2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S on 2040-cars

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Consumer Reports says infotainment systems 'growing first-year reliability plague'

The Consumer Reports Annual Auto Reliability Survey (right) is out, and the top two spots look much the same as last year's list with Lexus and Toyota in first and second place, respectively. However, there are some major shakeups for 2014, with Acura plunging eight spots from third in 2013 to 11th this year, and Mazda replaces it on the lowest step of the podium. Honda and Audi round out the top five. This year's list includes six Japanese brands in the top 10, two Europeans, one America and one Korean.
Acura isn't the only one taking a tumble, though. Infiniti is the biggest loser this year by dropping 14 spots to 20th place. Other big losses come from Mercedes-Benz with an 11-place fall to 24th, and GMC, which declines 10 positions to 19th.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's not traditional mechanical bugs hauling down these automaker's reliability scores. Instead, pesky problems with infotainment systems are taking a series toll on the rankings. According to Consumer Reports, complaints about "in-car electronics" were the most grumbled about element in new cars. Problem areas included things like unresponsive touchscreens, issues pairing phones and multi-use controllers that refused to work right.

Porsche inspecting 2,500 Euro-spec Macans for damaged brake boosters

Porsche is investigating a potential brake issue with 2,500 of its new Macan CUVs. The inspection focuses on the state of the brake systems following tests that discovered the brake boosters may have been damaged during assembly.
Porsche has pointed out that, despite the concern, the affected Macans still meet safety regulations. The issue is predominantly found in European-spec Macans, which according to Porsche, have been delivered to consumers. Owners of affected vehicles in Europe will be notified and asked to come in for a brief, no-cost inspection.
American consumers, though, have no reason to worry. We reached out to Porsche Cars North America, who confirmed that the vehicles in question were assembled before US-spec cars were screwed together.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS facing delay over GT3 fire problems?

Porsche has never been afraid to introduce variants of its cars. However, its even higher spec, next-generation 911 GT3 RS may be delayed from its planned launch this summer while the engines in the standard GT3s (pictured above) are replaced.
A delay isn't certain, but executives want to make sure the high-strung mill is no longer a problem before they press forward with another model using it. Germany's Auto Motor und Sport asked Porsche CEO Matthias Müller about pushing back the launch, and he responded that it was too early to say. The company's current focus is making sure the engines get fixed and working on internal measures to prevent this kind of flaw in the future.
When fires claimed two 911 GT3s in Europe, Porsche initially stopped the model's sales and asked owners to stop driving them. It finally diagnosed the blazes as being caused by a loose screw on a connecting rod, which then resulted in crankcase damage and an oil leak. The company is replacing the engines on all 785 affected cars. A source told Autoblog that under 200 customers were actually affected, and the other cars were either at port or dealer lots. Hopefully, the recall doesn't postpone the road-going GT3 RS too far because we want to see what Porsche has up its sleeve.