Paris Preview: 2011 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS

Deep snow? I wouldn't take out any GT-model out during winter at all.

this is the only real porsche i'd take out in the snow

liveries_959.jpg
 
Well, you guys can keep misusing your Porsches. Porsches, even the GT* cars (I'd say especially the GT3 line) are built to endure whatever we can throw at them on pavement, be it dry track days in 40?C weather or daily driving in areas with light snow or plowed roads.

We have a GT3 RS in the garage. This car is not a delicate racer that needs to be babied. This is a tough, durable machine with incredible handling limits and lots of power. The parts on it are robust. I'd be comfortable driving it anywhere its minimal ground clearance will allow it to go.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/12/francois-delecour-manhandles-rally-handles-a-gt3-rs/
Notice the crunching noise that starts about 5 minutes in. That's the sound the front lip makes when it scrapes. This is a perfect example of Porsche's design intentions for this car. While on other similarly capable cars, scraping the front lip means cosmetic damage and an expensive replacement (potentially of the entire front bumper), the front lip on the GT3 RS is an easily removable part. It costs less than a set of brake pads and can be swapped out at home easily.

Drive it. Hard. Drive it every day. Love it. That's what it's for.
 
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I notice one of the cars pictured has the center hubs, another not.

The five bolt wheels are a no-cost option for the GTS, which is nice. The centerlocks are an annoying gimmick.

23hp more than the standard Carrera 2S? You could probably with a chip that should be less than $2k.

Not a chance. A full monty intake/exhaust/chip for a 997 will run you at least 6K and probably even all of that won't get you to 23hp. Chip alone will hardly do anything. Porsche don't leave much on the table with the "S" cars. The X51 powerkit (a $17K option and how they're getting you the 23hp in the GTS) includes different engine internals and a different header, in addition to intake, exhaust, and ECU programming.

There really aren't any options for cheap/easy power gains in a 997.
 
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http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/12/francois-delecour-manhandles-rally-handles-a-gt3-rs/
Notice the crunching noise that starts about 5 minutes in. That's the sound the front lip makes when it scrapes. This is a perfect example of Porsche's design intentions for this car. While on other similarly capable cars, scraping the front lip means cosmetic damage and an expensive replacement (potentially of the entire front bumper), the front lip on the GT3 RS is an easily removable part. It costs less than a set of brake pads and can be swapped out at home easily.

Drive it. Hard. Drive it every day. Love it. That's what it's for.

Seen that video countless times. Sadly about 99.9% of GT3 RS owners arn't rally legends. It's a very expensive thing, you'd either be stupid or simply too damn rich to take a thing like that out in the snow.

If you wanna rally it, rally-convert it. ;)
 
Why is it stupid to take a car like that out on a snowy day, if it clears the snow and you have winter tires? It's built to be driven every day.

Are you concerned about salt? Clean it. Are you concerned it'll slide and be dangerous? It's not magic. It's not a demon. It's actually a very tame, very well behaved car. It's not difficult to drive in low traction situations.
 
you'd either be stupid or simply too damn rich to take a thing like that out in the snow.
How is a GT3 different than any other 911 in the snow? It's just a car. It has four wheels. It drives in the snow. What's the drama? Porsche build these cars to be driven, and people who own them do that. Are you suggesting that a person needs to be a "rally legend" in order to drive safely in bad weather?
 
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In Norway your brand new car is ruined by salt within 20 minutes of driving. My perception of winter is very likely quite different to yours. :)
 
They drive cars in Norway? I always assumed they traveled like this:

http://img222.imageshack.**/img222/5018/motivationalposterbearcxn5.jpg
 
Not a chance. A full monty intake/exhaust/chip for a 997 will run you at least 6K and probably even all of that won't get you to 23hp. Chip alone will hardly do anything. Porsche don't leave much on the table with the "S" cars. The X51 powerkit (a $17K option and how they're getting you the 23hp in the GTS) includes different engine internals and a different header, in addition to intake, exhaust, and ECU programming.

There really aren't any options for cheap/easy power gains in a 997.

I apologize. I just assumed that Porsche, like all other manufacturers leave out some room for improvement, or make compromises to achieve better fuel economy. Obviously I was wrong.
 
They drive cars in Norway? I always assumed they traveled like this:

http://img222.imageshack.**/img222/5018/motivationalposterbearcxn5.jpg

I think those are Russian bears. The Scandinavian countries use reindeer. :p
 
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