2003 Porsche Boxster Roadster Convertible 2-door 2.7l on 2040-cars

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$1.4B hedge fund suit against Porsche dismissed

Investors have canvassed courts in Europe and the US to repeatedly sue Porsche over its failed attempt to take over Volkswagen in 2008 (see here, and here and here), and they have repeatedly failed to win any cases. You can add another big loss to the tally, with Bloomberg reporting that the Stuttgart Regional Court has dismissed a 1.4-billion euro ($1.95B US) lawsuit, the decision explained by the court's assertion that the investors would have lost on their short bets even if Porsche hadn't misled them.
Examining the hedge funds' motives for stock purchases and the bets that VW share prices would fall, judge Carola Wittig said that the funds didn't base their decisions on the key bits of "misinformation," and instead were participating simply in "highly speculative and naked short selling," only to get caught out.
With other cases still pending, the continued streak of victories bodes well for Porsche's courtroom fortunes, since judges will expect new information to consider overturning precedent. If there is any new info, it could come from the potential criminal cases still outstanding against former CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and CFO Holger Härter, who were both indicted on charges of market manipulation.

McLaren P1 vs Porsche 918 vs Ducati 1199 Superleggera in epic standing-mile drag race

We live in a high-tech supercar renaissance, with the Porsche 918 Spyder, McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari all duking it out for performance supremacy. All three members of this power trio place the engine behind the driver and use some kind of hybrid assist. However, each one finds a slightly different way to make that setup work. While all of the tech is insanely cool, let's just admit that we are all really wondering which one is the quickest and which is the fastest. Autocar aims to find out in a new video pitting two of them against a surprise challenger in the standing mile.
Unfortunately, the race is missing the Ferrari, despite Autocar's best efforts. So instead, it has another limited-edition, high-performance vehicle from Italy in the form of the Ducati 1199 Superleggera. The bike has just two cylinders, but at 1.2-liters of displacement, it makes over 200 horsepower, and all that gumption is packaged into a magnesium monocoque body with carbon fiber bodywork to keep weight low. Granted, the cycle is going up against the 875-hp Porsche and 903-hp McLaren, but traction, aerodynamics and gearing all play a part in this fascinating video.
There's no sense in ruining the winner before watching, but Autocar teases that the finish is one of its closest drag races ever. Check out the video to find out just what that means.

Consumer Reports selling its road-tested roadsters [w/video]

Here's a chance to acquire a celebrity-owned vehicles, and this time at a discount instead of a premium. So the celebrity in this case is Consumer Reports, that magazine that could be equally adored and abhored by car enthusiasts. CR buys all of its test vehicles and usually finds willing second owners within its own ranks, but its opening its small used-car lot to the public. On the forecourt are four roadsters: an automatic 2012 Audi TT 2.0 TFSI Quattro S-Tronic with 6,600 miles for $36,500, a manual 2012 BMW Z4 sDrive28i with 8,400 miles for $45,000, a manual 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK250 for $39,500 and a manual 2013 Porsche Boxster with 7,000 miles for $48,000.
Those numbers mean a savings of $9,000 to $10,000 before haggling - each car is listed with an "Asking price" so there could be some wiggle room if you show up with pockets full of dough and eyes full of serious intent. Since the money CR earns from the sales go back into the magazine's budget to buy more test cars, however, it probably won't take any oddball trades, so you can forget about getting any purchasing help from that track-day AMC Javelin project on blocks in the back yard.
The vehicles have been taken care of and spiffed up for sale; buyers will take delivery at the CR test track in East Haddam, Connecticut and get a tour of the facilities. While you're there they'll even take you on a lap around the track so you can feel how your car handles when driven by one of its testers. They will probably not help you with advice on which toaster and dehumidifier to buy - you'll still need to get a subscription for that. Have a look at the video below to see a day in the life of a CR test car.