959 Article - AutoWeek

[cegerer]

Nice write up and cover photo on the 959 in this week's AutoWeek (Sept. 15, 2003). Basically tells how and who federalizes these cars for the US market.

[CarreraS2]

Very similar to last month's Excellence article.

Although Autoweek crowned the 959 the "meanest 911 ever," while Excellence tended to paint the 959 as kinda "soft."

[Mr9146]

Let's face it ... the 959 is finally outdated. The article was doing two things: 1)brown nosing Canepa and 2)trying to please Porsche owners by sucking up to the 959. It cheapened the whole article.

Pete Stout's article in Excellence was far more in-depth and honest, which just goes to show you what type of magazine Excellence really is. Not to mention the fact that they scooped the story from a weekly which is hard to pull off - Excellence is every other month.

Also, Canepa's work is cool; I like what he's doing. But at this point, the 959 should be more about preservation that upgrade ... if you want 959 performance, buy a 993TT or 996TT.

My final gripe/question is with who wrote it. Was it the same David Coleman of Excellence with th "e" left out of his name?

[Mr9146]

Afterthought: The cover photo was awfully RED. Must have used a red filter ... kind of a demonic yet flowery vibration IMO.

[arcsine]

In the same issue, there is a "Drivers Log" on the 2003 911 Targa in their long term fleet. The writer states "Regardless of which version you select-Targa, Carerra, C4S, Cab- the 911 is the world's best car. Period." Quite a statement.

Secondly, in the October issue of EVO, a British car glossy, they have lots of ink about Porsche: coverage of the "new" for 2007 911, a GT3-M3 CSL-STi comparison, a 911 turbo cab-SL55 comparison and a 968-M6-TVR buying guide.

[Zeke]

Originally posted by Mr9146
Let's face it ... the 959 is finally outdated. The article was doing two things: 1)brown nosing Canepa and 2)trying to please Porsche owners by sucking up to the 959. It cheapened the whole article.

Pete Stout's article in Excellence was far more in-depth and honest, which just goes to show you what type of magazine Excellence really is. Not to mention the fact that they scooped the story from a weekly which is hard to pull off - Excellence is every other month.

Also, Canepa's work is cool; I like what he's doing. But at this point, the 959 should be more about preservation that upgrade ... if you want 959 performance, buy a 993TT or 996TT.

My final gripe/question is with who wrote it. Was it the same David Coleman of Excellence with th "e" left out of his name?

Jeez...............who made you literary critic of the moment? I thought puttin' down what's goin' on with Gates' and Ralph Lauren's cars was at least informative, and at best, a pretty damn good article about the 10 years of crap Canepa went through. Sounds to me like he wasn't necessarily in it for the money. Where did you come up with this 'brown nosing' stuff? The man deserves a hit because he accomplished something? Not in my book.

[cegerer]

Ya gotta love the comparison to the McLaren F1 GTR though - according to Canepa, "there's just no comparison. The McLaren skips and jumps all the over the place. The 959 just squats and goes."

[Randy Webb]

This is a public forum. Everyone and anyone can appoint themselves a literary critic, Zeke. You are way out of line in making such an ad hominem attack. Your specific points are good ones and I hope 9146 will respond to them.

[CamB]

On a less contentious topic - I read the article in "Evo" today - the GT3, M3 CSL, WRX STI C type (the fastest one) comparioson. A very interesting article - basically the GT3 is the fastest car, they love certain aspects of the M3 CSL, and the WRX STI is almost as quick and much better on poor surfaces and (they assume) in the wet.

I was glad the GT3 won. I like 'em.

[Emission]

I enjoyed the Autoweek article - though it is a bit sad hearing the 959's get "improved" when they are federalized. Give us the sequential turbo lag and character, don't try to modernize it.

Back in '86, I had a poster of the 959 hanging on my dorm wall. Years later, I saw the silver 959 Otis Chandler had at his "museum" in Oxnard (it is mentioned in AW). I stood there for nearly an hour dreaming...

I will always have a spot in my heart for the 959.

[69 911s]

FWIW, Dave Colman-Excellence writer
Dave Coleman-Performance Engineering in Summit Point

[Randy Webb]

The most interesting article I ever read on the 959 compared it to a 964, I think (maybe it was to a 993). The 959 did not "win." This told me that the technology/cost ratio changed that fast. We can essentially look at the 959 as a "high" production development mule (that takes advantage of trickle-down economics). The next such car is the C-GT. If we can stay alive long enough, we will see some greta stuff from that car incorporated into the 998 or whatever. I also hope that PAG takes advantage of the technologies developed for hybrids, etc. The Honda hybrids have some intersting stuff in them that could be used to get light wt. in a sports car.

[ZAMIRZ]

To add more fuel to the 959 fire, why don't you guys check out this link:

The truth about the US 959

[Randy Webb]

Zeke's private msg: "You attack me again on the 911 BBS. I'm not so sure who's out of line here. And you might read up on the definition of ad hominum. I didn't call mr9146 any names or use the illogic that his character was responsible for his shortcomings. I still question where the phrase 'brown nosing' was appropriate. Perhaps you can explain it to me. Respecfully, --Milt"

Milt/Zeke -- I also suspect the brownnosing phrase was inappropriate. I'm interested to see if he can justify it -- who knows maybe he has inside information (or can make up an entertaining story). You may have chased him off tho. I thought you were out of line, as did others ( se above), so I told you to get back in line (in essence). I didn't really think about respect. If you feel offended I am sorry.

[cegerer]

Intersting link Amir - thanks! -- Curt

[Emission]

Wow, read the post in that link. Interesting story.

I love how the third post has a sig that includes " '87 959 " Cool!

[Mr9146]

Sorry for the delayed response ... I haven't been getting my regular thread update e-mails from Pelican ...

Zeke,

I am a literary critic by the very nature that I read. That means that I can think critically and express my thoughts and opinions in an open forum such as this. Now, on to the more direct questions.

My "brown nosing" comment was a reference to the fact that I feel the article was biased. It seemed like it only pointed out the positives and none of the negatives. Personally, I am glad to see that Canepa has gotten the 959 onto the road (positive) ... I'm not happy to see that he is making changes that will, in the long run, devalue the car (negative). You could then argue that a federalized 959 is more valuable because it can be driven, but from a preservationist point of view it's less valuable because it's not in original condition - and I'm of the opinion that these cars belong solely on the track or in a museum because their performance is equalled/exceeded by the modern turbos. Also, Canepa is an advertiser (pg. 43).

I am sorry that you saw that as a knock against Canepa himself ... that was NOT my intention. In fact, I thought I made that explicitly clear with my comment that, "Canepa's work is cool; I like what he's doing."

I was, however, knocking Autoweek for what I thought was a sub-standard article.

David Colman is one of the best writers out there as far as automotive journalism is concerned. His writing is in-depth, captivating and enjoyable to read - even if, at times, he tends to be a little too "flowery" for my tastes. My comments regarding Colman are in reference to the fact that I felt the article was sub-standard ... especially for the typical level of Colman Journalism. I expect more from a guy like Colman, and this article is gross misrepresentation of his skills.

Finally, I think that the staff of Autoweek should be ashamed of themselves for even printing that article for the sole reason that it had already been covered in Excellence. When a weekly gets scooped by a an every-other-monthly it's a sad reflection on the weekly. It would have been better to bury the story for a month or so rather than publish it right on the heels of a more in-depth and better written article that appeared in a Porsche-specific rag.

I hope this post clarifies my standpoint.

PS: 69 911 -> I believe Colman is a freelancer ... his byline appears in all of Ross Publications' rags (Excellence, Forza, Bimmer, Sports Car International), as well as other automotive magazines ... like Autoweek. Either way, he is still a great writer who disappointed me with this most recent piece.