Today’s post comes from guest blogger Andrew Granieri. You may remember Andrew from his great set of posts that outlined the detailing and transformation of the paint on his Porsche 944. As a refresher, Andrew is a student at Miami University, studying Technical & Scientific Communications with a double Minor in Marketing & Entrepreneurship. He enjoys maintaining his 1986 Porsche 944 and joy-riding in his father’s 997 whenever possible. Here’s what Andrew had to say…
Drivers rejoice! The price of oil recently dropped significantly, but we all know fuel prices are wildly inconsistent day to day, week to week. A poll was posed a couple months ago on this blog, asking drivers if they changed their driving habits in these strange times, when $3.89 is considered a great deal for a gallon of gasoline. I didn’t think of changing my habits much when the poll was created, but now that I commute from Cincinnati to Cleveland on the weekends, I’ve reconsidered. Over the past two months, I’ve experimented with my driving style and found that small changes can in fact, make a profound impact on my mileage as well as my wallet.
I feel I should note that I have always supported the idea of driving a car as it was designed to be driven. While (sigh) slow by today’s standards, my normally-aspirated 944 wasn’t designed with puttering around in mind. In the past 3 years that I’ve owned it, 80% of the time I’ve been behind the wheel was time spent really driving it; shifting at or past 5,000 RPMS (once up to temp, of course!), spirited down-shifts, etc. Perhaps this accounts for my catastrophic ring and pinion failure earlier this year? – nah…
Gas mileage is great for a Porsche
That said, one would think my mileage on the road is about as poor as it is on the track. Not so! I did some rough calculations from last season and found my track mileage to be in the neighborhood of 7-12 mpg, which is pretty bad! However, on the street, as enthusiastic as I am behind the wheel I’ve found I consistently get between 22-27mpg, depending on my city-highway driving ratio. While that mileage doesn’t put a Prius to shame, it’s certainly respectable for a Porsche. But I knew from the way I drove that it was capable of more, and my job in Cleveland gave me the perfect opportunity to try out a few things.
My Oxford apartment is about 260 miles away from downtown Cleveland, which makes for a lot of freeway driving. However, my daily commute to work is from a suburb 40 minutes outside of town, often in stop and go rush hour traffic, so I’m still getting a fair amount of “city” driving in as well. 944’s came with a surprisingly large 21.1 gallon fuel tank, and I fall into the elite (read: poorer than they look) group of people who can say they drive a Porsche and fill up with 87 octane at the pump. I’ve now gone through several tanks of fuel, with dramatic results, with only one major change to my driving style: throttle control.
As hard as it is to resist the urge to drive a bit faster, I’ve managed a few thousand miles this summer not shifting higher than 3,000 RPMs and surprisingly, the difference in fuel economy has been astounding. Now for some quick and dirty math: if I average my range, mentioned above, of avg. mpg — 22 and 27, I get 24.5 mpg with my typical driving style. Assuming I drive until the car’s almost empty and consume 20 gallons of fuel, the MPG comes out to 490 miles covered — very respectable, even if it’s in part to the large fuel tank. Twice now since I started driving less aggressively, I’ve put 20.2 and 20.1 gallons in with the odometer at 565 and 540 miles respectively — that’s roughly 28 and 27 mpg!
32 Miles per gallon in a 944
Not bad, you say, but my record — and this is ASTOUNDING — a touch under 640 miles and I filled the tank with 20 gallons and some change — that’s close to THIRTY-TWO miles per gallon! I’m convinced I’ll never be that lucky with fuel economy, as there were a few extenuating circumstances that week; I’d left Cincinnati for my job in Cleveland job at 2 am, which left me with ZERO traffic to slow down for so my speed and fuel consumption was slow and consistent for the 250 mile drive up and during the week I also was very fortunate to avoid the brunt of rush hour traffic. I have all my receipts to prove fuel purchases, but didn’t document the miles and forgot to snap a photo of my dashboard before resetting my odometer — should I repeat the same feat with as much success as 32 mpg I’ll be sure to take a photo, even if it’s from my camera phone. I will admit with fuel prices starting to come down, it may be hard for me to continue this thrifty driving style; time will tell.
Give us some feedback
But proving to the world that a 22-year old four-banger can be fuel-efficient wasn’t my intent with this writing. I want to ask fellow Porsche owners — what’s the highest MPG you’ve achieved in your car? I’m also issuing a challenge — spend a few weeks not riding to the red line, I know these cars were made to be driven, but if you are fortunate enough to say a Porsche is your daily driver, it is worth the patience to investigate your fuel economy — you might surprise yourself! Post your MPGs in a comment below and don’t forget to let us know what you’re driving!
This may be followed up with me attempting something similar with my old man’s 997 C4S, which I believe averages 19.2 mpg according to the on-board computer – but for me to conduct such a test would require him to willingly relinquish his keys.
Porsche’s fiscal year ends on July 31st 2008 and if a report from Der Spiegel is to be believed, then it’s been a very, very good year. Unlike most other car manufacturers, Porsche is not losing money. In fact, for all intents and purposes, they might as well be printing it. You see, expected numbers are to show that Porsche’s profits actually exceeded their revenue. You read that correctly, THE AMOUNT OF PROFIT THEY WILL RECOGNIZE IS LARGER THAN THEIR REVENUE.
How can this be you ask. Quite simply, shrewd management and excellent investments. More specifically, Porsche’s 30 plus percent stake in VW accounts for more than 90% of the expected 11 billion Euro in profit (that’s $17 billion dollars at today’s conversion rate.) Revenue is expected to come in around 8.6 billion euros. For anyone that is mathematically challenged let me do the math for you: 11 billion in profit on 8.6 billion in revenue means ONE HUGE BONUS for Porsche’s management team!!!
Oh, and before I forget, Porsche would still report just shy of 10% profit or 1.2 billion euros without the VW numbers. That’s not too shabby on its own.
Wiedeking’s Payday Proportionate to Porsche’s Profit
It was reported last year that Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking took home almost 60 million euros for his pay package. If the numbers above are correct, some are speculating he could earn as much as 100 million euros this year. Well deserved if you ask me.
I follow a lot of internet forums with regard to Porsche. On each of these forums, any move made by the Porsche management team is scrutinized, dissected and arm-chair quarter-backed to death. It’s like each one of us (yes, I too am guilty) is smarter than the Porsche management team collectively. If these numbers are right, them my hat is off to Wiedeking and the rest of his group. No more second guessing. If anything, I’ll be working on a shrine to worship their good fortune (and yours too if you happen to be a shareholder.)
For those of you that have been long-term readers you’ll remember a post I did some time ago where I offered my research services to answer any Porsche related question. That post, “I’m not a Porsche Expert, but I Play one on the Internet” continues to generate a number of questions and I want to do my best to keep answering them for you.
In my opinion, it’s a win-win situation. You get great content to help research a specific Porsche topic and during my research I learn even more about Porsche Cars, Products and LifeStyle. Please feel free to keep sending your questions in by simply commenting on this article or any other on the site (I see them all.) If I don’t answer them directly, here on the web-site, I will email you back personally whenever possible.
Today’s question has to do with finding the right tire for your Porsche. More specifically:
“What does it mean for a tire to have a Porsche N spec approval?”
A Porsche N spec approved tire is one that has passed a series of difficult and diverse test designed by Porsche engineers to ensure maximum performance and safety under a wide range of driving conditions. To qualify for this approval and “to be an Original Equipment tire provider on a Porsche vehicle or be approved by Porsche for the replacement market requires the joint product development efforts of the tire engineers working alongside the Porsche vehicle engineers.” In some instances specific tires will only be approved for specific Porsche applications or models.
Tires may be specified for a particular vehicle or range of vehicles and must successfully pass the tire company’s laboratory tests to assure that they would be capable of adequately supporting the Porsche vehicle while allowing it to reach its top speed on the German Autobahn. Additional laboratory, test track and race track tests are conducted to confirm that the prototype tires meet Porsche’s noise, hydroplaning and handling requirements. Prototype tires will also be evaluated to assess their high-speed durability, uniformity and serviceability. Upon test completion, the tires will be released for production.
Let’s look at some of the tests required by Porsche for N spec approval:
SPEED: The tire must be capable of safely handling the Porsche vehicle at any speed while allowing it to reach its top speed on a track or the German Autobahn.
NOISE: As tires continue to grow in size and width, noise suppression becomes more and more important. Generally speaking, Porsche performance tires are low profile and very soft. This makes it even more difficult to manage road noise. You can rest assured that those tires with a Porsche N spec approval will be as quiet as possible.
HYDROPLANING: The focus in recent radial tire development for Porsche vehicles has primarily included optimum handling on dry surfaces and the safest possible behavior on wet surfaces, even at high speeds. Tires developed by various manufacturers, in concert with Porsche, offer a specific set of wet grip properties which few, if any, other automobile manufacturers demand in equal measure from the tires they use on their vehicles.
HANDLING: I’m not sure this particular heading requires any additional explanation. Your tires provide the grip that keeps your Porsche “stuck” to the road. Poor tire construction, soft sidewall, tires that are too firm, etc. all these things will lead to reduced handling and possible safety concerns that can be avoided by choosing a Porsche N spec tire.
Once a tire has been approved by Porsche it is branded with the N spec approval. The N-specification brandings include: N-0 (N-zero), N-1, N-2, N-3 or N-4. These markings on a tire’s sidewall clearly identify them as approved by Porsche for their vehicles. The N-0 marking is assigned to the first approved version of a tire design. As that design is refined externally or internally, the later significant evolutions will result in a new generation of the tire to be branded with N-1, N-2, N-3, etc., in succession. When a completely new tire design is approved, it receives the N-0 branding and the succession begins again.
It is important to note that certain tire manufacturers may produce the exact same tire in name, size and speed rating as those that have the N spec approval. However, if they are not branded with the N spec approval than it is very likely that they do not adhere to the same rigid production and quality requirements demanded by Porsche.
According to a recent Porsche owner’s manuals, if you do run Porsche N spec approved tires on your car, it is always recommend that your tires be replaced in pairs (one axle at a time.) In the event of tire damage such as cuts, punctures, cracks or sidewall bulges that cause a single tire to be replaced for safety reasons, the remaining matching tire on that axle must not exceed 30 percent wear. If the remaining tire has more than 30 percent wear from new, it should also be replaced. Handling inconsistencies may result if this is not done.
Here’s a list of some of the more popular Porsche N spec approved tires:
There are many, many more tires, than those listed above, that are Porsche N spec approved. If you are researching tires, one of your best bets is to check out The Tire Rack as you can look up your vehicle by make, model and year. The resulting list of tires will provide you with various information including whether the tire is a Porsche N spec approved one.
As a conflicting and interesting end to this post, I recently replaced the tires on my 1997 Porsche 993 C4S. After days of research I ended up selecting a tire that was NOT Porsche N spec approved. At the end of the day I received an excellent tire that performs as well, if not better, than the N spec approved tires the car was originally equipped with. Here’s a review of the Sumitomo HTR Z III tires I chose.
Don’t forget, if you have more questions you would like researched and answered, please ask below or by sending me an email to ask at 993C4S dot com.
This post was written before official Porsche pricing was announced. So, take a look at this post for 2010 Porsche Panamera Pricing (and feel free to read on too).
I’m usually not one for making predictions. However, if the pricing for the upcoming Porsche Panamera, being reported by German car magazine Autobild, is to be believed then I’m thinking sales may move slightly slower than a rusted out Yugo. According to Autobild, pricing ranges from $127,000 for the base V6 model, to just shy of $200,000 for the all-wheel drive 520-hp turbo flavored one. That’s some serious cash for what is arguably one of the ugliest models to come off the Porsche line ever (well, at least since the Cayenne if you listen to some.)
But wait, with an anticipated launch of sometime in early 2009, only the 405-hp V8 and the super-charged/priced turbo will be available for resale. If you want to become a member of the Panamera family on the cheap (it’s all relative), you’ll have to wait until 2010 when the 300-hp V6 version is available at the low, low price of $127,000. Please Porsche say it isn’t so. Give us a press release and tell us this is a bad joke.
Is the Porsche Panamera ugly? Or, is it just me?
I could be wrong, God knows it won’t be the first or last time, but when introducing a car this ugly and this controversial, wouldn’t you want to provide some pricing incentive? I’m pretty much a fan of all things Porsche, but unless the Panamera starts to grow on me (or the car looks significantly different from the spy shots I’ve seen), it could be the first Porsche designed car, ever, that I’m not impressed with. To me, the Panamera took the worst parts of a 996, mated it with a badly copied 928 rear-end and threw four doors from a Pontiac Grand-Am in the middle for spite.
On a positive note, for those with even more disposable income than taste, it is rumored that the V10 from the Carrera GT will be available as a power plant option as well as the ridiculously powerful 12 cylinder TDI from Audi (should customers demand it.) As it stands now, the Turbo variant will reach Carrera S like top end speeds (186 MPH) at close to a GT2 price tag.
Last week I presented the first part of Porsche 356: My First Porsche by Wilhelm (Billy) Roedenbeck. Today’s post is part II of that story. As a reminder, Billy was born in Lima, Peru. He bought his first Porsche in 1973 and never looked back. He resides in Miami, Fl. with his wife and her Boxster.
My First Porsche 356: Part II
It turned out the cars had been purchased by another lawyer. The gentleman had purchased both the 1952 Cadillac and the Porsche. I contacted the new owner immediately. The Porsche was a 1963 356 S-90 Cabriolet, he told me.
The Cadillac Limo was being used by his widowed mother (with a driver of course). As for the Porsche, he had given it to his wife, who was not too happy about it because she thought it was too small and, to make matters worse, manual. He gave me his home phone number and said, “you can talk to her and see if she wants to sell it.”
Needless to say, I called her the minute I arrived home, and she seemed amenable to the idea of selling. She told me to come over anytime and look at the car. When I arrived at her house about 15 minutes later, I was speechless: the Porsche was in perfect shape, the odometer showing only 32,000 km. The car was flawless, down to its huge fabric soft top, a tiny rear window, gorgeous red leather upholstery, optional wooden steering wheel and an FM Blaupunkt radio. The only “problem” was a slipping clutch (probably brought about by the good lady, wistfully wishing the car had been one of those lovely automatics).
The Porsche came with a lot of spare parts, mostly the ones that could be easily damaged or stolen, like trim and plastic lenses. It also came with 12
original German oil filters and 2 cases of Penzoil (imported) oil. A complete set of workshop manuals was included, as well as a new leather bound tool set. The only thing it lacked was the custom cover needed to cover the top when it was down.
I purchased the car on the spot for 120,000 Peruvian Soles, which back then was equivalent to about $3,000. My daughter and son got rides in it well before they could speak and eventually grew to love Porsches, too.
Sadly, I did not own this Porsche for very long. In 1974, work took us to Costa Rica and I had to sell the 356. Importing a car like this to Costa Rica would have cost me about $10,000 in import duties alone. Before we left, I sold it to a famous race car pilot (he raced an Allard Chrysler for many years) for $6,000. The picture below was taken just a few weeks after I sold the car.
Nearly four decades later, I’ve once again lost track of my first Porsche. I hear in the early nineties it made the journey from Peru to California, where it was lovingly restored and sold. Like me, the Porsche emigrated to the U.S. and ended up staying. Even if I were to find it again, I know I could no longer afford it. But that grey 356 will always mark the beginning of my family’s enduring love of all things Porsche.
I want to thank Billy very much for his contribution with this story and give a special thank you to his daughter Valerie who has been a fantastic supporter of 993C4S.com since she found it (or it found her.) As it turns out, since this story was written, Billy and Valerie were able to track down the car to its present owner in Peru. As I understand it, Billy will be making a trip to Peru in the coming weeks and this story may have a different ending. More to follow…
If you can’t pronounce the name of Porsche’s new double clutch, seven speed transmission technology, you’re not alone. Not to worry, the Porsche marketing folks were kind enough to add to the growing list of alphabet soup options by providing the Porsche Doppelkupplung with its very own acronym: PDK. Originally developed for Porsche Motorsports, over two decades ago, this seven speed, advanced transmission has finally made its way (as an option) into the Porsche 911 line-up for the first time.
What’s the Biggest Benefit of the Porsche PDK
Simple: SPEED. The dual clutch provides barely perceptible shift points with little to no power loss. This translates into more speed and faster lap times, much faster. The latest reports I’ve seen show a 911 Carrera S (equipped with PDK) shaving 8 seconds from the lap time, clocked by the manually equipped model on, “the Ring,” not to mention a few tenths of a second off the zero to sixty time.
Surprisingly, given today’s economic and environmental climate, you would think that Porsche would be pushing some of the other benefits of the PDK transmission. Namely, its ability to provide up to 14% better fuel economy over the manual version. With all the heat Porsche has been taking in the press in recent months about emissions, CAFE regulations, etc. the PR department at Porsche should be all over this aspect of the seven-speed transmission.
How Does Porsche PDK Work?
This video below, produced by Porsche and available on the Porsche microsite, does a great job of breaking down the dual-clutch technology into every day language so even non-gearheads, like me, can understand. My only question is: “When will Porsche make the switch to more standardized paddles vs. those little bitty thumb-shifters?”
Today’s post was written by Wilhelm (Billy) Roedenbeck. Billy was born in Lima, Peru. He bought his first Porsche in 1973 and never looked back. He resides in Miami, Fl. with his wife and her Boxster.
Back in the sixties Lima, the capital of Peru, was a city of perhaps 2 million people. It had beautiful boulevards and very little traffic.
Cars were mostly American-made and families were, like in the U.S., either Ford or GM (Chevy) families. My cousins and I, car enthusiasts in our mid -teens, knew all the marques and could easily distinguish the differences between a ‘55 or ‘56 Chevy.
There were, of course, very few luxury cars in those days. Because non-American cars were so rare, we generally knew the cars and who owned them: here was Mrs. F’s 1958 Mercedes 300 S Coupe, or Chachi D’s 300 SL and even Johnny S’1928 Rolls Royce. There were five Porsches in all of Peru, three 356 and two early 911, and naturally we knew who the lucky owners were.
One day in 1967, I was driving my father’s 1965 Chevy S-10 pickup, the bed loaded with avocados from our farm. I crossed an intersection and, to my surprise, there it was: a gray Porsche Cabriolet waiting for the green light.
I had never seen that particular Porsche before, and I was curious to learn more about it. I wanted to u-turn and follow the car, but road rules did not allow it. The Porsche disappeared from sight and I went home a bit disappointed.
In the following weeks, I asked around: had anyone seen this gray Porsche? Who owned it? But nobody seemed to know anything about this car. A few friends even told me I must have mistakenly identified it as a Porsche, but I emphatically defended my identification. But I never saw the car again, and in time forgot about it.
Six years later, in 1973, I was a newlywed with a baby at home and another one on the way. My wife and I were having lunch at my in-laws’ when a friend of my father in law’s casually mentioned that Mr. I, a famous lawyer they knew, had died recently. “He had three cars”, his friend said, “a 1956 Cadillac Convertible, a 1952 Cadillac Limo and one of those little German cars that you like so much,” pointing at me.
It was a dark gray convertible, he told me when I asked for more details. Unfortunately Mr. I had no direct descendants, so our friend had no idea what would become of the Porsche.
One of the benefits of living in a small city is that it is often quite easy to know someone who knows someone who knows what you want to know. In my case, I called a friend who had the same family name as Mr. I and asked him about his relationship to the Porsche owner. It turns out Mr. I was his eccentric uncle who had maintained no contact with the rest of the family for over 20 years and, as far as he knew, had left his net worth to charity.
I was able to obtain the name of the lawyer that had been placed in charge of selling his estate. I was able to get in touch with the lawyer and persuaded him to tell me who had purchased the Porsche when Mr. I’s estate sale had taken place a couple of months before…
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Today’s post comes from guest blogger Andrew Granieri. You may remember Andrew from his great set of posts that outlined the detailing and transformation of the paint on his Porsche 944. As a refresher, Andrew is a student at Miami University, studying Technical & Scientific Communications with a double Minor in Marketing & Entrepreneurship. He enjoys maintaining his 1986 Porsche 944 and joy-riding in his father’s 997 whenever possible. Here’s what Andrew had to say…
Porsche’s fiscal year ends on July 31st 2008 and if a report from Der Spiegel is to be believed, then it’s been a very, very good year. Unlike most other car manufacturers, Porsche is not losing money. In fact, for all intents and purposes, they might as well be printing it. You see, expected numbers are to show that Porsche’s profits actually exceeded their revenue. You read that correctly, THE AMOUNT OF PROFIT THEY WILL RECOGNIZE IS LARGER THAN THEIR REVENUE.
For those of you that have been long-term readers you’ll remember a post I did some time ago where I offered my research services to answer any Porsche related question. That post, “
Last week I presented the first part of 
One day in 1967, I was driving my father’s 1965 Chevy S-10 pickup, the bed loaded with avocados from our farm. I crossed an intersection and, to my surprise, there it was: a gray Porsche Cabriolet waiting for the green light.
