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Porsche Fire and Ice is chilling art born of flames

Porsche held a contest inviting ten filmmakers to riff on the tagline for the Panamera, "Thrilling Contradictions," in a 60-second film. The winner was an entry called Fire and Ice by director Ross Cohen, a concept that uses just those two elements in a premise as simple as it is rewarding. For his efforts, Cohen will receive a trip to the Chicago International Film Festival, and you might see the short in the pre-movie advertisements in a theater served by Spotlight Cinema Networks.
Porsche did this kind of thing just two years ago, when it asked filmmakers to illustrate the idea of "Everyday Magic". The winner of that contest, Michael Korbel's It's a Magical Life, followed the journey of a young man to husband and father from the perspective of the trunk of a 911. You'll find that video as well as Fire and Ice below.

Porsche Australia price cuts in excess of $36,000 irks customers

Have you ever gone to the store, only to become irked after learning that the new [*insert widget here*] that you bought just last week has gone through a price drop? If you're particularly thrifty, even if it's only a couple of bucks, you probably brought in your receipt to see if the store would issue you a credit for the difference. Now, imagine that the widget in question isn't a minor purchase, it's a Porsche - and the price drop isn't just a few bucks - it's thousands.
That's the unhappy scenario that recently faced a number of Australian luxury car buyers and the uncomfortable conversation awaiting the German automaker. According to GoAuto, Porsche Australia recently whacked up to $36,000 off the price of its models in order to jumpstart sales Down Under - the Panamera range itself saw cuts between $5,500 and more than $36,000. The aggressive price cut was a strategy designed to drive sales of more than 3,000 cars locally, a yearly goal originally set for 2018, but now hoped for as early as 2016.
Australia is known for its comparatively high car prices, so the dramatic price cuts were undoubtedly welcome news to potential Porsche shoppers. However, around 50 existing customers were understandably agitated by the reductions because they purchased their cars just before the adjustments took effect. Not only did they stand to lose out on the deals, they also had good reason to fear that their new cars' residual values would take a beating.

2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS First Drive [w/video]

Imagine a regular Porsche 911 GT3 in your garage, parked next to a brand-new, no-options Boxster. Now imagine your garage with just a 911 GT3 RS inside. From a cost standpoint, you could have either for roughly the same amount of money. Trying to figure out if the RS goodies are worth the $50,000 over a standard 911 GT3 – roughly the price of that no-frills Boxster – might drive you mad. We're trying to suss this out at 120 miles per hour on the long downhill back straight at Road Atlanta. It's pouring. Rivulets of water are streaming across the track. Ahead, in a 911 Turbo leading the pack, is Le Mans- and Daytona-winning driver David Donohue. He's helpfully warned us to avoid nipping the curbing, since that's where water pools. Hydroplaning could end someone's day. Through the blinding spray, Donohue mercifully has reduced the pace. There's enough speed to evaluate what the GT3 RS does well, which is essentially everything. There's also enough time to figure out what sort of sports car this is. Horsepower swells to an even 500 and torque to 338 pound-feet – bumps of 25 hp and 14 lb-ft over the GT3. As is fitting and proper for the traditional sports car par excellence, at the top of the large and expensive 911 heap is the GT3. While the base is shaken by the encroachment of turbocharging on basic 911 models, the summit is, like mountain air, all-natural. The GT3 was subject to a beyond-galling recall due to faulty con-rods with a penchant for ventilating crankcases and starting catastrophic fires, but storms crash upon every peak. Progress is inevitable for German engineers. The GT3 RS is the 911 reforged in those embarrassing fires. The GT3 itself was a false summit, but the RS is the real deal. Underneath the very purple bodywork, this is a lither and more athletic thing than the already superb GT3. Lightweighting is accomplished with a healthy dose of carbon fiber on the engine cover and the frunk. The roof, with a slick-looking depressed slash running longitudinally, is made of magnesium. That serves to lower the center of gravity, Porsche assures us. Even the rear silencer is made of titanium. In total, the RS is 22 pounds lighter than the GT3 it's based on – seemingly small gains considering all the exotic materials, but less so considering what's been added back. The RS is also more powerful, thanks to a 200cc displacement increase.