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Porsche goes Platinum with special edition Cayenne

The other day, Porsche announced a new special edition of the Cayenne. We didn't pay it much heed because it appeared to be exclusive to Europe (or, at least, markets other than ours), but now Porsche has announced its availability in North America, as well.
It's called the Platinum Edition, and it's available exclusively on the entry-level models with either the 3.6-liter V6 or 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6. You can tell the special edition apart from any other Cayenne by the silver details (accenting the grilles, window trim and rear spoiler) and its two-tone black and beige leather interior. But what makes it a compelling choice is the long list of equipment, which Porsche has identified as the most requested options and fitted them as standard, including the eight-speed Tiptronic S transmission, Power Steering Plus, Park Assist, Convenience Package and Bose audio.
Pricing starts at $63,300 for the Cayenne Platinum Edition, or $66,900 for the Cayenne Diesel Platinum Edition. That represents a premium of approximately $13,000 over a bone-stock model, but actually saves you a few grand if you were going to select all those options anyway. Check out the press release below for all the details.

Hyundai, Porsche top J.D. Power APEAL study

Just as they did in the Initial Quality Study, Porsche and Hyundai have taken the premium and non-premium crown, respectively, for the 2014 J.D. Power APEAL study. This is the tenth consecutive year for that Porsche has been rated the best premium make in the APEAL study, which attempts to figure out how pleased owners are with their purchases. For 2014, it asked 86,000 owners of MY2014 cars to rate their vehicles in 77 different categories 90 days after their initial purchase. The resulting figures were plugged in deliver the APEAL score, which is rated on a 1,000-point scale.
The industry average sits at 794 points for 2014, although that's a one-percent decline over last year's rating. In this year's study, premium brands averaged 840 out of 1,000, while non-premium makes average 785. For their part, Porsche netted an impressive 882 points, while Hyundai earned an 804. Interestingly, only four non-premium brands (Hyundai, Ram, Volkswagen and Mini) finished above the industry average for 2014.
It's also interesting to see the clear delineation between premium and non-premium brands, with an eight-point gap between the non-premium champ, Hyundai, and the lowest-rated premium brand, Volvo.

Will Roegge makes 4K art of Jeff Zwart's 911 build and run up Pikes Peak

Will Roegge has turned his camera on Jeff Zwart and provided another gem, this time documenting Zwart's run up Pikes Peak and BBI Autosport. Bertim Besha dropped out of high school, then worked his way up to founding his own shop, BBI, that gathers a crew of tuners who are just as fastidious about their work as the customers are about their cars.
They prepped the 991-series Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Turbo, the product of combining a 911 GT2 that was the most powerful car Zwart drove up the mountain with a GT3 Cup that Zwart thought had the best handling. Two TiAL turbos and a lot of fettling make for a 3.8-liter flat-six with 700 horsepower, 700 pound-feet of torque and a 7,800-rpm redline. Zwart drove it to a heartbreaking second place this year, finishing less than 1.2 seconds behind the Time Attack 1 class winner when his car suffered its first mechanical issue of the week.
The first video below covers Besha, BBI and the build, the second is Zwart's run. As if the visuals weren't enough, sit back and enjoy the shrieking of the "Hill Climb Special," which is what the constellation Sirius would sound like if it could bark.