Tag Archives: porsche 911

Thanks and Good Bye

Posted on by scottbourne
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In May of 2011 I started Carloves.com. I had hoped that the site would attract a large audience of car enthusiasts and be a vehicle (no pun intended) for me to express my opinions about my biggest passion – cars.

While the second part came true, the first part didn’t. The site never attracted much of a following. My twitter account that supports this site on the other hand has had good traction so I’ll keep it alive.

I’ve decided to open a site dedicated to my new Porsche 911 called lovemyporsche.com – and I’ll update that site regularly with Porsche-only news. The MyCarLoves Twitter feed will continue to be a place to find both Porsche and other car news.

Thanks to everyone who visited this site regularly. I appreciate your support and hope you enjoyed the content. Good bye for now.

The Porsche Diary

Posted on by scottbourne
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911

While I love my Corvettes, Jags, Jeeps and more, I have never been much of a German car fan. I’ve owned some Porsche race cars, but these have little resemblance to the street version of the famed 911. I’ve also owned some mid-50s replica cars. All of them were fine, but I never really wanted a Porsche 911 street car – until the new 2013 991 body style came out. That changed everything. It’s lighter, faster, wider, more comfortable and improved significantly. So I decided it was time to add a 911 to my stable.

After hearing about the new 911, four months ago, I walked into my favorite car dealership and ordered the 911 Carrera S of my dreams. My main concern in designing the car was style and speed. My special order car came in at just under $140k including tax, title, dealer prep, freight, destination charge, and registration. What does $140k buy? One bad-ass machine!

You can see the pictures above. This is the day the car was delivered to the dealership. I literally happened to be there on other business when it arrived. I knew it had landed at Long Beach. But I was told it could take 10 days to make it to Vegas. After four months I figured – heck – what’s another 10 days. But much to my surprise it came in five days and I am excited.

My car is white with a red leather interior. Red is a stretch – I know – and polarizing – just the way I’d like it. But the pictures on the web site and in the brochure simply don’t do the car justice. You have to see it in person to understand the impact. It’s simply amazing. The red leather interior of this car may be the nicest I’ve seen and I’ve been in some very nice cars. That red leather cost me $5200 so believe me – I was nervous. But upon seeing it I fell in love. Ordering red leather also required the addition of the 14-way power/premium seat package which was another $2940. I just had to have the PASM Sport Suspension ($890) because this car WILL see track time. I also have to have the sport exhaust ($2950.) It was either upgrade the radio or pay for the best exhaust and I’d rather hear the engine roar any day! I went with the PDK transmission – another $4080. Skeptical? Read what Randy Pobst has to say about the PDK “The PDK is fine in Sport Plus here under what are frankly race conditions given the way I’m driving the car. No complaints. When I would make a mistake, a little hot and then go to the power after missing the apex, it would kick right down smoothly without disturbing the car’s weight distribution or balance better than I could. (http://bit.ly/QXpFRR)

9112

After getting this far down the list there was no way I was going to order a bespoke 911 without the Sport Chrono Package ($2370.) I am most excited about the launch control that is possible with this option.

Last but not least – the biggie – the Aerokit Cup at $5990. The car was 20 days into the order stage when the Porsche manager at the dealership called me to let me know of this new option. While Porsche has offered similar kits on other cars, it wasn’t originally available on the new 991 body style 911s. Thankfully the order was still in the “changeable” stage and we added it. I am so glad. It is sexy and adds significant performance. I’ll talk more about this and the other options as the diary progresses.

So I’ve paid for the car, done the paperwork, added the car to my insurance, and got the keys. Of course this does me no good because the car is on a lift. That’s because Porsche ran out of black wheels. I ordered black but got silver. They reduced the price accordingly, so that meant getting my guy Ron from Custom Calipers to powdercoat the wheels black. He is the best and because Ron is the best this will take more time than I’d prefer. The wheels MAY be done by Friday or Saturday, but at the latest Monday.

Then I will drive this baby for the first time. Off to my favorite detailer – Mobile Command Detail in Las Vegas. (These folks are the exclusive detailer at SEMA, Barrett-Jackson and more. They even detailed Air Force One!) MCD will detail the car, condition the leather, claybar the paint, put polish and sealant on it, etc. That will take a day. Next comes the tint, clear bra and finally the graphics package. Before I modify anything else, I’m going to run the car through its mandatory 500 mile break-in period. I’ll report along the way what the experience is like.

New 911 Hits American Shores

Posted on by scottbourne
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I am not a “Porsche guy.” I have, like many, always admired the car, but I’ve never been a rabid fan. Mostly, the cars were always to touchy and too small for my taste. But it seems like someone in Germany has been listening to my complaints because the new 991 body style is longer, wider and easier to drive than any previous Porsche. For 2012, the 911 has been completely redesigned from the ground up.

At first blush, it feels more like a two-door Panamera. I haven’t spent more than 30 minutes in the car so these are obviously just first impressions, but so far, so good.

The car I tested had an MSRP of $123,000 and change. It was a well-equipped model with the lovely and smooth PDK transmission, sun roof, nice radio, etc.

The car will eventually be available in both a cabriolet and a turbo. There is also a manual seven speed gear box coming later this year.

The new 911 is longer, lower, wider, 100 lbs. lighter, faster and more efficient than previous models. The weight loss is largely due to more aluminum inside. On the “S” model you get big, beautiful 20″ wheels and the interior as well as the exterior have a few nicer features such as exterior mirrors now located on the upper edge of the doors as opposed to the mirror triangles.

The car I tested made 400 HP and did a 0-60 time of under 4.3 seconds. Top speed is 188 miles per hour. According to Porsche, lap times at the famed Nurburgring are about 13 seconds faster in the new car, which is nothing short of astonishing.

The new wider body makes for improved driving dynamics. The car feels like it’s better balanced. While it’s completely subjective, I think the car just LOOKS better too. There are some interesting color combinations that I’d like to see in person, but I’m leaning toward the silver or white exterior with red interior and black wheels – all options that are worthwhile in my opinion.

There are cool systems such as the Automatic Start/Stop function, engine and transmission thermal management, electrical system recuperation, the world’s first seven-speed manual transmission and–in conjunction with PDK–the ability to ‘sail’ or coast. The new electro-mechanical power steering offers the typical Porsche precision and helps to increase efficiency and reduce fuel consumption.

What surprised me is how well the car just “felt.” If you’re not a car person – then that quote means nothing to you. But if you ARE a car person you know what I mean. I found myself doing lots of unnecessary (but legal) u-turns just because this baby can turn on a dime. I also had fun playing with the rear spoiler which automatically deploys at speed but can be manually lowered or raised as needed.

The new 911 Carrera Coupe has a base MSRP of $82,100, and the 911 Carrera S Coupe starts at $96,400 (excluding destination fees).

Highly recommended and coming to my garage soon.

Ten Tiny Bits Of Automotive News – February 14, 2012

Posted on by scottbourne
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EDITOR’S NOTE: We used to do the news on Mondays but are switching to Tuesday since so many times companies wait until Monday to release news.

1. Toyota has announced pricing on the 2012 Prius C at under $19K. The base level Prius C One’s MSRP is $18,950, but that doesn’t include a $760 destination charge.

2. Jaguar is gearing up to produce small run of turbine-powered C-X75 supercars. You won’t ever see one and you can’t afford it so moving on.

3. The lovely new, redesigned 2012 Porsche 911 *the new body style* has started to arrive at dealerships in the USA. Pricing starts at $82,100 and can climb up MUCH higher in a heartbeat.

4. The 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 convertible makes 650 HP but in an attempt to save your life, Ford is limiting the top speed to 155 MPH. You can get the coupe if you want to go 200 MPH.

5. If you’re wondering why Maybach went out of business well here you go. Maybach lost almost $500,000 on each vehicle they sold. Any questions?

6. The NHTSA is investigating possible driver-side door fires in 2007 Toyota Camry sedans and RAV4 crossovers.

7. 36,000 Nissan Versas have been recalled for potential defective shifter knobs.

8. BMW has agreed to pay a $3 million fine to the NHTSA for safety recall investigations. The fine was the result of U.S. government allegations that BMW failed to promptly notify regulators about potential safety defects.

9. Have $32 million laying around? Then you could have been the buyer of a rare Ferrari 250 GTO. There are only 39 of these in the world and one just changed hands in a private sale in the UK.

10. They needed a study for this? Researchers in Canada have discovered that smoking marijuana within three hours of driving can more than double your chances of being involved in a serious crash.