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Porsche is celebrating their 70 years in the making with the Porsche 911 Speedster Concept car. With the Carrera Cabriolet 4 body as its canvas, the Speedster concept pays homage to its predecessors - most notably, the Porsche 356 1500 Speedster. The limited production Speedster is immediately distinguishable from the current 911 line-up, with its “double bubble” tonneau cover and other unique offerings and design tweaks.
With all-wheel drive and all the GTS goodies, the Carrera 4 GTS sits in a very practical place in the Porsche 911 lineup. The 4 GTS is a Carrera 4S with all the items Porsche thinks you should have at a price that is less than choosing them yourself. Standard equipment on the GTS that is normally optional on the Carrera S includes the Sport Chrono Package, Sport Exhaust, bi-xenon lights with PDLS (Porsche Dynamic Lighting System) and PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management). Inside, four-way adjustable sport seats are standard.
The 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet is a great companion to its coupe sibling. The Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet delivers the same blend of dynamism, performance and efficiency offered by the Coupe. The turbocharged 3.8-litre six-cylinder engine delivers 520 bhp and it helps drivers accelerate from zero to 60 mph in just 3.1 seconds (there goes your hair style). Compared to the 997.2 Turbo Cabriolet the new Turbo Cab delivers 30 bhp more power and are 0.2 seconds faster in terms of their standard acceleration. It is also up to 15% more efficient and more luxurious and comfortable to boot.
Porsche is the most successful marque in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and British drivers have played an important role in delivering these historical achievements, and in celebration of this success a special limited edition model – the 911 Carrera 4 GTS British Legends Edition was created. Designed by the drivers who took wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the factory team – Richard Attwood (winner 1970), Derek Bell MBE (winner 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987) and Nick Tandy (winner 2015) – this model was developed by Porsche Cars GB and Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur.
So what else do you get when you buy a 991 Carrera 4 GTS Cabriolet? First of all you get a  30 hp bump over the Carrera 4S to 430 hp from the 3.8L naturally aspirated flat-six. You get forged centre-lock black 20-inch wheels, dynamic engine mounts, the Sports Chrono Package, PASM adaptive damping with a lowered ride height, an interior swathed in Alcantara, a sinister front fascia with black intakes and custom rear apron with black tailpipes that broadcast the goods through an uber-nasty sport exhaust system. Other trim details include black lettering and smoked headlights.
Matt Prior from Autocar nails the 991.2 GT3 RS: “While I don’t think the 3 communicates any better than a 2, the messages it does transmit are superior: you can feel that it’s lighter, more willing to turn, easier and more satisfying to ease onto the throttle and keep it pinned. It’s why this car is only a few seconds slower than a 2RS around the Nürburgring Nordschleife despite being almost 200bhp down.” He goes on... “And in the form of the GT3 RS it goes into creating - little by little, detail by detail - what might just be the best driver’s car currently on sale.”
As the rules do not permit higher output engines, the engine for the 991 RSR was taken from the 997 GT3 RSR 4.0 and the development work focused on the chassis, body, aerodynamics and the gearbox. A wishbone front suspension replaced the McPherson struts used in 997. A new development was the lightweight gearbox. One of the priorities in the development was the more evenly balanced weight distribution. The centre of gravity was lower, too.
The rear of the world’s most-produced GT racing car now houses a 4-litre, six-cylinder flat engine for even more drive. Thanks to thoroughbred motorsport technology, the compact engine with direct fuel injection delivers peak performance of 357 kW (485 hp). A range of innovative details also improve efficiency in addition to engine performance, ensuring even better durability of the naturally aspirated engine in racing mode and reduced maintenance costs.
The open-top 991 Carrera S Cabriolet requires an $11,600 premium over a comparable coupe; ta not-cheap $108,950 price point for those shopping. For that, you get the best overall open-top sports car around. With the 400-hp, 3.8-liter six and the benefit of the PDK automatic’s launch control, the Carrera S cabriolet should hit 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and cover the quarter-mile in the low 12s. Performance is on-par with the coupe on backroads so any fears that this is a soft-911 are thrown out the window. This is a serious sports car, sans roof.
The 2014 50th Anniversary Edition 911 was built by Porsche to commemorate the 911’s birthday, 50 years after its production launch in 1964. In homage to 1963, the year the 911 debuted at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show, production was limited to 1,963 units. The 50th Anniversary uses the wider body from a Carrera 4S (but remains only rear-wheel-drive) and is lower than a standard Carrera by 10mm. The 20 inch-alloys are a modern take on the original Fuchs wheels, and the seats are finished in “Pepita” cloth. Includes Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), sports exhaust and powerkit tickled 430 hp flat six.
A new turbo flat-six engine is the headline news. Still super fast and surefooted all year round. The revised four-wheel-drive 911 makes the car's appeal on year-round, any-occasion usability even stronger. The 911 Carrera 4S receives a series of subtle styling updates as part of a reasonably comprehensive mid-life facelift. Included is a redesigned front bumper sporting active air ducts that open and close to channel air to the front-mounted radiators dependent on throttle load, revised headlights with altered internal graphics, larger exterior mirror housings and new door handles.
Everything you need to know about the 991.1 Turbo S Cab comes from Car and Driver test results. "Launch control puts the computer in charge and sends the 3741-pound Turbo S Cab to the far side of 60 mph in just 2.8 seconds. A quarter-mile that nearly breaks into the 10s—11.1 seconds at 124 mph—attests to how serious this car gets when provoked. We saw 1.0 g on the skidpad and a stopping distance of 151 feet, both strong numbers abetted by the hilariously staggered Pirelli P Zeros (245/35 in front, 305/30 in back)". This is in a comfortable, all-wheel drive, grand touring convertible.
Porsche 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet (991.2)
Porsche really has hit its brief with the turbocharged Carrera GTS Cabriolet. It is hugely capable on the road, easy to live with on a daily basis, and come the weekend, it’s massively fast on track. For the money, and for drivers who really want just a little more 911, but without the mind-bending speed of a Turbo or uncompromising nature of a GT3, then this is the car for you. It also looks unique and has enough of its own style that it it feels special both on the outside and inside.
To the untrained eye, the Carrera T may appear to be a bare-bones and sparingly equipped 911 at first glance. The purpose of the T is to create a driver-focused 911, equipped with only the necessities required to appeal to those of a purist’s ilk. The Carrera T employs the same power plant used in the current base Carrera - a twin-turbocharged 3.0L flat-six with 370 horsepower and 331 lb-ft of torque. A 7-speed manual transmission comes standard with the T, along with a shorter final-drive ratio and the limited-slip differential. Porsche Sport Exhaust (PSE) is also standard. PASM sport suspension comes standard in the T, which lowers the chassis by 0.4 inches relative to the base Carrera and allows for two modes of dampening.
Sticking to their strengths, Porsche has created the most sought after car in its line-up, the 2017 Porsche 911 R. We have seen numerous rumors about this car for a couple of months now and this time we finally get to see it. The new Porsche 911 R with 4-litre naturally aspirated flat-six engine with a six-speed manual gearbox is coming to us for sure. It's lighter and faster with its engines pumping out 493 bhp at 8,250 rpm and 333 lb-ft at 6,250 rpm. The result is probably the best 911 of the modern era. Porsche at its finest.