porsche

Porsche Panamera fully exposed in San Francisco?

Well, if Porsche were a stripper, it wouldn't be a very good one. The company has left virtually nothing to the imagination when it comes to the new Panamera four-door coupe. The world unveiling is set for Geneva in March 2009, but one is being driven around San Francisco with barely a rubber nose and glasses to disguise it.

A reader of World Car Fans snagged a slew of really good, clear photos. You'll notice a feeble attempt to mask the car's lines with a little tape and some bogus cladding around its ungainly rump, but this … Read more

An all-electric Porche 997? Blasphemy!

RUF, tuner of Porsche cars, is working on a new concept based on the Porsche 997, but it seems they've forgotten to put in the fantastic Porsche engine. In its place, they dropped a 150kW electric motor and about 1,200 pounds of batteries. Yes, the new E-RUF concept is an electric vehicle. It's green, but is it any good?

The electric power train outputs 200 horsepower (meh) and 479 pound-feet of torque (wow!). Gobs of torque available instantly make for a decent 0-60 time of about seven seconds, despite the fact that the E-RUF weights close to … Read more

On track: 2009 Porsche 911

The usual procedure for the driving part of an automotive press introduction is four to six hours in the car, on the road. "Road" meaning a mix of entertaining and hopefully uncrowded back roads, some freeway, and as little city traffic as possible, all with the intention of highlighting the featured vehicle's capabilities and comfort.

That is adequate, and appropriate, for most cars, even relatively high-performance cars. Most cars get used mainly around town and on the freeway, with maybe a lucky clear shot at an empty canyon road early on a weekend morning.

The Porsche 911 … Read more

Porsche's PDK

It seems like every automaker with a claim to high performance and high technology has an automated-manual transmission today. Ferrari was the first, with the CambioCorsa, followed by BMW's SMG, and then Volkswagen Group's DSG. Mitsubishi has its TC-SST. What took Porsche so long to develop the PDK?

The real question is "what took everybody else so long?" The Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe name dates from 1983, when the first experimental version was developed and used in a 956 Series-produced endurance race car. A 956 with the experimental gearbox won a German national championship race, and a couple of … Read more

Oh no, they didn't! Porsche calls foul on GT-R Ring time

Known as the Green Hell or more simply the Ring, the Nurburgring Nordschleife is considered the longest and most challenging racetrack in the world. Automotive manufacturers and speed demons place a high premium on Nurburgring lap times. So when the Nissan GT-R shattered the Porsche 911's record with a blistering 7:29:03 lap time earlier this year, a few feathers were ruffled in Stuttgart, Germany.

So what did Porsche's engineers do about it? Well, they went out, purchased a brand new GT-R, and drove it back to back with a 911 Turbo and a 911 GT2 in … Read more

Review: 2008 Porsche Cayenne GTS

The first clue that the 2008 Porsche Cayenne GTS isn't like other SUVs is the shifter, which works the six gears in a manual transmission. Another clue comes when you get it in the twisties, and feel its utter lack of roll in hard cornering. The Cayenne GTS offers the most sports car-like handling of any SUV, even surpassing the BMW X5 in this regard. We've heard comments around the office that the Porsche badge shouldn't be this high off the ground, but purism aside, our friendly neighborhood Porsche rep tells us that the Cayenne sells, giving … Read more

Porsche Design has some hang ups

If you think that I've been blogging heavily on Porsche Design-inspired kitchen gadgets lately, then you'd be right. I can't get enough of the cool designs and brushed aluminum look of their line of housewares. But I've saved the best for last in the trifecta of Porsche Design kitchen gadgets with this wall-mounted kitchen scale.

If you've read enough of my other posts (it's all right if you haven't, we can still be friends), then you'll know that I live in a space-challenged apartment in Brooklyn. OK, by Brooklyn standards, it's … Read more

A morning pick-me-up from Porsche

If you liked the Porsche Design toaster that I wrote about a couple of days ago, then you should add their coffee machine to your wish list, too. Designed by Porsche Design, a daughter company of the ever-popular car giant Porsche, the coffee machine makes your morning cup just a little bit more aesthetically pleasing.

The coffee pot is equipped to brew up to 12 small cups of coffee (or eight larger cups, depending on the size of the boost you need), and since you can choose the strength and temperature, you can create a pot that's going to … Read more

Gentlemen, start your toasters

Here's a toaster that could pass as a conversation piece at your next poker game: this long-slot toaster from Siemens was designed by Porsche Design, a shootoff company of the automotive industry leader that specializes in consumer and home products with a focus on cutting-edge design. Sure, it'll toast your bread, but it'll also look really good doing it.

The toaster has an LCD display that shows how brown your bread has gotten, and you can choose from 11 cooking levels. The toaster even has a memory function, which will remember the setting you used the last … Read more

Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia to debut in Paris

Is this the new SUV of choice for Russian hockey moms?

The 2010 Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia will debut at the 2008 Paris Motor Show, which begins on October 4.

The SUV is basically a limited-edition take on Porsche's Cayenne SUV. The 405-horsepower SUV will have a 4.8-liter direct fuel injection V8 engine (from the Cayenne GTS) and the Tiptronic S six-speed automatic transmission. The SUV has a top speed of 158 mph. The funky roof headlights are a free option offered by Porsche, only dependent on your country's rules for using them on public roads.

It'… Read more