2011 Porsche Cayenne: First Drive

Well it did not originate in France as the aforementioned dance form, but the Teutonic goliath from Stuttgart has just received a fantastic new avatar that makes it dance through all possible demands with flair and pomp. Adil Jal Darukhanawala kicks up some serious sand in Dubai

Did you know that the second generation Porsche Cayenne was launched at the Geneva Motor Show this year? Well how could you when its thunder was stolen by none other than the 918 Spider which also went on to be the undisputed star of the show. It was pretty much impossible to try and make mindspace available for the Cayenne's second coming, so enticing was the prospect of the 918 but then the Cayenne is a total anathema to Porsche purists. It was butch and huge and defied the laws of physics to go quick in a straight line and hang on tight through the corners, just like a svelte Porsche sportscar could and this more than anything else has made it hold its head high, not just in the sports car maker's line-up but also as one of the most capable SUV's in the world. Heck, with over 270,000 units sold of the first generation offering and with orders for 10,000 of the new car already in hand, the Cayenne can be looked at but in only one way - as a stunning success!

Porsche had invited a select bunch of Indian automotive hacks for the official first drive of the new Cayenne in Leipzig but with Iceland's Eyjafjallaj?kull volcano blowing its top, the trip to colder climes was changed to the sandy wastes of Dubai's Big Red, replete with sand dunes and long stretches of straight tarmac. In fact the latter was a no-brainer because with any of the Cayennes capable of top speeds in excess of 250km/h, this SUV just thundered over any and everything in sight, smothering everything in its wake and one could only admire the car's body control, poise and yes, of course, its immaculate ride quality but more of that later.

So what's with the second generation Cayenne one might well ask and the most important bit is that the largely evolutionary changes have made a good product even better. And everything starts with its new look which sits on the vehicle very comfortably, so much so that its proportions make it look smaller visually than its predecessor. Now for a vehicle which has actually grown in length by 48mm to be deemed this is praiseworthy but the new nose and the overall detail around the bonnet and the new lights makes the second generation Cayenne come out far prettier and less aggressive than the original. Factor in the new glass house treatment and the Cayenne makes a most positive impact on the mind.

What has gone behind making the new Cayenne seem smaller despite increased dimensions is some serious sculpting with the clay knife of the designers. The behemoth has ditched all its 911 inspired rotundity and gone on a serious fat-to-muscle diet which has it look like an SUV that is much closer to the grand touring Panamera in its visual approach as opposed to looking like an elongated 911 sportscar. That certainly is a good move since the new car now has a distinct design identity of its own which banks on being more approachable and should appeal to an even wider audience. The toning treatment is also in cue with the engineering approach that the boffins at Porsche AG took for the new Cayenne which involved severe weight loss. They have done well given that their flagship V8 powered Cayenne Turbo has lost a good 185 kilograms between generations

2011 Porsche Cayenne Lands in U.S.

Porsche said the first of its redesigned 2011 Cayenne models have begun arriving at U.S. dealers. The new Cayenne S is priced from $64,675, while the Cayenne Turbo starts at $105,775. Prices include a $975 shipping charge.

The all-new Cayenne S Hybrid, priced from $68,675, won't reach showrooms until fall, when it will be joined by a base Cayenne, starting at $47,675.

For 2011, the Cayenne gets all-new sheetmetal and a roomier cockpit, plus such available high-tech features as Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus, Porsche Dynamic Light System, Lane Change Assistant, Adaptive Cruise Control and Automatic Start/Stop.

The Cayenne S features a 400-horsepower 4.8-liter V8, while the Cayenne Turbo is fitted with a 500-hp twin-turbo version of the same engine. The base Cayenne gets a 300-hp 3.6-liter V6, and the Cayenne S Hybrid mates a 333-hp supercharged 3.0-liter V6 with a 34-kw electric motor.

EPA has rated the Cayenne S at 16 mpg city and 22 highway and the Cayenne Turbo at 15/22. Fuel-economy ratings aren't available yet on the base Cayenne and Cayenne S Hybrid.

Porsche’s Newest 911 – 620 Horsepower & 20 MPG

On the heels of Ferrari unveiling its new 599 GTO, Porsche has unveiled its most powerful production 911 ever. The new 911 GT2 RS is set to make its debut later this summer at the Moscow Auto Show, but Porsche couldn’t wait to dampen the excitement over the new Ferrari by releasing some impressive numbers of its own.

The new GT2 RS shaves 154 pounds off of the existing GT2. Add to that an extra 90 horsepower and you can see why the Porsche faithful are excited. The 620 horsepower car lapped the Nürburgring-Nordschleife in just seven minutes, 18 seconds. That’s a new production car record, and four seconds faster than the old record held by the Viper ACR. Of course ‘Ring times are always hotly debated, as are the definitions of “production car.” Suffice to say the new GT2 RS is quick and will keep most cars in its rear view mirror by the time they hit the first turns through Hatzenbach.

The 3.6 liter flat six uses the variable geometry turbo chargers that have been standard on the last several boosted Porsches. Unlike the Ferrari 599GTO with it’s F1 derived drivetrain, the GT2 RS still relies on a standard six speed manual gear box.

Read More http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/05/porsches-most-powerful-production-911-ever-620-horsepower-20-mpg/#ixzz0p835r4dLa

2010 Porsche 997 Turbo By APS Sportec

APS of Brackley is the importer of Swiss tuner Sportec in UK, and recently they’ve decided to come up with their own package for the new facelifted Porsche 911 Turbo using Sportec parts. On the outside not much work has been done, you only get forged alloy wheels, spoiler lip, side and rear skirts. But the car’s 493 bhp 6-cylinder 3.8 liter boxer engine has been tweaked more deeply.

With the Sportec ‘580’ conversion kit, the car gets a stainless steel sports exhaust system with high flow catalytic converters and two 70mm ‘twin’ tailpipes which also comes with a pair of sound throttles, which means the driver can change the noise of the car via a remote control inside the cabin.

Then the standard Porsche air filter is replaced by a Sportec high flow panel element, and the ECU is remapped with a new software developed by Sportec. The result of this changes are 580 bhp and peak torque hits 800 Nm (590 lb.ft).

Porsche 911 Turbo Simply The Best

The 2010 Porsche Turbo Cabriolet is the single best automobile I’ve ever driven in my lifetime and likely ever will.

There, I said it.

And now, allow me to explain why.

There is usually an inverse correlation between a performance car’s ultimate abilities and its practicality. Too often, fast cars are fun to drive on the open road, where you can wring them out to their capabilities. But as anyone who’s ever spent any time in, say, a Lamborghini, Lotus or even some Corvettes will tell you, there are usually huge tradeoffs in functionality.

Whether its exterior visibility or cockpit space and ergonomics, performance cars can flat be difficult and uncomfortable in daily commuting. And that’s where the 911 Turbo truly is transcendent.

This is a car that has a 500-horsepower turbocharged engine, accelerates from zero to 60 miles per hour in a staggering 3.2 seconds, and has a top speed of 194 mph. It handles like a slot car, with ultimate limits far in excess of the vast majority of drivers. In fact, you will almost certainly run out of nerve and/or talent with this car long before the car runs out of grip.
And yet, the 911 Turbo is as docile as the family minivan in traffic. It even delivers the same fuel mileage – 17 mpg city/25 highway – as a Honda Odyssey. It idles smoothly, is happy running at normal speeds and is the ultimate in no muss, no fuss.

A huge part of the credit for the street-friendly civility of the 911 Turbo goes to the Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) seven-speed dual clutch transmission. Basically, with this transmission, you can either put it in drive and let it shift itself or use the Formula 1-style paddle shifters mounted on the steering wheel.

While some will doubtless think of it as heresy to drive a Porsche without a full-on manual gearbox, get over it. If semi-automatics are good enough for Formula 1 cars – and they are – they are plenty good for a high-performance Porsche.

It should go without saying that one of true defining characteristics of all 911 models is the brakes. The 2010 911 Turbo is no exception, with six-piston monobloc calipers up front, front discs that measure 14.96 inches by 1.34 inches (380 mm by 34 mm) and rear discs that are 13.78 inches by 1.1 inches (350 mm by 28 mm).

The suspension is equally stellar. Up front is a McPherson design with spring strut axles with separately mounted longitudinal and track control arms, conical stump springs with an inner damper, and twin-sleeve gas-pressurized dampers.

In the rear are Porsche's five-arm, spring-strut suspension with longitudinal and track control arms. The rear coil springs have co-axial, single-sleeve gas-pressure inner dampers.

There are also a whole host of electronic controls that work synergistically to optimize handling, braking and acceleration. Let’s cut to the quick here: You could spend a month reading about all the technical elements of this car, but the bottom line is that it corners as if it’s on rails. As noted earlier, the limits of this car are higher than the limits of 99.9 percent of the drivers out there.

The cockpit is damned near perfect, too. I’m 6-foot-4 and not at all thin, yet I had all the room I possibly needed behind the wheel. And even with the easy-to-operate convertible top up, visibility in all directions was excellent.

The build quality of the 911 is absolutely top notch, with high-grade materials and excellent ergonomics. Everyone who got into the cockpit did exactly the same thing as they sat down: ran their hand over the dashboard and went, “Oooh.” Fit and finish was to die for, and in truth, the cockpit was much more comfortable than I would have expected.

Last but certainly not least, there’s the whole question of aesthetics. The 911 Turbo has iconic lines that trace directly back to the first 911s in the mid-1960s. This is a stunning design, sexy but elegant with lines that have and will withstand the test of time.

None of this comes cheap, of course. The “base” price of a 911 Turbo Cabriolet is $143,800, and our tester topped out at a little over $172k. That’s far more than most of us will ever be able to afford, but I will say it represents an excellent value.

911-hp Porsche 911 GT2 By Switzer Performance

So you thought the new Porsche 911 GT2 RS is powerful ha?! Well, check out Switzer’s idea of a hot GT2. It is based on their P800 package which had 800 hp, but this one’s called the R911S, and there’s a clue! It has an insane 911 hp. Apparently it’s the same as the P800 only with much bigger intercoolers. And the coolest thing is that Switzer has priced it at $239,900, cheaper than the 620-hp GT2 RS.

So it’s very powerful and undoubtedly very fast in straight line, but what about corners? You see even the standard GT2 with 530 hp is a tricky little thing to drive fast, so Switzer Performance has equipped their car with titanium inverted-front-strut, remote-reservoir suspension engineered by the track experts at JRZ.

Whatever that is, Switzer says that it’s not just a tough and unforgiving racing suspension, it features hand-selected spring and damping rates, specifically catering to each client’s track experience and level of aggression.

Porsche Cayenne 3.0 V6 Turbo Diesel

Porsche Cayenne 3.0 V6

THE determined march of the diesel engine shows no sign of waning and with Porsche now on board there surely is no turning back.

Okay, it might not be a 911, rather the Cayenne SUV - so all those Porsche purists can rest easy.

It’s common sense really to go down the diesel route and made all the more easy now that Porsche and Volkswagen are all part of one big happy family.

The diesel engine concerned is normally to be found in Audi’s Q7 so it is well suited to doing the job in the Cayenne.

It’s a proven 3.0-litre V6 unit that in the Cayenne delivers 240bhp and an impressive 550Nm of torque.

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Quite a few modifications have been made to accommodate it in the Cayenne.

Great efforts have been made with insulation to ensure occupants are blissfully unaware the vehicle is being powered by a diesel engine, even down to its specially developed thick windscreen to keep noise and vibration at bay.

They have done a remarkably good job. In the cocooned environment of the cabin with all the windows up there’s little to suggest you are relying on diesel power. Added to that the engine has been tuned to produce rather a sweet note.

The Cayenne might not be the only sporty SUV around but it is probably the best known and in truth is one of the few to offer genuinely thrilling performance.

While the entry level model doesn’t quite deliver in this regard all the other petrol-powered models do, from the ‘S’ which is a good all-rounder to the blistering pace of the ‘Turbo’ and in between them the on-road focused ‘GTS’.

So does the diesel deliver too?

Performance is without doubt impressive and the Cayenne Diesel does not feel like the poor relative of the range.

It is swifter over the 0-62mph sprint than the standard petrol model, completing it in 8.3 seconds and has a top speed of 133mph.

On open and winding roads it’s a joy to drive and both its handling and power impressed. It retains an authentic sporty feel and arguably gives even the Cayenne S a run for its money.

And it does all this while returning 30.4mpg on the combined cycle and CO2 emissions of 244g/km.

My previous Cayenne encounters tended to engender a preoccupation with the rapidly diminishing fuel supply but the diesel seemed to soak up the miles, particularly on the motorway, with little needle movement.

As well as delivering on road I expect it’s a consummate off-road performer too, particularly with all that low-end torque to call on – though I didn’t get an opportunity to explore its mud-plugging prowess.

There is no manual available, a Tiptronic S automatic gearbox is fitted as standard.

Prices start at £39,404.

FAST FACTS

Porsche Cayenne 3.0 V6 Turbo Diesel

Price: £39,404

Mechanical: 240bhp, 2,967cc, 6cyl diesel engine driving four wheels via 6-speed automatic gearbox

Max speed: 133mph

0-62mph: 8.3 seconds

Combined mpg: 30.4

Insurance group: 18

CO2 emissions: 244g/km

BiK rating: 35%

Warranty: 2yrs/ unlimited mileage