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Filed under: In the Autoblog Garage , Coupes , Sports/GTs , Porsche Click above for high-res image gallery of the 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S A 1980 Porsche 911 SC Targa was deposited in my driveway during the spring of 1999. A good friend left it in my care while a contractor remodeled his garage. I'd never driven a Porsche, let alone a 911, but I would tend his car for three full months. With a 3.0-liter flat-6 hung way out back, the 180-horsepower engine was noisy, its open chassis flexible, and the whole thing smelled like dirty motor oil. Regardless of its rudimentary technology and semi-backwards handling tendencies, it was an absolute challenging thrill to drive. One decade later, déjà vu, as a brand-new 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S is sitting in the driveway. A direct descendant of the classic SC, it represents the pinnacle of Porsche engineering and the latest iteration of the rear-engine sports car. A week with the car reveals some surprises, exposes a few pitfalls...
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Filed under: Aftermarket , Tuners , Supercars , Porsche Click above for a high-res gallery of the SPI Sledgehammer Most stock components in a production car can only be pushed so far. Keep adding horsepower and torque, and eventually...well, something is going to break. Some people, however, are all about exploring the limits. Take Tym Switzer, for example. His tuning company, Switzer Performance Innovation of Oberlin, Ohio has come up with a bolt-on tuning package for the Porsche 997 911 Turbo that offers Bugatti Veyron aping performance. So, how much power can the stock internals in Stuttgart's 3.8-liter flat-6 take? Apparently, quite a lot. The shop has recorded 850 horsepower and 727 lb-ft of torque on the rolling dyno, equating to over 1000 horsepower at the crank. Real world performance should be mind boggling, with the car reportedly reaching 60 miles-per-hour in the mid two second range, blowing through the 1/4 mile in just 9.79 seconds at 146 mph. Pricing looks to be just as...
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