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Watch MotorWeek review the last great air-cooled Porsche 911

These days air-cooled Porsche prices are blasting through the roof, and the 993 gets much of that love among collectors as the last generation before the 911's switch to water-cooled design. MotorWeek's latest Retro Review now looks back at the 1996 911 Targa. The coupe came from a brief period when the 911s were the only models in the brand's lineup, but the company made sure those cars were perfect. The point of Porsche's Targa models is to combine the open-air driving of a convertible with a security of a coupe. In this case, the engineers came up with a massive glass panel that slid into the roof at the touch of a button. The design still allowed for rearward visibility but created a giant opening to allow the sunshine in. The solution isn't as awe-inspiring to watch as the Transformer-like metamorphosis of the latest 911 Targa, but it gets the job done in a very unobtrusive way. As air-cooled values continue to creep upward, it's fascinating to hear how contemporary reviewers critique the cars. In this case, the 993 lives up to the promise of being the ultimate evolution of the original idea behind the 911. MotorWeek even calls the coupe "simply one of the best road cars ever made." Check out the video to find out why. Related Video:

Porsche 918 Spyder debuts with new N"urburgring lap record [w/video]

It's been a long time in the making, but Porsche has finally revealed the final production version of its long-awaited 918 Spyder here at the Frankfurt Motor Show. And yet that's not even the big news surrounding the hybrid hypercar.
No, the big news is that, while Porsche was preparing taking the wraps off the car here in Frankfurt, elsewhere in Germany a team was setting a blistering lap time at the Nürburgring. And not just any blistering lap time, but a new world record.
Porsche claims that, on the morning of September 4, a team of three drivers (including former rally champ Walter Röhrl and Porsche test drivers Timo Kluck and Marc Lieb) broke the Nordschleife lap record, Lieb finally setting the best time at 6:57 at an average of 111 miles per hour.

VW adding particulate filters to gas engines

Volkswagen is working hard to overcome the PR disaster that is its diesel emissions scandal, and part of its efforts is focusing, weirdly, on petrol engines. Starting in June 2017, the embattled German automaker will add particulate filters to the gas-powered Volkswagen Tiguan and Audi A5. The change will eventually impact nearly every direct-injected gas engine the VW Group makes. Audi? Particulate filter. Seat? Particulate filter. Even Bentley is going to get the tech, all in a bid to reduce soot emissions by 90 percent. In fact, by 2022 VAG expects 7 million of its vehicles to boast the emissions-cleaning tech, which has long been a fixture on diesel engines. "Following increases in efficiency and lower CO2 output, we are now bringing about a sustained reduction in the emission levels of our modern petrol engines by fitting particulate filters as standard," Volkswagen Group research and design boss Dr. Ulrich Eichhorn said in a statement. "In the future, all models will be equipped with the latest and most efficient SCR catalytic converter technology." VW's initial rollout focuses on the 1.4-liter, turbocharged Tiguan and the 2.0-liter, turbocharged A5. Considering the popularity of the 2.0-liter across the VW range, we'd expect it's only a matter of time before VW expands its particulate filters tech to additional gas-powered vehicles. Related Video: