Tag Archives: Porsche

Cars We've Driven, Everyday Normal Cars, Exotic Supercars

Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid Reviewed (10/10)

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Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid Review

Everyone, meet Porsche’s Prius! The new Panamera S E-Hybrid, like the Prius, is a 4-door hatchback, and it uses an electric motor to help out its gas engine in a similar way. Furthermore, the Panamera S E-Hybrid has shown in real world tests that it can top 50 mpg, also just like the Prius! Yes, the similarities between the two cars go surprisingly far, much further than most might expect, but they couldn’t be more different in their fundamental purpose.

The Toyota Prius is an economy car for people who want to spend as little money as possible on a car. The Panamera, on the other hand, is a high-end luxury machine for people who are comfortable writing a six figure check for a single car. You can buy four Toyota Priuses for the starting price of this Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid, and that’s before adding any expensive options. However, playing Devil’s advocate, the Panamera does have nearly the horsepower of all four of those Priuses combined. The Panamera may cost as much as four Priuses, but you could also argue that it’s also four times the car.

I remember being amazed when Al Gore’s son got caught going 100mph in his Prius, not because of his behavior, but because he actually got a Prius to top 100mph. If he buys one of these Porsches, then maybe next time he can be pushing 170mph.

Okay, it’s time to acknowledge the elephant in the room here: The Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid will not be competing for buyers with the Toyota Prius (sorry to disappoint). No, it will be going head-to-head against the almighty Tesla Model S, and Elon Musk’s trendy “King Innovator” brand image. It is a massive challenge, one that basically killed Fisker, but I think this Porsche is up to it, and I will explain why.

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Car Shows

Classic European Cars at the Greenwich Concours

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Ferrari 250 California at Greenwich 2014

These are some of the classic European cars at the 2014 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance. Everything from legendary sports and racing cars to iconic luxury cruisers were present, there was a great turnout.

Enjoy the gallery!

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Car Shows

Highlights from the CF Charities Supercar Show

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Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera CF Charities

We showed you the American hypercars last week, but there were many more awesome cars present at the CF Charities Supercar Show as well. Everything from a Bugatti Veyron to an Ultima GTR to a full-on dragster, the crowds were stunned repeatedly.

Enjoy the highlight gallery of this fantastic show!

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Car Shows

Exotic Supercars of the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance

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Pagani Huayra at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance

Here are the exotic cars from the 2014 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance. There was quite a spectacular display of some very rare supercars and hypercars on display this year, everything from the $1.9 million Pagani Huayra you see above, to a Ferrari Enzo, to the world-speed-record-setting Hennessey Venom GT, to Jim Glickenhaus’ P4/5 Competizione. It was surely a sight to be seen.

The Pagani Huayra really stood out, though. It spent both days of the show tucked away in the corner of Miller Motorcars’ display tent, but it was completely swamped with people the entire time. When it left the field, people literally lost their minds, jumping around in a reckless frenzy to try and snag the perfect shot of it.

Is easy to see why people go completely nuts over the Huayra when after a decade of grueling depravation for American car enthusiasts, it is the first Pagani to finally make it stateside. But the Huayra is also an exceptionally magnificent object, even by seven-figure supercar standards. Every aspect of the car seems so “full,” right down to the finest detail — nothing has been overlooked or under-thought.

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Cars We've Driven, Exotic Supercars, Luxury Cars

Porsche 911 Carrera S Review, Al’s Take (Grade: B)

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2014 Porsche 911 Carrera S Front Left

Porsche is one of those brands that hasn’t changed much, despite their appearances. The company may have a lot of great fans, but there are a lot of traditionalists too. This mix of fans is pretty eclectic, ranging from autocross nuts (who love their 944s), Sunday drivers (who could be driving anything from a 914 to a fire-breathing Turbo S), executives (to some, a 911 Carrera is a real symbol of success), to wealthy soccer moms (Cayennes). The traditionalists fume when you bring up the Cayenne or the Panamera and I know what they are all about–Porsche should be about sports cars, not everyday “boring” vehicles. Well, it doesn’t matter what Porsche makes, because they are a company that wants all of their product to have the same message. That message hasn’t changed since the birth of the company, which is that Porsches aren’t ever supposed to feel like a normal car. They should touch the soul, and reward the owner with dynamics and driving feel that excite the senses. I took out this 911 Carrera S around Amelia Island to find out how the flavor tastes in Porsche’s most familiar formula: RWD, a flat-six engine, and a rear axle with that engine hanging out behind it. I wasn’t disappointed.

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Car Shows

Ladies and Lamborghinis in Clinton, NJ

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Lamborghini Murcielago supercar

This event was a bit of a last minute thing for us. I was beginning to feel the 2 o’clock drowsiness in the office when I got a text from  Al informing me of an event called Ladies and Lamborghinis going on that night in Clinton, NJ. It was like a shot of espresso for me, and I couldn’t wait to get up there for the festivities.

This was the inaugural  Ladies and Lamborghinis event, and it was basically similar to other cruise night events hosted by towns that we’ve been to. Ironically, only one Lamborghini showed up — they should’ve called it Foxes and Ferraris instead.

There was a very nice crop of cars, though, including a very enticing classic Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona, and two Porsche 911 RS models. For an inaugural event, it was quite good, so hopefully they will get the word out more next time and build the attendance rate further because Clinton, NJ is a great venue.

Until then, enjoy our photo gallery from Ladies an Lamborghinis!

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Car Shows, MoM Vlog

Supercar Sounds at Bucks County Exotics

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Naturally when attending a exotic car meet, you expect to capture some wonderful sights and sounds as people head out onto the open road in their fantastic speed machines. The folks at Bucks County Exotics definitely put on a good show. If you like the sounds of V8s, V10s and V12s, then turn up your speakers and enjoy the music from these wonderful supercars! Also, check out our photo gallery from the event.

-Nick

Car Shows

Bucks County Exotics Meet 5/2/2014

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Rossion Q1 at Bucks County Exotics
This Rossion Q1 and Ferrari 458 Spider were just the tip of the iceberg of awesome cars at the meet.

We were in attendance for the Bucks County Exotics meet last Saturday morning. I had a bit of an unexpected late night the previous evening, so it took everything I could muster to climb out of bed and drive over to Doylestown, PA for the meet. It is a cars and coffee style event, and many great cars show up each time, everything from hot rods to classics to supercars. Bucks County is a great area to enjoy driving fun cars, with lots of winding back roads cutting through the woods, and lots of scenic destinations to visit. It also happens to be a pretty affluent area, so everything seems to add up nicely to make an event like the Bucks County Exotics car meet possible.

Enjoy the photos and captions!

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Auto Idolatry, SHOWCASE

Jay Leno drives the Porsche 918 Spyder

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Going off of the feature we did earlier today, it seemed prudent to share a recent episode of Jay Leno’s Garage where Jay gets behind the wheel of the Porsche 918. Here’s to hoping we find a way to try one out for ourselves sometime, but until then enjoy this.

-Nick

Car Shows

Porsche 918 Spyder at Amelia Island

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Porsche 918 Spyder 1

During the festivities of the Amelia Island Concours weekend, Porsche had their new 918 Spyder hypercar  shown off prominently in the VIP parking section at the Ritz Carlton resort. Naturally it drew tons of attention from drooling spectators, as most of us Americans have yet to lay eyes on a 918 in person.

For those unfamiliar with the Porsche 918 Spyder, it is Porsche’s new flagship model. It utilizes a hybrid powertrain that nets 887hp at 8500rpm and will do 214mph, but get this, Porsche also claims it is capable of up to 78mpg if driven gently (not that anyone will ever want to do that). If, somehow, this is news to you, and you find your interest has been piqued, a 918 Spyder can be yours for the low, low price of just $845,000!!!

The more I learn about the 918 Spyder, the more I consider it my favorite among the current crop of hybrid hypercars, at least for road use anyway. We still don’t know which of the three is the “fastest,” but we do know that a 918 Spyder Weissach Edition made it around the Nurburgring in 6 minutes and 57 seconds, which certainly makes the 918 fast enough to get to work on time…. not that people who are buying this car have a boss to answer to. Until McLaren decides to just spill the beans on the P1’s Ring time, and until Ferrari stops hiding the LaFerrari from any form of objective scrutiny whatsoever, we will have to wait to see which one is “best.”

The Porsche is an incredible machine, though, and I think the fact that they haven’t held anything back about the 918 says everything that needs to be said.

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Car Shows

Highlights from the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance (Post 1950)

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Ferrari 330 P3/4 and Ferrari 335 Sport
Ferrari 330 P3/4 and Ferrari 335 Sport

Here is the second part of our highlight reel from the 2014 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. It includes everything from the magnificent Ferrari 330 P3/4 you see above to the brand new McLaren P1 and Lamborghini Huracan. Also featured are the best in show award winners, a Horch 853 and a Scarab Mark II. The cars at this year’s show were truly incredible, and we literally were shooting photos from sunrise to sunset.

Enjoy the photo gallery.

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Auto Idolatry, SHOWCASE

Autocar pits the C7 Corvette against its European rivals

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The Corvette has always been an American hero, able to rival Porsches and whatnot in lap times and speed. However, by almost all counts, the Corvette was never on the same level in terms of its driving experience, when compared to the Europeans. The Chevrolet C7 Corvette Stingray is probably the best Vette yet in terms of driving dynamics, so Autocar decided to see how it stacked up directly to its fiercest rivals from across the pond.

Keep in mind, British journalists, especially, tend to be heavy critics of Corvettes. Maybe they feel threatened by such a great American icon, I mean, the Vette is basically “the George Washington of cars”, and that might bring up some of their cultural bad memories from the late 1700s. Either way, all pokes aside, the Brits seem to like the C7 Stingray quite a lot, and it seems it is finally able to take on the Europeans on their own turf.

Enjoy, and let us know what you think in the comments.

-Nick