Cadillac SRX proves versatility knows no climate
FORT MYERS, FLA. — With so many niches in the automotive business these days, it seems unlikely that any vehicle could be all things to all people. But the 2004 Cadillac SRX – all new in concept as well as in fact – makes a valid attempt at being exactly that.
I had the perfect opportunity to acquire some evidence of the SRXÂ’s versatility during a week in Fort Myers, while adding a new chapter to my book on multi-tasking in the thriving Gulf Coast city near the southwestern tip of Florida.
In short order, and sometimes simultaneously, the SRX proved it varied uses. It was an excellent people-hauler, transporting aging baseball players of ever-increasing soreness along with all sorts of dusty and grungy baseball equipment to an assortment of ballparks. It was a hearty, and hardy, wagon for hauling us to Fort Myers Beach, to outposts such as Sanibel and Captiva Islands, and when we decided abruptly to venture down to Alligator Alley and southward to Hwy. 41, where we saw dozens, maybe hundreds, of alligators as well as exotic birds. And it was a smooth and agile freeway cruiser to and from the beaches and Â’gator habitat. Oh, and it looked graceful and classy, drawing admiring looks wherever we went.
The chance to road-test one of the 2004 Truck of the Year candidates was reason enough to be in Florida, in case 85-degree days werenÂ’t reason enough to miss out on a pre-Thanksgiving cold snap and blizzard back in Minnesota. Another major validation of the trip was the Roy Hobbs 2003 World Series, a national tournament for various age levels of baseball teams, using the Lee County complex that is spring training home to the Minnesota Twins, as well as the City of Palms 5-Plex and Terry Park.
I was invited to play for the Minnesota Bandits 48-and-over team, and when the final roster looked a little light, the venture became a reunion of sorts. I called Denny Morgan, an old high school teammate from Duluth Central, and he came down from his Maryland home to join us. We got a few hits, won a couple of games, also lost a few, and blew it in a playoff game – but it was all fun, and worth every scrape, bruise and aching muscle.
One of the neat things about spending a full week was that we could check out all sorts of restaurants, which meant the SRX also was a willing and eager steed at seeking out every manner of restaurant, from seafood, to ribs, steaks, pizzas, burgers, and even Cuban food. From the look of it, eating is one thing Denny and I have done well since we last played together on a district-winning Central team, over 40 years ago.
Earlier test drives in the new SRX had indicated that while Cadillac has been the luxury leader for General Motors forever, it also is branching out to be the corporate technology leader in the new and rejuvenated GM plan. CadillacÂ’s cars have improved greatly in recent years, and it has borrowed trucks from Chevrolet by turning the Tahoe and Suburban into Escalade models, adorned with extra chrome and the new-edge look. But the SRX is something entirely new for the whole GM fleet of vehicles. It is not an all-out SUV, it is not a truck, it is neither van nor minivan, and it is not a station wagon. What it is, is something of all of those vehicles.
As a voter on the Car of the Year and Truck of the Year, I have filed my protest that the SRX is being considered among the trucks, because from its low-entry step-in and car-like handling, it separates itself considerably from any truck-based vehicles.
The base SRX comes with an all-new and extremely high-tech 3.5-liter V6, but the test vehicle came with the optional 4.6-liter V8, reworked with variable valve-timing on its dual-overhead-camshaft heads to produce 320 horsepower and 315 foot-pounds of torque. ThatÂ’s good enough for sub-7-second sprints from 0-60 miles per hour, and an advertised top speed of over 140.
Of course, the hot and high-tech V8 cuts into the fuel economy, but with readily attainable estimates of 15 miles per gallon in town and 20 on the highway, the SRX is definitely ahead of its more powerful, but also more lumbering, truck-oriented stablemates.
The SRX has that edgy new look Cadillac started with the CTS sedan, and which also graces the Escalade and the new XLR sports car. The luck conveys luxury, and the interior carries it off, with burled walnut and leather pretty much everywhere – although the rapid improvement in attention to interiors throughout the industry means the SRX hardly stands out in that segment. The rear door windows go all the way down, though, which is a good feature, and power adjusting pedals, dual-zone climate control, rear air-conditioning, and ultrasonic back-up beepers to warn you that you’re backing up close to something, are all nice touches. Heated outside mirrors are another standard feature, although they were far more suited to the sub-freezing weather we left behind in Minnesota than to the 85-degree days we enjoyed in Fort Myers.
All-wheel drive was an added option on the test SRX, which was useful when probing side roads in our photographic quest for alligators, but again, better suited to Minnesota. An eight-speaker Bose audio system with XM satellite radio was another option, and altogether the options boosted the base price of $46,300 up to $50,320.
The SRX performed capably with all that, but I have also driven SRX models with some other options I would have to have – the Magnetic Ride Control suspension that will be coming out on the XLR, and also on the next Corvette for 2005, is one; the Ultraview sunroof that opens wide and long over the front buckets and most of the second row is another. A power fold-down third-row seat also is available, as is a rear seat DVD entertainment system, and a navigation system. Adding those could boost the price up to $58,140.
Still, the normal suspension handled the SRX adequately, although I was disappointed that there wasn’t more lower-lumbar support in the power-adjustable seats. I had never noticed that on earlier SRX drives. My aching back might have been attributable to the general soreness of playing six long, tough ballgames in six days – with one day off, but also with a doubleheader on Day 2. More lumbar support might not have been enough to alleviate all of our pain.
(John Gilbert writes a weekly auto column and can be reached by email at jgilbert@duluth.com.)
There are better ways to gather seasonal venison
DULUTH, MN. — It was a perfect day for driving. Or anything else, for that matter. It was chilly, even for a Friday in November, but it was so clear that the chilly air felt good against your lungs, and you could see forever. That included seeing the first evidence of a full moon, rising pinkish-orange when it first cleared the eastern horizon, even before 5 p.m., when the gathering darkness was still in the gathering mode.
Driving a great car, in perfect conditions, had been a perfect way to spend an afternoon, and driving north from Minneapolis-St. Paul for a UMD hockey game added a worthy objective to the perfect setting. Plenty of time, no need for haste, and I tuned in the radio to listen to a daily radio talk show as I headed north from the Twin Cities. Joe Soucheray, a newspaper columnist and former co-worker of mine — we once shared an apartment while covering the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid — does the show, and even though Joe’s former equilibrium has tilted a bit to the right since then, we’re still old friends.
That particular broadcast is also carried by a station in Duluth, so I could change stations halfway through the two-hour trip and listen to it right up until 6 p.m. I was at first amused, then curious, as the topic for over an hour was the danger of hitting deer while driving. That’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? It‘s been a threat all my life, during 40 years of driving, often at night and on rural roadways. I’ve always felt bad for those deer sprawled alongside the roadways, knowing that Bambi had lost another one to the machine age, and figuring that the driver probably had been inattentive.
I tempered my opinion after my younger son, Jeff, had a deer run flat into the side of his car a few years ago, but the rest of our family has been lucky. I’ve had some close calls, and I’ve always tried to enhance my good luck by trying to recognize and react to intuitive tips from fairly keen peripheral vision. And I’ve adapted a quick-draw reaction on rural roads that whenever I see eyes or form of a deer on the road or off on the shoulder, I immediately honk the horn. Headlights can almost attract deer, who run toward them sometimes – creating the overused phrase of comparing a dimwitted person to “a deer caught in the headlights†– but I’ve found that a quick blast on the horn generally causes the deer to bolt the other direction.
So I came over the hill and down into Duluth, marveling at that beautiful vista of the huge moon rising in the darkening sky over Lake Superior, and I chuckled at one more phone caller telling about what happened when he hit a deer, and a tip from the department of transportation, or something like that, in which drivers are advised to hit the brakes if possible, but not to swerve to miss a deer – or any other animal – no matter what. A number of car occupants are killed in confrontations with deer every year, mostly from swerving off the road to avoid hitting one, then hitting a fixed object, or rolling over, or getting into the wrong lane and causing a collision.
I stopped to shoot a picture of the car near the Aerial Bridge, then I drove on through Duluth, out the east end, crossing Lester River to leave residential Duluth and rejoin I35, now about five minutes from the end of my trip.
The car I was driving doesnÂ’t matter, but it happened to be a Mazda RX-8, an amazing new 2-plus-2 sports coupe that is a prime candidate for car of the year honors, with the heart, soul and performance of an all-out sports car, plus small rear-opening doors that allow easy access to the rear seat. Handling and braking are superb, and so is complete control of the car.
As I got to within a half-mile of my turn, I checked the mirrors, saw traffic was about a half-mile back, and eased into the left lane. I hate drivers who cruise in the left lane, and I always drive in the right lane, except, of course, when a left exit is coming up. So IÂ’m driving, 60 miles per hour, in the left lane on this perfectly clear day, in the chilly and moonlit dusk, and suddenly my peripheral vision caused me to glance right.
There, ahead on the right shoulder, was a deer. A large, fully grown doe, advancing from the shoulder onto the highway. In a frozen memory I will not forget, I looked at this deer, eye-to-eye, as it sprinted directly at me, at something like a 45-degree diagonal angle. I never lost my concentration, and there was no time to brake, so I did swerve, just slightly, toward the shoulderless left side of the freeway. The thought flashed that the extra couple of feet could allow the deer to miss me for an instant. But it was only for an instant.
Then I heard and felt a heavy “thump†as the witless deer hurtled directly into my car. I continued driving straight ahead, like a swift left winger absorbing a heavy bodycheck but able to keep on skating up-ice. Without breaking speed, I was fully aware that the deer had tried to put its head through the right edge of the windshield, and obviously had killed itself while forcibly removing the right outside mirror, as well as much of the straightness of the right front fender and the door.
Because traffic behind was closing, I didnÂ’t stop. I grabbed my cell-phone and called 911 to reach the Highway Patrol, and informed them that I was OK, the car was drivable, but there probably was a very large deer in the middle of the northeast-bound lane of the freeway.
When I got out to examine the car moments later, I was sickened at the damage. The fender was crumpled beyond recognition, the door had a dent in it, and the windshield had a concave impression on the passenger side, which was spider-webbing itself across to the driverÂ’s side. Other than that, the RX-8 was perfect. The hood was undented, because the blow to the fender was confined entirely to the fender. The right door had a dent, but might have been operable, had it not been flush against the crumpled fender. The right headlight was still aimed straight and almost perfectly true, although the right front directional light would need some work.
The amazing part of the whole thing was that it had been a bad cartoon, the deer would have been a suicidal terrorist, telling its buddy, “No, I’m not coming yet, I’m waiting for a little red sports car…Ah, here comes one now!†With that, like a heat-seeking missile, the deer would run in a trajectory that made it appear on a mission. And, yes, in that instant where I looked it in the eye, it had that look of a deer caught in the headlights.
How ironic, I thought, that I had been listening to a couple of hours-worth of radio commentary about cars hitting deer and deer hitting cars, all the while confident that it would never happen to me, but at the same time adjusting my awareness upward. How fortunate, after all, was I that I was not in my customary right-lane position, where, if the same deer had traced the same trajectory at the same moment, the front end of the car would have undoubtedly clipped it across the legs, sending that large and fully-grown torso directly through the windshield.
The greater lesson is that no matter how vigilant you might be, try to be more vigilant. And no matter how trained you think you are to watching the sides of the roads for anything moving, you canÂ’t be prepared for a suicidal deer that decides to bolt in a straight line across a road. Even speed seems inconsequential, because if you were going 75 or 35, itÂ’s a little like spinning a roulette wheel. If youÂ’re driving slower, maybe you have a better chance of stopping in time, but maybe youÂ’re also an easier target.
I am not a deer hunter, and never have been. I prefer “shooting†deer with a camera, and I get a thrill, every time I see one. But I have a new admiration for deer hunters, whose method for thinning out the obviously abundant herd of eligible deer is clearly superior.
Meanwhile, for years various friends who are outdoorsmen/hunters have opened their conversation at this time of year with: “Got your deer, yet?Ââ€
For the first time, I can say, “Yup.Ââ€
(John Gilbert writes a weekly automotive column. Reach him by email at cars@jwgilbert.com.)
Coole, as Husky, proves you CAN go home again
DULUTH, MN. — Part of Minnesota-DuluthÂ’s “home rink advantage†is to strategically locate the student section behind the visiting goal for the first and third periods. With St. Cloud State in town for an early WCHA showdown between unbeaten co-leaders, the student fans did their best, chanting “Bulldog rejectÂ…Bulldog reject…†over and over, in an attempt to rattle goaltender Adam Coole. They had no more success than the Bulldog skaters down below, who peppered Coole with shots throughout both games, but wound up watching the Huskies surround Coole in a dance of jubilation.
If Coole had a different personality, he might have exorcised an irrefutable license to gloat, after returning in triumph from being unceremoniously dumped after two years of toil for his hometown UMD outfit. Instead, displaying an overload of class and character, the highly emotional Coole thanked St. Cloud coach Craig Dahl for providing him a second chance, and tried to keep in perspective the most amazing storybook-quality story in years in the WCHA.
“I always thought about what would be going through my mind if this situation ever came up – what I’d be feeling, what I’d be saying,†said Coole. “I knew coming back here, there would be all the things that I know so well, like the smell of this rink, the color of those jerseys, the faces I was going to see. There’s so much history for me here. I respect them all so much as hockey players, and even more as people. It was so hard not to be part of that team, and all the rituals.
“But IÂ’m so fortunate to get a second chance. A lot of those guys (UMD) mean a lot to me, and my new teammates mean the world to me. IÂ’m so happy to be a Husky.Ââ€
Coole had grown up tending goal for Duluth East, where he was named the Mr. Hockey goaltender of the year award as the top high school goalie in Minnesota. He set a couple of records playing for Rochester in the USHL before accepting an offer to come home and tend goal for UMD. It was only natural, because Ryan Coole, his older brother, was a captain and defenseman for the Bulldogs, and his dad, Clark Coole, is the universally liked head of DuluthÂ’s amateur hockey organization.
When UMD hired Scott Sandelin to coach, he gave Adam Coole equal opportunity as a freshman with veteran Rob Anderson, and as the Bulldogs started building from the bottom, their goaltending seemed secure. The next season, with Anderson as a junior and Coole as a sophomore, the light-scoring Bulldogs still couldn’t win, and after a rare weekend where both goalies played poorly, the coaching staff decided to make a move for the future, and recruited two new goalies – Isaac Reichmuth from British Columbia and Josh Johnson from Cloquet.
As luck would have it, Sandelin started alternating Anderson and Coole during the second half of the season, and both played well, as the Bulldogs finished showing great promise. That left a unique impasse. College teams, with 18 scholarships, canÂ’t spend four of them on goaltenders, so something had to give. Anderson was going to be a senior, Coole a junior, and Sandelin convinced Johnson to go to Green Bay for a year of junior hockey in the USHL, but Reichmuth, who had used up his eligibility in junior, had to come in as a freshman.
Possibly impatient for the improvement he was striving for, Sandelin pulled Coole’s scholarship. He was done. And he was devastated. The possibilities were to transfer, or go to a Division III college, or even try his hand at the lowest minor league pro level. At his lowest point, Coole told his dad he was going to quit playing hockey, and just go to college. His brother, Ryan, gave him a boost. “Ryan told me, ‘You’ve got to believe in yourself, because if you don’t, nobody else will,’ †said Adam.
About then, when he was at the lowest emotional ebb, Adam Coole got contacted by Dahl. He invited Coole to transfer to St. Cloud, sit out a year, during which he could practice, and that all he would guarantee him this season was a chance.
A chance is all Adam Coole ever wanted. He practiced, long and hard, endearing himself to the Huskies with his work ethic, even though he couldnÂ’t play, all last season. He also watched his old teammates, with Rob Anderson as a little-used senior behind flashy freshman Reichmuth, rise to midpack contention in the WCHA.
This season, Dahl told his team he would spend the first few weeks of the season deciding on a No. 1 goaltender by rotating all three goaltenders – returning sophomore Jason Montgomery, freshman Tim Boron, and Coole, the transfer from UMD, who is now a junior. The way the rotation worked out, the Huskies swept Wisconsin, then tied and beat Michigan Tech, then swept two from Princeton to bring a 5-0-1 overall record, 3-0-1 in the WCHA, to face the Bulldogs, who had roared off the upper reaches of the WCHA by sweeping Minnesota and Alaska-Anchorage and led the Huskies by one point for first place.
On Friday, it was CooleÂ’s homecoming night. The last time he had played in the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center was when he beat Anchorage in his last appearance for UMD at the end of the 2001-02 season. The first period was tense, but scoreless, only because Coole dived out from his net to artfully poke-check the puck off Evan SchwabeÂ’s stick on a breakaway. Freshman Brent Hill gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead early in the second period, but Luke Stauffacher and Schwabe came back with close-order goals to lift UMD to a 2-1 lead.
But Mike Doyle tied it midway through the second period, and Konrad Reeder scored early in the third, and then it was up to Coole – who was cool. The Bulldogs fired 35 shots at Coole, 13 in the third period. It was the most shots St. Cloud had yielded all season, but Coole stopped 33 of them, and the Huskies mobbed him when he held on until the final horn for a 3-2 victory.
“Adam did a great job, especially in the last couple of minutes,†said Dahl, after that first game. “YouÂ’ve got to have good goaltending, or youÂ’re not going to win. UMD is absolutely the best team weÂ’ve faced, and after what we lost from last year, the fact weÂ’re undefeated after seven games is shocking.Ââ€
Dahl was upset about the way his goalie rotation had to end. Montgomery was not on the trip, and Boron, the freshman, told the trainer he didnÂ’t feel well, and it turned out he had a 101-degree fever.
“IÂ’m probably going to have to play Adam again,†said Dahl. “LetÂ’s hope Cooley wants to play again.Ââ€
Now, there was an unnecessary concern.
“All of that – the building, the other jerseys, the guys I know so well – weren’t factors,†said Coole, after the first game. “I’m just glad I could just play hockey; if I’d got caught up in it all, I might not have been able to do it. I had always wanted to play at UMD growing up, then I had so many heartbreaking losses in this building that when I got cut, I thought maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. It’s one thing to be sharp, but my team coming out and getting an early goal made it easier.
“When we finally got ahead 3-2, I looked at the clock and saw there was 18 minutes left,†said Coole. “I decided not to look at the clock againÂ…and I made it until 17:30. They had one shift in the third period where we couldnÂ’t get out of our end. That one shift made me know why I run two miles every other day. Now I hope I can come down from all this in time to get a good nightÂ’s sleep, and play again.Ââ€
The 33 shots UMD had fired Friday were the most St. Cloud State had given up this year, and they couldnÂ’t prevent UMD from firing 43 more on Saturday. It seemed beyond even storybook dimensions to expect Coole to repeat his performance. Especially after UMD got an early goal from Tim Stapleton, at 3:12. But Doyle tied it 1-1 in the last minute of the period, and Dave IanozzoÂ’s power-play goal early in the second gave the Huskies a 2-1 lead on a carryover 5-minute penalty on Marco Peluso, for whacking Coole upside the helmet with his stick in pursuit of a rebound at the side of the cage.
At 11:58 of the middle period, Reichmuth lost a shot by Gary Houseman, whirled and dived toward the net, but couldnÂ’t prevent it from trickling over the goal line. That made it 3-1 St. Cloud, and Sandelin pulled Reichmuth for freshman Johnson. In the third period, UMD took the game over, firing 22 shots and penetrating St. CloudÂ’s defense for goals by Peluso and Stapleton, to gain a 3-3 tie. The fans were chanting, the Bulldogs were flying, and the Huskies appeared to be coming unglued. But Coole remainedÂ…uhÂ…cool, and again held firm.
At 12:11, Doyle was sprung free and scored to restore the Huskies to a 4-3 lead. Coole again held the fort, and with 54 seconds remaining, and Johnson pulled for a sixth attacker, Matt Gens fired a 90-footer into the open-net.
“We may have less stars than in the last 10 years,†said Dahl, “but weÂ’re closer. This team is closer.Ââ€
They were particularly close after the final buzzer, when the entire team crowded onto a 10-square-foot piece of ice, crowding Coole up against the glass, almost right below the section where the UMD students had stopped chanting, and walked out unfulfilled.
“There was so much pressure last night, that it was a luxury to just play tonight,†said Coole, who stopped 71 of 76 UMD shots in the two games. “WeÂ’ve found ways to win games like this, and youÂ’ve got to give tremendous credit to the leadership of guys like Colin Peters, Matt Hendricks and Ryan LaMere.Ââ€
Dahl said he might add Coole, who is 4-0, to the list of those deserving credit, and his hot hand may cause him to alter his rotation. But he wanted no credit for psyching Coole up for the return to Duluth. “I didnÂ’t say a word to Cooley all week,†said Dahl. “YouÂ’ve got to have a Ph.D if you want to start talking to goaltenders.Ââ€
When Adam Coole talks, he says all the right things. But actions speak louder than his words, and no words were required when Coole took a circuitous route to the bus after SaturdayÂ’s game to walk out to the lower lobby area. A large promotional photo that has adorned the wall for two years is still in place, showing bigger than life-sized UMD goaltender, in full battle dress, poised and ready for action. The goaltender in the picture is Adam Coole, who not only had come home again, but left town with two victories and the realization that the Bulldog jersey doesnÂ’t fit him as well as his Huskies jersey. In fact, it doesnÂ’t fit him at all.
New Cabriolets celebrate 40th year of Porsche 911
NASHVILLE, TN. — The look, the firmness, the unmistakable snarl as the engine comes to life, the power, the grip, the precision – all of those might be simultaneous responses if you asked a half-dozen people for a word-association response to the term: “Porsche 911.Ââ€
It seems as though there has always been a Porsche 911, and there is hope that there always will be a Porsche 911, theories reinforced during the 40th anniversary celebration of the 911. The celebration itself was held at The Hermitage, a wonderfully restored 1911 hotel in downtown Nashville, on the eve of the Country Music Association annual awards. But it didnÂ’t take cowboy hats, twangy guitars, or southern drawls to embrace the appearance of an original 40-year-old Porsche 911, or to size up the introduction of the dazzling new 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet or 911 Turbo Cabriolet models, being introduced at the same time.
Porsche aims to build about 25,000 of the 911s in the next year, maintaining status quo for the flagship of the Stuttgart company, which is bolstered by sales of the lower-priced Boxster, and the new and hot-selling Cayenne SUV. Porsche doesn’t call the big car the 911 anymore, although Porsche fanatics still do, but its performance assures its lineage. The designations all mean something – the “S†means sports-performance enhancements, and the “4†means power goes to all four wheels via viscous coupling, rather than the standard rear-wheel drive of the rear-engined beasts.
Porsche has been making cars since the 1930s, and after sports cars such as the legendary old Speedster and the 356, Ferry Porsche assigned his eldest son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, to design a new car to succeed the popular 356. It had to have a timeless shape, with uncompromising performance, and a lasting appearance that would follow the guideline that “design is not fashion.Ââ€
A beautiful bright red, faithfully restored 1964 Porsche 911 was parked on the sidewalk near the entrance to The Hermitage to welcome arriving media to Nashville. For several hours, automotive journalists examined it closely, noting the “901†designation as the seventh prototype when it was built for the 1963 Frankfurt Auto Show. Peugeot subsequently protested, claiming the three-number designation with zero in the middle was its trademark. Rather than fight the French company – and undoubtedly eager to obtain licensing to sell the new sports cars in France – Porsche agreed to rename the car 911 when it came to market for the 1964 model year.
The timeless design accomplished by Ferdinand Porsche was underscored by observing people other than the auto writers, as they passed the restored 911. They were walking from work, or to work, or they were tourists heading down to the honky-tonks and night spots, and favored street-singer sites, which were alive with country music shows. And I noticed that people didnÂ’t stop and express amazement at the car. They walked by, looked at it admiringly, and continued on their way. My theory is that they were wondering why all the fuss was being made about “a Porsche 911?Ââ€
The restored car was beautifully done, but it really didnÂ’t look like a 40-year-old car. I mean, if you put a 1964 Chevy Bel Air, or Ford, or Dodge Polara on the sidewalk, everybody would have stopped and known it was a relic. But the original Porsche 911 didnÂ’t look like any relic, and looked remarkably similar to the new Porsche 911s. Close examination would show a lot of differences, but passers-by may have thought it was new, or only a few years old.
The stunning dark silver commemorative 911 parked there the next day was one of only 1,963 – a number representing the year of its birth – and along with the unique paint job, it wears special wheels and a neat “911†emblem on the rear, underlined with a tiny script that says it’s the 40th year, in German.
The original 911 had a 130-horsepower, air-cooled, flat-opposed six-cylinder engine, capable of 0-60 times of 9.1 seconds and a top speed of 130 miles per hour, while the new Carrera S has an engine that carries only the flat-opposed six configuration, but now is water-cooled with 315 horsepower, will run 0-62 (0-100 kilometers per hour) in 5.3 seconds, and attains a top speed of 174 mph. Then thereÂ’s the 911 Turbo, which uses dual turbochargers to jack the power up to 415 horses, covers 0-62 in 4.3 seconds, and will get to 189 mph.
It was those latter two we drove, in Cabriolet form – convertibles. Nashville, where it had been over 80 degrees all week, was a welcome site instead of Minnesota, where the talk has been of sub-zero windchill. However, a persistent and dreary rain bothered Nashville all day on Wednesday, and we didn’t find sunshine until we drove a couple hours to reach Kentucky, which is known for rolling hills, bluegrass, and a different kind of horsepower.
The original 2.0-liter engine has grown and evolved, and now measures 3.6 liters, has dual-overhead camshafts, variable valve-timing, and plenty of heat from the liquid-cooled engine. Bob Carlson, Porsche’s national press manager, explained how the power top is fully insulated and can easily handle the coldest conditions, while occupants in the new Cabrio also can be assured of staying dry with the top down in the rain, so long as the car keeps moving 45 mph or faster. Staying above 45 is not a problem. Staying under 45 – now that’s a problem.
We started out in a dark blue Carrera 4S Cabriolet, and didnÂ’t put the top down until we were in Kentucky. The car was expectedly swift, strong and solid, and the six-speed manual shifter effortlessly ran that fantastic snarl up to all reaches of power and decibels. So exhilarating is the sound of that engine that we never even turned on the 11-speaker Bose audio system. We didnÂ’t put up the rear spoiler, either, but we didnÂ’t have to; it comes up if you reach 75 mph, and drops down if you go less than 50.
On the way back, we drove a bright yellow Turbo Cabriolet, and as swift as the regular Carrera 4S is, the Turbo takes you to another dimension. The suspension is the same, which is to say rock-solid firm, and so is the steering, which has a unique feature that regulates power boost by how quickly you turn the wheel – a quick swerve provides little power, so you supply your own, while slow turning lets the car know you’re in traffic, or parking, so it gives plenty of boost. Back in Nashville, it was still drizzling when we stopped for a red light in traffic, so we put the top up with the push of a button, and it rose and closed, tightly, in about 20 seconds, before the green.
Back at the Kentucky Dam Village, a state-owned and operated resort, restaurant and country club, another local cue about the timelessness of the 911 occurred in the parking lot. I climbed behind the wheel with the top down and the windows down. Bob Carlson got into the passenger seat and turned up his seat heater to broil before he powered the side windows up. HeÂ’s still a diehard hockey fan, but heÂ’s gone soft from living in the south too long; the 65-degree day was the coldest heÂ’ll experience for a while, and the warmest I was likely to feel until May.
As we got situated, two middle-aged fellows came cruising up on a golf cart to the glowing yellow Porsche. “Hey,†one of them drawled, “how much does one of them thangs cost, anyway?Ââ€
“Seventy-eight thousand,†answered Carlson, quickly and without flinching. They nodded, smiled, and moved on. It’s true you can find a basic 911 Coupe for around the price Bob quoted, although the Carrera 4S we drove up listed for $94,200 in Cabriolet form, and the winged, yellow monster we were sitting in was the Turbo, which costs $128,200. Pretty slick PR guy, that Carlson, because price may not be any object, once you get them Kentucky country club guys into a showroom.
(John Gilbert writes weekly automotive columns. Reach him by email at jwgilbert.com.)
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
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