One of the perks of this job is having a new car delivered to my house nearly every week. This time it's the gorgeous new 2012 Porsche 911 in Carrera S trim in a stunning Guards Red. Something very strange happened when the delivery driver handed me the keys.

Does the 2012 Porsche 911 continue to advance the 911's sports-car capability, while making it accessible to the widest possible pool of potential drivers, and without throttling its famous rear-engined motoring quirkiness? Let's drive the new Carrera S and find out.

Yes, it's true. Those pics you saw of the 2012 Porsche 911 are the real deal, as Porsche confirmed this morning. With that confirmation comes copious new details on the new, 991-model Porsche, the most comprehensive update to the rear-engined classic in decades.

These appear to be the first photos of the 2012 Porsche 911 (Codename: 991), the new, 400-hp generation of Porsche's famous ass-engined sports car.

The sky above Porsche's North American headquarters hosted a Mini banner this morning that read "Dear Porsche, Bring It! Love, Mini." It appears Mini isn't backing down from its challenge, even if Porsche is.

Porsche has declined Mini's offer to pit a 911 Carrera S against Mini Cooper S at Road Atlanta next week. Here is Porsche Cars North America President Detlev Von Platen explanation for why.

Mini is using the power of the Internet to challenge Porsche to a race, pitting their Mini Cooper S against Porsche's superior 911 Carrera S two weeks from today at Road Atlanta. Surprisingly, Porsche is actually considering it.

Driving from Los Angeles to a wedding in San Diego is normally a two-hour/125-mile trip, but when you're driving a Porsche 911 Carrera S, detours are mandatory. In my case, it took five days and 1,404 miles.