The 2009 911 Cabriolet
LeftLane News has this to say about the new 911 997.5 cabrio:
The 911 Carrera Cabriolet is a true Porsche, from top to bottom. With amazing acceleration, and incredibly grippy brakes, it is the ultimate package for a Porschephile who also happens to be a sun worshipper. Not a car for first-time enthusiasts afraid of its unique handling characteristics, it nonetheless begs to be driven and enjoyed any day of the year.
See the full review here:
http://www.leftlanenews.com/porsche-911-carrera-cabriolet-review.html
Tags: 911, Cabriolet
A quicker way to 60
“Along with direct fuel injection, the new Porsche engines offer the new Porsche Doppelkuppling (PDK), available as an option. It’s a technology that first helped Porsche racing cars create a sensation on racetracks around the world in the 1980s. After years of painstaking development, its application in a street-legal 911 has come to fruition.
PDK, with both a manual gearshift and an automatic mode, has seven gears at its disposal. It is essentially two gearboxes in one and, as the name suggests, two clutches. Whenever a particular gear is engaged, the next gear in the other gearbox is always preselected. The result?
Gear shifts take mere hundredths of a second, and without any hint of interruption to the flow of power. PDK provides improved responsiveness and greater agility with more fuel efficiency.
In combination with the Sport Chrono Package Plus, PDK has a choice of two additional functions: Launch Control for optimum acceleration from a standing start, and a motorsport-derived gearshift strategy, bringing gearshift characteristics straight from the racetrack.”
Source: 2009 Porsche 911 Product Guide, page 10.
Tags: 911, PDK, transmission
On the power of the 911
“The position of its flat-six engine at the rear of the chassis is an iconic element of the Porsche 911. For many drivers, it’s the single characterisitic that defines the 911 dirving experience. That experience is now further evolved in the new 911, thanks to two new engines that use direct fuel injection.
How does this improve upon conventional fuel injection? By preparing the fuel/air mixture entirely in the combustion chamber, where it is then metered and injected directly with millisecond precision.
From a technical perspective, the more accurate fuel/air mixture and optimization of combustion has increased performance while being more fuel efficient. Power and torque outputs are now 345 and 385 horsepower and 288 lb.-ft. and 310 lb.-ft. for the 3.6- and 3.8-litre engines respectively.”
Source: 2009 Porsche 911 Product Guide, page 10.
Tags: 911, engine, horsepower, power, torque
Sure the PDK is great. It speeds acceleration via faster gear shifts, and it reduces petrol usage by adding a *7th* gear… In short is is a long overdue, but necessary technical jump forward for Porsche. The company is also rolling out its direct fuel injection at the same time, which provides 9% or so of greater horsepower and reduces CO2 emissions because it burns petrol more efficiently as it does not first mix the fuel with air before it enters the cylinder chamber.
Download the document here:
911 PDK Technical Specs
Tags: CO2, DFI, direct injection, emissions, fuel, PDK, transmission
You may recall that last year, part of the Porsche factory that produces the 911 caught fire and delayed some production for a short time. Because not all Porsches are produced in the same factory, most of the Porsche supply chain went unaffected.
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Fast forward to 2008, and we see again why companies should always buy transportation of goods insurance. Turns out that early Wednesday morning a train was derailed in Dillenberg, Germany (wherever that is), which cause 20 brand new 911s and who knows how many other cars to be brutally damaged. Porsche lovers hearts are breaking across the world! Still in tight times, maybe Porsche can make more money with train crashes rather than a weak sales market…
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