Leipzig, Germany. It is raining cats and dogs from the pewter skies that brush Porsche’s test track adjoining the marque’s second assembly site. Tension, excitement, uncertainty, and suspense describe the atmosphere in the pit lane. A squadron of Porsche engineers, test drivers, and helpers is mingling with eighteen journalists who gather around two cars: one battered series-one mule and one almost production-ready prototype -- a hand-built, matte-black Weissach edition model worth around 3 million euros (production cars with the Weissach package will start at $929,000; base 918 Spyders start at $845,000). Towering above the crowd is the lanky posture of Walter Röhrl, an icon in his own right. “Anyone ready for a ride?” he asks. Sure. Walter’s race taxi is a white Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 fitted with a roll cage and semi-slicks. The hoarse and hairy howler hates wet weather: power oversteer, lift-off oversteer, aquaplaning-induced no-more-steer. After only one lap, we’re back in the paddock. First, they close the bus stop chicane (inspired by Spa), and then the Corkscrew (inspired by Laguna Seca) is coned off. Go or no go? Just before lunch, the chiefs give us the thumbs up. At last, the countdown is running.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the Porsche 911, and the 40th anniversary of the iconic Turbo model. So it's a fitting time for Porsche to introduce all-new versions of the 911 Turbo and the 911 Turbo S, which are based on the latest 991-generation of the 911. The pair of forced-induction coupes goes on sale in the U.S. at the end of this year.

We might have picked somewhere warmer than northern Wales for the Jaguar F-Type's first meeting with its sports car rivals, but despite the chill of a winter that had overstayed its welcome, this frigid clime did offer some benefits: barren rolling hills; traffic consisting of little more than the postman in the morning and a farmer or two in the afternoon; and mother nature's own special driving stages laid out long before man invented the automobile. Here, three high-performance driving machines gathered for the young season's first roadster shoot-out. In one corner, we have the Audi R8 with the 430-hp V-8 engine and an S tronic automatic transmission. In the other corner is the 400-hp Porsche 911 Carrera S with a seven-speed manual. At center stage is the top-of-the-line, 495-hp Jaguar F-Type V8 S with an eight-speed automatic.

So, you've got a road problem. Not just any road, but the road. The one that comes to you in the middle of the night, haunting you, embracing you in its decreasing-radius corners and never letting go.

As expected, the latest Porsche 911 GT3 drops a traditional manual transmission in favor of a PDK dual-clutch unit. Purists might bemoan the lack of row-your-own gears, but the truth is the 911 GT3 is designed for maximum lap times -- Porsche says 80 percent of GT3 owners use their cars on a track. The PDK shifts faster than you ever will, and it never misses a gearchange, so it's installed as standard on this model. The 911 GT3 debuts at the Geneva Motor Show with a heroic list of upgrades designed to make the 991-generation of Porsche's sports car an even better performance machine.

This is more like it. In one simple profile revision, from whalelike fastback four-door to tough-looking aerodynamic sport wagon, Porsche's Panamera has been transformed from a car I wouldn't want to be seen driving into something I actually could covet. The concept of a fastback four-door sedan is intriguing, but making one genuinely attractive is a difficult task. General Motors managed it from 1949-51 with Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile, basically because the roof tapered inward quite sharply in plan view and because, by our contemporary standards, they were pretty big cars, allowing a long roofline. But many other attempts, including the 1949 Lincoln, GM's late-'70s downsized four-doors, and Porsche's first sedan, have ranged from grotesque to ghastly.

This is Porsche ballet. My car glides over an all-white stage, a landscape skimmed in snow and ice. It is a new, very blue Carrera 4S, one of the first 991 all-wheel-drive models in North America, and it is full of grace.

Eleven miles up, eleven miles down. No police, no black ice, no farm traffic. Simply eleven miles of the most gorgeous road: corners of all radii, dips and crests, climbs and descents, some blind stuff and some wide open, the black tarmac covered with a light-gray dusting of winter salt. When you hit the Sport Plus button, and pull the gear lever to the left into M, you can feel it straight away: the limits are quite low, the car feels rather nervous, the electronic helpers enter the game much earlier than expected. How come? Because it's 7 degrees outside, the road salt is acting like fine sand, and the fly yellow Cayman S is shod with Michelin Pilot Alpine M&S tires. They are at their best in a relatively narrow temperature window. When cold, the grip slackens suddenly, like a broken fishing line. When really hot, the footwear indulges in ridiculous slip angles, but as long as you keep them in their comfort zone, they will encourage you to put the new Porsche to the real test.

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The Porsche 960, known internally as "FeFi" (for "Ferrari fighter") is moving full speed ahead. We last reported that the car would employ a high-output flat six, but that engine, although frugal and light, was deemed insufficient for a vehicle that will likely cost as much as twelve-cylinder cars like the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and the Lamborghini Aventador. The solution: a boxer eight. Word has it that Volkswagen Group chief Ferdinand Piech approved this application. Piech used to drive a one-off Porsche 914 equipped with a boxer eight-cylinder, and, more recently, the chairman was said to be driving a Cayman fitted with a flat eight. Featuring four turbochargers, two intercoolers, four adjustable camshafts, a complex multistage intake manifold, and dual-stage exhaust, the 3.9-liter engine is expected to deliver 650 hp. It will be mounted low in the middle of the car, connecting to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. The 960 relies on an aluminum-intensive architecture supported by steel, carbon fiber, magnesium, titanium, and other composite elements to keep weight to about 3000 pounds. Porsche is resisting high-tech, heavy add-ons such as the 918's electric motors. All-wheel drive made the cut and adds close to 200 pounds but earns its keep by getting the power to the ground -- 0 to 60 mph allegedly takes only 2.5 seconds. An even more raw, rear-wheel-drive GT edition may follow. No convertible, for now.

Purists often argue that they don't see the point in the convertible version of a performance car, because cutting off the roof reduced structural rigidity, and the power-folding top usually adds weight. To which the proper response is, "So what?"

Just as the Cayman, the Boxster, and the 911 share an increasingly flexible common DNA, the project 906 launched forty-seven years ago was closely related to the first-generation 911. The homologated racing car, also called the Carrera 6, featured an upgraded version of the production car's flat six mounted in front of the rear axle. Painted off-white and sporting the distinctive light yellow Perspex engine cover, our mint-condition example of the first-ever six-cylinder mid-engine Porsche pointed the way toward today's Boxster and Cayman. Its dramatic proportions are simply out of this world. At 39 inches tall, the gull-wing two-seater is lower than just about any current hardtop sports car. The 66-inch width is positively petite, but the length measures a self-conscious 162 inches, and the long-tail Le Mans version stretches an even more substantial 181 inches. Among the most eye-catching features are stacked headlights, turn indicators, and long-range driving lights covered by low-drag, flush-fitting lenses; a Kamm-back rear spoiler complemented by a brace of front splitters; a truly panoramic windshield; and two chrome, teardrop-shaped side mirrors.

I almost didn't come to work today. It took every bit of my self-restraint to steer the Boxster toward the office parking lot and not anywhere, everywhere else. I count the outgoing Boxster among my very favorite-driving cars of all time, and the brand-new 2013 model seems every bit as good, if not better. (I will definitely need more wheel time to decide that. OK, boss?)

You are forgiven if you believe that just about the last thing the Porsche 911 needs is four-wheel drive. After all, the boxer engine sits right on top of the driven wheels, so a lack of traction is rarely an issue. Nevertheless, since 1989 (when the first 911 Carrera 4 was launched), 41 percent of all 911s sold drive all four wheels. The latest 911 with this technology is the widebody, wide-track 991 Carrera 4, which commands a nearly $9000 premium over the standard rear-wheel-drive model. Is this an extra worth having?

Porsche follows a fairly predictable cadence for car launches, so when the German company introduced the new Boxster at the Geneva Motor Show in March, we knew that a hardtop twin wouldn't be far behind. Sure enough, the 2013 Porsche Cayman makes its debut at the Los Angeles auto show and goes on sale in the U.S. next spring. Like the updated Boxster, the new Porsche Cayman is more powerful and more efficient than the outgoing version.

As everybody knows, Porsche has been hit hard with brand expansion disease. Whereas it used to be that a Porsche was a sports car, now the company instead seeks to make "the Porsche of" SUVs, luxury sedans, (and soon) smaller SUVs, grand touring coupes, and so on. Happily, there's no confusion as to what the Boxster is. It's a true sports car and, as the latest version proves, its focus and its excellence is undiluted by Porsche's forays into other types of vehicles.

Three 400-plus-hp coupes jostle to occupy the same space and win the same buyers. They exist in an automotive sweet spot, delivering luxury, performance, style, and excitement at an attainable price. Spend more money, and you'll face diminishing returns. Spend less, and you'll have less of a car.

There's a good reason I keep a 1:18-scale model of the 1993 Porsche Boxster concept car sitting on a teak cabinet in my studio: it's gorgeous, the first Porsche to bring the spirit of early Porsche 550 racing cars to the road. And there's an equally good reason that my 1:18 model of the 1997 production version stays inside that cabinet. It simply didn't measure up to the concept. A revamp for 2005 improved the production Boxster a bit but not enough to make it sparkle. However good it was to drive, the car we could buy just wasn't as attractive.

Frank Walliser looks like the perfect son-in-law. But as soon as the lanky, curly haired engineer climbs behind the wheel of his baby, the 2014 Porsche 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid supercar, the soft-spoken Walliser morphs into a real animal.

By now the Porsche faithful have gotten over the shock of seeing the company build the Cayenne SUV and the Panamera four-door, so we imagine it won't be too difficult for Porsche to sell them on another new body style: a shooting brake. Shown at the Paris Motor Show as the Sport Turismo concept, this car previews a Porsche Panamera shooting brake that should debut within the next few years.

We could debate the merits of 500-hp SUVs for days, but the fact is that the Cayenne is Porsche's best-selling model by a large margin, and the U.S. market swallows up nearly one in three Cayennes built. That does not, however, mean that every American will adore all versions of the SUV: the sand yellow paint on this Porsche Cayenne Turbo was met with almost universal disgust by friends, family, and even complete strangers. Save $3140 and pick a different color.

A 380-hp hybrid that manages only 22 mpg in the city and costs at least $97,125 sounds like Marie Antoinette's answer to global climate change. Porsche mostly makes up for the ridiculousness of this concept, though, with a level of execution few automakers can marshal. Just take a look at the Marsala-colored leather cabin. It combines the purpose of a drivers' car -- clear gauges, a small steering wheel, and the best bucket seats in the industry -- with the elegance and comfort of a luxury car -- leather and real metal everywhere, along with plush carpets and incredible attention to detail.