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By Brian Afuang
“Finally, Porsche has caught up,” jested Robby Niermann, the
managing director of PGA Cars’ Porsche line, at the newest Porsche
911 Carrera and Carrera S’ launch on October 2. Niermann was
referring to the new cars’ USB ports, MP3 player connection jacks,
premium multimedia package and touchscreen, devices that upscale
consumers crave for yet are almost irrelevant to the Porsche driving
experience.
“People used to ask for these features and now
this car has everything,” beamed Niermann.
So with the niceties packages out of the way,
the new 911’s more substantial equipment are brought to the fore.
And leading the new features are totally trick pieces of machinery
like the Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) and direct fuel injection
system.
These couldn’t have come at a more opportune
time too, as Porsche celebrates 60 years of building genuine sports
cars that are—or have been—considered as among the best.
Remaining to be the iconic sports car, the new
generation of 911 models are propelled by all-new 3.6-liter and
3.8-liter flat-six engines that still power the car’s rear wheels.
In latest form, the 911 Carrera model’s 3.6-liter engine gets a
20-horsepower boost to make 345 horsepower. The more potent Carrera
S, meanwhile, has another 30 horsepower over its predecessor, upping
its 3.8-liter engine’s rating to 385 horsepower. PGA reckoned this
should be enough for the Carrera S Coupé to reach speeds of a
little over 300kph.
What makes the figures even more amazing is that
despite the cars’ high-performance natures, Porsche rates the
Carrera to return 10 kilometers to a liter of fuel while the Carrera
S should get 9kpl. That’s with a 15-percent reduction in carbon
dioxide emissions. In this regard, the cars’ direct fuel injection
systems—a first for the 911, PGA Cars claims—play a major role.
For its part, the PDK is Porsche’s
double-clutch transmission that counts seven forward gears. PDK
replaces the Tiptronic S, which is the carmaker’s automatic
transmission that has a manual shifting function. Porsche said that
the PDK “combines the driving comfort of a converter automatic
transmission with the dynamic gearshift of a sequential racing
gearbox.”
It added that through its adaptive gearshift
programs, “PDK improves the car’s acceleration and reduces fuel
consumption to a level even lower than before.”
Porsche said its PDK system could actually trace
its roots to the carmaker’s racing cars from 25 years back.
Porsche said it fitted two clutches on this gearbox so it “could
shift gears without the slightest interruption in traction and
pulling power.”
According to Porsche, its drivers who used this
technology were able to keep their hands on the steering wheel while
shifting gears, ensuring there were minimal distractions while
racing.
Porsche said the seven-speed PDK can launch the
Carrera S Coupé from naught to 100kph in 4.5 seconds, 0.2 seconds
faster than a Carrera S Coupé that has a conventional manual
transmission. The PDK can also be combined with the optional Sport
Chrono Plus feature that includes a launch control. With this, the
Carrera S Coupé could reach the century mark in 4.3 seconds,
Porsche said.
Now add to all these the 18-inch wheels (Carrera
Coupé) or 19-inch alloys (Carrera S Coupé), Porsche Stability
Management system, ABS with all the advanced features, Bi-Xenon
headlamps, driver and passenger airbags, LED daytime running lights
and an extensive list of delectable high-tech options and the new
911—as Niermann noted—truly has everything.
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