The new Porsche 911 Carrera and Carrera S have arrived in Porsche showrooms around the country. Since its debut last year critics world-wide have called this 911 the best model yet.

“Whether this will be a customer’s first or just their latest Porsche 911, it’s going to be the most invigorating ownership experience yet,” said Detlev  von Platen, President and CEO of Porsche Cars North America.  “The 911 Carrera and Carrera S are the ultimate choices for drivers who want the fun and excitement of a true benchmark-setting sports car week in and week out, not just for show or play during the weekends.”

The 2012 Porsche 911 has been completely redesigned – from the ground up. The newest incarnation preserves the classic 911 lines, yet revisits every inch for advances in power and fuel economy. Though still instantly recognizable as a Porsche 911, 90% of the 2012 911’s components are either new or fundamentally revised.

In addition to aesthetic improvement, both new models offer significant performance enhancements. The 2012 911 Carrera is built with a new, 350-hp, 3.4-liter boxer engine that provides more horsepower than the outgoing 3.6-liter engine.  The Carrera S features a 400-hp, 3.8-liter boxer engine – a 15 horsepower improvement versus its predecessor.

As with every generation of Porsche 911 models, the newest editions continue to rise the bar in both performance and efficiency.

More Information: 911 Carrera Cabriolet  |  Shop for a New Car

The 911 Porsche Carrera Cabriolet was unveiled this week at the North American International Auto Show. The 911 is making its debut with a completely new roof concept that combines the elegant styling of the Coupe with the advantages of a light fabric hood.

The 911 Carrera Cabriolet is built with all the innovations of the new 911 Carrera family with some new features for open sports cars including, a lightweight design that ensures less weight and more sportiness, lower fuel consumption, and greater comfort. The new Cabriolet is powered by a 350-hp, 3.4-Liter six-cylinder engine.

According to Matthias Muller, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche AG, “our engineers have built the best 911 in 48 years. That applies every bit as much to the Coupe as it does to the Cabriolet. In 2012 we are planning to continue growing as well and will raise the record performance (from 2011) to new heights.”

This year’s J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Automotive Performance, Execution, and Layout Study (APEAL) are out and some people might be shocked by the results. This year, BMW came in first in terms of APEAL award winning cars but what might shock you is that BMW was tied with Dodge who also had three cars win awards. The winning BMW’s were the Z4, 5 Series, and X3 while Dodge’s winning trio was the Challenger, Charger, and Durango. Despite winning only one award for the Cayenne, Porsche received the highest overall ratings of any brand in the APEAL Study. In the end, American manufacturers did slightly worse than the competition as they only brought home six awards out of twenty categories, while European and Asian manufacturers brought in seven awards each.

In regards to scoring for the awards, the cars were judged with a score ranking from 0-1,000 points. The scores are determined from owner evaluations on over 90 vehicle attributes which can be grouped into 10 categories. Those categories are fuel economy, vehicle interior, seats, audio/entertainment/navigation, engine, HVAC, storage, visibility, driving experience, and vehicle exterior.

Overall, the ratings on these scores have, for the most part, increased. Vehicle Exterior, Interior, and Seats have improved the most with an increase of six points compared to the 2010 models. Fuel economy surprisingly is the only one that decreased by an astounding 17 points. This is most likely attributed to rising gas costs as gas is approximately 30% more expensive than in the previous year. Combined though, the average car scored three points higher than last year for a cumulative score of 781 out of 1,000 showing a promising trend in increased car quality.

For more information on which vehicles earned top spots in the survey check out J.D. Power's article.  

Check back tomorrow for our next installment of Winner or Dinner: The Best and Worst Vehicles for Surviving the Zombie Apocolypse.