One Liners:
- Facelifted BMW i3 is here: R637,000 for the EV and R717,100 for the range-extender
- Daimler recalls 238,000 diesel cars for more emissions cheating drama
- Sebastian Vettel wins the Canadian GP (watch the highlights reel above)
Porsche celebrates 70 years of its own sports cars in many glorious ways
Hey, we’ve all been there right? Thrown ourselves a massive party and gotten ourselves a little something special for the occasion. Well, Porsche set itself quite a high precedent recently when it celebrated its 70th anniversary – 60 of those spent in South Africa, with a massive bash at Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit.
Celebrations were global of course, including the opening of a special “70 Years of the Porsche Sports Car” special exhibition at the international Porsche Museum. But we were most excited about this, the Porsche 911 Speedster Concept, Porsche’s own present to itself and indeed a love letter to classic roofless 911s.
We like it because it is beautiful; a greatest hits concept designed to close the gap between the modern cars and that original Porsche 356. It premiered at the Zuffenhausen 70th anniversary in Northern Stuttgart but was cultivated at the Porsche Motorsport Centre in Weissach – home of the 911 GT2 and 3 RS. Here it was given it signature elements such as a short, raked windscreen, double-bubble carbon fibre rear cover, a lightweight tonneau cover for a lid, Cognac 356 leather and carbon bucket seats.
There’s also a host of tiny details we enjoy such as the many harkings to motorsport cars of old, such as the clear and opaque vinyls covering the headlamps in a marked X, similar to the way race cars had Xs taped over theirs.
We like the classic livery, the 1950s style centre positioned fuel cap and the bullet shaped wing mirrors. We even enjoy the ridiculously oversized 21 inch hoops.
And then there’s the promise of over 400kW delivered around 9000rpm. We like that bit the most.
What the hell is a Porsche Taycan?
We’re here to report that the electric artist formerly known as Mission E will now be known as Taycan. Is it a silly name? Yes. Yes it is. But it is still a very important car, especially for Porsche who hope to use it as their main means of challenging Elon Musk’s army of Teslas.
Power is reckoned to hover around 500kW (a combination of two motors) and that should blast the four-seater EV from zero to a hundred kph in just 3.5 seconds. But why the bloody hell is it called a Taycan? Well it means a “lively young horse”, like in the company’s badge.
Porsche board chairman Oliver Blume adds,
“Our new electric sports car is strong and dependable; it’s a vehicle that can consistently cover long distances and that epitomises freedom.”
Ok, fine. Whatever.
New Nissan Micra prices released days before its launch
We’ll be driving it soon, but that doesn’t make its pricing any less newsworthy now!
Yours in three models - Visia, Acenta and Acenta Plus and beginning at R233,500 for the Visia, R257,400 for the Acenta with the range-topping Plus costing R272,400. They’re powered by a common turbo-charged 3-cylinder petrol rated at 66kW and 140Nm and if those numbers sound familiar it is because it is essentially the same one found in its French sister, the Renault Clio.
Naturally it comes with Nissan’s 6 year/150,000km warranty and 3 year/90,000km. Be sure to check back for more information after we’ve driven it (soon).
