2008 Porsche 911 Twin Turbo Cabriolet

The Porsche 911 in a pretty golden colour. With a top speed of 319 Km/h, a V-6 engine roaring at 5700 rmp and producing horse power of 483hp, the Porsche 911 is a powerful gas-guzzling sportscar. Similar to the svelte and sexy Carrera.

Originally introduced in the year 1965, the Porsche 911 is not counted by the different models but generations that make their appearence for certain stretches of years. For example the seventh generation lasted from 1990-94, the eighth geenration from 1995-98, the ninth generation from 1999-2004, the tenth from 2005-07.

Porsche911

The current Porsche 911 was revamped in 2005 and the update brought with it a return to the classic 911 face with the headlights and turn signals as separate units. Among the many subtle but important changes is a wider track for better handling, larger wheels and tires, an available active suspension system and a much improved interior in terms of materials quality, comfort and ergonomics.

The latest gorgeous animal from the Porsche stable is the 2008 Porsche 911 Turbo costing $155,430:
2008 Porsche 911 Twin Turbo Cabriolet

One of the most fantastic sports cars that we have driven in the years that we have been doing this column. The topless twin turbo has all the power and handling of the turbo coupe, but adds unlimited sunshine. In short - pure bliss.

As with any convertible, Porsche had to stiffen the chassis once the top came off. The risk here is increasing the weight, thus dulling performance and handling. But today's lightweight metals allowed them to put a brace here and a beam there to shore things up nicely without a hint of cowl shake. In addition, the weight is up just 154 pounds over the coupe.

Punch a button, and the very nicely finished top can be raised or lowered in about 20 seconds. With the top down, there is very little buffeting and the wonderful sounds coming from the classic Porsche six hung out back are just that much easier to enjoy.

Out back is the same twin turbocharged 3.6-liter six that rides around in the couple. It bangs out 480-horsepower, with 501 lb-ft of torque when you opt for the Sport Chrono Package of our test car.

It is the favorite car of the gorgeous Swedish-Japanese Valentina Vaughn.

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SLK Roadster from Mercedes

The beautiful SLK Roadster sports convertible from Mercedes-Benz.

Originally launched in 1996, improved models of the SLK Roadster were brought out by
Mercedes in 2004 and 2007. This beautiful car has a variety of engines:

Four petrol engines are available in the SLK range and entry level is the SLK 200 Kompressor, this is powered by a supercharged 1.8 litre inline four cylinder unit that develops 163 bhp, 0 – 62 mph is achieved in 7.9 seconds, the top speed for the SLK 200 Kompressor is a respectable 143 mph. Next up is the SLK 280, this is powered by a 24 valve, 3.0 litre V6 with a power output of 231 bhp, accelerating from 0 – 62 mph in 6.3 seconds the SLK 280 has a top speed that has been electronically limited to 155 mph. The SLK 350 also has a 24 valve V6 engine, although the capacity is increased to 3.5 litres, this engine develops 272 bhp, accelerates from 0 – 62 mph in 5.6 seconds and tops out at an electronically limited 155 mph. All three of these models transmit their power through six speed manual gearboxes. Top of the SLK range is the SLK 55 AMG, under the bonnet is a 360 bhp, 24 valve, 5.5 litre engine that rockets the AMG from 0 – 62 mph in only 4.9 seconds, once again the top speed has been electronically limited to 155 mph. The SLK 55 AMG transmits its power through the Mercedes 7G-Tronic 7-speed automatic gearbox.

The SLK Roadster is priced at $88400. Another version of the SLK Roadster will be brought out by Mercedes in 2008. See more about the revised SLK Roadster due out next year

A revised version of the Mercedes SLK roadster will go on sale in April next year, featuring a new look and a range of improved engines.

From the outside, the most obvious changes are at the front of the car, where the designers have given it a new bumper and even more of an arrowed shape to the nose. The rear has been changed, too, with a new low-level diffuser, trapezoidal exhaust pipes and darkened tail lights.

Mercedes has had its scalpels out inside as well, slotting in a new instrument cluster and a three-spoke steering wheel incorporating multi-function controls. The audio system has been upgraded, too, and now includes Bluetooth technology for the first time as well as an MP3 player interface.

With the exception of the V8 engine in the range-topping SLK 55 AMG, all the engines are revised. Most importantly, there's now an all-new V6 engine in the SLK350, which develops more power and torque than the engine it replaces, but consumes less fuel - 29.7mpg on the combined cycle - and emits less CO2. The engines in the SLK 200 and 280 also now use less fuel and emit less CO2, and only the engine in the SLK 55 AMG remains unaltered.

Also available for the first time is a direct steering system with variable assistance. This gives little assistance around the straight-ahead, ensuring good straight-line stability, but gives more assistance as the wheel is turned. This means drivers need to exert less effort turning the wheel around town, but still have decent feel through the wheel at higher speed across country. Standard on the SLK 55 AMG, it will be an option on other models in the range.

Otherwise, the car remains mechanically unaltered. The metal folding roof will continue, as will the Airscarf neck-level heating system and a comprehensive package of luxury and safety equipment. Prices will be announced early next year.

Very different is the clean diesel Bluetec 320 from Mercedes.

It is the favourite car of the British model Bianca Gascoigne. Correction. Was the favorite car of Bianca Gascoigne....because the spoilt celebrity-child smashed it in an accident! Maybe she will get herself the new SLK Roadster model in 2008.

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Rolls-Royce Phantom Sedan 2007

This is another beautiful vehicle, which drinks too much fuel, and is way too pricy! The Rolls Royce Phantom Sedan (2007) has a fuel economy of 12 mpg and a price of $333,350.

Actually the fuel economy of 12 mpg is in the city....on the open road the Rolls Royce Phantom Sedan cruises along at 19 mpg, which is close enough to the Svelte and sexy Carrera GT sportscar.

And like every Rolls Royce car, the 2007 Phantom breathes luxury and elegance. Although this original British brand is now owned by the German BMW car company, the unique and exclusive appeal of the Rolls Royce remains.....in fact improved by the German engineering and efficiency! Just look at the spacious and comfy interiors:


A review of the Rolls-Royce Phantom Sedan 2007

The car’s space-frame body and engine come from Germany, while the interior trim and final assembly continues to hail from England. BMW has owned Rolls-Royce since January 2003.

Rolls-Royce Phantom Vehicle Summary

The Phantom is a posh and stately looking “saloon,” the British term for sedan, with elegant, broad-shouldered styling that might be too stodgy for some contemporary luxury car buyers. Wide-opening, rear-hinged, “suicide” doors make backseat access easier. An electronic lock prevents these doors from being opened while the car is moving. As the car’s heritage warrants, the Rolls-Royce Phantom is capped at the front end by Rolls-Royce’s traditional Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament. However, in a high-tech nod to the realities of modern motoring, it can be retracted into the vehicle when the Phantom is parked, to discourage thieves.

However, it’s far from a sport sedan in that respect. The Phantom rides on massive wheels and run-flat tires, with performance tires alternately available to afford slightly sportier handling. Run-flat tires allow a driver with a flat to keep going at reduced speeds to reach a safe place to pull over, or potentially to reach a facility where the tire can be fixed or replaced.

In a recent interview the gorgeous Brazilian supermodel Ana Beatriz Barros said that she loves the Rolls Royce Phantom Sedan....assuming she meant the 2007 model. Although Ana rarely drives on her own, prefering to maneuver her cycle on the beaches of Brazil!

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Svelte and sexy Carrera

The sleek, fast, and powerful Porsche Carrera GT!


This svelte and sexy sportscar was introduced in 2004 and is one of the most desired automobiles on the planet! These are its specifications:

Rsportscars

Among the car’s unique features are its 5.7-liter, 605-horsepower V10 engine, its 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. The Carrera GT’s aerodynamic and race-bred suspension package provides safe and stable travel at speeds of up to 205 mph (330 km/h). The Carrera GT features the extensive use of lightweight materials, such as magnesium for the car’s substantial wheels and the frames of its special sport seats.

The chassis and suspension of the Porsche Carrera GT are based on the architecture of the Porsche GT1, the car that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1998. For example, as on the GT1, the rear track control arms of the Carrera GT are made of aerodynamically designed steel tubes. However, Porsche engineers did not forget the need for driving comfort on the street when they adapted such racing-bred systems for the road-going supercar.

Like a racecar, the Carrera GT uses pushrod suspension with double-track control arms at all four corners to give the Carrera GT its refined response and behavior, feeding forces smoothly and efficiently into the car’s chassis. Where many cars use MacPherson spring struts, the Carrera GT’s spring and damper elements are operated by stainless steel pushrods and pivot levers, which separate the guidance function from the spring action.

Even with its racing-quality performance, the Porsche Carrera GT has a cockpit characterized by functional ambience and the extensive use of high-tech materials. Carbon, magnesium and leather dominate interior materials, with composite components either in their natural state or painted to match the magnesium pieces.

Air conditioning is optimized for weight and the car comes with a standard air filter system. A glass screen is mounted between the supplemental safety bars to help reduce wind buffeting. Even though the Carrera GT is a serious performance car, it can be equipped with many comfort features, including a navigation system and Bose audio. A battery trickle-charger is included as standard equipment.

Unfortunately it costs $440,000, almost ten times the price of the Lexus Hybrid. Of course if price is your concern then consider the Carrera's running costs.....its fuel economy is atrocious at 8 mpg (miles per gallon) in the city and 20 mpg on the open road.

Though the new energy bill requires a fuel economy of 30 mpg—it will only come into effect by 2020. Still, in this age of sky-high fuel prices, energy shortages, and global warming, it's almost a crime to own a sportscar....specially a roaringly fast Carrera!



Even a high-earning Brazilian supermodel thinks twice before buying the Porsche Carrera GT. Alessandra Ambrosio, herself a svelte and sexy thing, has said that she will get into the Carrera with any man!

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Gorgeous Hybrid

Lexus GS 450h hybrid luxury sedan
The gorgeous looking GS 450h high-performance hybrid luxury sedan.

Clean_Hybrid

The Lexus 450h will be the first rear-wheel drive hybrid ever offered. According to Lexus, "the Super Ultra Low Emissions-rated GS 450h will provide an unparalleled combination of high performance, luxury-refinement and unexpected fuel efficiency."

Early reports indicate that the GS 450h will achieve 28 mpg and offer some of the lowest emissions of any hybrid, while achieving 339 hp. Electric motor torque will help the car achieve 0-60 mpg in 5.2 seconds.

With an MSRP of $54,900, the GS 450h will be the most expensive hybrid on the market and will cost roughly $3500.00 more than the GS 430.

As per the new energy bill, signed by President Bush, and passed by Congress, the required mpg (miles per gallon) for all new cars has to be 30 mpg. This will only come into effect by 2020 so Lexus will surely come out with a more fuel-efficient hybrid by then.

A famous Lexus Hybrid driver is the gorgeous supermodel Gisele Bundchen.

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Woman Power

Like it said in the previous post, women have a bigger share of car buys over in the United States. But now women in other parts of the world are getting a bigger piece of the car pie!

Times in India
Shalini Sengupta,TNN

Kavya Madappa (29) was always fascinated by big machines and even learnt driving a jeep. Six months ago, when the entrepreneur bought a steel grey Hyundai Terracan, it was a dream come true. To personalize her car, she fitted broad tyres with stronger grip. "Nothing gives me more pleasure than cruising in my SUV," she says.

Call it women's emancipation, or economic mobility, women are driving automobile sales on their own force like never before. All those men labelling women as bad drivers be damned. For almost all car makers, women form a small but significant segment purchasing their wheels of desire and the numbers are climbing.

Big car segment players like Honda too are seeing a rapid growth in women buyers. "In 2005, women accounted for only 5% of our sales which shot up to 12% next year and this year it's almost 24%," said Jnaneshwar Sen, senior GM, Honda. With women increasingly becoming financially independent and disposable incomes soaring, the propensity to have more than one car in a family has risen sharply over the past two years.

Automobile companies are now shifting focus to this breed of young professional women through more direct advertisements and innovative EMI schemes. Hyundai Santro and Chevrolet Aveo featured Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerjee alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan — and not as damsels in distress, but women who controlled the wheels with equal chutzpah. The Tata Indica Xeta advertisement (which shows four young girls looking for some fun by the beach) helped double Xeta sales.

Earlier this year, Hyundai had announced options like low EMIs exclusively for women. General Motors hired women engineers and designers for their plants to help innovate and increase the number of women customers. Most car showrooms also have women as salespersons to cater to prospective women buyers.

Research shows that women buy differently from men. While men look for lines and accents of the exterior, women are more keen on the interiors. And while speed — how to boot from 0 to 60 km/sec — is a turn on for men, women are more concerned about getting past the truck that's blocking the way. When it comes to safety, men check for anti-lock brakes and responsive steering, while women ensure the car has passenger air-bags, reinforced side-panels and drop-down engine. While men rarely steer away from blacks, greys and reds, women are adventurous and dabble with purples, pinks, oranges, yellows, blues, greens and metallic tones.

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Women buy more cars!

Women have purchasing power. They buy about 65 percent of all new cars and at least one-half of all used cars, according to data from Road & Travel Magazine. Women also influence 80 to 90 percent of all big-ticket purchases, says Kathryn Hutson, client services consultant with Maddox Smye in Naples, Fla. "Yet there's some research we've seen that says 75 percent of women take a man with them when they buy a car, just because they want to level the playing field," says Hutson.

San Francisco Chronicle

Hutson knows all about women's automotive purchasing habits. Her company specializes in helping marketers sell their products to women. Hutson works with client AskPatty.com, Inc., an advice site that steers women to dealerships and repair shops that have completed Maddox Smye customized training on how to relate to and sell more effectively to women customers. The company has identified more than 60 buying behaviors unique to women that apply whether they're buying nightgowns or automobiles.

It's hard to say why women lose some of their confidence when it comes to car purchases. Hutson says one reason may be the traditional methods used by those who sell automobiles. "For years, auto salespeople have been taught that if a customer walks out, the salesperson has lost the sale," says Hutson. But what she helps salespeople understand is that if they pressure a woman, she's automatically more likely to walk out the door than is a male shopper. "When a man shops for a car, he's probably looking at numbers, so when the salesperson comes up with a number, the man will buy. But a woman shops based on relationships," says Hutson. The female customer wants to build trust with the person on the other side of the transaction.

Hutson says men prioritize, while women multitask. A man may make heading to a dealership the centerpiece of his day, while a woman's visit may just be part of a laundry list of errands she will accomplish that day. So women want to build a relationship, but they don't want to waste their time. What's more, Hutson says female consumers tend to do their homework before heading to a dealership. And she says more women than men research cars on dealers' Web sites before visiting their lots.

Women also network with friends, family and work colleagues, asking for referrals to auto dealers and other businesses that are "female friendly."

Hutson says the sales professionals she trains want to do a better job of selling to women; often it's just a matter of realizing that they need to shift strategies. For instance, some women complain that a male salesperson will talk to her husband or other male companion when it's clear she's purchasing the car. Hutson recommends that women be assertive. Let the salesperson know "I'm buying the car; I brought my boyfriend along with me, but you might want to talk to me about that."

And women shouldn't be afraid to negotiate terms when financing a car, either.


Hutson says that auto dealerships and their salespeople realize how competitive the market is for women's business. She gave the example of a salesperson she worked with who said he first works to undo any misconceptions a woman may have about car salespeople, then builds the relationship from there.

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Cute Volkswagen Polo

The cute and environment-friendly Volkswagen Polo.

Review of the Volkswagen Polo

The supermini is the first VW to get the Bluemotion treatment, and comes ahead of the equivalent Jetta and Passat. Modifications to engine, bodywork and transmission mean 70mpg is possible, while a CO2 figure of 102g/km beats even a Toyota Prius. Although the model is not due in the UK until the summer, we managed to get behind the wheel of the first car in the country, a left-hand-drive version, for an exclusive test.

Step up to the Polo and you’ll find the tweaks to the body are subtle. A faired-in grille, smaller mirrors and a rear window spoiler help the car slip easily and quietly through the air. Its special 14-inch alloy wheels are fitted with skinny, high-profile tyres which reduce rolling resistance.

Inside, the cabin seems to be standard baby Volkswagen at first glance. Look more closely, though, and you will notice some kit is missing. The air-conditioning has been ditched, as has electric operation for the door mirrors. Even the remote central locking is deleted. All this has been done to save weight and energy.

The gorgeous South African supermodel, Jenna Pietersen, also owns a Volkswagen Polo!

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Prius for me!

My favourite automobile, the Toyota Prius.

The reasons I like the Prius (though I can't drive) are its cute shape, the rear-view camera for my dad, and the fact that my family is helping save the environment. Here are some detailed auto-lover reasons why the Prius is so cool:
Hybrid Cars

Toyota has sold more Priuses than all other hybrids combined—The Prius inspires a cult-like devotion from its drivers. Satisfaction rates, consistently at 98 percent, are unparalleled. The Prius drives like a charm, humming along silently in all-electric mode at low speeds and revving up its 110 combined gas-electric horsepower for a respectable 0-to-60 rate of 10.2 seconds. Fuel economy – EPA combined city/highway rating of 55 mpg
Emissions – 89 percent fewer smog-forming emissions than the average new car, exceeding the standards for a Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV).

The Prius has plenty of leg room and storage space. Its stability control system makes it very safe. And the Prius has loads of bells and whistles, from keyless entry, high-tech fuel use dash display, and (on the 2006 model) a rear-view camera system to help you squeeze into a tight parking spot. All that in a package in the mid-$20k range.

Some problems

Then, there's the "Prius blind spot." The hatchback design limits the driver's visibility through the rear window. That makes some people crazy and is a non-issue for others. You have to take a test drive to see how it feels to you.

Another issue has to do with your interest in and tolerance for new technology. The Prius has been on the road in Japan since 1997, and in the United States since 2000. The performance of the new technology has been remarkable, but not without a blemish. In Oct. 2005, following a number of reports that Priuses were inexplicably stalling on the highway, Toyota recalled 75,000 Priuses in the United States. Apparently, the vehicle's computer system needed to be reset—and all was well. (Some hybrid drivers complained of reduced mileage after the procedure.)

Next Generation Toyota Prius

The final item is the potential of the third generation Prius, due out in late 2008 as a 2009 model. Can you wait until then? When Toyota released the second generation Prius in 2003, the vehicle was bigger, faster, more efficient, and more stylized than its predecessor. The third generation Prius promises a similar bump in the key metrics. Toyota has already made announcements about the use of better battery technology and hinted at a plug-in option. If these improvements pan out, then the next generation Prius could break the 70 mpg record!

Some of the famous people who like the Toyota Prius are the attractive Cameron Diaz, Kate Bosworth, and the cute young Hayden Panetierre:

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