German Car Blog, Performance, Tuning, Motorsport, and Modification News

It seems like everyone in the mid-size luxury sedan segment is giving their cars a facelift and BMW will be joining the fray. The Porsche Panamera is getting an external facelift with driveline changes. The facelifted W212 Mercedes E-Class was recently revealed with exterior changes and driveline changes. That begs the question if the BMW F10 facelift will just be cosmetic as BMW often does or if there will be changes under the skin as well. ...

Some eye opening numbers for the Porsche 960 being reported by Automobile. Quad-turbo 3.9 liter flat-8? 650 horsepower? 3000 pounds curb weight? Certainly amazing figures but it is highly doubtful they are accurate. Regardless, that is exactly what Automobile claims. This motor would be in a mid-engine configuration sending power to all four wheels and mated to a 7-speed dual clutch automatic. Aluminum, magnesium, and carbon fiber would all help contribute to the low weight. ...

Here is an interesting development in the R8 forced induction scene, a twin centrifugal supercharged setup. Thus far, only positive displacement superchargers have been used with the R8 V8. TTS Performance mounts up twin centri Rotrex C38-61 blowers for a very interesting looking setup. It would seem TTS Performance is doing the hardware setup while the tuning will come from European tuner MRC Tuning who does a lot of great Audi forced induction work. ...

Some nice runs here from VWBoost member zhijjawi10. He has a 2010 Volkswagen MKVI GTI 2.0T with a Borg Warner EFR-7163 turbo upgrade, meth injection, and upgraded injectors. The first 335i he runs into (silver) has a front mount intercooler, downpipes, a JB4, and was running an E85 mix. The 335i pulls on the GTI although the Volkswagen was having some traction issues. Regardless, the first 335i was the faster car. ...

Good battle here between two fairly closely matched cars. The Porsche 997.1 Turbo is rated at 473 horsepower stock and the C6 Corvette Z06 is rated at 505 horsepower. The 911 Turbo sends power to all four wheels and is heavier carrying about 300 more pounds. The Z06 is lighter and sends the power to the rear wheels. On paper this matchup favors the Z06 from a roll. The result in practice as the video shows is that the Z06 is the faster car stock for stock. ...

Having owned this car since brand new back in October 2001, I knew this car was special to me. Everything from the size of the car, the simple interior, and my favorite, the character of the S54B32 just seemed perfect to me. Several years ago, I started to embark on this journey of pulling out more and more power from the motor. I set a very strict philosophy in that regardless of what modifications I do, I cannot ruin the character of the award winning S54B32. The engine just has so much soul and life to it, I did not want to take away anything from the inline-6 personality, if ever I want to enhance it in every way possible. ...

Sexy cars and sexy women go together like... well, sexy cars and sexy women. Mercedes-Benz has decided to promote the "sexiness" of its new CLA and its styling by using the very seductive Kate Upton in a slow motion ad depicting the CLA being washed. Kate Upton did a great job in this similar role promoting burgers for Carl's Junior. The thing is, this isn't a cheeseburger, it's a Mercedes-Benz and this seems somewhat beneath the brand. ...

Volkswagen is playing some hardball. For those unfamiliar, the AMG motors you have loved in the past couple generations of AMG models have had the commonality of high performance engine engineer Friedrich Eichler involved in development. He has helped develop the M156 6.2 liter naturally aspirated AMG V8, the M157 5.5 liter twin turbo V8, the Pagani Huayra twin turbo V12, and most recently the amazing M133 354 horsepower M133 2.0 liter turbo four-cylinder with 26 psi of boost stock. ...

The B5 S4 in this video has upgraded Tial 605 twin turbos courtesy of USP Motorsports. It also features a built head and is a 2.8 liter stroker motor. On 25 psi of boost it is said to be good for about 500 horsepower at the wheels. The Nissan 240SX it runs is all motor with an LS6 manifold, ported throttle body, and built tranny. The car is also much lighter than the B5 S4 and the power to weight ratio difference shows clearly in the video. ...

Here are fantastic photos of the facelifted driveline going into the 2014 E63 and CLS63 AMG vehicles. The first couple photos show the turbochargers and their location. It looks like most everything is the same although Benzboost is not sure if the turbos themselves have undergone any changes to coincide with the raised 585 horsepower output in the S variant. The S option of course also coming with 4Matic all wheel drive. Mercedes neatly highlights the hot/cold side as well as the cooling lines. ...

Here is a race between two turbocharged six-cylinder vehicles with all wheel drive and dual clutch transmissions. The Porsche 911 Turbo S and the Nissan GT-R. The Porsche 997.2 Turbo is said to have bolt ons and race gas with output in the 530 wheel horsepower range. The Nissan GT-R is also stated to have bolt ons but 585 wheel horsepower with E85 fuel. So more power in the GT-R but the 911 Turbo is lighter. Who wins? ...

The GermanBoost Network is pleased to announce - No Fly Zone - a private airport roll on race event taking place on March 2nd, 2013 just outside of Bakersfield, California. This will take place on the Minter Airstrip located at 201 Aviation Street in Shafter, California. This event is limited to just 100 cars. GermanBoost.com is the official German automotive forum sponsor for the event and will be providing media coverage as well as photo/video editing and hosting services and support. ...

The e-mails below come to us from a user who switched from ESS to Evolve tuning. This is not uncommon, a lot of people have been making this switch lately and it seems to be making ESS uncomfortable. They have not made many of these claims publicly but you can see how they operate behind the scenes with it essentially boiling down to implying Evolve is not capable of doing their own tuning, their tuning could be dangerous, and that Evolve has to resort to modifying the ESS software. ...

W204 C-Class owners will be happy to know another widebody option is coming this one from Misha designs. Unlike the Prior-Design W204 C-Class kit, the Misha design kit will be available for either the coupe or sedan. It also is going for its own style rather than attempting to mimic the C63 AMG Black Series. Pictures below of the kit drawn as well as pictures of it being completed on a W204 C-Class coupe. ...

The Porsche Panamera has been on the market since 2009 as a 2010 model. A facelift is coming dubbed the 971 (current model is 970) and major changes are coming as an article posted last week pointed out. This video below though features the Panamera Turbo and it will be interesting to see what Porsche does do respond to the recently facelifted Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG, the E63 AMG, and the brand new Audi RS7 which was just revealed. ...

A lot of Z2 rumors are floating around the web right now and Autocar is also getting into the mix claiming the model is planned and coming for 2015. Autocar states they talked to unnamed "BMW officials" one of whom stated, “We are considering a car in the spirit of the original Z3." Convenient that this supposed official can't be named. The original Z3 however was not a cheap front wheel drive vehicle borrowing parts from Mini so this car will be nothing like the original Z3 which was 100% BMW. ...

When BMW announced they would pipe in artificial noise in the F10 M5 through the factory speaker system, they were mocked relentlessly by enthusiasts and deservedly so. Unfortunately, Audi (and the Volkswagen group) has decided to join this ridiculous trend with their Soundaktor system in some of their latest models. With the new TDI 3.0 liter six-cylinder diesel motor which puts out 313 horses for example (and is not available in the USA) the system is designed to deliver an exhaust note more similar to a high performance gasoline motor. No, seriously. ...

LS V8 swaps into FD RX7's are very popular for several reasons. The first of which the FD RX7 is relatively light. The second of which they tend to be more reliable than the turbo rotary the cars originally came with and do not suffer from any seal issues. The displacement and torque down low is a bonus. The 997 Turbo is no slouch and the Porsche is said to have upgraded turbos but no specs are given out for either car and this seems to be just an old fashioned street race grudge match. ...

Here we go, M156 versus M157 battle. The M156 naturally aspirated V8 in the W211 E63 AMG which has an unspecified ECU tune as well as the cats deleted in the exhaust for basically a straight pipe setup. The CLS63 is stock but with the performance package which is good for about ~33 wheel horsepower and ~66 pound-feet of torque over the standard M157 engine tune. The cars race several times from a stop as well as from a roll. ...