Weekly Porsche Wrap

Sorry, I’m really late in the week on this one. Gone for a few days, then the week has gotten away from me. Still some interesting things happening last week.

Porsche Design releases one heck of a sexy new phone – I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a Porsche Design phone in person, yet I wouldn’t hesitate in purchasing one if it worked on Verizon. These things are just dang cool looking. This one happens to be a Porsche Design P’9522 Black Edition. Looks like it’s a limited edition model. It’s got a 2.8″ AMOLED touchscreen, Biometric Fingerprint Sensor, GPS, 3D sound, 5-megapixel camera, and WiFi. Reported price is around $2,280! Talk about making your heart stop when you drop the thing on the concrete driveway. [Via TodayOnline.com]

Porsche number one…..on the Top 10 most expensive cars to insure list – Not surprising, but also not the best accolade Porsche could receive. Numero Uno is a Porsche 911 Carrera GT2 at $2,943.78. Porsche actually has 4 cars on the list. Rates are based a 40-year old male with a clean driving record and represent the national average for a year’s worth of insurance. Here’s the list:

1. Porsche 911 Carrera GT2 $2,943.78
2. Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG $2,863.03
3. Dodge Viper SRT-10 $2,851.89
4. Porsche Panamera Turbo AWD $2,837.39
5. Dodge Viper SRT-10 Convertible $2,815.90
6. Mercedes-Benz CL600 $2,754.80
7. Audi R8 $2,751.55
8. Porsche Panamera S $2,744.78
9. Mercedes-Benz SL600 $2,715.86
10. Porsche 911 Carrera Turbo $2,706.04

Not much difference between #1 and #10. Only $240. No ultra-exotics, and no Lamborghini or Ferrari. I guess for a $135k or $140k+ car, $200/mo for insurance doesn’t really seem all that crazy. Least expensive car to insure: Mazda Tribute I, 2WD version at $1,070.25/year. [Via FoxNews.com]

Porsche ranked as most dependable car – Goodbye Jaguar (and Buick), hello Porsche! This year’s Vehicle Dependability Study by J. D. Power & Associates put Porsche at the top of the heap. Strangely Jaguar plunged to 23rd place. Go figure. The study measures problems original owners report on 3 year old vehicles. This includes 198 different problem areas. That’s all compiled and the number of problems per 100 vehicles becomes the magic number. Porsche had 110 problems per 100 vehicles. [Via Wheels.Blogs.NYTimes.com]

Porsche/VW and Qatar sign research agreement – Volkswagen and Porsche will set up research and development facilities in the Gulf state. Six initiatives were targeted in areas such as education, research and commercial applications of a broad range of technologies. These include both engineering and fuel technology. Be interesting to see how Qatar’s investment pans out for them over the long haul. [Via ArabianBusiness.com]

More drawings of the Porsche Panamera Cabriolet – The latest show a central roof section that is fixed to the car. It looks like the traditional B-pillar we see on most 4-door sedans will be absent. Not sure how much of this to believe, but the Internet is all abuzz about the latest Cabriolet to come from Porsche. [Via 4WheelsNews.com]