigger news is the replacement of the lackluster and outmoded Tiptronic automatic gearbox with a dual-clutch transmission, like its cousins from the VW Group. That should help close the gap between the clutch-full and clutch-less versions, and we'd predict an accompanying spike in sales of auto/Tiptronic/DSG versions as compared to their stick-shift counterparts.

Of course, with so many variations in the 911 line-up, this means we get to look forward to new Carreras, Cabrios, Targas, Turbos, GT3s and a whole lot more.

[Source: Motor Authority]

Porsche to update 911 for 2008 originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 25 Dec 2006 18:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Super seeing speculation! Porsche developing night vision system? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 05 Dec 2006 07:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sibling-site Luxist  has posted this flinch-inducing piece: Daniel Sadek, a real estate investor, is also producing the upcoming Eddie Griffin vehicle, Redline, an automotive-centered thriller. But not only is Sadek putting up a good amount of money for the movie itself, some of his cars will be used in the film as well, including a couple of Mercedes-Benz McLarens, a Ferrari Enzo and a Lamborghini Murcielago. Oh, and his $450,000 (see Comments) Porsche Carrera GT is set to be crashed in one scene.

Say it isn't so, Sadek!

(Thanks for the tip, Noah)

[Sources: Luxist, Speed.supercars.net]

Producer to sacrifice own Carrera GT on celluloid originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 14 Apr 2006 13:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Alright, so certain Autoblog staffers (who shall remain nameless) have routinely trotted out the old 'Sorry, officer... I'm just testing this vehicle' chestnut to mixed effect (it works about 80-percent of the time). But admittedly, we've never been bagged rockin' a new Porsche Carrera GT to the tune of 193 mph.

The same can't be said for Italian telecom boss Riccardo Ruggiero, who was snagged on the near side of the double-century in Northern Italy. That sort of antisocial behavior would likely wind Ruggiero behind bars and Porsche-less Stateside, but the executive escaped with half of his drivers license points and a 357 Euro fine (about $433 USD). Ruggiero may lose his license for between 1-3 months, but we suspect the man can afford a hire-car while he awaits reinstatement.

[Source: Motortorque via Askaprice.com]

"193 mph? Oh... I was just testing it, officer" originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 21 Mar 2006 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.