Spring mornings don’t start out much better than this. Nevermind the persistent April drizzle and the mist rising from Michigan’s Huron River. We’ve just been handed the keys to a mint 1990 Porsche 928 S4 with marching orders from a very understanding classic car owner.
Want to really get your week off to a good start? Why not watch this classic 1980’s car chase scene from Against All Odds, starring a Porsche 911 SC, a Ferrari 308 GTS, Jeff Bridges, and the incomparable James Woods. Happy Monday.
+ YouTube: Against All Odds: Porsche 911 SC Carrera VS Ferrari 308 GTB
Today’s episode of automotive institution Fast Lane Daily is even more in depth than usual, offering quick hitting commentary on the BMW M1 Homage, trouble for Porsche’s CEO, and a Korean super car fresh from Beijing. The good work our friends are doing at FLD isn’t going unnoticed either, as the site has just been nominated for a prestigious Webby award. Click through the jump below and show the kids some voting love.
If you’ve got an idea for Question of the Day, a funny photo for Caption It, or just want to share a news tip, let us know at windingroadtips@gmail.com
While Audi is still planning to bring forth a hotted-up version of its TT coupe by around 2010, the car’s name has been the subject of a little wrestling within the larger Volkswagen Group family.
While the new TT was originally slated to be called the TT RS, Autocar is reporting in its April 9 magazine that newly powerful VW Group voices at Porsche put the kibosh on that title. The Porsche boys have made it clear that RS belongs to them…when it comes at the end of a name.
“Porsche has the monopoly on the ‘RS’ suffix in the VW Group,” said the VW source. “Audi can only use it as a prefix, as in ‘RS6’.”
RS or no, we’re just excited that Audi is still steaming forward with its designs on a 340 horsepower TT.
(Here’s an Audi that follows the rules, an RS6 Avant, in our gallery below.)
If you’ve got an idea for Question of the Day, a funny photo for Caption It, or just want to share a news tip, let us know at windingroadtips@gmail.com
Porsche senses a thirst for senselessly fast SUVs in the Asian and Eastern European markets, and has responded with a new top-dog in the Cayenne range, the 2009 Cayenne Turbo S.
The returned Turbo S, revealed at the Beijing Auto Show, will offer drivers the maniac delights of a 550 horsepower, 553 foot-pounds of torque V-8. The Cayenne includes a six-speed Tiptronic S gearbox, which will help to shepherd speed all the way up to the 174 mph top-end.
The new Cayenne should look every inch the part as well, with 21 inch wheels, quad-tip exhaust, a body colored grille, and a wealth of toys and gizmos inside. Take a look at the new big Porsche in our gallery below or click through the jump to read the official press release.
Many of us tend to think that the allure of the pickup truck occurs only in Americans, not so. Take as evidence this resourceful German man, who has created a sort of “Porschamino” out of a perfectly nice 928 GTS that is neither useful, nor needed, and yet holds a sort of charm that’s hard to resist. It could be that he’s chosen to build his truck conversion with just a little more than just a pickup bed…Enjoy.
If you’ve got an idea for Question of the Day, a funny photo for Caption It, or just want to share a news tip, let us know at windingroadtips@gmail.com
Porsche’s Paris-Dakar 959s conquered the desert, but what would one feel like on the road? We found out.
Porsche Design has unveiled a new selection of unbearably hip items with its summer White Collection.
In the best Teutonic fashion Porsche Design has married a clean all-white finish with technical touches of aluminum, titanium, and stainless steel. The collection contains a whitewashed version of Porsche’s sleek mobile phone, a zippered jacket, the Shakepen (activated with a shake of the wrist), and a perfectly beautiful lighter.
The White Collection is said to go on sale next month, and though no pricing information for the frosty items has yet been announced, it wouldn’t be terribly fashionable for anything branded “Porsche” to be cheap.
+ Josh Spear: The Porsche Design White Collection
If you’ve got an idea for Question of the Day, a funny photo for Caption It, or just want to share a news tip, let us know at windingroadtips@gmail.com
The recent move by German automaker Porsche to acquire a majority stake in Volkswagen AG may prove to be a savvy one in regards to the new U.S. fuel economy standards.
Despite the company’s recent investigation of hybrid technology, it seems unlikely that the sports car builder would be able to get its fleet average economy in line with the 35-mpg target by 2020 without drastically changing the nature of its product line. Porsche had attempted a bid to gain a Congressional exemption to the rule last fall, but was unsuccessful.
(Click on the thumbnails below to have a look at one of Porsche’s less fuel efficient offerings, the Cayenne GTS, or through the jump to read on.)
I’ve had a pretty interesting last couple of weeks – I’m happy and lucky to be so busy! Immediately after the Men’s Health shoot two weeks ago, I drove down to LA and hopped a flight to Stuttgart, where it was off to Porsche headquarters for a day and a half of official photography for all of Porsche and Penske’s promotional needs for 2008. Being inside a photo studio for 6 hours a day is about as fun as it sounds, but as a group we always find ways to make it fun. We even managed to talk the director into letting us set up a few of our own group shots! Think Zoolander meets the Brady Bunch.
(Click through to read more about Patrick Long’s recent activities.)
Details are very sketchy at this point, as with most European tuner vehicles, but we believe this TECHART GTstreet Cabriolet will be available with an incredible 630 horsepower and a top speed somewhere around 214 miles per hour. It is based on the Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet and the interior probably smells of awesomeness.
A 0 to 60 mph sprint should be possible in well under four seconds. We presume the powerplant to be the same 3.6-liter twin-turbo engine that propels the “regular” GTstreet to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. If this is correct, the engine should also have 604 pound-feet of torque available at 4500 rpm. Pricing should be as wild as the Cabriolet’s looks, the GTstreet coupe starts around $333,000.
Well we had just rolled into Geneva and thrown our bags on the floor when Porsche called us direct in our room. (How did they know we were in the Hotel Warwick anyway?? Creeeeepy.)
About one hour before the writing of this blog post, the entire supervisory board of Volkswagen Group approved the increase from the current 31 percent up to 51 percent of Porsche’s part of all Volkswagen Group assets. It works out to about 20 billion more dollars changing accounts and all of the other accountant magic that takes place at mighty times like these.
Porsche chairman Wendelin Wiedeking had mainly to get over the hurdle of the German workers union on the supervisory board vote, as factory labor fears for the dreaded efficiency-related changes to VW’s current way of doing business. It’s all in the game of hunting down Toyota to be worldwide production leader by 2015 or so.
So, our Porsche source tells us, neither Wiedeking nor other key board players will be present at the Porsche dinner tomorrow night. Looks like it’s back to Mickey D’s.
They add that the whole process of rearranging the big corporate switcheroo “could take a few months at least”.
If you’ve got an idea for Question of the Day, a funny photo for Caption It, or just want to share a news tip, let us know at windingroadtips@gmail.com
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