Porsche vs Ferrari

Porsche and Ferrari are German and Italian sides of the same

coin, interpretations of the sports car idea. Both founded by a

dominant patriarch, both honed in racing, both more than 50

years old, both with engineering and styling integrity. Whether on

the track of Le Mains or on the streets, the two have always been

put head-to-head and compared. Even the most naive motorist

associates these two names with both performance and style.

We’ve decided to compare the methodical Porsche 911 Carrera

4S and the passionate Ferrari F430 because both of them astonish

with their performance while attempting to maintain a reasonable

amount of practicality but do not pretend to be anything other than

sports cars.

A modern sports car should feature these characteristics: it should be

started easily, maneuvered around town, blasted on a couple of

country roads, it looks and performs the part on a racetrack but at the

same time it is very safe.

The easier way to separate the two cars is by measuring figures since

both of them have mastered the modern sports car requirements and

basically there’s no other way to choose between these two phenomenal

cars.

What initially impresses is Ferrari's lightning fast 4-second 0-100km/h

acceleration and thrilling exhaust tone. As the occupants are pinned to

the seats, the new generation 4.3-litre V8 pushes out 368 snarling

kilowatts. Porsche’s acceleration also offers that kick in the pants a

super car should deliver, although it is 0.8 seconds slower at the 100 km/k

mark.

With such acceleration performance, it comes natural for both cars to

excel in the braking department. The two cars offer optional ceramic

discs for impressive stopping.

Porsche’s engine gets the upper hand as it is more refined and on

the economy rank leaps ahead Ferrari with a 11.8 liters per 100 km

as opposed to 18.3 liters. Both cars deliver the power through impressive

6-speed gearboxes and offer top rate handling performance.

Both F430 and Carrera4S offer great interior comfort and even if the

space is limited, the occupants don't feel claustrophobic and flustered.

Although an impressive mix of suede, carbon fiber and aluminum abound

in the Ferrari, the Italians stand no chance when it comes to the high finish

level attained by the Germans.

Speed and silence are key elements for any super car. The look and

appearance is the biggest draw card. The Carrera 4S is a typical Porsche,

despite the new proportions. It is a great looking car, like any other 911 but

somehow the styling no longer creates the jaw dropping reaction that the

Ferrari does. Indeed, traditionalists may say that Porsche pays homage to

its roots, but the truth is that Ferrari F430 simply draws the attention.

However, even if Ferrari F430 takes your breath away with its appearance,

the super car title goes to the Porsche Carrera 4S with a more complete all

Porsche Cayman

In comparison of the engine, The Porsche Cayman is positioned

between the Boxster and 911. Still, it has its own different personality.

It is snappier, easier, and not burdened by heavy weight hanging

out the back and the need to manage the effect of that weight.

The Cayman is strictly a two-seater because the engine sits

where the rear seats would otherwise be. This means that the

engine is not quite readily accessible, although there's a way

into the oil filler via the boot. Under that long tailgate, is revealed

a generous luggage area to supplement the front 911/Boxster-sized

boot. Like all other Porsche, the Cayman is not very big, which makes

it very practical and usable. And for all its obvious Boxster genes,

the Cayman is very much its own car with its curvaceous rear

wings and neat fastback roof. As with other Porsches, there's a

movable rear spoiler, which deploys above 120km/h.

Going back to were we started, the engine, the Cayman has 3.4

litres, a mix of the cylinder barrels of a 911 with the crankshaft of a

Boxster. A 911 engine is of 3.6 or 3.8 liters and a Boxster S has a

3.2-litre engine. It's a strange thing, but even though today's Porsche

engines are water-cooled, they still overlay their intake and exhaust

notes with a breathy whine like that of the giant air-cooling fans of old.

Basically, the Cayman is a mix and it doesn’t have a huge number

of new and unique parts. In short, the Cayman is a structure two

and a half times stiffer because it’s just a Boxster with a roof. In turn,

that means that the driving experience becomes much more focused

because its suspension can have tauter, sportier setting.

Porsche Cayman reaches a maximum speed of 275 km/h and gets

from zero to 100 km/h in 5.3 seconds, even if the fuel thirst is low

for such pace. The Cayman is especially good with the optional

Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), but unlike a 911,

it works well enough without it, thanks to a ride that's firm but seldom

turbulent. PASM makes the Cayman sit 10mm lower, and in its

Sport mode it tautens the damping. And it feels absolutely fantastic

when you have the Chrono option (complete with stopwatch for timing

your hot laps).

Bottom line, Porsche Cayman is a remarkable illustration

of a rigid, solid-roofed bodyshell's advantages. The Cayman S has

all the positive Porsche attributes you could want, and none of the

snags. It's not the fastest Porsche, not the fiercest, not the most

breathtaking. It is a pooling of other Porsche parts, which means

that the Cayman is not expensive to develop but it will generate big

profits. The new car, by the way, takes its name not from a tax-haven

archipelago, but from a type of crocodile.

Porsche the beginning

It`s hard to say exactly which is the beginning of Porsche

story. It could be in 1950, when the famous Max Hoffman

introduced the Porsche 356 to the United States. Or in 1948

when the first automobile to bear the name Porsche was introduced.

But in order to understand Porsche’s heritage and its philosophy

we need to go back to 1875, when, in September, at the home

of a tinsmith in the Bohemian village of Haffersdorf, a son was

born. His name was Ferdinand Porsche.

Since his adolescence, Ferdinand Porsche showed glimpses of

technical genius: at the age of 18, he wired family's home for

electricity in 1893. Still, he didn’t show many signs of disciplined

engineering skills that will eventually become his trademark. Even

if the “Doctor” is usually appended to his name, it is in essence

honorary, since his only formal technical training was as a part-time

engineering student in Vienna.

By the age of 25, the young Ferdinand Porsche had entered the

field of automotive design. His first car design was already

accepted by Lohner & Co. of Vienna. Over the next 20 years,

Ferdinand Porsche, the temperamental but brilliant engineer

succeeded in associating with every major automobile manufacturer

in Germany. At the same time, he designed a dozen of the most

technically significant cars in history.

Working for Mercedes-Benz, he helped develop the most revered

Mercedes-Benz cars of all time: the SSK series. For NSU, he

designed Auto Union Wanderer and the Type 32, a precursor of the

Volkswagen Beetle.

After being dismissed from Mercedes for disagreeing with the firm's

staid engineering policies, Porsche decided to establish what later

became Porsche A.G.: his own engineering consulting group. In a

small office in Stuttgart, the senior Dr. Porsche gathered a select

group of engineers to work under the dramatic name, "Doctor of

Engineering Ferdinand Porsche, Inc., Construction Facility for Land,

Air, and Sea Transportation." One of his employees was his youthful

son, Ferry. His primary interest was one that any young man might

select: sports and racing cars

The senior Dr. Porsche and his team were kept extremely busy. The

consulting firm developed for Steyr (now the utility-vehicle wing of the

Steyr- Daimler-Puch combine), the Austria luxury sedan, but it did not

progress beyond the prototype stage. They worked a lot for Auto

Union, now Audi: the company developed the Front, the world's first

front-drive economy car. They astonished Auto Union with the mid-engine

Grand Prix cars and their supercharged V-12 and V-16 engines

which, together with Mercedes- Benz racers, dominated European auto

racing for nearly a decade.

After that, the firm created its best-known designs for NSU and Zundapp.

The pair of prototypes was characterized by Dr. Porsche's patented

torsion-bar suspension and a rear-mounted engine. Since neither

company moved rapidly enough to manufacture the designs, Porsche

sold the concept to the German government. Then, he oversaw the

construction of a plant on Wolfsburg to manufacture the design. His

drawings called the car the Type 60. The world came to know it as the

Volkswagen Beetle

After the second World War, the Porsche Company started to create vehicles

that beard its name, and so became knows world wide. Now, nearly a

century later, Porsche became the marque and the family that created

outstanding, often unique and surely lasting contributions to automotive

engineering and design.

Porsche floor mats

Floor mats are probably not the first thing you are thinking

when you buy a new Porsche. Yes, you think more about the

Boxster engine and the acceleration and the bodyshell color,

but unless you're going to hand your keys to the butler every night,

Porsche floor mats are an essential purchase. We are talking

about Porsche floor mats. The floor mats are important for

every car and even more when you are thinking about a Porsche.

After all, they will cover some extremely expensive carpet.

The combination of high quality and good looks that will complement

the interior of your car, no matter what floor mats you choose.

You will be driving a car worth a hundred grand and you won’t

want your Porsche 911 floor mat, Porsche Boxster floor mat, or

other Porsche floor mat on the carpet look like it came from the

dollar store. You can find protective and attractive high-end floor

mats for year-round use in fair climates, and also heavy-duty

rubber floor mats if you use your Porsche to trek through deep

Porsche checking fluids

In order to avoid big, expensive problems, you should check

under the hood of your Porsche on a regular basis. By following

these simple monthly checks you will find and solve these potential

problems.

First of all, you should check the oil, but only when the engine is warm.

That’s because it expands when it's hot and contracts when it's cold;

different temperatures will give you different readings. And since you’re

already checking the fluids you should also check the

brake fluid. It's easy to do and only takes a minute.

Radiator fluid, or coolant, is the most important part of your Porsche's

cooling system, which protects your engine from overheating. Low

coolant can lead to a breakdown and expensive repairs. Before

checking the power steering fluid (which is also easy on most cars)

you should see if you have it. Try to parallel park with one hand and

eat an ice cream cone with the other. If you can do that, then you have it.

If you have an automatic transmission, you'll want to check the

automatic transmission fluid (ATF) every month. Also, if your Porsche

has a hydraulic clutch that connects the clutch pedal to the

transmission, you should check that fluid too.

Porsche 968

Porsche 968 is basically the successor of the Porsche 944.

It has a low nose and wide wheel arches that helps accentuating

the beautiful lines of this classic shape that in a Porsche Guards

Red is a real head turner. It has also the classic GT front engine,

rear wheel drive layout with the added advantage of a rear transaxle

giving almost perfect weight distribution.

Instead of the hidden headlights of the 944, the 968 has visible

pop up headlights, similar to the Porsche 928. This brings the

look of the car inline with the new Porsche 997-911. This change

has also a practical advantage: the headlights can be washed

along with the rest of the car instead of having to pop them up to

wash them.

As for the interior, it remains the same as produced in the 944,

keeping the famous “oval dash”. The designers used the same

robust materials which have given all Porsche owners many years

of trouble free motoring.

The exterior has a few differences: the door mirrors have

been streamlined with the tear drop effect and the wheels

have 5 spoke Cup design alloys. The rear bumper is more

blended and with integral rear light clusters, making it almost

indistinguishable from the bodywork. All these bodywork changes

made the 968 look a lot like the 928, and added the engine heritage,

some people have referred to it as “the daughter of 928”.

The engine is a version of the one first used on the 944 S2: it is a

4 cylinder, 3 liter, 16 valve unit. And they added VarioCam for

optimum power throughout the speed range. It has 240 HP

at 6200 rpm and a torque of 305 Nm at 4100 rpm, given by the

improved combustion chamber and inlet manifold design. At the

time of production, it was a remarkable engine, having the highest

displacement per cylinder of any car engine and also the highest

torque output of any unblown 3 liter engine. Clearly, the result of

Porsches investment in this engine paid off.

The rear-mounted gearbox is a 6-speed manual or 4 speed tiptronic.

It is the first ever mounted on a production car. The chassis has

almost perfect weight distribution and very stiff characteristics.

Usually, most cars start to fail when it comes to breaks and the

reason is that it doesn’t matter how fast the car is in a straight

line if you can’t take a bend (turn) at the right safe speed. But Porsche

brakes have always been the envy of most road sports car

manufacturers. You will notice little or no or no discernable fatigue

even under harsh use of Porsche 968. ABS adds even more

safety to the already excellent braking system. Also, what makes

the brakes so effective is that the wheels themselves are designed

to prevent the tire from coming off the rim in the event of a sudden pressure

Porsche 550 Spyder

In 1953, Porsche needed a race car more powerful than the

356. So they created the 550. This was the first true competition

car from Porsche. It was lightweight, it had two seats, aluminum

body, tubular frame and an open top. They were racing only with

Volkswagen. The initial pair of 550 dominated their class at Le

Mans finishing one-two in the 1500cc division. Then, one of the two

cars won its category in the famed Pan Americana Mexican road race.

Subsequent 550`s carried on what the initial 550`s had started.

They were fitted with the four-cam Carrera flat four cylinders. They

soon became dominant cars world wide. During races, it was fast

and easily maneuvered so no other car stand a chance. But people

loved it purchasing every one of these quick little cars they could find.

In 1956, Porsche started to produce the 550A, a slightly modified

Spyder. It was a hit, shocking the entire world by winning in its first

Appearance in Targa Florio, a brutal road race. It also humbled well-known

and more powerful rivals such as Ferrari, Maseratti and Jaguar.

In the next five years it won almost all the races in which it competed.

It became a car that attracted more attention for its occasional

losses than for the nearly non-stop victories.