Porsche vs Ferrari

Porsche and Ferrari are German and Italian sides of the same
coin, interpretations of the sports car idea. Both founded by a
dominant patriarch, both honed in racing, both more than 50
years old, both with engineering and styling integrity. Whether on
the track of Le Mains or on the streets, the two have always been
put head-to-head and compared. Even the most naive motorist
associates these two names with both performance and style.

We’ve decided to compare the methodical Porsche 911 Carrera
4S and the passionate Ferrari F430 because both of them astonish
with their performance while attempting to maintain a reasonable
amount of practicality but do not pretend to be anything other than
sports cars.

A modern sports car should feature these characteristics: it should be
started easily, maneuvered around town, blasted on a couple of
country roads, it looks and performs the part on a racetrack but at the
same time it is very safe.

The easier way to separate the two cars is by measuring figures since
both of them have mastered the modern sports car requirements and
basically there’s no other way to choose between these two phenomenal
cars.

What initially impresses is Ferrari's lightning fast 4-second 0-100km/h
acceleration and thrilling exhaust tone. As the occupants are pinned to
the seats, the new generation 4.3-litre V8 pushes out 368 snarling
kilowatts. Porsche’s acceleration also offers that kick in the pants a
super car should deliver, although it is 0.8 seconds slower at the 100 km/k
mark.

With such acceleration performance, it comes natural for both cars to
excel in the braking department. The two cars offer optional ceramic
discs for impressive stopping.

Porsche’s engine gets the upper hand as it is more refined and on
the economy rank leaps ahead Ferrari with a 11.8 liters per 100 km
as opposed to 18.3 liters. Both cars deliver the power through impressive
6-speed gearboxes and offer top rate handling performance.

Both F430 and Carrera4S offer great interior comfort and even if the
space is limited, the occupants don't feel claustrophobic and flustered.
Although an impressive mix of suede, carbon fiber and aluminum abound
in the Ferrari, the Italians stand no chance when it comes to the high finish
level attained by the Germans.

Speed and silence are key elements for any super car. The look and
appearance is the biggest draw card. The Carrera 4S is a typical Porsche,
despite the new proportions. It is a great looking car, like any other 911 but
somehow the styling no longer creates the jaw dropping reaction that the
Ferrari does. Indeed, traditionalists may say that Porsche pays homage to
its roots, but the truth is that Ferrari F430 simply draws the attention.

However, even if Ferrari F430 takes your breath away with its appearance,
the super car title goes to the Porsche Carrera 4S with a more complete all
round package.

£1500 Porsche Challenge - Top Gear

Really nice episode of Top Gear, Top Gear boys Jeremy, James and Richard has to spend 1500 pounds on Porsche cars, and then go through several tests, like looks, speed and more.

Porsche

Almost a century after its founder started designing automobiles,
Porsche is still going strong and that’s the result of a premier cure
for a mid-life crisis similar to Harley - Davidson. Porsche's lineup
includes four model lines: the Boxster, the 911 models, the
Cayenne SUV, and the Carrera GT. And if these vehicles are
too expensive, Porsche also offers watches, luggage, and tennis
rackets bearing its name. Descendants of the founding family
still control the company and these days it has enlarged its area
by offering consulting services to other companies involved in
auto and furniture manufacturing, mechanical and electronic
engineering, and construction.

Over the years, Porsche transformed itself from serious
money-loser into one of the most profitable car companies in
the world, all this while other car manufactures toil over cash
incentives, market share and strategies for the Chinese market.
Porsche has constantly rolled out new products and despite
the costs and risks is has quadrupled its annual unit sales in just
under a decade. The most recent debuts are the Boxster and the Cayenne.
And so far, the key of their success seems to be the long
product life cycles and the company intends to maintain this
strategy.

2005 Porsche Carrera

Unofficially, the Porsche Carrera GT is a racecar, a racecar
built for the street. What makes it a racecar is not
necessarily the huge power produced by its V10 engine
or the carbon fiber construction that keeps everything very
lightweight – although these features surely make it a fast
car. It’s more the sum of its parts that make this car worth
every bit of its $440,000 price tag.

The Porsche Carrera GT was introduced as a 2004 model
and until 2005 there were already a few changes in order
to make the Carrera GT the new Porsche super car. These were
minor updates in order to make it a little more street friendly.
Between the supplemental bar hoops is now mounted a glass
screen. The seats height is adjusted along with the additional
bolstering in the thigh area. The Carrera GT is easy recognizable,
as it’s a low, sleek, lightweight roadster, very beautiful on the
outside as it is on the inside. Two removable panels that can
be stored in the front trunk make the foul weather protection
available.

The car has unique features, among which are: 5.7 liter, 605
horsepower V10 engine, monocoque chassis with
Porsche-patented engine and transmission mounts made of
carbon-reinforced plastic and the first use of a ceramic
composite clutch in a production car. A very important aspect
is that The Carrera is safe and stable at speeds up to 205 mph,
thanks to its aerodynamic and race-bred suspension package.

The design of the suspension is so sophisticated that the
shape of its components improves the Carrera GT`s aerodynamics.
The designers used lightweight materials such as magnesium
for the car’s substantial wheels and the frames of its special sport
seats, the result being a faster and safer car. To prove so, The
Carrera GT accelerates from a standing start to 62 mph (100km/h)
in only 3.9 seconds reaches 100 mph (160 km/h) in less than seven
seconds, 125 mph (200 km/h) in less than 10 seconds, and can
achieve a top test-track speed of 205 mph (330 km/h).

What makes this car have these impressive results is it’s 5.5
liter, normally aspirated V10 engine for racing created in the
development center in Weissach, Germany. That engine’s bores
have been enlarged to displace 5.7 liters in the Carrera GT. It has
a very low center of gravity, a 68-degree V angle and four
valves-per-cylinder heads. Since the block, crankshaft and
camshafts are all made of light alloys, the engine weights
only 472 pounds (214 kg).

To stop this “monster” Porsche`s team used a high-tech
braking system. Developed for demanding motorsports
applications, ceramic brakes are the first to work for on-road use.
The massive 15 inch ventilated discs and six-piston calipers have
the amazing capacity of bringing the car to a sure and safe stop,
matched only by the stunning acceleration of Carrera GT.

Porsche Carrera GT is definitely a exotic appearance, a
car that can do it all: fascinate you with its good looks, astound
you with its performance and abilities on the race track.

Porsche Boxter

The Porsche Boxster and Boxster S are fast, powerful cars and most
of all the best-handling production roadsters on the planet.
Introduced in 1996, it remained essentially unchanged, other than
moderate horsepower and interior-options tweaks. That’s what
Porsche usually does with the successful models: it retains car
look and configuration for ages.

A more powerful second-generation Boxster was introduced in 2005
and it keeps Porsche’s conservative evolutionary path. Like its
precedent, it is a mid-engine, six-cylinder two-seater that looks like
Porsche Spyder. Still, over half of Boxster`s structure and electronics
are borrowed from the 911 Carrera.

The 2005 Boxster looks sprightlier than its 2004 equivalent, thanks
to the revision of the torque and the 15 added hp and the extra power
coming on strongly between 2000rpm and 4000 rpm. The 2005
Boxster S virtually equals the acceleration and top-speed performance
of Porsche's expensive 911 Carrera. The Boxster exhaust has been
tuned to play a distinctive tromboning wail like no other car. This is a
amazing thing thinking that both engines are smaller versions of the
six-cylinder in the Carrera.

The transmission for base Boxters is five-speed manual but the optional
variant offers a six-speed. Both models can also be fitted with a
five-speed Tiptronic, the superb Porsche-designed automatic transmission
that began the trend toward manually shifted automatics.

The bodywork and the interior of the Boxster are of high quality, but considering
that there’s noting tricky or purely decorative, we can definitely say that
these are not opulent cars. Still, the interior has been improved since the
old car was often criticized for being to cheap-looking. The center console
has been upgraded with revised switch-gear and titanium look paneling.
The seats are more supportive and body-shaped in the new version,
making them look absolutely superb. Unlike other roadsters, the Boxster
has no problem swallowing luggage for a long trip: it has two trunks, a
small one in the rear and an amply deep one under the front hood.

One of The Boxster`s best qualities is the powered convertible top, very quick
to retract or re-erect. In the new Boxster, the top can be operated at speeds
up to 30 mph. The triple-layer padded cloth tops (with a heated-glass rear
window) is as weather-tight and quiet as most metal roofs.

The Boxster is called a mid engine-car. The reason is that the sweet six-cylinder
engine is mounted behind the seats, just fore of the rear axle. So if you wand
to see what’s under the hood once in while, well…you can’t do that with The Boxster.
The only way to see the engine is from underneath or by meticulously removing
body panels, which mechanics must do to service the engine. But, the good
news is that having the engine mounted closer to the center of the car makes
for better weight distribution. And that’s what makes the car handle so well.

Carrera GT

Unofficially, the Porsche Carrera GT is a racecar, a racecar
built for the street. What makes it a racecar is not
necessarily the huge power produced by its V10 engine
or the carbon fiber construction that keeps everything very
lightweight – although these features surely make it a fast
car. It’s more the sum of its parts that make this car worth
every bit of its $440,000 price tag.

The Porsche Carrera GT was introduced as a 2004 model
and until 2005 there were already a few changes in order
to make the Carrera GT the new Porsche super car. These were
minor updates in order to make it a little more street friendly.
Between the supplemental bar hoops is now mounted a glass
screen. The seats height is adjusted along with the additional
bolstering in the thigh area. The Carrera GT is easy recognizable,
as it’s a low, sleek, lightweight roadster, very beautiful on the
outside as it is on the inside. Two removable panels that can
be stored in the front trunk make the foul weather protection
available.

The car has unique features, among which are: 5.7 liter, 605
horsepower V10 engine, monocoque chassis with
Porsche-patented engine and transmission mounts made of
carbon-reinforced plastic and the first use of a ceramic
composite clutch in a production car. A very important aspect
is that The Carrera is safe and stable at speeds up to 205 mph,
thanks to its aerodynamic and race-bred suspension package.

The design of the suspension is so sophisticated that the
shape of its components improves the Carrera GT`s aerodynamics.
The designers used lightweight materials such as magnesium
for the car’s substantial wheels and the frames of its special sport
seats, the result being a faster and safer car. To prove so, The
Carrera GT accelerates from a standing start to 62 mph (100km/h)
in only 3.9 seconds reaches 100 mph (160 km/h) in less than seven
seconds, 125 mph (200 km/h) in less than 10 seconds, and can
achieve a top test-track speed of 205 mph (330 km/h).

What makes this car have these impressive results is it’s 5.5
liter, normally aspirated V10 engine for racing created in the
development center in Weissach, Germany. That engine’s bores
have been enlarged to displace 5.7 liters in the Carrera GT. It has
a very low center of gravity, a 68-degree V angle and four
valves-per-cylinder heads. Since the block, crankshaft and
camshafts are all made of light alloys, the engine weights
only 472 pounds (214 kg).

To stop this “monster” Porsche`s team used a high-tech
braking system. Developed for demanding motorsports
applications, ceramic brakes are the first to work for on-road use.
The massive 15 inch ventilated discs and six-piston calipers have
the amazing capacity of bringing the car to a sure and safe stop,
matched only by the stunning acceleration of Carrera GT.