2011 Porsche Cayenne on 2040-cars

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50th Anniversary Porsche 911 vs. Jaguar F-Type Coupe is a battle of beauty, brawn

There can't really be a loser between the Jaguar F-Type Coupe R and the Porsche 911 50th Anniversary Edition. One might be better than the other, but if you're behind the wheel of either of them, you can't complain. In a new video, Motor Trend takes on the difficult task of determining which one of these European powerhouses is the best, not just in terms of raw performance, but also how they actually feel to drive.
The Porsche 911 is one of the perennial favorites of the motoring world. It just doesn't go away and always seems capable of challenging the top vehicles in its class. In this video, Motor Trend takes a look at the 50th Anniversary Edition model that celebrates that heritage while boosting power somewhat over the standard version.
The F-Type Coupe is an incredibly masculine car, MT describing it as "a British Corvette." The coupe's exterior lines are tautly stretched over its athletic body, and it's supercharged 5.0-liter V8 sounds like a demon's growl. Jaguar seems to have things right with its latest sports car.

Porsche reveals new 911 Turbo Cabriolets, starting from $160,700*

Porsche has come a long way from the days when its entire model line revolved essentially around the 911, but its prototypical rear-engined sports car is still what it's known for best, and still keeps the German automaker pretty busy. With a seemingly endless array of variations on the theme, the 911s just keep on coming until a new generation arrives and then it starts all over again. And what we have here is the new king of the hill (for now, anyway).
Set to debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show a little less than two months from now are the new Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolets. And no, that's not a typo: that's cabriolets, plural, because what you're looking at are two new models. First up is the 911 Turbo Cabriolet, whose 3.8-liter twin-turbo flat-six develops 520 horsepower, driving the droptop to 60 miles per hour in 3.3 seconds. That's Porsche's claim, and we have a feeling it's a bit conservative. But if that's still not enough, the 911 Turbo S Cabriolet adds an extra 40 hp for a total of 560 to drop the benchmark acceleration run down to 3.1 seconds.
That makes the new topless Turbos 30 horses stronger and 0.2 seconds quicker than the respective models they replace, but the weight penalty involved with replacing a fixed roof with a folding one (and the necessary structural reinforcement) does make the new 911 Turbo Cabs a smidgen more lethargic than their contemporary coupe counterparts, which run the gauntlet in 3.2 and 2.9 seconds in standard Turbo and upgraded Turbo S specs, respectively. They only lose a single tick on the top speed, though, which clocks in at a follicle-tickling 195 mph in either spec. Otherwise the specifications are as identical as you might expect.

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.