2013 Porsche Cayenne Diesel on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Driving 50 years of Porsche 911 history

Raiding The Porsche Museum For A Fun Track Day
It seems everyone is celebrating anniversaries this year: it's Aston's hundredth, Lamborghini's fiftieth, Ford Mustang's fiftieth, Chevy Corvette's sixtieth - and Tesla just turned ten or something. It's been a little out of hand, frankly, all these forced marketing festivities, but if we had to pick one milestone to really celebrate hard and party all night, the Porsche 911 would be at the top of our list.
Get ready for a major 911 blowout bash at next week's Frankfurt Motor Show. It was on September 12 back in 1963 at this very show where Porsche unveiled its "901" painted in a rather boring shade of beige. Though drably finished, the car caused a worldwide frenzy in the budding German sports car sphere.

The 2014 Ruf RCT offers rear-drive action with 911 Turbo fun

Ruf has 37 years of experience of turning Porsches into even higher performance machines. For the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, it's unveiling the RCT, or Ruf Carrera Turbo, which offers power to split the difference between Porsche's 911 Turbo and Turbo S models.
The RCT starts with a unique body kit with a new front air dam and drastically changed rear deck that combines both a small spoiler and air intake. Power is provided by a twin-turbocharged, 3.8-liter flat-six with 525 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque paired to either a seven-speed manual or seven-speed dual clutch transmission. That gives the Ruf a 5-hp and 15-lb-ft advantage over Porsche's own Turbo but is still less powerful than the full Turbo S. The RCT sprints to 62 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds and to a top speed of 196 mph.
However, the Ruf's big advantage is that it offers buyers the choice of either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, while Stuttgart's turbo models are only available spinning all four wheels. The RCT can also offers upgrades like an integrated roll cage and custom suspension packages, should the buyer be so inclined to splash out on racing kit.

Next-generation Panamera will spawn variants, Sport Turismo in the running

A few years ago it took actual willpower not to consider what kinds of cool derivatives Porsche could make with the Panamera. Our fancies were helped by patent drawings of a Panamera convertible, rumors of a two-door 928 GT and internal Porsche sketches of such a car, and report after report after report that the current, second-generation Panamera would begin to expand the family. That hasn't happened, but according to a new report in Auto Express, the next Panamera will be the one to begin the bifurcation. Wolfgang Hatz, the brand's head of research and development, told the mag that, "We have prepared it for a lot of derivatives, personally I like very much the Sport Turismo." The Panamera Sport Turismo, remember, was the hybrid, concept wagon that rolled into the 2012 Paris Motor Show and made everyone ask, "Why didn't you build this design from the beginning?" It could have been Hatz's English, but after professing his ardor for the Sport Turismo, the executive said, "But there is a good chance for more derivatives." We're not sure if that means the Sport Turismo is all but approved, or if he was speaking of the third generation Panamera's new MSB platform in general. Even though Hatz mentioned a coupe and convertible, it sounds like that latter variant won't be happening, Hatz saying that the brand already has the Boxster and 911 Cabriolet. We're willing to forgive that omission – who's really looking for a four-door convertible, anyway? – and welcome the Sport Turismo first if Hatz will please please please get us a new 928.