2002 Porsche 911 on 2040-cars

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Porsche Panamera gets new diesel in time for Frankfurt

Diesel may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Porsche, but in the European market - that vital one which Porsche calls home - diesels are indispensable. Particularly when you're trying to extend beyond niche sports cars and into the mainstream luxury sedan market as Zuffenhausen has with the Panamera. In fact, diesels account for 15 percent of Panamera sales worldwide (even though they're not offered Stateside), so to keep oil-burning customers happy, Porsche has announced a series of upgrades.
Set to be unveiled in the flesh at the fast-approaching Frankfurt Motor Show, the new Panamera Diesel packs 300 horsepower. That's 50 hp (or 20 percent) more than the model it replaces, significantly dropping the 0-62 sprint from 6.8 seconds to 6 flat, and raising top speed from 152 miles per Autobahn-crunching hour to 161. While they were at it, Porsche's engineers also fitted the rear differential with torque vectoring (previously reserved for gasoline-burning models) and retuned the transmission and suspension.
You can delve into the press release below for all the details - including the new model's improved towing capacity! - but the reality, for better or worse, is that the Panamera Diesel isn't offered here. So if you've been celebrating Labor Day (or even Labour Day, for our friends to the north) like we have, don't go looking for it at your local dealer, who will have only a Cayenne Diesel to show you instead.

Corvette gets slidey with Britain's best performance cars

Autocar wants to find Britain's best driver's car, and it's challenging a murderers' row of some of the world's best performance vehicles to find out, including the latest Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. All of them were therefore assembled at the Castle Combe Circuit to find a winner.
If it wants to take the crown from this pack of mostly European competitors, the 'Vette has to beat some steep competition. Its challengers include monsters like the Ferrari 458 Speciale, Ariel Atom 3.5R and Jaguar F-Type Coupe. As a further hurdle for the winner to clear, Autocar also has last year's champ among the fighters - the Porsche 911 GT3.
Even if you're not at all interested in the C7, there's still something here for practically any fan of fast cars. The competitors include relative oddities among the pack like the Renault Mégane RS Trophy and Alfa Romeo 4C. Plus, Autocar has some well-positioned microphones that let you hear the Atom wailing like a banshee and the roar of the 458 Speciale. Check out the video to see which one of these all-stars takes home the award this year.

Our hats are off to Porsche's 2014 911 Turbo Cabriolets

Porsche has just debuted its two latest decapitated rocket sleds today at the LA Auto Show, the new 911 Turbo Cabriolet and Turbo S Cabriolet, which share their coupe counterparts' 520-horsepower and 560-hp 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six engines. That kind of power ought separate a lot of hats (and toupees!) from heads.
The rear-engined Porsches put their power down through all four wheels, which allows them to launch from 0-60 in 3.3 seconds or less (the Turbo S Cab takes just 3.1 seconds), and both of them top out at 195 mph.
The 911 Turbo Cabriolet starts at $160,700, while the Turbo S Cabriolet can be had for a grand total of $193,900 (plus $950 for destination). Is the S model's 40 extra horsepower worth $33,200? We're not so sure, but we imagine Porsche won't have any trouble selling it.