2002 Porsche Boxster S, Rebuildable, No Reserve, Black On Black, Convertible on 2040-cars

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2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS First Drive [w/video]

Imagine a regular Porsche 911 GT3 in your garage, parked next to a brand-new, no-options Boxster. Now imagine your garage with just a 911 GT3 RS inside. From a cost standpoint, you could have either for roughly the same amount of money. Trying to figure out if the RS goodies are worth the $50,000 over a standard 911 GT3 – roughly the price of that no-frills Boxster – might drive you mad. We're trying to suss this out at 120 miles per hour on the long downhill back straight at Road Atlanta. It's pouring. Rivulets of water are streaming across the track. Ahead, in a 911 Turbo leading the pack, is Le Mans- and Daytona-winning driver David Donohue. He's helpfully warned us to avoid nipping the curbing, since that's where water pools. Hydroplaning could end someone's day. Through the blinding spray, Donohue mercifully has reduced the pace. There's enough speed to evaluate what the GT3 RS does well, which is essentially everything. There's also enough time to figure out what sort of sports car this is. Horsepower swells to an even 500 and torque to 338 pound-feet – bumps of 25 hp and 14 lb-ft over the GT3. As is fitting and proper for the traditional sports car par excellence, at the top of the large and expensive 911 heap is the GT3. While the base is shaken by the encroachment of turbocharging on basic 911 models, the summit is, like mountain air, all-natural. The GT3 was subject to a beyond-galling recall due to faulty con-rods with a penchant for ventilating crankcases and starting catastrophic fires, but storms crash upon every peak. Progress is inevitable for German engineers. The GT3 RS is the 911 reforged in those embarrassing fires. The GT3 itself was a false summit, but the RS is the real deal. Underneath the very purple bodywork, this is a lither and more athletic thing than the already superb GT3. Lightweighting is accomplished with a healthy dose of carbon fiber on the engine cover and the frunk. The roof, with a slick-looking depressed slash running longitudinally, is made of magnesium. That serves to lower the center of gravity, Porsche assures us. Even the rear silencer is made of titanium. In total, the RS is 22 pounds lighter than the GT3 it's based on – seemingly small gains considering all the exotic materials, but less so considering what's been added back. The RS is also more powerful, thanks to a 200cc displacement increase.

VW close to decision on selling Bugatti to Rimac

FRANKFURT — Electric hypercar maker Rimac Automobili and Volkswagen's supercar brand Bugatti are a good technological fit, Porsche's CEO told German weekly Automobilwoche, fueling hopes that a deal between the two could happen soon. British automotive magazine Car last year reported that Volkswagen was on the verge of selling Bugatti to Rimac Automobili, citing sources. In exchange, Porsche, also owned by Volkswagen, would raise the 15.5% stake it owns in Rimac, founded by Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac, Car said. "At the moment there are intense deliberations on how Bugatti can be developed in the best possible way. Rimac could play a role here because the brands are a good technological fit," Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said. "There are various scenarios with different structures. I believe that the issue will be decided by the group in the first half of the year," said Blume, who also sits on the management board of parent Volkswagen. Rimac has developed an electric supercar platform, which he supplies to other carmakers, including Pininfarina. Blume also confirmed higher savings targets for Porsche, saying the carmaker plans to support results by 10 billion euros ($12.1 billion) of cost cuts by 2025, up from 6 billion previously. Related Video:

Mercedes may be working on a new electric car dubbed 'Ecoluxe'

Automobile has a lengthy piece this month on how the four German mass-market luxury manufacturers each plan to go after Tesla with their own electric vehicles. It was written by Georg Kacher, the magazine's European bureau chief, and the English version came a month after he wrote the German-language original for Autobild. Tesla isn't exactly a threat to the Germans, but, according to the report, the Model S is planting the right kinds of seeds in niches that are important to the luxury players. The thinking is that - in addition to needed electric vehicles anyway for stricter US regulations - it's better to start designing the machinery now. The article posited Porsche's attack would rest on the coming Panamera platform, but a big hurdle would be battery placement. Unable to find one large space for a lithium-ion pack, engineers would instead put batteries everywhere they could, for a supposed tally of some "108 battery pouches" throughout the body. A few days after the Automobile piece, however, Porsche publicly said it had no intention of challenging the Model S, because the enthusiastic driving the brand is known for doesn't jive with useful range. In Kacher's retelling, Mercedes' plans are even more ambitious, supposedly taking aim at the Model S and the coming Model X. It would do this with an investment in excess of $2 billion in a program called "Ecoluxe" – Mercedes has no brand division akin to BMW's i and Audi's e-tron. The new brand would create a four-strong family of bespoke electric vehicles: a smaller platform with a wheelbase around 106 inches and a larger one with a wheelbase around 118 inches. In addition, the range would have "provisions for rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and rear-wheel steering." The numbers are impressive: seating for seven in the larger vehicles, both longer than 16 feet, front and rear storage areas, ratings of up to 610 horsepower and production capacity of 80,000 units per year. When would we see such creatures? Perhaps as soon as 2019. We do know that if Tesla can knock the Model X over the outfield fence, automakers are going to have to do something. We don't know what the chances are that Ecoluxe is Mercedes' first move - but such a plan could help explain the weird Mercedes concept spied in October.