The last of the air cooled Porsche 911 Turbos the 993 tt (twin turbo). Coming in at about 400 hp this beauty is truly a beast at heart. With all wheel drive and blazing speed this turbo is a legend among Turbo owners, you can see this with sustained used market that equals the cost of the next generation 996 tt (twin turbo).

This air cooled monster is a collimation of 20 plus years of turbo charged air cooled engine technology and the drive train technology carried over from their legendary AWD 959 super car of the 80’s.

Produced from 1996 to 1998 these turbo’s are in short supply. As with any used Porsche you should pay for a Pre Purchase Inspection when considering the purchase of one. With 0 – 60 MPH at 4.4 seconds (according to the factory) and a top speed of 180 MPH (according to the factory) this is nothing short of spectacular performance.

In Mid 1997 Porsche added an S version of the 993 tt (twin turbo) that had an additional 24 hp making conservatively 424 total HP. The 993 TT S (twin turbo) is said to rocket 0 – 60 MPH in 4.1 seconds (according to the factory) and have a top speed of 189 MPH (according to the factory). Since they only produced very few of these be prepared to pay over $100,000 for a turbo S model.

The next new to be released BMW M3 will be powered by a V8. The V8 is said to be a 4.0 liter, 415 hp engine based off the V10 engine that currently powers the BMW M5. Rumors are that it will be offered with both their SMG transmission and a standard 6 speed transmission.

Many states (and Washington DC) have and are instituting a law that prohibits you from driving and talking on a hand held cell phone, unless you have a hands free device. While it would seem this is really a step in the right direction, my question is what about these other offenses:

Driving while:

• Entering address into navigation system
• Eating
• Applying make up
• Talking to passenger
• Changing CDs or radio stations
• Rubbernecking
• Adjusting rearview mirror while moving
• Allowing your pet to roam in your car while moving
• Yelling at children in the back seat(s)
• Shaving
• Adjusting climate control
• Smoking
• The list goes on…

So where are the boundaries in prohibiting someone from doing something while driving? If they really want to remove distraction from our daily driving commute, it would seem that they should remove all the distractions.

Here is some interesting information from the Crashworthiness Data System from 1995-1999 of the 8.3% of total car accidents that where determined to be caused by a distraction (keep in mind that this is what the accidents where believed to be caused by):

• 29.4% of accidents where caused by an outside distraction such as accidents (rubbernecking), Billboards (I have been seeing a lot of billboards showcasing some large cleavage these days, how can you not look).
• 11.4% of accidents where caused by adjusting the radio, cd, tape, etc.
• 10.9% of accidents where caused by other vehicle occupant (i.e. tending to children in the back seat).
• 4.3% of accidents where caused by moving objects in the car (i.e. roaming pet)
• 2.9% of accidents where caused by using a device/object brought into the car. (i.e. shaving)
• 2.8% of accidents where caused by adjusting climate control.
• 1.7% of accidents where caused by eating and drinking while driving.
• 1.5% of the accidents where caused by dialing or talking on a cell phone.
• .9% of the accidents where caused by smoking related activities.
• 25.6% of accidents where caused by other distractions (maybe putting on makeup would fall under this category).
• 8.6% of accidents where caused by unknown distractions.

So, when are they going to outlaw; billboards, rubbernecking, playing music in your car, passengers (especially kids!), pets (free roaming), air conditioning and heat, food and drinks and smoking (New Jersey is trying right now to outlaw smoking and driving!).

Okay so my real question is why are we approaching this list from the bottom up? Are there are other factors behind the motivation for putting restrictions on cell phone usage while driving?

It would seem to me that the real solution to this problem is to educate people on the real cause of distraction related accidents and improve these onboard distracting devices to truly be mobile (maybe voice activated everything). It is time to stop treating us like children, just my opinion.