Everyone knows what horsepower means is (actually we don’t, and we just pretend we knew it), but there is a big speculations about the torque! Most of the people define it as that’s something, doing something and that something turns that thing and something moves this thing. Actually many people has no idea and that’s normal because it has a very complicated definition for most of the people. (The definition of torque is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist.) I know you are more confused!
Eventually I found something which describes the meaning of torque and its advantage. Thanks to Fifth Gear team (Jason Plato and Tiff Needell) you can understand what torque really means. This time in their dog-fight session, they drove Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Audi Q7 V12 TDi. The Q7 has a lot of torque, 1000 nm! This means, it is clinically powerful, thanks to diesel engine. Porsche Cayenne Turbo has only 700 nm of torque. This might sound small but it is still huge amount.
If you are planning to pull a car with brakes on, try to pull with Q7 V12 TDi. Actually this is the only Audi which can be buyable :)
For very long time I was trying understand what is wrong with German cars. I didn’t make mistake while writing, German cars. There is always something missing with them, I could not understand but German cars never have the same taste with Italian cars. Of course, I am not licking cars to identify their differences. I am pretty sure that all German cars would taste the same :)
And recently I found the problem with German cars. The huge problem which irritates me for very long and irritates many other people, I am using sales figures of Italian cars as a proof! German cars are offering everything; perfection, design (not all of them), efficient, luxury, perfect, gray, very gray, light gray, very dark gray and this goes forever. Germans cars are doing what you told them to do! Actually if a German car goes wrong, it terribly goes wrong. This happened in 2003-2004 with Mercedes E Class, electronic brake system and electronic control modules of C Class. Anyway, they don’t cause trouble anymore. The main thing is German cars are doing what they are supposed to do and they do not questionize. They just are doing it!
A German car always handles well, the automatic screen wipers always works with the same amount of rain, engine always makes the same sound, all the parts inside the car have the same millimetric distance within each other. This combination of perfection obsession is not matching with human being because we are not perfect and we want things different. I think the best explanation for German cars is they are like trains. They are doing what they are supposed to do, trains cannot change travel anywhere else than railway and they always follow a route.
The Italian cars are like pizza, each pizza is a unique dish. It is nearly impossible to have the same pizza, even if you manage to have the same one you cannot eat in the same way. All the mozzarella cheese will try to go somewhere else, you will try to make some weird moves to eat the slice and some vegetables will fell on your trousers while you are trying to clean your trousers, your elbow will hit to pizza. Basically each time you try to eat an Italian food, you will have a new adventure like in Italian cars. Each Italian car is totally unique, I don’t know how they manage to do it but they are excellent at producing each car unique. There is no identical twin of a Ferrari 458 or Alfa Romeo MiTo or Fiat 500. Even if the factory is robotized, their supplier may not be robotized and their production technique might be influence the employees emotional conditions.
Therefore each Italian car is like a sculpture, you cannot find the same one. And Italian cars do not react as you wished, try to control a Ferrari 599 GTO. Jeremy Clarkson tried to do it in “Italian Job” and he failed, try to control an Alfa MiTo diesel. The electronic systems will help you but the car will control you. You will do what the car is ordering you!
And lastly British cars; very basic definition, there is always something is missing. In order to proof this, just look at British taps! They have separate taps for hot and cold water. You cannot find this in other part of the world. British engineers never connect hot and cold water together, you either burn your hands or freeze your hand. There is no balance and you can face with this ugly truth even in the most prestigious hotels or in houses. Everything looks excellent, suddenly you want wash your hand, and you burn your hands!
You can find this in British cars also, everything is excellent. Design, materials, engines but you cannot have a door closing aid in a Bentley Azure. This is a very basic technology from Germans, when your door is not fully closed the hydraulic system closes for you. But you cannot have this in a Bentley Azure! This car costs more than a country and you have to close your door properly by yourself. But still I like British cars they are combination of Mr. Bean and Paul Smith shirt!
Pictures’ Copyrights
Mercedes, Pizza Express, Aston Martin, Deutsche Bahn, Maserati, Paul Smith
A short movie from Porsche Design. Starring Karel Roden and Titanic’s star Billy Zane. All the objects used in this movie are available in Porsche Design stores, if you can afford them :)
The symbol of wealth is an important incentive for people buy particular brands, I know this sounds very marketing lecture book but this is the reality. In every time era, people found a way to express their wealth and this is quite easy when you have lots of money to spend. During 18th century, there was something called “window tax” in UK and I am pretty sure that money people had window just to show their purchasing power! In 19th century, there were lots of new inventions to buy and you had chance to travel US by cruise ship called Titanic. But this was not a very effective way to show your wealth
Anyway, now you can buy Vertu phones, shop from Harvey Nichols grocery and literally you have infinite opportunity to show your wealth!
During my last London visit, I have been to Porsche dealer to satisfy pleasures! I did not have chance to check Panamera and Cayenne. Thankfully the Porsche stuff was very kind and I have adequate time to play with the cars. And I noticed something!
If you pay more, you get more buttons in Porsche! Especially in Panamera! Even though some of the buttons do not mean anything but you have extra buttons to push.
There are 23 different buttons in both sides of the gear lever! I did not count the ones above the lever. Just left and right sides. Climate control, suspension firmness, suspension height, exhaust pleasure, traction control off, auto start/stop off, sport, hard core sport, I want to show my rear wind button, rear window something, heated seats and that’s all. I am sure that if you put these buttons in driving license examination half of the candidate would definitely fail!
What we learn from this? If you see more buttons in a Panamera, the owner has money than you have :)
Unfortunately I did not buy a Porsche Panamera. Instead of that, I decided to start from buying the key. Actually that’s not a key, that’s a USB stick. And with interesting box label, please focus on “date of experation: unlimited”. What is this??? Does Porsche produce goods expire dates on them. 911 Turbo, best before 31.12.2010 !
British sports car manufacturer Lotus is trying to gain its position back. Proton owned (Lotus is owned by Proton, ugly truth!) revealed five (Esprit, Eterne, Elise, Elan and Elite) new models to compete with Italian and Germans and Aston Martin. After being away from the German vs. rest of the automotive companies gladiator games. Now with four new models Lotus is trying to enter the Colosseum.
What Lotus has done is a miracle, they revealed five different types of cars at the same time. We see this with Germans but Lotus is not that wealthy like Germans. Therefore I consider this as a great success. However sales may not be that successful! The CEO of Lotus declared that they are heading directly to Aston Martin, Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes AMG territory. It is very easy to spell but extremely hard to achieve.
All these brands have their very royal and fanatic customers. People desire to have those brands and that’s a way to achieve their dreams. However Lotus is not a dream car anymore. I know for some people still a dream car like Pamela Anderson is a dream for people over 30 but new generation consider her as their mother! This is the same with Lotus. People don’t really know what really is Lotus.
I know that Lotus is excellent in handling and car engineering but trying to have a place in gladiator games is more than handling and engineering! Lotus has to create a dream but it won’t be very to achieve. I am sure some people will buy their new cars but Lotus should not have focused too many cars at the same time. Like Rolls-Royce, Lotus should have revealed news cars in a scheduled time frame.
I have been complaining about the Porsche 911’s wide ride of variation. And they made it worse! Now Porsche offers twenty different 911s. You might a classic or S or four wheel S or plain four wheel or Turbo or Turbo S or GT3 or GT2 RS or GT3 RS or cabrio or GTS and this goes forever. Recently they revealed the 911 GTS with 408 horsepower and now they revealed 911 Speedster with 408 horsepower again but texturing of classic design bits. However they are not that fast like 911 GT2 RS with 620 horsepower! But they are better than plain 911s; and we can assume that if you are buying a 911 Carrera you will be one of the most boring rich person! Because, you did not buy the more exciting models. May be you don’t want to be exciting, you only wish to drive a 911 without any unnecessary features.
I really get bored of writing about 911s pointless product line extension. I really wonder when they will notice this is not going anymore! In Porsche everything is based on perfect engineering but Porsche let engineers to involve with marketing department and offers vehicles even the dealers have no idea what really the differences are! And I found the reasonable person, August Achleitner. I think I won’t be writing about 911’s complicate structure :)
Nürburgring, it is like the high way next to your house or your father’s farm! It is not something very unusual or unknown, every car manufacturer occasionally visit Nürburgring and make a faster lap than ever. Ten years ago nobody had an idea about Nürburgring and it was something mystery. However thanks to marketing departments, it turned into something very usual. I am pretty sure that half of us can drive in Nürburgring like we drive to home.
But the Porsche made the difference again! As they stick their brand into a power drill (link), they created a new type of lap record in somewhere else. Yes, Porsche finally found somewhere else different than Nürburgring and it is called Pikes Peak located in USA. It is a hill climb with various road conditions like Nürburgring but as you climb higher, the car is struggling more due to adverse weather conditions! So, you can proof the master of your engineering much easier like Porsche did it :)
I am telling you now, in next one decade Pikes Peak will be the next Nürburgring. If you have extra money, just buy some land and you will make fortune by selling to car companies :) After Porsche, Audi will unleash a fast lap and Ferrari and Mercedes and BMW and Maserati and Land Rover and the rest.
Honestly, marketing departments should find somewhere else then Nürburgring because it is becoming more boring !
Porsche manage to finish this circuit in 11 minutes, 31,1 seconds in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car. This car produces 450 hoursepower from 3,8lt engine and it only weights 1200 kilos!
You might have noticed the Nissan’s new advertisement campaign. Nissan vs. Porsche and Audi! Nissan revealed its senseless annoying marketing campaign to sell its ultimately ugly and dull car 370Z. It sounds like, it came from Jupiter or somewhere people don’t have any idea of words. What is 370Z? I know 370 reflects the engine size and Z? Z reflects nothing.
This advertisement campaign claims that 370Z is cheaper and faster. Very basic for people who does not have any emotional feelings for cars. Technically 370Z (328 horsepower) is faster than Porsche Cayman (265 horsepower) just for 0,5 seconds from zero to one hundred km/h. Yes, all these things for just half a second that nobody would ever never realize it while driving. Nissan 370Z is 5,3 seconds and Porsche Cayman is 5,8 seconds. Whole Porsche owners will buy Nissan now! Of course not, this is just a way to create word of mouth and receive attention.
And 370Z is faster than iconic Audi TTS just for 0,1 seconds. Zero point one seconds! And Nissan claims you can understand this! This is the biggest joke in automotive industry I have ever heard. This means you can feel your hair growing every day. And people will change their mind from the sexy looking Audi TT to weirdly looking 370Z !?! The answer is no!
Nissan 370Z is a great car with reasonable price, rear wheel drive, exciting, good for money. But I would never ever dreamed to drive one! And I won’t and many people won’t. That’s a car which makes you look like cast member from Fast Furious! This car designed for modifying putting ridiculous wheels with weird colours and with huge stereo system. Sorry Nissan, the real 370Z is this! Please who cannot afford to buy Porsche or Audi buys its and they modify it so heavily, even the potential customers afraid to buy it.
I don’t understand why Nissan chose this kind of desperate campaign. When I read between the lines, I understood this. Nissan 370Z is a very hopeless car and the chance to promote it, is to compare with luxury brands and catch attention. Porsche will be a Porsche forever, many people buy it because it is a Porsche. Owning a Porsche feeling cannot substituted with 0,5 seconds. It is a life style, a message to universe. You own a Porsche which is making the best car for decades. I don’t think that Nissan can catch the real Porsche people.
It is the same with Audi also, it has the Quattro. Full Stop! You have what? Weirdly looking headlamps. I never like to criticize cars like this, I know that people are spending hours of hours to design this machine. But please don’t ruin those peoples’ work by ridiculous campaigns. 370Z deserves better. When I saw this campaign I just remember one thing, Desperate Housewives! I sometimes watch it because of Eva Longoria. That’s main reason people loves that show :) Even the Desperate Housewives are not that desperate like 370Z.
Actually this campaign worked well, it was the top news on everywhere including my blog. I think I wrote once or twice about Nissan and that’s all. I found this brand very boring, they still cannot manage to produce a proper non vibrating gear lever in 21th century. Why don’t solve this problem? You cars are like Renault! I do hope that, this will be the last article on Nissan. And Porsche should not care this so serious, everyone knows that 370Z will bought by someone who loves to place a exhaust as big as moon and creating more sound than Niagara Fall.
And anyone in Desperate Housewives could compete with Eva ? NO :)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
