2010 - Porsche Panamera on 2040-cars

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Watch the Porsche 911 R rip through the mountains

A few days ago, the top-tier driver's Porsches, the 911 GT3 and GT3 RS, were the only game in town. Both are exclusively equipped with the technically excellent PDK, a dual-clutch gearbox virtually without equal. Of course, lots of folks, including Porsche die-hards, wanted to do it themselves, even if human shifts came at the expense of milliseconds of shift time. Porsche listened. You read all about the new 911 R two days ago when it was announced (if not, watch the video and then dive into the particulars at that link). It's an unabashed gift to that vocal minority. The folks that wanted a manual GT3 got one, and it's better than that. It's a throwback to the original 911 R, stripped of weight and unsightly aero bits like the massive rear wing of the GT3. There's even houndstooth-patterned cloth on the sport seats. It's a brilliant homage, without being overly retro. But how does it sound, and look in motion? See for yourself. We humbly suggest minding where the drool lands. Related Video: Porsche Coupe Performance Videos 911 porsche 911 r 911 r

Are you the Porsche Pajun?

The prospect of Porsche building a smaller version of the Panamera has been an on-again, off-again proposition as the German automaker seems to go back and forth on the project. Last we heard, Porsche had pushed back the so-called Pajun (shorthand for Panamera Junior) until 2019 at the earliest, but we could be looking at it right here.
The automaker's everything-but-automotive division Porsche Design is working on a luxury condo complex called (simply enough) Porsche Design Tower. It's been three years in the making and will take at least another year or two to complete, but the gist of it is that the 57-floor building will include 132 apartments, each with its own en-suite garage in which the residents' cars will be parked thanks to giant elevators.
Porsche Design released a series of renderings showing what the property will look like once complete. Most of the renderings feature Porsches, of course - production models you can find in any of the brand's showrooms, like the one just 23 miles away in Coral Gables. But one of the renderings of the giant glass elevators shows something rather unusual.

Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer First Drive [w/video]

"There's still a couple hundred rpm left," coaxes the voice from the passenger seat. Though I'm wailing down a mercilessly knotted up Southern California canyon road in someone else's half-million dollar coupe, my manic pace apparently isn't sufficient for the Singer Vehicle Design rep in the right seat. On one hand, my Irish co-pilot with more than a passing resemblance to Bruce Willis is playfully ribbing me because I've been driving hard, but haven't yet hit the 4.0-liter engine's 7,200-rpm rev limiter. On the other hand, if you've never heard of an Irish bloke who doesn't drink because he's got control issues – well, now you have, because the dude's stocky paws are white knuckling the car's rain gutter like his life depends on it. Within my microcosm of itinerant auto writing some days are odder than others; this particular Monday is beginning to look like one of the weirder ones. Rolling, In My Four-Point-Oh The car in question, according to a release I've signed prior to the drive, is a "Porsche 911," a "Porsche," or a "911," but certainly not a "Singer Porsche," a "Singer 911," or any number of variants thereafter. Sigh. I suppose "Porsche 911 reimagined by Singer Vehicle Design" will suffice? Oh, legal department. Nomenclature aside, what started life as a 1990 Porsche 911 has been dismantled and rebodied with a carbon fiber skin that makes it more closely resemble a small-bumpered, wide-hipped 1960s-era 911 than it does its melted bumper donor car. According to company founder (and former Catherine Wheel vocalist) Rob Dickinson, the decision to source a 964-series 911 was based on its delicate foothold between the model's combination of heritage and drivability. "I think the 964 is in the sweet spot of having one foot in old school 911 thinking with the [semi-trailing] rear suspension, which honors every earlier 911, while having a front end which is very much of the modern era and allows the car not to feel like an antique," he tells Autoblog. The specimen I'm driving is the latest evolution of Singer's vision of the reinterpreted 911, distinguished by a 4.0-liter powerplant that's been heavily modified by Ed Pink Racing (and, in Singer tradition, the serial number matches the donor car's chassis). The Van Nuys, California-based firm knows a thing or two about high-strung Porsche mills: the tuner has a long history of rebuilding such mechanical exotica such as 917, 935, and 962 race engines.