by John Glynn | Aug 27, 2012 | New Models, Porsche News
Porsche has announced the new 911 Carrera 4 and C4s, due to be launched in Paris next month. I’ve read claims that the widebody looks lumpy from some angles, but I wouldn’t kick it out of bed.
The first thing we bobble hats want to know about any new Porsche is the weight. You can whack in tons of power but, if the weight is OTT, that power is soaked up just hauling it around.
The standard body 991 C2 tops the scales at 1380 kgs DIN curb weight. That is the basic car on a full tank with no options: no sunroof, small wheels etc. DIN also includes a spare wheel, but the spare wheel in a new 911 is a Triple-A card in your wallet.
There’s no tech datasheet for the C4 as yet. Porsche says it’s ‘up to 65 kilos lighter’, which I presume means the basic manual car in lightest guise is 65 kilos lighter than the 997 C4.
Sixty-five kilos is slightly heavier than Allan McNish, so a nice saving, but few people would run a ‘basic’ 991. With some weight added for the front diff, shafts and prop, a bit more wiring and another chunk for that sunroof, an average C4 should weigh circa 1530-ish kilos DIN. That’s not too shabby for what most air-cooled 911 guys would assume was much more of a luxo-barge (edit Dec 2012: in fact UK C4 weighs just 1430 kg DIN).
If you’re in the UK and fancy one of these, they launch at Christmas: just in time for skiing. You’ll need 77 grand for the C4 Coupe; ten more for the widebody. Add nine grand to either for a droptop, so £96k plus options for a C4S Cabriolet.
I dunno what extra options you will want, though. Standard equipment includes full leather, a colour touchscreen PCM with sat nav, auto climate, Bi-Xenons, Thatcham Cat 5 tracker and iPod hook up. Order it in Blue like this Cabriolet and job done.
Used 997 C4 GTS Coupes currently (August 2012) start at £68k in the franchised network for a year-old PDK Coupe with 4k miles. As a long-time used car values specialist, I suspect the arrival of the 991 C4S will have an effect on 997 C4 GTS residuals. Could be good news if you’re planning some GTS shopping in early 2013.
by John Glynn | Aug 13, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Our Porsche racing friends at EB Motorsport had a great weekend at the Nürburgring Oldtimer GP, comfortably winning their class and retaining the lead in World Sportscar Masters, but not everyone enjoyed the event as much.
The owner of a 1956 Porsche 356 woke to find his car had been stolen from the Hotel Hohe Acht. I’m told that two other 356s were also stolen at the track on the same night. German Police have so far come up empty-handed but that is hardly a surprise: this was carried out by professionals and there will be a plan in place to get these things out of the area as soon as possible.
This particular car is a peach. The owner bought the car in 1970 and, working as a 356 spare parts manufacturer in Denmark, it has been with him for 40 years of a life in Porsche. A €15,000 reward is offered for any information leading to the safe return.
This is not the first 356 theft we’ve seen this year. Certainly classic Porsches are getting ever-easier to steal: a quick colour change and a few bits swapped (including chassis number) and no one would be any the wiser on what it once was. If you’re not using security on your classic, then fix that quickly.
I use a high-end steering lock and good alarm on mine – plus one other unnamed measure – which would slow any potential thieves down a bit. The agreed valuation for insurance purposes is also up to date! I do agreed insurance valuations for UK classic Porsche people if you need any help there: total peace of mind and not much added to the premium.
More info on this car: black Porsche 356A with Speedster seats and a Sebring exhaust. Steels are very distinctive as is the ‘Les Lestuns’ steering wheel. but all these bits bolt off. Just be suspicious of any spotless 356s in black seen around the place.
Thorkil Simonsen owns the car. If you like the sound of that reward then call him at +45 40721284 or email simonsen-356@c.dk. Would be great to get this back.
by John Glynn | Jul 18, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
The 2012 Midnight Sun Rally starts today. Three days of flat-out action with the cream of Scandinavia is about to begin, and Tuthill Porsche is in the thick of it.
This running of the Midnight Sun is dedicated to the late Ove Andersson, so has attracted even more rally stars than usual. Toyota Team Historic has four-time World Champion, Juha Kankkunen (1986, 1987, 1991 and 1993), Hannu Mikkola (1983) and the brilliant Mikko Hirvonen, who is getting ever-closer to his first World Championship.
Team Tidö, led by David von Schinkel, has supplied the Tuthill-prepped cars for Björn Waldegård (1979), long-time Porsche hero Åke Andersson and Stig Blomqvist, the 1984 World Rally Champion.
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It will be great fun to meet Kankkunen and Mikkola again,” said Björn. “These few days should be most enjoyable, and the rally will be very interesting to watch for the spectators.”
“With so many great names competing, the spectators will all be winners,” agreed Åke Andersson, celebrating fifty years in the Midnight Sun Rally. Åke came second in class on his 1962 debut, and his plan for this year is to chase the top honours. Given Ake’s Porsche CV, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be in the hunt!
I’ve got the batphone set for Sweden and am hoping to get regular news from this terrific event. If I wasn’t snowed under with other stuff to do, I’d be up there myself, enjoying the craic. Instead, I’m at a specialists tomorrow, sampling their full Hunter chassis set up and alignment rig (above) on my recently refurbed BMW M3 and then at Silverstone Classic all this weekend.
Mark and James from lightweight Porsche parts specialist, EB Motorsport, are racing in World Sportscar Masters at Silverstone, so we’ll be out there in force with the cameras, hoping for sun and tracking their Masters Historic title defence – going very well so far.
Remember our Ferdinand Facebook page is seeing plenty of energy at the minute, so follow that page for your regular Porsche news fix! I hope that time for regular Classic Porsche Blog action will return when we’ve got that operation up and running.
![Porsche 991 gets Top JD Power Rating]()
by John Glynn | Jun 21, 2012 | Market & Prices, Porsche News
American consumer research giant, JD Power, has given top marks to the new 911 in its latest “Initial Quality Study”. The research is carried out three months into ownership, when the halo has not yet worn off and the car is clocking up beauty miles.
Porsche reports that 230 2012 model year cars were sampled, with 228 questions addressing all aspects of customer satisfaction. The new 911 took top spot in the luxury sports car category, as well as recording the lowest number of complaints in the entire survey.
It’s hard not to wonder about these surveys. After three months, you are still getting oohs and ahs from friends and colleagues, and most buyers have barely reached first-service mileage. How likely would buyers of new Porsche sports cars be to record extreme disappointment after 12 weeks of ownership? Thumbs down would hardly be a good reflection on their own ability to spend 70 grand wisely. What might they say – “bit boring, no one lets me in in traffic, sat nav seems expensive for what it actually does?” Maybe that last one was covered in the questions.
More important to new and used car buyers is how the car stands up to 12 months of use, then 24 months and 36 months. Hard to imagine 100% of 996 and early 997 buyers giving gold medals to Porsche after 24 months.
I recently spoke to a guy whose 997 needed an engine rebuild at 25,000 miles, is now up to 28,000 miles total and needs another engine. He is not taking his 911 back to the supposed specialist putting a lot of tuppences into this 53-page thread on Porsche 996 and 997 engine failures. As for my recent education on cracked 997 suspension springs – seems that is no small issue either.
Gen 2 997 seems to be holding up well (better), but always interested to keep track of emerging issues and reliability trends. Hopefully 991 can continue the Gen 2’s good work: let’s see another JD Power report on the same cars this time next year.
by John Glynn | Jun 16, 2012 | Porsche News, Race and Rally
Porsche owns the top three GTE AM slots at the 90-minute point in the 2012 Le Mans 24 Hours. Leading the class is Flying Lizard’s number 79 RSR, followed by the Matmut car and then Prospeed. All cars have made one stop. Patrick Pilet is building a great lead in the category.
P4 in the class is Gunnar Racing’s Gunnar Jeannette in the number 58 Ferrari and he’s going well – his team manager has just been called to race control regarding his team mate. I’m following the race using Radio Le Mans commentary (big Porsche thread going at the minute) and watching the Le Mans live pictures (on mute). Means I can be at the office while the race heads into the night.
Here’s the situation in GTE Pro: Aston leads Corvette leads 911 RSR. The pace is pretty tight: Porsche is two minutes back but their best laps are two seconds apart. Remember we have over 22 hours left, so there’s a long way to go.
Up front, it’s Audi, Audi, Toyota, Toyota. More news as it happens.
