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

The E-Class is getting a facelift as we all know by now thanks to the various spyphotos. There has not been much talk as to changes under the hood and it was simply assumed that the current drivetrains would all carry over. BenzBoost member Even Money shared a tip he learned that the facelift E63 AMG would get a dual clutch transmission and all wheel drive. ...

Introducing the Misha Designs body kit for the 955 and 957 Cayenne generation models which would be the original and the facelift. The Cayenne pictured is a 957 done in matte white. Yes, the wheels do appear small and they do not fill out the fenders as they are the standard wheels. DPE is making a custom set of 22 inch wheels for this particular widebody. ...

Here are results for the Active Autowerke E82 1M tune on a Mustang Dyno. Keep in mind, this dyno does read lower than a dynojet. The baseline was 292 rear wheel horsepower and with the tune this peak figure rose to 325 rear wheel horsepower with considerable torque gains through the curve. This was also done on 93 octane pump gas. ...

Introducing the USP Motorsports 3 inch race exhaust system for the Porsche 996 Turbo. This is a race exhaust which means no catalytic converters. The exhaust also offers 40% weight savings over the stock exhaust system. Exhaust material is T-304 mandrel bent stainless steel and pricing is a reasonable $2,550. ...

The new R172 generation SLK55 features a naturally aspirated M156 5.5 liter V8. It is basically the M157 twin turbo unit sharing the same bore and stroke as well as direct injection but without the turbos and having a higher compression ratio at 12.6:1 versus 10.0:1 for the twin turbo M157 motor. ...

This race took place at a half mile shootout from a stop that was hosted in Georgia last month. The Audi TT is running an APR K04 turbo upgrade and tune on the 2.0 four cylinder motor. The 135i has a tune, bolt on's, and meth injection although it is not stated what tune the 135i is running. Regardless, the Audi TT is able to hold off the 135i through the 1/2 mile. ...

The 1M is a fairly light and well balanced BMW that makes for an excellent drivers car. The problem is that it does not have a real M motor under the hood so from an M purists perspective it is not a complete M car. So in comes TJ Fahrzeugen who for $26,000 will swap in the S85 V10 motor with an SMG transmission into an E82 1 Series. Add 1M body work and you have an M vehicle that BMW simply does not have the balls to build. ...

It probably should not come as a surprise to anyone that companies are already modifying the brand new Golf VII. The Golf is traditionally a highly modified platform so a lot of various parts will be trickling out over the next year. Oettinger already has their body kit designed as shown in the photo below. ...

The Porsche 962 is a famous Porsche prototype race car that enjoyed various racubg success including private racing as well as securing an overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1986 and 1987. It is rare to see one let alone on public roads although 962's have been converted for street use as Dauer did with the 962 Le Mans road car. ...

Fifth Gear recently compared 444 horsepower E92 M3 GTS and the 510 horsepower W204 C63 AMG Black Series. They do a drag race but it is only a 200 meter race, would have been nice to have a longer race closer to a 1/4 mile instead of an 1/8. Fifth Gear does a best of 3 and the first to races result in a split. The final deciding drag race goes to the C63. Without any numbers to go along with the runs it is difficult to truly know which is faster since the best launch won each time. ...

The Mercedes M157 Twin Turbo V8 is a flat out beast. It is capable of over 600 wheel horsepower with just an ECU tune. Spy photographers are reporting the next gen W205 C63 AMG is testing with the M157 powerplant as shown below. With this motor under the hood and confirmed reports of the M3 getting a turbocharged inline-6 with around 450 horsepower, it would seem the new C63 AMG is simply going to bulldoze through its competition. ...

The last time we saw this all electric E30 from Croatia it was running low 12's in the 1/4 mile and seen spanking a Tesla Roadster as well. The car now develops 600 horsepower and 663 pound-feet of torque which propels it through the 1/4 mile in 11.8 seconds although no trap speed is given. It hits 60 miles per hour in 3.3 which according to the FIA makes it the fastest accelerating electric vehicle in the world although that is likely because other electrics have not set records with the FIA. ...

Despite claims from the team that the car was well suited for the Korean circuit, the team fell flat and failed to score a single point. Schumacher managed to finish in 13th place, while Rosberg was forced to retire on lap 2 after a collision with Kobayashi on the first lap into turn 3. At the start of the race, both Mercedes driver made a clean get away after going into the first turn but Rosberg gets pushed to the outside and loses a few spots. Going down the straightaway to turn three Button, Kobayashi, and Rosberg arrive at the same time. Kobayashi gets sandwiched between them and as they brake, Kobayashi hits Rosberg in his side pod damaging his radiator and then takes out Button's front right wheel. Button had to retire on the same lap, while Rosberg continued until giving up down the same straight a lap later. ...

We know the new M5 puts out a ton of power (527 rear wheel horsepower) and is capable of running 11's in the 1/4 mile in stock form. So what gives with Insideline acceleration testing hitting basically E92 M3 level acceleration figures running a mid 12 second 1/4 mile with traction control off and a 13.8@110.6 with traction control on? ...

Mercedes had a better qualifying session that last week in Japan. Nico Rosberg was able to grab 9th and Schumacher 10th. The car looked fairly stronger and more well suited for the Korean track. They easily made it into Q3 but at the start of the third session both Mercedes drivers parked their cars near the pit lane exit and sat there. When both driver finally left the pits they chose not to set a time and went straight back to the pits. near the end of the session, they went back out and set times that were good for ninth and tenth. ...

When the E92 M3 came out it was a stronger car than the B7 Audi RS4. Lighter, faster, stronger. Well, Audi has had plenty of time since then to respond and the response is the B8 RS5. Unfortunately, the old 4.2 FSI even with a few tweaks and combined with a dual clutch transmission still isn't quite enough to best the now 4+ year old E92 M3. ...

The P31 Package for the W204 C63 AMG gives the 6.2 liter AMG V8 motor stronger internals, more horsepower, and a more aggressive tune. The tune is so aggressive some tuners have been accused of simply re-selling it to standard C63 owners. Additionally, getting more power out of P31 cars has proven difficult with scarcely any positive gains posted to this point. ...

This comes to us from BimmerBoost sponsor Burger Tuning (BMS) who decided to put together a few dyno charts showing the difference between the stock N54 twin turbochargers maxed out, upgraded twin turbos, and the single turbo conversion. These all come from a E9X 335i with an automatic transmisison. As one would expect, the single turbo shifts the powerband to the right making for more peak horsepower but less torque through the entire curve and down low compared to the upgraded twins. ...

This one was not hard to see coming. With the existence of a Panamera Turbo S sharing a similar motor and the previous generation Cayenne Turbo S it was only natural for Porsche to give the new 958 generation Cayenne the Turbo S treatment. This bumps the Cayenne up from the 500 horsepower of the Turbo to 550 horsepower in the Turbo S. ...