Archive for category Porsche
From 2.5L to 3.2L: The Evolution of the Porsche Boxster
As a car drives by you, the first thing you notice that will surely make your head turn, is the sleek shiny exterior that can reflect the sun straight into your eyes. Some cars that have nice paint jobs can already make the heads of people turn, but with a Porsche Boxster, people know that a shiny waxed paint job is not the only thing that it can offer. In fact, a Porsche Boxster can make heads turn before running past your line of sight. This is what Porsche have done best with this model since its started its production in 1996.
Initially there were six versions of Porsche Boxsters, with the Porsche 986 as first in a whole line of Boxsters. This first Boxster had a 2.5-litre flat six cylinder engine, while the S variant which was released in 2000 had a 3.2-litre capacity, while the base model also received an 2.7-litre upgrade. In 2003 they upgraded not just the engine, but the overall styling of the body for maximum aerodynamics as well. It was in 2005 that they released the 987, which is of course more powerful than the 986, and had a body that resembled the Porsche Carrera GT. By 2007, Porsche decided to increase the engine output, wherein both Boxster models were able to receive the engines that the Porsche Cayman had. Then finally, in 2009, the Boxster received a new facelift, as well as internal changes that greatly increased the engine output and overall performance.
It is good to know that Porsche is one of the few car manufacturers that value the increase of speed whenever they do upgrades, which is very evident with their ever-rising top speeds. From the 149 miles per hour of the 2.5-litre 986 to the now 165 miles per hour top speed of the S 550 variant, that only a handful of cars can compete with. Read the rest of this entry »
Evolution of the Porsche Cayenne
As the Porsche company approached the 21st century, they realised they were missing out on what was becoming a sizable market sector, namely the mid sized crossover market. Up until this point the sector had been dominated by brands such as Land Rover and Jeep. However, since the introduction of the Mercedes ML in 1997 and the BMW X5 in 1999 it was becoming obvious to Porsche that they were missing out on something.
Consequently Porsche designed and introduced its own interpretation of the type in 2002. Porsche were able to call on other similar models within its stable including the Audi Q7 and the Volkswagen Touareg for inspiration and know how, to allow it to develop a rival for the BMW and Mercedes offerings. Also, with the advent of the Porsche Cayenne as it was to be known, Porsche offered something that had not been available in a Porsche since the discontinuation of the Porsche 928 in 1995, namely a V8 engine.
The base model Porsche Cayenne though is powered by a VR6 derived engine, which is the same unit that powers the above mentioned VW Touareg as well as the Volkswagen Golf R32. It produces around 250 horse power which is good enough the get the rather large and heavy Porsche Cayenne from rest to 100 kph (62 mph) in around 7.5 seconds. Read the rest of this entry »