1995 Porsche 911 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Can a Corvette really be compared to a 911 with options costing more than the Chevy?

In this latest video from Drive, Chris Harris asks straight away, "Can you still compare a base Corvette to a Porsche Carerra?" That's an particularly interesting question in this film, as the 911 in question is a 400-horsepower Carrera S model that's been fitted with $60,000 in options. Base price of a Corvette Stingray? $51,995. Harris' tester features an automatic and some other goodies that push it right up to that $60,000 range. So yes, the options on the Porsche cost as much as this entire 460-hp Chevrolet.
Harris stresses that this isn't a full review, but he does exercise both cars in a more composed manner before reverting to his traditionally exuberant driving style. The impressions are, as always, spot on, with Harris favoring the pointy nature and V8 power of the Stingray, while enjoying the gearbox (Porsche's exceptional PDK transmission) and just about everything else on the 911.
Take a look below for the latest video from Drive, and let us know if you agree with Mr. Harris' views on these two sports cars.

Porsche has doubled US sales to women [w/videos]

Porsche is having a good sales year in the US, with 25,129 vehicles delivered year-to-date coming off the automaker's best July sales ever. That's a 31-percent increase over the same period last year (19,253 deliveries). With year-to-date Panamera sales a surprising 36 percent lower than last year, what possibly could be driving Porsche's sales surge? If you answered Cayman and Boxster sales, you're right. But dealerships are noticing another factor: more women are coming in to buy Porsches, CNBC reports, the bulk of whom picked up new Cayenne SUVs. The German automaker's sales to women in the US have more than doubled in the past two years, increasing from 7 percent to 15 percent. This has helped year-to-date Cayenne sales reach 11,082 - 31 percent higher than the same time last year.
Porsche executives have been trying to tap into the women's market, as evidenced in part by the company's move to pick professional tennis player Maria Sharapova as a brand ambassador. Porsche maintains it has not moved to dramatically change its brand image, but it has shown a number of ads in recent years that uncharacteristically emphasize its vehicles' practicality under the "Engineered for Magic. Everyday" banner - some featuring female drivers.
Be sure to watch CNBC's video report on Porsche's female movement below - you'll also find one of the aforementioned Engineered For Magic ads as well as an interesting case study video on the campaign from ad agency Cramer-Krasselt.

Malaise Era All-Stars

A few weeks ago, we bid a fond happy 40th anniversary to the automotive dark ages of 1973-84 that have come to be known as "The Malaise Era" - the performance ice-age when 160 horsepower was a lot and a 0-60 time of under 10 seconds was remarkable. Like music in the 1980s, everything in automobiledom didn't suck, however. There were a few bright spots. Here are five of our favorites:
1976-79 Porsche 930, aka 911 Turbo Carrera (above)
Photo Credit: Dorotheum