Sunday, May 18, 2008
It’s official: the 911 lineup adds yet another sibling.
We almost didn’t write about this car since, well, there’s so little cutting-edge news here, but then we said, “What the heck?” since it’s such good eye candy. So here goes:
Hear ye! Hear ye! Behold the 2008 Porsche 911 Turbo cabriolet! A car that looks, well, like a 911 Turbo with the standard 911 cabriolet’s fabric top! Woo-woo!
Okay, however unsurprised we may be with the Turbo cab’s appearance, it’s not as if we’re not salivating. We find the 911 Turbo cabriolet as delicious as the current 911 Turbo coupe. The convertible will be powered by the same frighteningly powerful 480-hp 3.6-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six as the coupe and offered with the same choice of six-speed manual or Tiptronic S automatic transmission.
The additional weight and rigidity compromises of the convertible will dampen performance just a tad, with only a claimed 150-pound weight gain. When the hardtop is capable of a 3.4-second sprint to 60 mph, who are we to bicker about a few 10ths when the sun is beaming on our smiling faces?
Slated to be released this September, the 911 Turbo will be Porsche’s fastest open-topped car since last year’s $440,000 Carrera GT, and the most expensive car in Porsche’s current lineup. Base price in Europe will be equivalent to roughly $172,000, a $30k smack above the previous generation car, while in the U.S. the 911 Turbo Cab is a relative deal starting at $137,360.
