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German Car Blog, Performance, Tuning, Motorsport, and Modification News
Published on 06-19-2012 01:37 PM
The new 2013 981 Cayman will make its debut before the end of the year at the Los Angeles International Auto Show in November. The engine options will likely get a bump from the Boxster. This means the standard Cayman with the 2.7 liter flat-6 will likely be bumped to 280 horses from the Boxster's 265 and the Cayman S will get 330 a bump of 15 horses from the Boxster S. Check out our renderings of the upcoming Cayman here. ...Published on 06-19-2012 04:11 AM
By now everyone has heard of the Vorsteiner GTRS3 carbon fiber widebody kit for the E92/E93 M3. Vorsteiner has updated the design of the kit releasing the GTRS5. The front and rear bumpers received a redesign with the front addition vertical vents for improved air channeling. The rear bumper gets a slightly longer diffuser to help create more downforce. The E46 CSL style trunk also receives a redesign that looks much cleaner. This GTRS5 kit is limited to only 40 units worldwide and we expect similar pricing ($25k installed) to the GTRS3 setup. ...Published on 06-19-2012 02:14 AM
These three vehicles may all be convertibles but they are not exactly the same types of cars. The 2012 Mercedes SL500 is more of a grand touring car offering a folding hard top. The F13 6 Series has a folding soft top and sort of bridges the gap between the sports car 991 Carrera S and the SL550. If one looks at the pricing of all the models however, it is easy to see how they could all be cross shopped. ...Published on 06-19-2012 01:17 AM
The Golf R uses an older 2.0 turbo design that is referred to as the FSI. For these motors, APR believes there is a lot of power to be picked up in the heads when going for big boost such as their Stage 3 and Stage 4+ packages. APR purchased a Centroid 5 axis head porting machine (see it in action in the video below) which allows APR engineers to create identically ported heads every time they are loaded onto the machine. ...Published on 06-19-2012 12:06 AM
Tuning for the new N63 twin turbo V8 has been a bit hard to come by from sources other than Dinan. Unlike the S63 in the X5M and X6M, it seems the N63 has been harder for tuners to crack. Not Dinan however who has updated their offering to a Stage 3 tune. Dinan does not publish dyno numbers with their products (which we definitely do not like) so we want to thank BimmerBoost member alextremo for taking the time to dyno his rear wheel drive and manual 550i on a dynojet with just the tune only. ...Published on 06-18-2012 06:12 PM
Want to get your hands on a C63 AMG Black Series? Well good luck, because they are all sold out. The hardcore C63 sporting a $125,000 price tag in in very high demand being the newest Black Series model to be launched. Only 650 units were slated for production but that number was upped to 800 worldwide when Mercedes saw the demand. The higher production number still was not able to satiate enthusiasts as if Mercedes wanted to it could easily eclipse this number of sales. Even with the high demand and long list of people in line a fortunate BenzBoost member was able to pick one up, congrats to him. ...Published on 06-18-2012 04:29 PM
Congratulations to Audi who became the first manufacturer to ever win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a Hybrid. With the absence of Peugeot in the race the only real for challenge for Audi was Toyota and Toyota sure did challenge. Toyota's hybrid TS030 race car passed the R18 E-tron at one point to take the overall lead. Unfortunately both Toyota cars were involved in accidents (see video below) meaning Audi ended up cruising to victory. Toyota deserves respect for providing such worthy competition capable of taking the win however. ...Published on 06-16-2012 02:52 PM
We knew a hotter version of the Q5 was coming but everyone expected it to have a tweaked version of the supercharged 3.0 TFSI motor in the S4. Audi pulled a surprising move giving the car a 3.0 liter twin turbo six cylinder diesel with 313 horses and 479 pound-feet of torque. This gives the car great gas mileage at about 32 MPG and excellent torque down low. Power is sent to all four (20 inch) wheels through an 8-speed automatic transmission. ...Published on 06-16-2012 02:09 PM
The Audi R8 V8 really is not all that fast of a car for the money. It's beautiful, but straightline speed is not its forte with a DCT M3 being faster stock for stock as well as a Carrera S even with a smaller motor with six cylinders to the R8's eight. The 1M pulls the R8 from a roll easily in the first race but it looks like the R8 got on it late. In the second run the R8 gets a slight lead only for the 1M to bridge the gap. The cars are close but with the 20 inch HRE's on the R8 and power going to all four wheels it is begging for boost to show what it is truly capable of. ...Published on 06-16-2012 12:04 AM
The on again off again Porsche and Volkswagen deal appears to be back on. Just earlier this year German analysts were saying this deal would not be possible but never underestimate accountants and lawyers. Originally Volkswagen and Porsche intended to create a holding company to delay the deal until 2014 where they would be able to avoid taxes and legal ramifications. The new plan still needs to be approved by state authorities but Volkswagen intends to give Porsche the $4.5 billion purchase price of the company as well as 1 share of Volkswagen stock. ...Published on 06-16-2012 12:04 AM
Mercedes CEO Ola Kallenius is claiming a Nuburgring laptime of under 7:30 for the new SLS GT improving upon the previous SLS by about 5 seconds. The new SLS GT of course having more horsepower, revised suspension, and re calibrated transmission programming. We are waiting on an official video and time to come shortly but under 7:30 would put the SLS GT in some elite company including the Carrera GT as well as being quicker than the 997 GT2 or 458 Italia. ...Published on 06-15-2012 11:41 PM
In the absence of a BMW M7 (which likely will be coming) the Alpina B7 is the closest vehicle available to such a car. With the 7 Series receiving updates for the 2013 model year Alpina is not resting on their laurels updating the B7 exterior as well as the Alpina custom N63 V8 under the hood which gets another 40 horsepower. This horsepower boost was necessary as the to keep distance from the 750i which got a bump in horsepower to 450 from 400 as a result of a bump to the N63 V8 for the new 6 Series GranCoupe. ...Published on 06-15-2012 06:01 PM
Audi has flat out dominated every 24 Hours of Le Mans in recent memory. Audi has 10 victories since 2000 and in recent Le Mans races only Peugeot was able to challenge. Well, Peugeot is gone and it seems only Toyota is willing to fight Audi for the overall crown this year. It is going to be difficult as the Audi R18 E-Tron took the pole with the Audi R18 Ultra starting second. The Toyota TS030 Hybrid race car managed to break up the Audi's qualifying in a very respectable 3rd and 5th. Will Audi get its 11th win? The race starts tomorrow and goes through Sunday. ...Published on 06-14-2012 04:00 PM
Great news for 2012 Volkswagen Jetta GLI and CC owners. AWE-Tuning has released their K04 turbo kit for these 2.0 TSI platforms. The kit is claimed to be good for 360 horses with the GIAC tune. The hardware is available with or without software. The factory fuel system is capable of supporting the power capability of the hardware. Pricing on the hardware is competitive retailing at $1995 without software and $2495 with software. ...Gintani C63 AMG W204 Coupe M156 custom dyno tune results - +51.4 wheel horsepower on a Dyno Dynamics
Published on 06-14-2012 03:31 PM
Here are the results of a custom dyno tune on a new W204 C63 AMG Coupe. The car was run at Gintani's facility on their Dyno Dynamics. The baseline hit was 324.4 horses to the wheels which users should note is about 60 rear wheel horses less than what this vehicle dynos on a dynojet. Tuned results are 375.8 horses to the wheels resulting in a gain of 51.4 wheel horsepower. This is all on 91 octane pump gas and tune only. ...Published on 06-14-2012 03:10 PM
This is becoming a disturbing pattern although it sure is looking good for Audi. Just earlier this month Car and Driver picked the S6 over the new M5. Insideline also gave a scathing review of the new 640i GranCoupe. Now MotorTrend joins the fray picking the Audi S4 over the new 335i. The Audi significantly outperforms the 335i running 12's in the 1/4 mile stock with a 12.9@108.7. The 335i runs a 13.5@103.9. When is the last time BMW's direct competitor for an Audi model lagged this far behind? We all grew accustomed over the past couple decades to it being the reverse. ...Published on 06-14-2012 01:13 AM
Agency Power has completed design and testing of their equal length headers for the new Porsche 991 Carrera and Carrera S. The headers have a 3 to 1 design and are available with 200 cell cats or a race version with no cats. Agency Power claims the headers are lighter than stock although no weights are provided. The headers gain 11 peak wheel horsepower without cats (street version should give a little less) and there are gains throughout the entire curve which also is smoothed out a bit. Pictures and dyno testing video below, pricing information to come soon. ...Published on 06-14-2012 12:10 AM
APR does absolutely great work on the VW platforms and this is no different. Eventually in builds taken to a high level the rods and pistons become a weak point in the 2.0 motors. APR suggests upgrading the rods when going beyond the Stage 3 pump gas level. The pistons here use the same compression ratio as the stock Golf R which APR feels is best and are coated in heat resistant material. APR also does a balance shaft delete which frees up some rotational mass. ...Published on 06-13-2012 05:10 PM
BMW's dominance at the International Engine of the Year awards continues. No real surprise considering BMW is the most awarded manufacturer in the history of the competition now with 59 awards making for more than double that of the second place. The BMW S65 V8 wins its fifth straight award and likely its last with the M3 soon to end production. What makes this victory impressive is that the motor beat out the McLaren MP4-12 3.8 liter V8 as well as the new Porsche 3.8 liter direct injenction flat-6 in the new 991 Carrera S. ...Published on 06-13-2012 04:21 PM
Congratulations are in order for Audi and their 2.5 liter turbocharged TFSI inline-5 cylinder motor for winning the 2.0-2.5 liter category of the International Engine of the Year Awards for the third straight time. The motor is a truly impressive mill seeing duty in the Audi RS3 as well as Audi TT-RS. In stock form it puts out about 360 horsepower but it responds very well to modification having already put out over 500 horsepower to the wheels. Congratulations to Audi and we hope to see this motor in more Audi vehicles in the future. ...
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