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February 09, 2005
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This Week:

• Toyota Moves Forward With Unveiling of All-New FJ Cruiser Sport Utility Vehicle at 2005 Chicago Auto Show

• GM Unveils Industry-First Dual Depth Frontal Air Bag

• Mazda Shows Off RX-8 "SHINKA" Special Edition In Chicago

• Mercedes-Benz E 200 NGT: The most powerful natural-gas-driven saloon ever

• Porsche 911 Carrera / Carrera S Cabriolet - Driving Pleasure Times Two

• Dodge Introduces the Largest Pickup Cab Ever

• 2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid Has It All: Style, Handling, Versatility, Eco-Friendly Powertrain

• Nissan Announces Pricing on All-New Second Generation 2005 Xterra SUV

• Saab Announces 9-7X SUV Pricing

• MG TF Continues To Be UK's best-selling sports car

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Porsche 911 Carrera / Carrera S Cabriolet - Driving Pleasure Times Two

Aerodynamic Elegance

The 911 Cabriolet continues the design line already initiated by the new Carrera Coupé. Clear and powerful design features give the car excellent aerodynamics with a drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.29. Lift forces on the axles remain consistently close to zero all the way to the car's top speed, guaranteeing a very high standard of active safety in combination with the extraprecise chassis and suspension.

Head Airbag also on the Open-Air 911

The new 911 Cabriolet not only fulfils the passive safety standards imposed in all countries in which the car is on sale, but easily outperforms the standards required by the lawmaker for head-on, offset, side-on and rear-end collisions, as well as in a rollover. This superior safety is ensured, inter alia, by enhanced body stiffness, the rollbar with rollover elements moving up automatically when required, as well as the occupant safety system carefully geared to the car and its features. The six airbags include the driver and front passenger frontal airbags, thorax airbags in the outside of the front backrests, as well as one cushion-shaped head airbag in the doorsills specially designed for an open car and featured by Porsche for the first time worldwide as standard equipment.

Lightweight Construction also on the Body and Roof

The optimised convertible roof opens and closes conveniently while driving up to a speed of 50 km/h or 31 mph. Together with the wind deflector featured as standard, the two Cabriolets offer absolutely excellent open-air driving comfort. Fully suited also for even the toughest conditions in winter, the soft roof weighs a mere 42 kilos or 115 lb including all its system features - just about half the weight of a collapsible metal roof. This significantly lowers the car's centre of gravity, again helping to enhance its dynamic performance in bends. Such superior handling on winding roads is also guaranteed by the lightweight structure of the body, the body-in-white of the open-air Carrera weighing only 7 kg more than the body of the Coupé, despite the specific reinforcements required on an openair model.

Sporting but Comfortable with both Conventional and Active Suspension

The new Carrera Cabriolets now also come with PSM Porsche Stability Management, the Carrera Cabriolet running on 18-inch, the Carrera S Cabriolet on 19-inch wheels. And like the Coupé, the open-air Carrera comes on conventional, the Carrera S on active suspension. The springs, dampers and mounts, in turn, are designed for superior handling and motoring comfort on both models. Porsche's Active Suspension Management PASM), finally, is optional on the Carrera.

High-Performance Brakes - also with Ceramic Discs

It goes without saying that the new Porsche Carrera Cabriolet offers supreme brake power and qualities of the highest standard. This is ensured by four-piston swing-calliper brakes on all four wheels applying all their power on cross-drilled, inner-vented high-performance brake discs. Equipped with an even larger brake system incorporating 330-millimetre (13.00-inch) brake discs on all four wheels, the Carrera S Cabriolet offers even greater stopping power. As an option, both models are available with PCCB Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes featuring ceramic discs measuring 350 millimetres or 13.78" in diameter for an even faster response, less wear in everyday use, absolutely no corrosion, and a further reduction of unsprung masses.

Porsche Sports Chrono Package Plus for Even More Dynamic Performance

Porsche offers the really active, dyed-in-the-wool enthusiast the optional Sports Chrono Package Plus for switching various engine control maps and strategies to a particularly dynamic, sporting style of motoring. The visible sign of this Sports Package is the analogue/digital stopwatch on the instrument panel enabling the user to measure lap times, saving and evaluating the results in the on-board computer of the PCM Porsche Communication Management system featured as standard.

Superior Level of Equipment

Photos: Automotive Intelligence

The interior equipment of both new 911 Carrera Cabriolets is basically the same as on their respective Coupé counterparts. The lower seating position, the steering wheel adjustable for reach and height, as well as the pedals moved further to the front offer particularly tall occupants extra comfort on the road.

The new Cabriolet comes as standard with automatic air conditioning featuring a combined interior filter (activated carbon and pollen filter) as well as PCM Porsche Communication Management with a CD radio and nine loudspeakers. PCM may be supplemented by further optional modules such as the navigation system and telephone. And a further standard feature is the anti-theft warning system with interior surveillance.

This is the first Carrera Cabriolet to offer four different types of seats ranging from the standard seats all the way to adaptive sports seats with adjustable side supports for the seat bottom and backrest.

(Feb 9, 2005)