Porsche Carrera 2 or something like 600h[

[snowman]

I just saw a couple of Porsche Carrera 2 or something like it, forgot the exact nomaclature, but its a real sporty looking Porsche that is supposed to have 600 hp. Is this thing worth buying at about $450kea??? Looks like a copy of a Ferrari and sounds just like a Enzo. Just a wanna be copy?

I never read the car adds as most of them do not make it to market. When I see one I beleive it, sort of.

Should I consider buying one of these things or is the Ferrari a better buy?

[masraum]

You're kidding, right??

I can only assume that you are talking about the Carrera GT that is the 600hp, 210mph, $450k Porsche supercar. If you can afford one, by all means... I hope you can drive, because a bunch of people have totalled them.

[masraum]

Take, for example, the lightweight ceramic clutch (measuring a mere 6.7 inches in diameter) and the 10 titanium connecting rods in this 68-degree V-10. They weigh, by regular commodity-car standards, essentially nothing. After a romp in the GT, whatever you drive will feel as if it were powered by a huge diesel—the kind we imagine powering ocean liners—with 10-foot-long iron connecting rods.

This works, of course, in reverse, too. Unlike the brawny powerplant of, say, a Lamborghini Murciélago or Dodge Viper, which pummels physics into submission, the Porsche's race-bred V-10 seems to skirt physics entirely. It always feels unrestrained. Here again we can thank low rotational mass. The best production-car engines in the world accumulate revs in a satisfyingly smooth sweep. So quick to rev is the 5.7-liter Porsche engine that you scarcely are aware that it's putting forth any effort at all. A stab of the wide, floor-mounted gas pedal and—Brip!—you're at the 8000-rpm power peak. Watch the in-car footage of an F1 car going up through the gears with its brief, staccato blasts through the revs, then slow the footage down by about half, and you get the idea.

The downside to this is that you will stall the car from a standstill. Everyone who sat in the driver's seat did. Well, you'll either stall it, or your big dumb right foot will call for far too many revs, spin the rear tires furiously, and a second later get shut down by traction control. This display of skill and precision doesn't impress the assembled Porsche personnel as much as you might imagine.

Curiously, the Carrera's handling character is determined to an unusual degree by the powertrain as well. When designing a thing as spectacularly impractical as the GT, engineers can obsessively focus on achieving a low—nearly subterranean—center of gravity. The GT's crankshaft spins just 3.9 inches above its carbon-fiber floor. This is made possible by the engine's dry-sump oiling system and that small-diameter clutch. The six-speed transmission actually sits lower in the car than the differential.

Vehicle type: mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door Targa
Estimated base price: $440,000
Engine type: DOHC 40-valve V-10, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection

Displacement: 350 cu in, 5733cc
Power (SAE net): 604 bhp @ 8000 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 435 lb-ft @ 5750 rpm

Transmission: 6-speed manual
Wheelbase: 107.5 in
Length/width/height: 181.6/75.6/45.9 in
Curb weight: 3050 lb

Manufacturer's performance ratings:
Zero to 62 mph: 3.9 sec
Zero to 124 mph: 9.9 sec
Top speed (drag limited): 205 mph

Projected fuel economy:
European urban cycle 8 mpg
extra-urban cycle 20 mpg
combined cycle 13 mpg

http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=19&article_id=7366

[snowman]

Yeh, that sounds like it. Is it worth the once in a lifetime buys, worthy of a wifes outrage over the price?? Might be cool to have as well. I could buy one but, and its a big but, is it worth it?? I mean I can have an 800 hp race car that dosen't attract so much attention and my wife will never know about it (no annual license fee).

Not kidding.

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by snowman
Yeh, that sounds like it. Is it worth the once in a lifetime buys, worthy of a wifes outrage over the price?? Might be cool to have as well. I could buy one but, and its a big but, is it worth it?? I mean I can have an 800 hp race car that dosen't attract so much attention and my wife will never know about it (no annual license fee).

Not kidding.

I think you should get one. I will show you how to drive it... ...I know a real cool stretch on PCH that we can get it up to 162 pretty easy.

[Mulhollanddose]

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by snowman
I could buy one but, and its a big but, is it worth it??

Can I just take this moment to uncontain my jealousy?...Bastard.

[snowman]

Lifes a *****.

[CJFusco]

How do you have 1700+ posts on Pelican without ever hearing of a Carrera GT?!?

[SlowToady]

Buy a White Lighting prepped 911 GT3 RSR. Same price, and much faster.

And your wife won't know.

[scottmandue]

There is (last time I drove by) one sitting in the showroom of Los Angeles Porsche/AUDI/Volkswagen on Figueroa... it is a few blocks from where I work if you are serious I could check to see if it is still there.

I bet if you offer them $425K cash they will take it.

[yellowline]

If you do want one, I'd jump on it soon. They stopped importing them since the airbags didn't meet 2006 US safety standards. I dunno, for the money I think I'd try to have someone send a 959 this side of the Atlantic.

[scottmandue]

For the money I would get a nice condo on the beach in Hawaii.

[snowman]

They hade 2 in stock in Newport Beach, on 3-15-06. I never pay attention to car add hype, just to much of it, some of the neat stuff is never available, just one of a kind to hype cars that have no connection to the real cars they make.

I love it when Pat gets all stoked up over something, maybe I should buy both? That darn CA real estate keeps going up, just the increase in my main homes value in the last year would pay for it.

[Mulhollanddose]

..

I'd get one of these badboys, modify the crap out of it, and use the Carrera-GT to leverage your wife off your back..."See honey, I was going to get one of these, but I decided to be practical."...

I don't see why anybody would want a Carrera-GT, other than ego, unless they lived at the Nurburing or used the Autobahn daily...I can barely hang onto my driving privilige with a $35,000 300hp rice-mobile.

[snowman]

I can tell you why a Carrera-GT is more desirable than a 911, its 124 more hp, and more is always better.

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by snowman
I can tell you why a Carrera-GT is more desirable than a 911, its 124 more hp, and more is always better.

I can't really argue with that reasoning, however, the GT3 modified to your discretion is nothing to sneeze at.

[Rodeo]

Snowman ... I think I hear your mother calling you for dinner. Better go up to dinner, you know how she gets!

[snowman]

Yeh, I hear the call, dinners waiting.