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Robb Report chooses Porsche 911 as its Car of the Year

Robb Report has picked the seventh-generation Porsche 911 Carrera S as its 2013 Car of the Year, saying the two-door captivated its judges with "agility, driving dynamics and balance." The German coupe bested 12 others who were also in the running - the impressive list of nominees included the BMW M5, Audi S8, Ferrari FF, Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG and the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse.
Judging involved more than just throwing darts at pictures on the wall, as the publication enlisted a panel of automotive experts to test drive each vehicle for close evaluation. The panelists included 100 members of the Robb Report Club (comprised of top corporate executives and influential readers), Editor-in-Chief Brett Anderson and automotive consultant Robert Ross. Full results of the competition will be revealed in the luxury magazine's March issue, hitting newsstands in about a week. For more information, visit Robb Report online or check out the full press release from Porsche below.

Ford Mustang outsold Audi TT and Porsche 911 in Germany

Despite being the antithesis of the cars Germany is known for, the new Ford Mustang was the best selling sports car in the land of schnitzel and beer last month by a whisker. The Mustang beat out the Audi TT by 780 units to 708, and it beat Germany's best known performance car, the Porsche 911, 780 to 752. That makes some sense, right? The Mustang has to be cheaper than those competitors, right? Not really. Both the EcoBoost and V8-powered Mustang have higher starting prices than the equivalent TT. The 2.3-liter, EcoBoost-powered Mustang starts at 38,000 euros (around $43,300 at today's rates), while the front-drive Audi TT starts at 35,950 euros (about $41,000). The V8-powered Mustang GT, meanwhile, starts at 43,000 euros (about $49,000), which is just 2,550 euros more than the Quattro-equipped TT. When 310 horsepower or 435 hp can be had for just a couple thousand more than 220 hp, it's easy to understand the Mustang's success. The 911, of course, is a lot more expensive than the Mustang. You can buy two Mustang GTs for the price of a single Carrera. But Ford also managed to beat out the Porsche's smaller siblings, the Boxster and Cayman twins, which sold a combined 642 vehicles. Again, the pony car is significantly cheaper, but that doesn't do much to lessen the impact of the Mustang's victory. If you're in Germany and are concerned about this American invasion, you shouldn't be (yet). The TT is Germany's best-selling sports car from January through March, with 2,299 to the Ford's 1,823. Porsche is breathing down the pony car's neck, too, with 1,811 units in 2016. It'll be interesting to see if Ford's successful March carries on into the rest of 2016. Related Video:

What do J.D. Power's quality ratings really measure?

Check these recently released J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS) results. Do they raise any questions in your mind? Premium sports-car maker Porsche sits in first place for the third straight year, so are Porsches really the best-built cars in the U.S. market? Korean brands Kia and Hyundai are second and fourth, so are Korean vehicles suddenly better than their US, European, and Japanese competitors? Are workaday Chevrolets (seventh place) better than premium Buicks (11th), and Buicks better than luxury Cadillacs (21st), even though all are assembled in General Motors plants with the same processes and many shared parts? Are Japanese Acuras (26th) worse than German Volkswagens (24th)? And is "quality" really what it used to be (and what most perceive it to be), a measure of build excellence? Or has it evolved into much more a measure of likeability and ease of use? To properly analyze these widely watched results, we must first understand what IQS actually studies, and what the numerical scores really mean. First, as its name indicates, it's all about "initial" quality, measured by problems reported by new-vehicle owners in their first 90 days of ownership. If something breaks or falls off four months in, it doesn't count here. Second, the scores are problems per 100 vehicles, or PP100. So Power's 2015 IQS industry average of 112 PP100 translates to just 1.12 reported problems per vehicle. Third, no attempt is made to differentiate BIG problems from minor ones. Thus a transmission or engine failure counts the same as a squeaky glove box door, tricky phone pairing, inconsistent voice recognition, or anything else that annoys the owner. Traditionally, a high-quality vehicle is one that is well-bolted together. It doesn't leak, squeak, rattle, shed parts, show gaps between panels, or break down and leave you stranded. By this standard, there are very few poor-quality new vehicles in today's U.S. market. But what "quality" should not mean, is subjective likeability: ease of operation of the radio, climate controls, or seat adjusters, phone pairing, music downloading, sizes of touch pads on an infotainment screen, quickness of system response, or accuracy of voice-recognition. These are ergonomic "human factors" issues, not "quality" problems. Yet these kinds of pleasability issues are now dominating today's JDP "quality" ratings.