Updated as recently as 2006, this latest generation of the Porsche 911 looks conspicuously similar to the original 1964 model, maintaining the classis profile that has landed it in art museums and design school lecture halls. For Porsche, the 911's heritage can be a double-edged sword. Leave the car alone, and it might be perceived as dated. Change the car too drastically, and it might alienate hard-core loyalists, many of whom form the core group of 911 buyers. Porsche has been able to strike that balance and all of the variants are terrific-looking sports cars.
The styling of the current car has devolved slightly, just like the basic character of the car. And this is a good thing. The headlights and front fascia were redesigned for 2005, with rounder, single-pod lamps replacing the teardrop-shaped multi-light headlight assemblies used on earlier models. The new headlights sit more upright in the front fenders, and the turn signals and fog lights are now laid horizontally in a squarer front bumper. This look more quickly distinguishes the 911 from the Boxster. More important, it harkens back to the rugged look of 911s built during the 1980s.
From the rear, curvy fenders and wheel arches extend from the side of the car, housing extra-wide rear wheels. Carrera 4 models get even wider rear rubber, and their fenders are correspondingly 1.75 inches wider than their rear-drive siblings. This staggered setup helps the 911's rear tires turn its horsepower into quicker acceleration and balances tire grip front and rear for high g-force turning. All 911s have wheels at least 18 inches in diameter, and all are equipped with Z-rated tires, the highest speed rating available for street use.
In essence, the current styling sacrifices some of the beauty of the 1999-2004 models in favor of more visual belligerence. Yet very little at Porsche is done strictly for the sake of appearance. The current 911 is slightly longer and taller than the previous-generation; more significantly, the track (the distance between the outside edge of the tires) and overall width have increased. This wider stance improves the 911's lateral stability during quick, sharp directional changes. The current cars use more aluminum body parts to offset the weight of active suspension, curtain airbags and other upgrades, and the chassis is more rigid than that of pre-2005 models.
The 997-generation Turbo has a wider rear track and a wider body than the old 996-generation. The wing on the current model is lower and generates an additional 60 pounds of downforce without an increase in drag. The downforce helps keep the rear tires glued to the pavement in high-speed sweeping turns, important in the rain. The minimized drag helps it achieve its top speed of 193 mph, though we weren't interested in testing this claim.
Cabriolets feature power soft tops that open in just 20 seconds. They can be operated at up to 30 mph, a feature we love. Safety is enhanced by strong steel tubes in the A-pillars, and supplemental safety bars behind the rear seats that automatically deploy in the event of a rollover. The Cabriolets present a unique appearance. Top up, they exhibit a profile similar to the coupes. Top down, the rear end looks heavy, but you'll forgive that as soon as you get in, stomp on the gas and hear that powerful six-cylinder wailing to redline.
Aerodynamics were an important consideration in the design of all of the 911 models. The side mirrors are designed to direct air along the sides of the car toward the automatically deploying rear spoiler, sweeping the side windows clean in the process. Air is largely kept from going underneath the car and carefully managed over the top and at the rear. Lift is minimized to keep the 911 glued to the road. The wheel arches are flared in a fashion that guides air around the tires (one of the biggest sources of drag on an automobile). Brake spoilers guide more air toward the rotors and brake assemblies, reducing temperatures by nearly 10 percent, according to Porsche, which means more effective braking under extreme conditions. The Carrera's drag coefficient is 0.28. Less air resistance means improved fuel economy and less wind noise.
The 911 cockpit is a place designed for serious driving. The seating position is perfect for most enthusiast drivers. Compared with other high-performance sports cars, it offers outstanding visibility in all directions. It's also a truly comfortable car for traveling long distances. The ignition key is located on the dash to the left of the steering wheel, as it was on Porsche's LeMans race cars.
The steering wheel has a contemporary three-spoke design, and its leather-wrapped rim is thicker and grippier than ever. The steering wheel's core structure is an expensive magnesium alloy, which weighs less than the old steel/aluminum structure. More significantly, the wheel adjusts both up and down and fore and aft (albeit manually). Controls on the steering wheel hub operate the audio and navigation systems or the optional telephone.
The latest Carreras feel a bit roomier than their predecessors, and we suspect more comfortable for larger drivers. The difference is a combination of small things, like the adjustable wheel and a slight repositioning of the pedals toward the front of the car. They have higher bolstering on the bottoms and back, but they actually feel roomier. The width of both cushions seems to have increased, especially near the top of the back around the shoulders. The seats are mounted lower to the floor, creating a bit more headroom.
The gauges are large and easy to read. The dash vents are large, and the air conditioning worked well during some hot lapping at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama. The climate controls are located in the center stack. From an aesthetic point of view, they're the least appealing part of the interior, but functionally they work fine.
The 911's slickest option could be the Sport Chrono Package. It's most obvious component is almost glaring to anyone familiar with this car: a jewel-like chronograph sprouting from the center of the dash. Flick a switch on the dash, then start or stop the chronograph with a switch on one of the steering wheel stalks, and it will display acceleration or lap times. What you don't see are the adjustments in electronic controls that occur when the chrono is switched on. The electronic throttle switches to its most aggressive mode (meaning the most gas for a given amount of pedal application), and the anti-skid electronics give a driver a lot more rope to get into trouble with. A history of recorded times can be displayed on the navigation system screen for comparison. A gimmick? Maybe, but it might be handy for lapping at a Porsche club event.
Porsche's recent improvement to its audio systems, long anemic compared to the best car stereos, continues with the 911. The upgrade high-power Bose package is above average, and more competitive with the best in luxury cars. It still doesn't seem modern, however, and something simpler would be welcome.
The 911 provides space to put stuff. The glove box includes storage slots for pens and couple of CDs, while the console has a change holder and a 12-volt power point.
The Targa offers a clear roof that slides back inside the rear of the car with the press of a button, giving the driver a superb top-down experience. With the roof closed, the driver has a choice of tinted glass or a mesh lining to deflect the sunlight. We'd prefer a solid cover, however, because the mesh wasn't heavy enough to block out the sun on bright days with the sun high overhead.
The 911 is relatively practical for a sports car, but it isn't a minivan. The back seats are not really habitable. With the rear seats folded, there's room for a load of groceries and you can lay the dry cleaning back there, so the 911 beats many sports cars in its ability to run daily errands. There's not much luggage space for two people going on a long trip, however, so you have to pack light. Nor will you want to use the Carrera to pick someone up at the airport unless they are traveling very light. The trunk might hold a couple of small duffel bags; a Corvette coupe will allow you to take more. Porsche offers a truly useful roof transport system ($400) that allows 911 coupes to carry lumber and other bulky items, but luggage on the roof of a 911 screaming past ruins the picture. Besides, who wants to take time to strap suitcases on top of a car? So it's nice to have another car or truck available to perform these duties.
Driving a Porsche 911 is a thrill, no matter the model. Its overall performance is extraordinary. All variants accelerate with the verve of a motorbike and turn or stop on a dime, all the while behaving in smooth, civilized fashion for the more mundane demands of daily motoring. They're also easy to drive. The Turbo is very easy to drive, probably the easiest to drive of all supercars, whether putting around the neighborhood or braking late and accelerating hard out of corners on a road racing circuit. The GT3 is a less forgiving of driver errors, but even it is easy to drive by race car standards.
These latest-generation Porsches feed information back to the driver just a little more clearly and react to commands a nanosecond sooner than the previous-generation (pre-2005) cars. They also retain the wash-and-wear quality that has made the 911 a relatively easy car to live with everyday.
The standard Carrera and Carrera 4 are powered by Porsche's familiar 3.6-liter, horizontally opposed six cylinder, otherwise known as the boxer engine for the way its pistons punch outward. It employs the latest materials technology, a race-car style dry sump lubrication system and a refined version of Porsche's VarioCam variable valve timing. Horsepower peaks at 325 at 6800 rpm, while peak torque is 273 pound-feet at 4250 rpm. Porsche claims 0-60 mph acceleration performance of 4.8 seconds with manual gearbox, 5.2 seconds with the Tiptronic. We easily managed 0-60 mph acceleration times under 4.5 seconds, measured with a portable, over-the-counter accelerometer. In any case, the standard Carrera is a very quick car.
Which transmission? The Tiptronic is easier to manage in the kind of stop-and-go traffic found in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and other large cities. The Tiptronic actually gets slightly better fuel economy in this type of situation: Carrera with Tiptronic rates an EPA-estimated 20/26 mpg compared with 18/26 for the manual. We prefer the manual gearbox, however. It offers quicker acceleration performance, blazing from 0-60 mph in 4.8 seconds compared with the Tiptronic's very quick 5.2 seconds, and this advantage continues, getting to 100 mph a full second quicker, and to 124 mph in 17.5 seconds compared with the Tiptronic's 20.4 seconds. The real reason prefer the manual, though, is that it's so much fun to shift and so easy to shift. Blipping and downshifting in a Targa S we drove was absolutely wonderful; we just didn't want to stop. A manual gearbox is more fun on a track, should you have interest in that, and it's more fun on winding roads. Having said that, the Tiptronic is an excellent choice and a joyful companion. Hurley Haywood, who has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times in Porsches and the 24 Hours of Daytona five times in Porsches, loves the Tiptronic. So don't listen to us.
The Carrera S models get a bored out version of the same engine along with a slightly raised compression ratio for 355 hp at 6600 rpm and 295 pound-feet of torque at 4600 rpm. Gearing for Carrera and Carrera S is identical for both the manual and Tiptronic S transmissions. Fuel economy for both engines is identical. Bottom line is the Carrera S offers slightly quicker acceleration performance. For example, a Carrera achieves 0-60 mph in 4.8 seconds, 0-99 mph in 11.0 seconds, 0-124 mph in 17.5 seconds, compared with Carrera S times of 4.6 seconds, 10.7 seconds, 16.5 seconds. We drove a Targa S at Barber Motorsports Park and it sounded great and was a joy to drive.
Those figures only hint at the satisfaction a driver can find in the 911's engine, however. The real draw lies in its tractability. Slam the 911's gas pedal at any road or engine speed, and the response is immediate, not to mention enormous. Power is on tap in just about any situation. We wanted to floor it every time we tracked through a turn and let the engine wind to its 7300-rpm redline just to feel the acceleration and listen to the unmistakable rasp of the boxer engine. These cars sound terrific, and blipping the throttle when braking and downshifting is addictive just for the aural pleasure.
The Turbo offers loads of torque. When accelerating hard on a race track, the power comes up so quick that, before you know, it you're hitting the rev limiter.
Most fun, in our opinion, is the GT3. Its normally aspirated engine is fantastic, making this car sound and feel like a race car, which is what it is. It has a wide power band and sounds terrific. The traction control is very non-invasive; we couldn't feel it. The GT3 is not as forgiving as the Targa or Turbo, but nor is it in anyway diabolical. It's an easy car to drive fast, though not as easy as the Turbo. The Turbo is a little quicker than the GT3 in just about any situation, and the Turbo is a much better road car, but the GT3 is more fun on the track than the Turbo. We'd like to have a GT3 in the garage for weekend track events and occasional driving on the street.
Porsche's Active Suspension Management system (PASM) controls the flow of hydraulic fluid into the shock absorbers. More fluid, and the shocks stiffen up, keeping the wheels pressed more aggressively to the pavement and limiting the amount of body roll, or lean, in hard turns. Less fluid, and the wheels rebound more easily toward the car, improving ride quality. PASM takes information from various electronic sensors and automatically adjusts the suspension to meet a driver's demands. Motoring casually along a boulevard, the active suspension will keep things relatively soft. If a driver gets more aggressive and starts changing directions quickly, on a slalom course, for example, the system senses the change and instantly firms the suspension. The driver can also manually select one of two modes: Normal, for maximum ride comfort, and Sport, for the best handling response. We could immediately feel the suspension on our Targa 4S stiffen when the Sport button was pressed mid-corner at the Barber Motorsports Park circuit. There is less roll in the Sport mode.
With variable ratio steering, the more the driver turns the steering wheel, the faster the car turns. Variable ratio steering is intended to deliver the best of two worlds. On one hand, it's supposed to ease maneuvering in the confines of a tight parking lot or improve response on a winding road with frequent sharp turns. On the other, it should improve stability at ultra-high speeds. A driver who sneezes during a 150-mph blitz down the autobahn doesn't want a little twitch of the hand to send the car into the adjacent lane. Enthusiast drivers tend not to like high-tech steering gizmos like variable-ratio steering. Yet Porsche's variable system works just fine. It's seamless, linear and predictable, and with a little familiarization, the Carrera's steering feels as pure and satisfying as any 911 before it.
Indeed, one of the most remarkable things about this car is the way it accurately follows the path the driver sets. With reasonable attention, a driver can put the 911's front tires within a fraction of an inch of the intended target, whether that target is the apex of a curve on a racetrack or a stripe painted on a public road. The 911 will track more accurately in this fashion, more consistently, than just about any car you can buy, and required steering corrections are minimal, even when a bump or pothole wants to slam the Carrera off its intended path. Moreover, even with the variable-ratio, the 911's steering communicates every nuance back to the operator. When driving these cars on a race track (2007 Targa S, Turbo, GT3 models at the Barber circuit in Alabama), we were able to tell how close the front tires are to losing their grip by feedback through the steering column. The GT3 communicates this the most, but even the luxurious Turbo provides the driver with lots of feedback. The driver becomes one with the car and can more easily drive the car to its limits and slide it around turns. Grip is in abundance and the 911 tenaciously sticks to the pavement through high-g turns. This kind of performance is expected in a high-priced sports car, to be sure.
Yet the great thing about the 911 is that it doesn't beat you up in mundane driving situations. We experienced this on the cratered streets of downtown Detroit and on bumpy roads around Los Angeles. It's part of what we call the 911's wash-and-wear quality. As high-performance cars go, the 911's ride is remarkably comfortable, with very little suspension crashing and very few jolts through the body of the car. The active suspension only enhances this quality. Even during aggressive drives, there's enough compliance in the suspension to keep the Carrera on track when it hits a bump, including a bump that would send other sports cars off line and require steering correction. Often, in the 911, the driver can simply hold the line around a bumpy turn without making any steering corrections. In a Boxster and many other sports cars, we'd be sawing at the wheel to keep the car pointed.
The 911's infamous tail-happy handling, a function of the weight of the engine hanging off the back of the car, is ancient history. It now takes work to get the Carrera's rear end to slide out. It prefers to stay on the intended trajectory, even if the driver provokes it with ham-handed inputs to gas pedal or steering wheel.
The all-wheel-drive Carrera 4 models employ a viscous-coupling to send from 5 percent to 40 percent of the driving force to the front wheels as needed. This is an advantage especially in bad weather, where you need all the grip you can get. But even dry pavement handling is improved, expanding the 911's already impressive performance envelope.
The Turbo's all-wheel drive can adjust the driving force from 0-100 percent at each of the four wheels, though this would only occur in extreme circumstances. It has an electronically controlled clutch at each wheel to control the distribution of power.
In short, these sports cars truly inspire confidence. The 911 requires no self-convincing. You're quite sure that with a reasonable dose of common sense, it will get you through the turn. It can make the average driver feel like a pro, and it can make drivers who like to work on their high-performance skills feel like Hans Stuck.
The Carrera's brakes only enhance that confidence. In fact, it takes some time to get used to just how quickly the car slows; on road racing circuits we often slow the car down too much too soon before getting to the turn-in point. Slam on the brakes and the 911 stops in less distance than just about any car on the road with relatively little nose dive. Do this again and again and again, whether lapping a road course or barreling down a mountain road, and there is no perceptible fade or increase in stopping distance, even in situations that would have the brakes on lesser cars smoking. And if you jerk the wheel in one direction or the other in one of those stops, the 911 will just turn. No fuss, no fluster. The available ceramic brakes work extremely well for track duty due to their resistance to heat. They are expensive, however, likely aren't as good when they're cold, and are unnecessary for all but serious weekend warriors. The ceramic brakes reduce unsprung weight by 40 pounds; if you don't know what that means you don't need them.
The 911 retains its basic, user-friendly attitude. A driver need not even master the art of manual shifting to fully exploit or appreciate this car's potential. Porsche's Tiptronic automatic remains one of the best compromises between the involvement of a manual shifting and the convenience of a full automatic. Given the choice, Hurley Haywood, one of the winningest endurance drivers of all time and a Porsche veteran, said he'd order his Turbo with the Tiptronic. Shift into Drive for the commute and forget it. It's a lot easier on the left leg in the stop-and-go, a compelling feature for drivers who run the rat race every day. Flick the shift lever to manual toggle mode when the traffic thins, and select the preferred gear almost as quickly and responsively as a clutch-operated manual.
With the caveat that storage space is limited, the 911 remains one of the easiest high-performance sports cars to get in and out of, and the easiest to live with every day. Thanks to new technologies, materials and lubricants, nearly every scheduled maintenance interval has been lengthened, and that should increase convenience and reduce the cost of ownership. The maximum oil-change interval for the Carrera is an almost unbelievable 20,000 miles. In 1975, a conscientious 911 owner would have changed the oil six or seven times in that period. (We're not sure we'd drive 20,000 miles between an oil change, but we're superstitious.)
Last but not least, while the latest Carrera engines are more powerful, they are also more fuel efficient. EPA mileage ratings are 1 mpg improved over the previous generation, which also means reduced exhaust emissions.
The Porsche 911 lineup starts with the Carrera ($72,400), powered by a 3.6-liter version of Porsche's classic flat six-cylinder engine generating 325 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque. Standard equipment includes leather-trimmed height-adjustable seats with power recliners, a digital AM/FM/CD stereo, trip computer, leather telescoping steering wheel, power windows, power locks with keyless remote, cruise control, 18-inch wheels and a speed-dependent retractable rear spoiler. The Carrera Cabriolet ($82,600) is similarly equipped.
The Carrera S ($82,600) and Carrera S Cabriolet ($92,800) are powered by a 3.8-liter six-cylinder, delivering 355 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. Besides the bigger engine, the Carrera S gets the Porsche Active Suspension Management system (PASM), 19-inch wheels, bigger brakes with painted red calipers, Bi-Xenon headlights, a sport steering wheel and aluminum-look interior trim. The Carrera S Cabriolet is similarly equipped.
The Carrera 4 ($78,200) is equipped similarly to the rear-drive Carrera, but features all-wheel drive, larger wheels and tires, and the wider fenders needed to accommodate them. The same idea holds for the Carrera 4S ($88,400), Carrera 4 Cabriolet ($88,400), and Carrera 4S Cabriolet ($92,800).
The Carrera Targa 4 ($85,700) is equipped similarly to the Carrera 4, but features Porsche's unique roof system that provides occupants with a panoramic view even when the top is closed. The Targa's roof is made from two glass panels and extends across the full width and length of the passenger compartment. In other words, the entire roof is glass, and in combination with the windshield and side windows provides a panoramic vantage and protection from the elements. The Carrera Targa 4S ($95,900) features the same unique roof system along with the other standard components of a Carrera 4S.
The all-wheel-drive 911 Turbo ($122,900) gets Porsche's race-bred, twin-turbocharged version of the 3.6-liter engine, producing 480 horsepower. The Turbo comes with Porsche's Ceramic Composite Brakes, which use exotic nonmetallic discs. It also comes with a full leather interior and a high-power, Bose-tuned stereo with a six-disc CD changer.
The GT3 ($106,000) has a 415-hp, normally aspirated 3.6-liter engine. For 2008, the GT2 ($191,700) is joining the line, boasting 530 horsepower using an engine based on the Turbo.
Options include ceramic composite brakes, Porsche Communication Management, which incorporates audio, navigation system, and trip computer into a single control interface ($2,680); heated seats ($480); metallic paint ($690); and a CD changer ($650). Porsche maintains its long tradition of factory customization, with options that cover colors and materials for virtually every part or surface inside the car. And if there's not an existing option, Porsche will likely go off the card, for a price.
Safety features on all models include Porsche Stability Management (PSM), an electronic stability control system that helps a driver maintain control in the event of a skid. New for 2007 is a tire-pressure monitoring system as standard equipment. Frontal airbags, side-impact airbags, and door-mounted head-protection airbags come standard.