by John Glynn | Jul 8, 2014 | Market & Prices, Porsche News
Porsche sales figures for the six months from January to June 2014 reveal some interesting data on demand for Porsche Panamera Hybrid. Year-on-year, Porsche has delivered eight percent more cars than at six months into 2013. Deliveries of new Panamera rose almost thirty percent, with ten percent of customers opting for the plug-in E-Hybrid model.
Porsche Panamera Hybrid Sales
Hybrid is an interesting car. The UK’s company car tax rules are set up to favour hybrid technology, but real world use is probably still not as effective as a decent diesel. Panamera Hybrid’s maximum 20-mile range on electric power mainly benefits urban users in big cities that offer concessions for low-carbon vehicles.
The What Car? Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid road test applauds the car (which costs almost £90,000 here in the UK) for a monthly liability of just £150 in company car tax for a 40% taxpayer. For those of you living outside the UK, car drivers who receive a car from their employer as part of their salary package pay Benefit-in-Kind tax on the perk, measured in how good the Treasury feels about the carbon emissions of said car. You don’t want to know the likely BIK tax on my Cayenne V8 (not run through a company, for obvious reasons).
Compare this to Texas, where a Panamera Hybrid with 1 mile on the clock will cost you $110,000, or £64,000. This is roughly the same as a Panamera Diesel here in Britain and, according to What Car’s top editor, the Panamera Diesel is the better real-world car. “It’s the best hybrid I’ve ever driven, but I’d rather have the diesel,” said Chas Hallett.
Porsche Panamera E-Hybrid Fuel Economy & Battery Range
Clarifying “best hybrid” as being the best in terms of how it managed the transition between power sources, Hallett noted an average of 32 mpg over 500 miles, while What Car’s testers got 30.7 miles in real world testing. That is per imperial gallon, not US gallon. What Car? data notes that Porsche claims 91 mpg: that gap is something else. What Car also managed just 11 miles on electric power.
Marked down to three out of five stars by What Car? for high running costs, lack of brake feel and overwhelming understeer unbecoming of a Porsche, this has not deterred the 1300 people who picked up plug-ins so far this year. Whether it was private buyers or dealers building up Hybrid stock, one in ten is a reasonable number. I remain a Hybrid fan – when the AC/DC Cayenne gets cheap, I’m there.
![Aetna Blue: Porsche Paint to Sample]()
by John Glynn | Jun 8, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Flicking through Instagram this morning, a 356 friend on there posted this picture of his stunning Coupe. Turns out the colour is Aetna Blue – a new one on me, available on 356s for just two years: 1960/61. Porsche paint names intrigue me, so I got onto Google.
You’ll have guessed that Aetna is a Greek word. In classic mythology, Aetna was the daughter of Uranus and Gaea: nymph goddess of a Sicilian volcano said to entomb the giant Typhoeus, whose frequent restlessness led to the eruptions from the mountain, and terrifying earthquakes that shook the island.
That Sicilian volcano is, of course, Mount Etna. It is easy to understand how a sojourn alongside the Sicilian coast could have led to this rich melt of sky and sea finding its way onto a svelte 356. Continuing the Google led to a thread on Rennlist, which once again proved to me how small this Porsche world is. But that’s another story.
Marc L in Houston, Texas shared how he had bought this used Porsche 991 C2S manual from a Houston Porsche dealer, in paint-to-sample Aetna Blue with Espresso leather and wood trim. Apparently the car had covered less than a thousand miles but had come back in soon after delivery, as part exchange on a C4S 911. Numerous local Rennlisters contributed to say it had been at the dealer’s for a while: the unique colour and trim proving difficult to sell.
Marc walked in looking for a Cobalt Blue 997 Turbo, but was struck by the luxurious combination of this custom-built 991. While there is the usual backlash on the thread against the wood trim, seeing these things in person is a totally different experience. No surprise Marc was smitten, buying it on the spot.
The original owner of the Aetna Blue 991 also chimes in to the thread, sharing how “that vintage feel is what I was looking for. My dealer would never order wood in a 911 but after this car they’ve done it several times. With the right colors it looks good.”
Porsche’s paint to sample facility is a wonderful thing. A skilled aesthete can build a beautiful car that would be kept forever. It can also go exceptionally wrong, of course, but to me this 991 sums up the best of modern Porsche. Perhaps it also shows that the 991 is now a car for fifty- rather than thirty-somethings (I’m at the wrong end of that scale), but now the young folk have the Cayman and Boxster, let all 991s look as special as this. It’s my favourite 991 to date.
![Aetna Blue: Porsche Paint to Sample]()
by John Glynn | Jun 7, 2014 | Porsche News
I’m not a big fan of gambling, but I’m all for good news and irritating the right wing. This superb story has both of the above. Unemployed 52 year-old Londoner, Andrew Boyce, recently returned home in his ageing Ford Escort to find a brand new Porsche Boxster GTS on the drive, won with the money from his benefits.
London Man wins Porsche Boxster with benefit cash
Currently claiming unemployment and sickness allowances, Andrew spent £250 of his benefit payments to buy 50 tickets in a spot-the-ball competition, with top prize of a Porsche Boxster GTS. A few days later, he was met on his driveway by competition MD, William Hindmarch, who presented him with the keys to a brand new Porsche Boxster and a briefcase filled with ten grand in cash. Andrew’s reaction was priceless: “Thank you very much. Would you like a cup of tea?”
The NIMBY press has jumped to attention, running quotes from wound-up locals. One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “It’s sickening that I have to work two jobs to feed my family and that prat is spending my taxes spotting balls.”
Currently not working due to a bad back, Boyce said the comfortable Boxster would ease his spinal pain and people who don’t like his good fortune can choose from a variety of options, most involving rotating on fingers. “I was so happy to win, but it’s frustrating now because people are complaining that I spent benefits on it. What’s it got to do with anyone how I got the money? I got a bit of good fortune and it’s no one’s business how that happened. I’ve gone from rags to riches – I feel like Delboy.”
In sweet coincidence, Boycie from the Del Boy comedy, Only Fools and Horses, was a profit-hungry car trader, so will the new Boycie keep the Boxster or swap it for cash? No doubt it would sell quickly in the Sunday Times. The eagle-eyed among you will notice this is not a Boxster GTS but a regular S model: the GTS is not out yet but the competition company – which counts ex-F1 driver David Coulthard amongst its backers – still had a video to make.
And here is the video. Am I right in thinking Boyce initially denies who he is to the camera crew until he spots the Boxster? No doubt his ease in occupying the sports car’s low seats will catch the eye of his social security claim manager.
Congratulations, Andrew: see if you can get onto Question Time with this. If the powers that be decide you are entitled, then spend your money how you will. Just don’t come crying for more when it’s gone.
The legitimacy of marketing gambling competitions to people surviving on benefits is a different argument, but thankfully Britain is theoretically STILL A FREE COUNTRY. How true that might be, is a whole other argument.
![Aetna Blue: Porsche Paint to Sample]()
by John Glynn | Jun 1, 2014 | New Models, Porsche News
My former paymasters at Autocar magazine continue to produce excellent new car features. Their latest sports car test of BMW i8 versus Porsche 911 Carrera 50* sheds more light on the data Ferdinand shared yesterday, comparing lap times around a California race track for our friend Jack Olsen’s 1972 Porsche 911 RSR hot rod, which runs a standard 1995 993 3.6-litre engine, to professional race drivers in a Porsche 918 and Porsche 911 50th Anniversary model.
Porsche 911 versus BMW i8
The 918 set a lap time of 1:23.54, while Jack’s car managed a 1:26.88. “This is beyond an eternity on a race track” was how one Facebook comment put it, but let’s put “eternity” back into context of dollars invested and remember these are road cars. Three seconds over a 90-second lap time is pretty close for an old 911.
Porsche 997 GT3 RS versus Porsche 991
My question was where would/will the 991 GT3 RS fit in? Jack pointed out that “the 997 GT3 RS ran a 1:33 with pro driver Steve Millen at the wheel, so the 1:28.53 for the 50th-Anniversary 991 model is very impressive.” Autocar’s test underscores this conclusion, as it pits a 911 celebrating 50 years of history against a sports car that has been around just a few minutes.
“The Porsche’s (PDK) driveline lacks the complexity of the BMW’s, but it is not shamed for power,” says Autocar‘s Greg Kable.”The 911’s naturally aspirated 3.8-litre flat six engine, mounted behind the rear axle, nominally delivers 395bhp at 7400rpm. Our test car is a US-spec model, and receives a power kit as standard, upping it to 424bhp.
“It can’t match the BMW’s torque, though. With 325lb ft at 5600rpm, it gives away a considerable 95lb ft…but the 911 is not gutless. Above 4000rpm, its naturally aspirated engine provides prodigious shove. But by then, the i8 has already benefited from its initial spurt of electric propulsion and is away down the road. BMW claims 0-62mph in 4.4sec, compared with 4.5sec for the Porsche. However, a constant, linear surge of energy right from the outset makes the i8 feel considerably faster.”
Porsche 911 Hybrid is Coming
While the BMW has that instant hybrid electric torque – torque you know will eventually find its way to a production 911 – the Porsche has something else. Once heavily criticised for terminal understeer in press-on driving, the new 911 has apparently tamed that shrew and passed it to the Beemer. Is this what makes the difference in lap pace compared to the 997 GT3 RS?
“The fluidity of the 911…is so pure and involving that it makes the i8 feel stifled and artificial. The Porsche displays a lovely balance that prompts you to keep pushing at the sort of cornering speeds that begin to trouble the BMW, and there is a compelling completeness to the whole car, even as you approach the limits.
“And then there’s the rest of the 911’s absorbing dynamic character: its superb body control at any speed, the outright grip it generates, the terrific poise when loaded through a quick corner, the traction on the way out, the well-controlled ride and the way that its electronic driver aids allow you to dabble in a spot of tail-out action. Even if you put the i8 on its optional wider and stickier tyres, I still doubt that it could match the 911.” Greg Kable is a fan.
The Moral: Play Nice
Yesterday’s point was don’t put old Porsche 911s in with other old cars: they can more than hold their own when the going gets tough. While BB2 beat the Anniversary 991’s lap time around a California race track, the gap between the two is not “beyond eternity”. It’s just an interesting benchmark and talking point.
Today’s point is don’t do the “life was better when I was a boy” thing and look down on all new 911s. When a 50 year-old concept beats the latest carbon fibre coupe for intoxicating chassis dynamics, its future is bright.
*Autocar material shared for information purposes only with link to original article.
by John Glynn | May 3, 2014 | New Models, Porsche News
A pressure group formed by UK 911 GT3 owners has won compensation from Stuttgart in the Porsche 991 GT3 fire scare, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Denied the use of their all-new Porsche sports cars following the failures which led to fires on 991 GT3 models, group leader Sunil Mehra says owners who received their cars will get a £5,500 lump sum from Porsche, with a further £1,500 payable per month until the cars are returned to working use.
Buyers who ordered cars that have arrived in the UK but not yet been delivered will be refunded £4,000, as well as being paid £1,500 a month while their cars are off the road. Ferdinand Magazine has already been in contact with owners who have returned their GT3s to Porsche for a full refund.
Inconsistent Compensation
“I wish it had happened sooner,” Mehra told the Telegraph, while sharing tales of inconsistent treatment for owners whose cars have not yet left Germany. “I’ve heard from two members of the same family, one with a car here and the other with a car in Germany, and only one of them is getting compensated. It’s grossly unfair.”
The Telegraph claims that owners in other countries are receiving more money than those in the UK. The paper has been shown emails from Dubai Porsche 991 GT3 buyers receiving £12,000 back in compensation payments.
About Porsche 911 991 GT3 Fire Scare
Porsche is replacing all engines on the brand-new 911 GT3 model. In February, two cases of engine fires destroying 911 GT3 cars led to a full investigation by the Stuttgart manufacturer, which eventually decided that con rod connectors were to blame. The suggestion is that con rod bolts fail, leading to engine internals breaking through the crank case and spraying hot oil onto the exhaust. This then sets fire to the rear of the car and quickly spreads to the whole 911 bursting into flames.
