I’ve always love RUF Porsches. I think he’s one of the best Porsche tuners of all time. What’s amazing is he continues to push the envelope of his tuning in subtle, yet substantial ways, as well as some extreme examples of what can be done with Porsche parts. I still think (and dream) every once in a while about a Tempting Porsche I mentioned a couple of years ago. It was a RUF Porsche 911 Turbo Slantnose (Tempting Porsches #21). I still WANT that car!

Today we’ve got a little video extravaganza. It’s an overview of the building and driving of a couple of RUF creations: the RUF RGT8 and the RUF CTR3. Love the sounds in the video, the behind the scenes footage of the cars being assembled and driving of the finished product.

Enjoy!

This sponsored guest post is brought to you by Gumtree.com.

Porsche is known for making sexy and sleek statement cars. This year what motoring enthusiasts have come to expect from the brand has just taken a dramatic turn towards being more eco-friendly and fuel efficient compared to the past. The Cayenne Diesel SUV is the first of its kind for the US Market, with a 30% more fuel efficient engine compared to previous models.

Powered by a 3.0 litre V6 turbo engine, the Cayenne sport car packs a punch with 240 horsepower, getting from zero to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds. Top speeds are in the vicinity of 135 mph or 217 kph.

The engine block is made from compacted graphite iron (CGI), a substance as strong but yet lighter than other models in the Porsche range. The vehicle has Porsche Traction Management (PTM) and an all-wheel drive system is there for added safety and control.

This Cayenne Diesel SUV looks set to revolutionize the buyer experience in the States, where eco-friendly models have not made a massive dent in the market. This could possibly be the beginning of the next big thing. The Cayenne Diesel SUV was designed to meet stringent international emission standards and reduce Nox (oxides of nitrogen) emissions.

The Cayenne Diesel SUV will mean better fuel economy and therefore offset fuel costs compared to other traditional diesel models. The average tank of fuel will last approximately 740 miles or just over 1190 kilometers.

This new model the Cayenne Diesel SUV is a cutting edge and sleek new addition to the Porsche range. There will also be new entertainment features and technologies in these new Porsche vehicles including HD Radio. When it is released in September, it should prove to be an enormous success with Porsche fans and motoring enthusiasts across the world and particularly in the United States.

[Image: Porsche]

Earlier this week, Porsche announced the latest update to the Porsche family: the Porsche Cayenne GTS. This is a gorgeous looking car (love the color they chose for the press photos) that promises to take things to the next level in the sports SUV category. The highlights from the press release below are a more powerful engine, stiffer chassis with a lower ride hide and 0 to 60 times in around 5.7 seconds.

Porsche has also updated the exterior to make the Cayenne look more sporty.

Check out the full press release from Porsche below.

Stuttgart. The SUV with the driving fun of a sports car is entering its second generation. In Beijing, at the Auto China 2012, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is celebrating the world premiere of the new Cayenne GTS. Its concept: concentration on sporty performance. Its recipe: a more powerful engine, more dynamic power development, a tauter chassis with lower ride height, emphatically sporty equipment. In the process, the new Cayenne GTS doesn’t just fill the gap between the Cayenne S and the Cayenne Turbo but also differentiates itself clearly from the other models with its own special character.

The Cayenne GTS’s bonnet conceals a 420 hp (309 kW) uprated V8 engine, based on the Cayenne S power unit. Power transmission is ensured by the eight-speed Tip-tronic S with integrated auto start/stop function. An especially dynamically tuned en-gine and transmission design reinforces the emphatically sporty characteristics, ena-bling short bursts of speed at any time. The Cayenne GTS sprints from a standing start to 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds, reaching 160 km/h in 13.3 seconds. The top speed is 261 km/h and the NEDC fuel consumption 10.7 litres per 100 kilometres.

The specially tuned chassis ensures thrilling driving dynamics. It is more tautly tuned, equipped with Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) and lowers the body by 24 mm relative to the Cayenne S. As a result, the new Cayenne GTS is even closer to the road and moves with the sports car’s trademark composure and agility.

The Cayenne GTS’s looks openly proclaim its pronounced sportiness with eye-catching features such as the front-end borrowed from the Cayenne Turbo, frames and trims in high-gloss black, prominent side skirts and wider wheel arches as well as a distinctive roof spoiler with twin-wing profile. The prevailing ambiance of the inte-rior is sporty elegance, the GTS features a leather interior with Alcantara elements as standard. Front sports seats with eight adjustment options are also featured as stan-dard in the new Cayenne GTS.

The Cayenne GTS will come to market in July 2012 with a price tag in Germany of 90,774 euro including value-added tax.

[Source & Image: Porsche]

It’s a sad day for Porsche fans the world over. Professor Ferdinand Porsche, who created the Porsche 911, died at the age of 76 today in Salzburg. Here is the press release for Porsche with some great details on his life and accomplishments:

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is mourning Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche. The Honorary President of the Supervisory Board died on 5 April 2012 in Salzburg, aged 76. Matthias Müller, President and Chief Executive Officer of Porsche AG, paid tribute to Ferdinand Alexander Porsche’s services to the sports car manufacturer: “We mourn the death of our partner, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche. As the creator of the Porsche 911, he established a design culture in our company that has shaped our sports cars to this very day. His philosophy of good design is a legacy to us that we will honour for all time.”

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche was born in Stuttgart on 11 December 1935, the oldest son of Dorothea and Ferry Porsche. Even his childhood was shaped by cars, and he spent much of his time in the engineering offices and development workshops of his grandfather Ferdinand Porsche. In 1943 the family accompanied the Porsche company’s move to Austria, where he went to school in Zell am See. After returning to Stuttgart in 1950, he attended the private Waldorf school. After leaving school, he enrolled at the prestigious Ulm School of Design.

In 1958, F.A. Porsche, as he was known by his colleagues, joined the engineering office of what was then Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche KG. He soon proved his great talent for design by sculpting the first model of a successor to the 356 model line out of plasticine. In 1962 he took over as head of the Porsche design studio, creating a worldwide furore one year later with the Porsche 901 (or 911). With the Porsche 911, F.A. Porsche created a sports car icon whose timeless and classical form survives to this very day in what is now the seventh 911 generation. However, in addition to passenger cars, F.A. Porsche also concerned himself with designing the sports cars of the 1960s. His best-known designs include the Type 804 Formula One racing car or the Porsche 904 Carrera GTS, now considered to be one of the most beautiful racing cars ever.

In the course of the conversion of Porsche KG into a joint-stock corporation in 1971/72, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, along with all the other family members, stood down from the company’s front-line business operations. In 1972 he founded the “Porsche Design Studio” in Stuttgart, the head office of which was relocated to Zell am See in Austria in 1974. In the decades that followed, he designed numerous classic gentlemen’s accessories such as watches, spectacles and writing implements that achieved global recognition under the “Porsche Design” brand. In parallel, with his team, he designed a plethora of industrial products, household appliances and consumer durables for internationally renowned clients under the brand “Design by F.A. Porsche”. A strong and clear design concept typifies all product designs created in his design studio to date. The credo of his design work was: “Design must be functional and functionality has to be translated visually into aesthetics, without gags that have to be explained first.” F.A. Porsche: “A coherently designed product requires no adornment; it should be enhanced by its form alone.” The design’s appearance should be readily comprehensible and not detract from the product and its function. His conviction was: “Good design should be honest.”

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche received numerous honours and awards both for his work as a designer as well as for individual designs. For example, in 1968 the “Comité Internationale de Promotion et de Prestige” honoured him for the outstanding aesthetic design of the Porsche 911 while the Industrial Forum Design Hannover (iF) voted him “Prizewinner of the Year” in 1992. In 1999, the President of Austria bestowed on him the title of Professor.

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche retained a close lifelong association with Porsche AG as a partner and member of the Supervisory Board. For example, even after stepping down from front-line business operations, he contributed to the design of Porsche’s sports cars over many decades and repeatedly steered the company in the right di-rection. This was especially the case for the difficult period Porsche experienced at the beginning of the 1990s. From 1990 to 1993, F.A. Porsche served as President of the company’s Supervisory Board, thus playing a major role in Porsche A.G’s eco-nomic turnaround. In 2005, he stood down from his Supervisory Board role in favour of his son Oliver and assumed the mantle of Honorary President of the Supervisory Board.

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche will be buried in the family grave at Schüttgut in Zell am See, attended by his immediate family. An official funeral service will be held in Stuttgart at a later date.

[Source & Images: Porsche]

In this video, Hans-Jürgen Wöhler, Manager of the Boxster model line, describes some of the features and details of the coming Porsche Boxster. A great looking car that has developed nicely from it’s introduction!

I love these collage type videos that Porsche puts together. The footage of old cars, development views, and driving through remote locations, all brought together for three minutes of dream fueling. I couldn’t help but wonder what Porsche will look like in another 50 years. Will the Porsche 911 still be around, or will it have finally retired. Kind of felt like the kid towards the end of the video peeking over the steering wheel.

As to be expected from a Porsche produced video, this one contains some gorgeous footage of the Porsche 911 in action. There’s even some appearances from older 911s. Love the driving footage and some interesting commentary. And who doesn’t love this guy’s accent?!

Porsche announced a new Porsche Boxster this week with some great photos and a few of the major changes noted in the press release. Most notable are a new lightweight body, completely revamped chassis and a wider track. They also outfitted the car with larger wheels. You can imagine how this will continue to improve the driving dynamics of the mid-engine car. Performance is bumped and fuel economy also increased.

Here’s a bit more info from the press release:

The new Boxster thus delivers what the fundamentally changed styling with shorter overhangs, significantly forward-shifted windscreen, flatter silhouette and expressive edges promises. The passengers are enclosed by the completely redesigned, fully electric hood, which now dispenses with a convertible top compartment lid. The interior concept offers the occupants more space and reflects the new Porsche outline with the raked centre console, which, originating with the Carrera GT, ensures further improved ergonomics in all models.

The new sports car generation makes its debut in the classic Porsche pairing of Boxster and Boxster S. Both models are powered by flat-six engines with direct petrol injection, the efficiency of which is further enhanced by electrical system recuperation, thermal management and start/stop function. The base model’s new power unit delivers 265 hp (195 kW) from a 2.7 litre displacement – ten hp more than its larger displacement predecessor. Technically, it is now based on the 3.4-litre engine of the Boxster S. This now delivers 315 hp (232 kW), which is five hp more than before. Both models feature a manual six-speed gearbox as standard with the seven-speed Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) available as an option. Both sports cars achieve their best fuel consumption and acceleration performance with the PDK. The Porsche Boxster’s fuel consumption with PDK is 7.7 l/100 km and 8.0 l/100 km for the Boxster S. With gear changes without interruption to the power flow, the Boxster sprints from zero to 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds, the Boxster S in 5.0 seconds.

It looks like the official launch of the new Porsche Boxster will be on April 14th (just in time for you to spend your big tax refund!).

Here are a couple more pics:

[Source & Images: Porsche.com]

Today was another great day in Porscheland. At the Detroit Auto Show, Porsche announced the open top Porsche 911. The Cabriolet is a new take on this classic model. Here’s a clip from the press release:

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, unveiled the 911 Carrera Cabriolet in Detroit today. The 911 is making its debut with a completely new roof concept that combines the elegant styling of the Coupé with the advantages of a light fabric hood. So it is that the Cabriolet continues all the innovations of the new 911 Carrera family, complemented by new features for open sports cars: intelligent lightweight design ensures less weight and more sportiness, lower fuel consumption and greater comfort. As with the Coupés, the new Cabriolets start with the 911 Carrera, powered by a 350 hp (257 kW), 3.4-litre six-cylinder engine and the 911 Carrera S with 400 hp (294 kW) flat engine and 3.8 litre displacement.

The top down profile looks less bulky than on previous models. This promises to be one sweeeeeeet ride.

[Source & Image: Porsche.com]

Some very cool cars show up at this rally in Europe. I’m not sure where. Both of the featured cars, the Porsche 911 Sport Edition and the Porsche 911 Speedster, are unbelievable cars. Glad to see their owners are out enjoying them!