There's a new Porsche 911 and as usual, a few things are true. It has a rear-mounted flat-six engine. It's hard to spot the differences with its predecessor. And there are a pair of vestigial backseats. These are hallmark qualities for the 911, as constant as gravity. But while the first member of the new 992 family doesn't stray from the classic formula that's been in use for decades, it continues to refine the ideas and traits that have made the Carrera a legend. Chief among those is the output from its horizontally opposed engine. The 911 Carrera S and Carrera 4S - the first two members of the 992 generation - pack a 3.0-liter turbocharged flat-six engine with 443 horsepower, an increase of 23 ponies over the outgoing car. Porsche hasn't revealed torque output - the current 991-based Carrera S has 368 pound-feet - but who cares? The real-world performance will be impressive. According to Porsche, the two-wheel-drive Carrera S can hit 60 in just 3.5 seconds, while the all-wheel-drive Carrera 4S will do the deed in 3.4 seconds.
Add the Sport Chrono Package - you should always add the Sport Chrono Package - and 60 arrives two-tenths of a second faster. Let's reiterate: the Porsche 911 Carrera 4S can hit 60 miles per hour in just 3.2 seconds. 293,000 911 GT2 RS. That's just silly speed. Relatively unchanged top speeds offset the 992's quicker acceleration. The two-wheel-drive model tops out at 191 mph, just a point above the PDK-equipped 991. The C4S sees a bigger improvement, going from 188 to 190 mph, compared to last year's car. But there is a caveat. See, the new 992 comes standard with an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission (we'll reserve judgment on the annoyingly stubby shift lever until we drive the new 911 in January). Before you reach for the pitchforks, though, it's worth noting the new 911 will offer a manual transmission鈥?eventually. As for the other improvements Porsche has made, we covered most of them in the ride along we published in October. The 992 gets a standard wide body, with wider tracks fore and aft. There are pop-out door handles. And the active safety systems get a big improvement, with a dedicated Wet Mode for slippery conditions. 1,050 to each of those prices to cover destination and handling. Orders are open, but deliveries won't start until summer of 2019 in the U.S. Until then, check out our first official images of the 2020 911, and keep an eye open for more from the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show.
When Nissan jump-started the EV market with the launch of its Leaf in 2010, it caused a lot of excitement. The Leaf was, after all, the first mainstream production vehicle that was designed, from the outset, to run on electricity rather than fossil fuels. Almost a decade on, many EVs are still developed from cars conceived to be powered by conventional engines, but one of the more radical clean-sheet designs was the BMW i3, launched with a choice of pure- electric or range-extender powertrains. BMW has since given up on the latter, leaving only the all-electric i3 for new-car buyers - but does a used i3 of either kind make sense? 鈥?BMW i3 Mk1 (2013-date) - Futuristic premium four-seat EV is frugal and good to drive. It鈥檚 not cheap, though. The latter version has a 650cc, motobike-derived, two-cylinder petrol engine, fuelled from a nine-litre tank. This unit only ever acts as a generator to charge the batteries; it never drives the wheels directly.
A 94Ah battery pack (33kWh) was fitted from July 2016, then a refreshed i3 was introduced in August 2017 with 181bhp (previously 168bhp), alongside a sportier i3 S option, more hi-tech kit and tweaked styling. Which one should I buy? While the i3 range extender is more usable than the pure EV, you鈥檒l pay a premium for one. But now that the range extender is no longer available from new, these models are likely to hold their value better than the electric-only versions, because there鈥檚 a demand for them on the used market. Both the i3 EV and REx initially came with only one trim level, and a choice of four finishes: Standard (black/dark grey), Loft (light/mid grey), Lodge (tan/mid-grey) and Suite (dark brown). Standard equipment on all versions included cruise control, 19-inch alloys, heated front seats, climate control, a multifunction steering wheel, DAB radio and navigation. The i3 S offered an extra 13bhp, 20-inch wheels, sport suspension and sportier trim details.
Competitors for the i3 include the Nissan Leaf and Renault ZOE in terms of size, but neither of these can match the BMW鈥檚 unique, high-quality feel. A ZOE costs around half as much, so in some ways this actually makes it more impressive. A Volkswagen e-Golf feels like a premium product and is great to drive, but it seems somewhat ordinary, because it wasn鈥檛 designed from the outset as an EV. With some electric vehicles you must lease the battery pack each month, but the i3鈥檚 battery is bought outright with the car. As standard the i3 only came with a trickle-charge option; faster chargers were available for those willing to spend a bit more cash. The i3鈥檚 carbon-fibre construction means that even minor damage to the bodywork or chassis can be a major deal to put right. The leather trim used in the cabin doesn鈥檛 seem to wear as well as the cloth version, and it also gets easily stained by black jeans. Inside the i3 looks as hi-tech as it does on the outside and, thanks to the trendy rear-hinged back doors, getting in and out of the car is easy.
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