Frankfurt 2013: Porsche Spyder, Turbo & 50th anniv edition
Plenty to drool over at the Porsche stand and we have prices for the new trio!
By Shahzad Sheikh
We’ve got the Middle East prices for the three debutants on the Porsche stand at Frankfurt, directly from Christer Ekberg, the new Managing Director of Porsche Middle East & Africa, and one cool dude, who was on the plane with us, flying back.
The all-new Porsche hybrid supercar, the 918 Spyder, and yes this finally is the final final production car that you can finally buy, if you are offensively rich enough, is priced at a galactic US$897,550, or $983,633 with the Weissach package, which is what you’ll need to chase that new ‘Ring lap record. Hey’s let’s just call it a cool mil!
What lap record? Six minutes and 57 seconds – 14 seconds quicker than the previous – on the fearsome 20.6km Nurburgring-Nordschleife, driven by Marc Lieb with an average speed of over 179.5kph!
Well its unique hybrid drive system does generate 887bhp! That gives it a 0-100kph time of 2.8seconds. It takes as long to get to 200kph than most normal quick cars take to 100 – 7.7seconds. It has top speed of 345kph, yet you get absurdly efficient fuel economy, from its 4.6-litre V8 combined with electric motors.
So well worth the money then?
The new 911 Turbo is priced at $147,638 with the Turbo S at $179,698 and while we’re at it, the GT3 is$133,817.
Anyway the Turbo is new in ‘Type 991’ guise – there’s also a Turbo S.
There’s all-wheel drive with active rear steering, adaptive aerodynamics, full LED headlights and of course a twin-turboed flat-six engine generating 560bhp.
You also get Active Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) anti-roll system – standard in the Turbo S with the Sport Chrono package also featuring dynamic engine mountains and ceramic composite brakes.
But the most intriguing 911 at the show was the car that celebrates 50 years of the 911.
The 50th Anniversary edition Porsche 911, it’s the most affordable car here at about the same price as a Carrera 4S Cabriolet at $126,516.
It combines the wide body of the all-wheel drive Carrera 4 with rear-wheel drive as its based on the Carrera S with a 400bhp 3.8-litre flat-six. 0-100 is in 4.3seconds with a top speed 298kph.
It features Porsche Active Suspenions (PASM) and a sports exhaust. it also gets five-spoke alloy wheels that mimic the look of the original Fuchs wheels fitted to the 911 in 1966 – but they are now in 20-inch size.
They are available in three colours – a dark and light grey and black. Each car will feature a 911 50 badge in two-tone 3D – also embrodiered inside on the head rests. The centre panels of the leather seats feature a fabric pattern that evokes the ‘Pepita’ tartan design of the 1960s.
But you’d better hurry if you want one, they’re only making 1963 of these commemorative cars, and only about 50 will hit our region.
