As The Miles Wore On
Launched in 1972 and sold in Britain the following year, the 911 Carrera RS was conceived and engineered with the intention of helping Porsche to succeed on the racetrack. Homologation requirements allowed the German sports car maker to include larger, 2.7-litre engines, racier bodywork - such as the distinct 鈥渄ucktail鈥?rear spoiler - and weight-saving features that would go on to become RS hallmarks. The formula may not have changed greatly since, but the technology, power and performance of the latest 911 GT3 RS, based on the latest 991 series model, is a world away from the original 1972 RS. To show just how far things have come, Driving has compiled a handy spotter鈥檚 guide to every generation of the 911 RS and 911 GT3 RS models - some of the most sought-after cars ever to take to the road. Highly sought after by car collectors today, the original RS set the template by which all future RS models followed. Its statistics would be humbled by those of today鈥檚 Golf GTI, but in its time it was one of the quickest, most responsive cars on the road.
This was the last of the air-cooled 911s, and many would say the best-looking too. Performance was a noticeably improvement over that of its predecessor, and a popular option at the time was the Club Sport package. The 911鈥檚 signature flat-six engine switched to water cooling, but in a technical twist the first GT3 RS took what was in effect an air-cooled engine crankcase from Porsche鈥檚 Le Mans-style racing cars and converted it to water cooling. Using the bodywork from the four-wheel-drive version of Porsche鈥檚 911 gave the 997 generation 911 GT3 RS a wide stance and impressive grip on a racetrack. However, substantial improvements would be made (see below). As the miles wore on, I started to think that maybe I could live with this car. And then I started to wonder how it would be possible to not live with it. I was falling in love. This is the GT3 RS that is the most coveted of all. It had a 4-litre version of the flat-six motor and produced 493bhp - the same as the latest 991 model. And because it has a manual gearbox and few driving aids, purists are drawn to it like bears to honey. Controversy strikes: like the GT3, the RS has an automatic gearbox and four-wheel steering. Its wide body, however, is based on that of the Turbo, and the tyres are preposterously wide. If you want to know all about the latest, 991 series 911 GT3 RS, read Driving鈥檚 full review of the mean machine.
The Starbucks was just 1.7 miles down a large, straight, multi-lane road. It was along this stretch, cruising at 50 mph, when something in the front-end of my rental 911 SC started making a metallic scraping noise that correlated to speed. When I touched the brakes to slow for my turn into the Starbucks parking lot, the steering wheel pulsated and tugged to the right. I parked the 911, called owner Jon Morley, and told him the car would need a tow. After he picked up the car, I took a Lyft back to my hotel. Morley echoed my sentiment. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a really good way to decide whether or not you want to own a car like that,鈥?he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to feel something out in a standard 10-15-minute test drive. If I were in the market for an air-cooled 911, the opinions I鈥檝e formed over the course of my two-day rental would have significant weight in my final decision. You鈥檙e going to have fun, and you鈥檙e bound to learn something new.
When I was in Germany earlier this year I rented two clean Diesel automobiles. In fact, it seemed that in the moderate car rental price range the only cars I could rent were Diesel-powered vehicles. I drove an Audi A4 Diesel over 1000 km, and found it to be a comfortable and economical vehicle. Since these German cars are turbo-charged, performance was more than adequate. Although once I got the car over 200 km/hr on the autobahn, it felt like I was leaving the envelope of safety and total control. Noise, always an issue with the Diesels that previously came to the U.S. Once the car got going, it was as quiet as any ICE-powered car. The other factor that was different in Germany than currently in the U.S. Diesel fuel, as in Germany Diesel was less than regular gasoline, whereas in the U.S. The drop in sulfur content in refined Diesel had upped the price of the fuel, but made it far more environmentally friendly. However, NOX emissions remain an engineering problem, one that M-B solved with their urea injection system.
Honda, however, has accomplished this just a effectively with an elegant system of their own. The second Diesel that I rented, a VW Golf, was not as positive experience, as I was involved in a crash with it that my have been partially attributed to a lack of punch (and of course my driver judgment). Diesels are simply not that quick from standing start, and I wonder if American drivers will accept these cars because of this. The fact that electrics have such high torque and are so fast from standing start may make them the long-term favorite in the American market. We are a 0-60 nation of drivers. Another shortcoming of the older Diesels was their difficulties in starting in cold temperatures. European climates are more moderate that that of the most northerly states. However, since the migration of some many Americans to the Sun Belt, I doubt that will be a major issue in marketing these cars. Additionally, Americans still have the memory of Diesel buses and large trucks with their dirty exhaust fumes, and so the German car makers are going to have to overcome a historical legacy. We all remember getting behind a dirty bus. There is no doubt that since the first auto Diesel was marketed by M-B in 1935 - and especially the importation M-B and VW Diesels beginning in the late 1960s, that there were great advantages to these cars. Above all, they are incredibly rugged engines, and are durable well beyond a comparable ICE. They are relatively simple. But because of the need for thicker cylinder walls, and expensive injection pump mechanisms, they are also more expensive to make. Finally, for some Americans green means getting away from any fuel combustion system. Even though electricity is a product of fossil fuel burning, electric cars are one step beyond the sight of a consumer. If the pollution is out of sight, perhaps it is also out of mind.