Driving a Porsche in Germany is akin to climbing rocks with a Jeep JK in Moab, piloting a luxury yacht in the Mediterranean, flying a Long-EZ into Oshkosh or guiding the Skycycle X-2 over the Snake River Canyon – the machine is a perfect choice for the venue.
With a personal European vacation already scheduled, it was an ideal opportunity to review a 2010 Porsche 911 Carrera S in Deutschland. During one full week of touring, I'd have the opportunity to drive the venerable sports car nearly a thousand miles through German Bavaria. The planned route would wander through wooded forests, cross fertile farmland and follow the banks of the Rhine River. There would be days climbing through the spectacular Alps, and countless miles spent zooming down unlimited sections of Autobahn.
There is no better place on earth to drive a Porsche than in Germany and it was going to be my job to prove it...
My wife and I started our week in Munich after being deposited at the airport by a high-flying Airbus wearing Lufthansa's familiar blue and yellow livery. The colorful hues should have tipped us off as a spotlessly-clean 2010 Porsche Carrera S in metallic blue with bright yellow brake calipers waits for us on the curb.
While a Cayenne or a Panamera would have been a more accommodating choice, this 911 was our primary method of transportation for the next week – my only requirement was that all of our accoutrements must fit snug and still allow a clear view out the rear windscreen.
It's not like the Porsche 911 doesn't have a trunk. The 2+2 coupe has a boot, but like the engine, it's been placed on the wrong end. According to those who measure such things, the trunk in the nose fits precisely 4.42 cubic feet of luggage. That doesn't sound capacious, but it swallowed one of our 22-inch expandable wheeled suitcases, a medium-size camera bag, and a medium-size soft carry-on without difficulty. The other 22-inch roller and an overstuffed ballistic nylon computer case were relegated to the small seating area behind the front seats. No worries, as the tiny backrests easily fold flat to create a nice carpeted cargo shelf.
This particular 911 was a seasoned German press fleet unit with about 23,000 km (14,300 miles) on its clock. Being a local native, the Porsche doesn't speak English. Not only were all the gauges confusingly metric, but the navigation system and owner's manual required a formal education in the German dialect. While all of the controls were very familiar, the navigation system is nearly useless when it's in another language (we got by with a Garmin Nüvi for the week).
After a slew of improvements for the 2009 model year, the 2010 Porsche 911 Carrera S is a virtual carryover from last year's model. Nevertheless, we still wanted to see what this example is wearing. Unlike most American press cars, there's no window sticker folded in the glove box. After poring over it looking for clues, it appeared that this blue coupe was fitted with a handful of carefully-selected options designed to make it a track star (a betting man would say this Porsche has seen some time on the famed Nürburgring).
Virtually assembled on Porsche's web site (using the U.S. configurator), the base price of this 2010 Porsche 911 Carrera S is $91,450. Ours was wearing Aqua Blue Metallic paint over Stone Grey full leather and fitted with the optional Sport Seats, Comfort Package and the Infotainment Package. With performance a priority, it's also configured with the lightning-fast PDK automatic gearbox, Sports Exhaust System and the lightweight Porsche Ceramic Composite Brake (PCCB) system with 13.7-inch ceramic rotors clamped by yellow-painted six-piston calipers up front. Added up, there are about $25,565 worth of options that bring the car's U.S. sticker to a bit more than $117,000. That's a wad of dollars in the States, but it's even pricier in German euros.
Loaded with luggage, and with our destination programmed into the Garmin, it was finally time to leave the Munich airport. The sun was shining brightly over the German countryside and our 911 Carrera had full tank of fuel. As any other warm-blooded auto enthusiast would do, I pointed the 385-horsepower coupe towards the nearest autobahn.
The well-known German highway is famed for its unrestricted speed limits, but don't expect to find drivers with a Wild West mentality swerving flat out between lanes. Slower traffic is legally held to the right, and there are serious penalties for imbecilic moves (such as passing on the right or running out of fuel). In all truth, most cars travel between 70 mph and 90 mph very contently in the right lanes.
Mounted in the back of this Carrera S is Porsche's celebrated flat-six powerplant. Completely re-engineered for the 2009 model year, the 3.8-liter all-aluminum mill features direct injection, revised intake and exhaust systems, and Porsche's VarioCam Plus intake-valve timing and lift system. With a redline of 7,250 rpm, and wearing a LEV-II emission certification, the engine is rated at 385 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque.
The standard transmission for this water-cooled six is a good old-fashioned six-speed manual. In as much as that traditional three-pedal gearbox is a short-shifting pleasure to row – the poster child for the "Save the Manuals" movement – it wasn't my first choice for this mission. Instead, and with a bit of reservation, I had asked Porsche for a car fitted with the Doppelkupplungsgetriebe ("PDK"), the automaker's electronically-controlled double-clutch automatic gearbox.
When Autoblog reviewed the Porsche 911 with PDK just over two years ago, we were smitten with how quickly and accurately the next-generation automatic gearbox reacted on a race track. Optioned properly (with the Sport Chrono Package), and set in the correct transmission mode, the PDK shifts were substantially faster and more accurate than any human operator could emulate. The numbers supported our observations. The 6MT version of the Porsche 911 Carrera S hits 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. The Carrera S with PDK and Sport Chrono will crack the same benchmark in 4.1 seconds (keep in mind that Porsche is widely known to be rather conservative with its numbers). Both transmissions top out at about 186 mph.
With the 911 strapped firmly to our undersides, my wife and I joined the high-powered Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz models in the left lane – the asphalt reserved for overtaking. Velocities in this lane vary quite a bit. Slow cars will do 90 mph, while others cook by at 150-plus. Thanks to electronic limiters, nearly all of the fastest cars are reigned in at 155 mph. Porsche, however, does not limit its vehicles.
With the flat-six wailing through the must-have sport exhaust system, the Carrera S rockets up to speed and reels-in fast cars like a heat-seeking sidewinder. Nearly every driver in front of us observed the Porsche's LED running lights in their mirror and moved over. A few, like a stubborn Audi B5 S4 (wearing obvious signs of expensive modifications), accelerated with a puff of oily smoke and attempted to speed on further ahead.
The first afternoon, on a long stretch of nearly desolate autobahn, I easily spun the speedometer around to 269 km/h (my Garmin recorded it as 164 mph). The Porsche was still pulling, but I let off the accelerator at the next long sweeping curve. Thanks to excellent aerodynamics (its drag coefficient is just .29) and a pop-up rear spoiler, the Carrera cut through the wind without breaking a sweat. My wife, unaccustomed to moving much over 70 mph in the States, was so assuaged by the 911's docile high-speed manners that she dozed-off several times while we were doing 140-plus mph.
Our 1,000-mile route was carefully planned with the Porsche 911 specifically in mind. The course would take us on an oversized figure-eight through northern Austria and southern Germany. We first sped south to Innsbruck, Austria, and then back up to Schwangau, Germany (home of the famed Neuschwanstein Castle). From there, we headed north to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and then west towards Heidelburg and Frankfurt. We turned south to Stuttgart (for a tour of the Porsche Museum, of course) before heading back to Munich again to wait for our Lufthansa departure.
Whether stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on a construction-choked autobahn outside of Frankfurt, or dodging cattle on one-lane roads in northern Austria, the bright blue Carrera S turns heads. It was awkward at first, but we soon became accustom to people giving us the thumbs-up as we drove by and making conversation when we parked (interactions made difficult by the obvious language barrier). One gas station attendant, mesmerized by the sports car, insisted on pumping our premium gas and washing its windows. A parking attendant at one of the tourist traps insisted that we position the car right next to his wooden booth, and most of the hotels let us park directly out front (on the sidewalk) throughout the night. Porsche 911s don't get this type of treatment in Southern California.
After spending one week in the Porsche's comfortable perforated leather seats, and becoming very attached to driving such an adept sports car, two things really stand out.
Without question, I became a born-again believer in Porsche's ceramic brakes. While I've flogged countless sports cars (and SUVs) equipped with PCCBs, both on and off the track, the $8,150 option always seemed more frill than substance. Why spend a wad of cash on a ridiculously expensive consumable when Porsche's stock cross-drilled brakes, if properly maintained, are nearly perfect? The answer was found on the autobahn.
It's common knowledge that repeated braking from ultra-high speeds wreaks havoc on tradition iron brake rotors – they simply can't dissipate the heat. The result is dangerous brake fade and pedal vibration due to warped rotors and deposited pad material. Unlike iron rotors, the ceramic discs are very resistant to extremely high temperatures. And with PCCBs, brake effectiveness and pedal effort isn't altered after a dozen hard braking and acceleration cycles – common on the crazy-fast, but traffic-laden autobahn. The heat capacity of the braking system seems unlimited, and there is a complete absence of brake judder or vibration. It's impossible to describe the confidence a set of PCCBs imparts when you are tooling down the autobahn at 150 mph and slower traffic cuts you off.
I've also sold my soul to Porsche's Doppelkupplungsgetriebe. As a devout manual transmission junkie, I cautiously embraced Porsche's dual-clutch PDK automatic transmission when it arrived a couple years ago. The computer-controlled gearbox could slam gears faster and smoother than I could on the track, and it was butter-smooth in traffic, yet I still couldn't simply fold. It pains me slightly, and I may be giving up some of my manhood in the process, but I'm ready to admit that the PDK gearbox has finally won me over.
Gliding through the Alps, with the PDK's gear selector in "Drive" and the electronic shift logic in "Sport," impeding traffic is disposed of with a quick stab of the accelerator pedal. Without any hesitation, the gearbox changes ratio, power is put to the pavement and the slow mustard-brown Vauxhall that was blocking the way becomes two halogen headlights in the rearview mirror. Even more impressive is how it responds at speed. When a train of cars doing 95 mph on an unrestricted section of autobahn suddenly pulls out of the way, the PDK-equipped Carrera S responds to throttle input by selecting the optimal gear and blasting ahead.
While the Carrera S is unbelievably competent, there are still a few blemishes, most only apparent after repeated five-hour stints behind the wheel. First, the short Miata-like wheelbase, praised in the tight two-lane roads winding through the Alps, draws minor criticism on the open autobahn due to body oscillations (setting the suspension in "Standard" mode helps a bit). Second, the wide contact patches (Bridgestone RE050A tires sized 235/35R19 up front and 295/30R19 in the rear) grip the road like taffy, but are annoyingly noisy. Lastly, the driving position delivers a low center of gravity, and it offers excellent outward visibility, but from the grounded vantage point it's nearly impossible to scan traffic a quarter mile ahead. These are all minor gripes (that come with sports car ownership in general) that would do nothing towards keeping us from Porsche's showroom.
The Porsche 911 is a very effective tool for touring Germany in much the same manner that an F-16F Fighting Falcon is great for a cross-country flight. Both offer unchallenged high-speed capabilities, yet neither is able to utilize the talent for anything more than a short sprint between population centers. Both are lightweight and nimble, at the expense of ride comfort over long periods of time. And each has an intimate cabin, but with very limited storage.
If you think it's preposterous to compare the 2010 Porsche 911 Carrera S to one of the world's greatest jet fighters, you probably also feel there's something blatantly wrong about deliberately choosing a hardened sports car for a one-week tour of Germany with your significant other.
Not the way this enthusiast sees it. In my judgment, there was nothing that could be more appropriate.
Twenty-two. That's how many Porsche 911 variants are available right now. And by this time next year, they'll all be obsolete. But this one – the 2011 Porsche 911 GTS – is the pick of the litter. It's the definition of the daily-driver's supercar and comes equipped with everything you need in a Type 997. It's perfect. You want it. And you want it now.
Just please forget about the Type 991 peering out from behind the curtain...
The GTS is the 997's swan song. It's everything Porsche has learned over the course of the current 911's tenure distilled into a package that's aimed at street drivers, not weekend racers. The specs aren't particularly mind-blowing and the acceleration doesn't warp the space/time continuum like some other 911s, but that's not the point. It's the best 911 today because it flatters and inspires. It revels in its parts-binifcation like few things we've driven. It's pure, but not unhinged. It's balanced, but not comprised. It's a rolling love letter to anyone smart enough to choose it among the scads of other 911 variants (a few million if you do the math).
It's also the favorite 911 of a certain Porsche mechanic we met at a Shell station outside of Monterey. And that says... something.
Oh, and one other thing: The GTS is something of a bargain when you look at what it takes to bring a 997 Carrera S, the 911 variant one rung below it on the ladder, up to same level.
Let's start with output. The standard Carrera S (again, the 997) comes equipped with 385 horsepower from its 3.8-liter flat-six. The GTS ups the game to 408 horsepower at 7,300 rpm thanks to the standard fitment of the $16,900 Powerkit option (tweaks to the intake and exhaust tracts) on the outgoing 997 S. But surprisingly, it's the torque that impresses from behind the wheel. Twist is up to 310 pound-feet at 4,200 rpm, but with 238 lb-ft available practically from idle, it's the linearity of its delivery that shines through and helps achieve a 4.4-second run to 60 miles per hour.
You've got over 3,000 revs worth of shove at your command, which means fiddling with the glorious – and standard – six-speed manual is kept to a minimum when hustling through the bends. An optional PDK dual-clutch automatic commands an extra $4,320, but only the seriously tri-pedal-allergic would be advised to nix the stick thanks to its precise throws and light-but-engaged clutch pedal. You enjoy this setup around town, not endure it.
Other features? The 19-inch, center-lock black wheels shod in Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s (235/35 R19 up front and 305/30 R19 in the rear) would run you well over $6K at the dealer, while the Sport Design front end and steering wheel, Alcantra-coated interior and other assorted baubles would bring the price of your faux-GTS into near-GT3 range. So what's the price of the GTS? $103,100. To start, natch.
Our tester stickered for just north of $110,000 and came equipped with the bits that mattered, specifically the Sport Chrono pack ($960), Alcantara/leather buckets ($2,990) and Sport Suspension, which drops the GTS an extra 20mm and includes a limited slip differential ($950). All of which is a pittance compared to what's already on your American Express Black – assuming you don't option up for the $8,150 ceramic brake option, but even then...
On the topic of the suspension, it's the lone demerit with the GTS – at least, around town. Bumps, heaves and all manner of tarmac imperfections are directly routed through the 30-series rubber before assaulting your posterior like a dominatrix intent on a big tip. It's not brutal, but it's far from comfortable until you get up to speed. And then, it's magic.
The damper/spring combination works best over 40 mph, so most freeway trips are easy to handle. To test that assertion, I took a friend out to Laguna Seca at the crack of dawn to take in a race.
Despite Porsche's "School Bus" TV spot, this isn't something designed to haul two parents and a pair of kids. However, it is enough to shoehorn a couple of bags and a 270-pound, 6-foot 8-inch ex-bouncer into the passenger seat. With ease. The rear seats continue to be a joke, and we'll continue laughing about them until we get seat-time in the longer-wheelbase 991.
Any concerns about the GTS' livability flew out the sports exhaust over the course of our two-hour drive to the coast, and as much as I enjoy wheel-to-wheel racing at Laguna, as soon as the checkered flag dropped, we made a B-line to the parking lot in search of the best roads back to the Bay.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm jaded. And when it comes to this price bracket, it takes the world on a platter with a side of Scarlett Johansson to impress. So when we finally arrived at the first run road, I decided to start slow and build the tension.
To start, let's blow this tired trope out of the water: There's absolutely nothing dynamically faulty with the Porsche's rear-engine architecture. At least, not anymore. The ability to play with the 911's balance – and particularly this GTS – at any time, in any state simply comes down to driver sanity. Don't do something stupid, and you're fine. Nail the throttle coming out of a low speed bend with all the nannies cackling away, and you're met with benign understeer all the way through. Jump off the throttle mid-corner and yes, the back-end will come around with the TC set to Sport+, but you want it that way and it's remarkably easy to both anticipate and catch. The 911 just feels natural sliding beneath you and with the 3.8-liter six-cylinder putting its shoulder into the chassis, it feels best when abused.
And that almost unbearable suspension? It melts away as soon as the speed piles on. Combined with the hydraulically assisted and speed-proportional rack-and-pinion steering, the GTS' setup makes for one of the greatest driving experiences in the planet. Hyperbole, you say? Drive one and then tell me I'm wrong. I'll put $20 on it... not that I need to.
What about that 800-pound gorilla rapping on the door? It goes by the chassis code 991 and it's sure to receive accolades and stirring reviews when Porsche finally lets us hacks behind the wheel. But for today, the GTS reigns supreme. The ultimate 911 for the above-average-Joe more concerned about enjoying the space between A and B then posing next to his GT3. And judging by how the 996 is doing on the used market, you'll be able to pick up a GTS for a song when another 20 991 variants inevitably arrive. Mark your calendars and start stashing your pennies now. I am...
Like any sensible person, I hate moving with the burning intensity of a thousand white-hot suns. Odd, then, that I've become so proficient at it. A serial renter now in my mid-30s, I've moved every couple of years like clockwork. I've long since outgrown the whole "impose on friends in exchange for pizza and beer" thing, yet despite the temptation, I've not gotten so lazy that I simply flip open my checkbook to hire professionals to box up my belongings. Even though I despise packing, with its irritatingly expensive supplies and the discovery of long-dormant dust from hidden corners, I've always taken the time to carefully inspect and wrap my possessions, pruning unnecessaries as I go.
So it was with moving to my first newly purchased house earlier this year. Clearing out the garage spaces in my Detroit loft was particularly tough work this time around, as was prepping my modest car collection for the move. While it probably would've made more sense to clean the cars once I reached my new home, I decided to take the time to unsoil dusty interiors and rub fingerprints from tired sheetmetal, if only to inspect them before the transporter arrived. It's been said you can learn the most about a car's design just by cleaning it, and it's true. I got the chance to appreciate the compact form of my red Porsche 930 Speedster all over again, and cleaning my silver 993 reminded me of just how much I preferred its curves to the departing 996 generation. Parked side-by-side, it's also plainly evident just how much the 911 has grown in size over the years.
It was all so instructive, as I had just had a weeklong rendezvous in the new 991 generation seen here – a stint made all the more enjoyable by the fact that the red 2012 911 Carrera S was real, full-scale and large as life, unlike the decidedly less dynamic 1/18th scale diecast model collection I packed away for the move.
The seventh-generation 991 follows the progression of my diecast forebearers by getting longer, wider and lower, but the most noticeable packaging change is the car's significantly longer wheelbase – 3.9 inches longer for a total of 96.5 inches. While a larger wheelbase generally is great for interior dimensions and ride comfort, it isn't necessarily a recipe for improved handling, so the faithful had reason to be concerned with this new generation. But being the sole rear-engined car on the market, the 911 has made a career of outwitting physics, and it does so here as well. The longer wheelbase has located more mass ahead of the rear wheels and between the axles. Since the overall length of the car is only slightly larger, the overhangs are shorter this time, so the car's weight is better centered in the chassis.
To this driver, the new 911 looks more dynamic, too. From its more ovoid headlamps to its slightly wider front axle, the new 911 appears lower and meaner. In profile, the windshield is raked more steeply, yet it's modestly more convex like the more upright windscreens of 911s of old, and the mirrors have been relocated to the doors, highlighting the body's span. The 911's wide-hipped posterior is iconic, and this new generation looks sensational. I've missed the long, narrow strip of lights popularized on the 930 and mastered on the 993, never bonding with the far more ordinary and too-chunky lights of the 997, which looked odd even on my diecast model. And while the new 911's taillamps aren't full width, they're far narrower, with a new ridge that runs from well to well across the tops of the taillamps, emphasizing the rump's impressively wide stance the way the old full-band taillamps did. The engine cover and active aero is better integrated here as well, making for a cleaner overall look. It's been said a million times, but it still bears repeating: Redesigning an icon is tough work, and Porsche's team has done a top job.
Perhaps more than any other area, the 911's interior needed considerable freshening in terms of aesthetics, options and materials. It got the works. The new interior relies heavily on the design vocabulary popularized in the Panamera. That means a waterfall center stack that bisects the passenger compartment with the gearshift lever, drive and suspension buttonry and so on. The doors have received a new design with a prominent grab handle, but Porsche touchstones remain – left-hand ignition, five-gauge cluster, Sport Chrono sitting top dead center on the dashboard and, of course, the use-at-your-own-risk deployable cupholders above the glovebox. While noticeably larger inside, the new 911 is still best described as "intimate," and that's just fine by us. The front seats are a bit narrow by American standards yet still comfortable, infinitely adjustable and very supportive. Of course, you'll still have to be a victim of television's Dexter to find adequate room in the token rear seats. Cargo space means that the 911 is still a decent grand tourer for shorter trips, however.
The standard 911 Carrera finds a direct-injected 3.4-liter flat six-cylinder engine with 350 horsepower and 287 pound-feet of torque between the sheetmetal's birthing hips. That's not a ton of power these days, but Porsche squeezes the most out of each and every pferdestärke, delivering a 0-62 mph time of 4.8 seconds with the manual transmission and 4.6 with the PDK dual-clutch gearbox. A further 0.2 seconds can be shaved off with the optional Sport Chrono package, and top speed sits at 179 mph.
The 911 Carrera S shown here ups the displacement to 3.8 liters to yield a nice, round 400 horsepower at 7,400 rpm and 325 lb-ft at 5,600 rpm. Acceleration times drop to 4.5 seconds (manual), 4.3 seconds (PDK) or 4.1 seconds with PDK and Sport Chrono as shown here, and top whack swells to 188 mph.
More important than sheer numbers is the way the 911 drives. Once again, suspension is via front Macpherson strut and a rear multilink setup, with the latter revised for increased travel. With our car's Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) active roll stabilization system, handling was superbly neutral, hard cornering and acceleration feeling completely – almost surreally – level. We've experienced PDCC in other Stuttgart sweethearts, but this is its most convincing iteration yet. It almost works too well.
We were concerned that turn-in might be a bit soggier in light of the 911's new electric power steering system and longer wheelbase, but it's been so expertly calibrated that, if anything, it's crisper and more immediate, likely thanks to the wider front track. It bears noting that the S also comes standard with Porsche Torque Vectoring technology, which brakes the inside rear wheel in corners to enhance the 911's tether-car handling. Steady-state cornering limits are staggeringly high on this car, but quick weight transitions aren't unnerving, either. Despite its pronounced rearward weight bias, handling is genuinely friendly – even dimwitted drivers can poke the bear without fear of retribution.
Steering effort is generally quite light, but not off-puttingly so, and weight builds appropriately. Feedback through the 20-inch Pirelli P-Zero tires (245/35ZR20 front, 295/30ZR20 rear), however, is simply not as transparent as it was in the hydraulically assisted 997. In all fairness, though, the outgoing car's steering felt like the driver's fingers had sprouted a second set of nerve endings. Despite the regression in communicability, this is still probably the best EPAS system I've encountered (I'll have to find someone willing to loan me a Mazda RX-8 to make sure). And despite the watchband rubber, the ride quality is surprisingly pliant, even here in Motown, the land that road crews forgot.
Part of the credit for the 911's performance and fidelity is attributable to its lower weight – extensive use of aluminum paneling in the front fenders, hood, doors, roof, floor pan, etc. means that even with the increase in footprint and content, this new 911 has lost about 90 pounds over its predecessor.
While the diehard tripedalist in me would've preferred to try Porsche's new seven-speed manual transmission (when was the last time anyone bothered to innovate with a manual transmission? These guys just made my Christmas list), there's no denying that the PDK is an excellent piece of work that the average club racer will record better lap times in. That a dual-clutch is quicker isn't news, but this latest evolution of PDK is also genuinely entertaining to drive while incorporating low-speed civility that rivals that of traditional torque-converter automatics.
The Sport Chrono package brings with it launch control, and it's a simple system to effect. From a stop, select the Sport Plus button on the center console, then press and hold the traction control button below it. Now, step on the brake and carpet the accelerator. Release the brakes and you're off in rapid, repeatable fashion. And while you probably won't use the launch control feature often, Sport Chrono's Sport Plus setting also firms up the PDK's shift schedule and relaxes the stability control intervention point for more entertaining antics on empty B-roads and track days.
While not as satisfying a solution as a clutch pedal, PDK's paddles make for quick work – and thank goodness you can now specify these left-for-downshift, right-for-upshift paddles instead of those horrible spoke-mounted +/- dog-eared tab shifters of Porsches past (they effectively operated backwards).
The new 911 is also noticeably quieter than before – improved aero has cut down on wind noise and a stiffer structure combined with additional acoustic damping has curbed road din. On the sound front, we originally thought the selectable exhaust note was a bit gimmicky for a classic like the 911, but it's actually a welcome development. We enjoyed the flat six's unique engine thrum on its open setting when driving for pleasure, but on freeways and when trying to hold conversations, the quad pipes' drone became wearing, so we were pleased to have the quieter setting. If anything, we might want a third, louder setting for indulgent drive days and tracks with generous pass-by noise level requirements.
Braking performance has been one of the 911's – and indeed, Porsche's – hallmarks for ages. The Carrera S comes good here as well, with 13.4 x 1.3-inch steel discs up front and 13 x 1.1-inch discs out back, hatted by six-piston calipers in front and four-piston clamps in the rear, and they offer great feel and eye-widening deceleration with zero fade, even in aggressive over-the-road use.
On the flip side of the coin, the new 911 remains all but peerless in terms of its performance versus fuel economy balance. According to the EPA, the PDK-equipped 911 is good for 19 miles per gallon in the city and 26 mph on the freeway, with a combined 22-mpg cycle (subtract one mpg from each rating for the seven-speed manual). To its credit, Porsche has been one of the very first automakers to include a start-stop system on its North American cars, and while it works well, we're also glad that the system can be defeated and that it doesn't need to be extinguished every time the engine is started anew.
Like packing up and moving from one place to another, redesigning an automotive icon is an inherently traumatic experience, fraught with the potential for all kinds of bad decisions and even worse outcomes. We've witnessed some spectacular failures. Thankfully, Porsche has beat the odds, moving the 911 into swankier new digs that are at once larger and better appointed. Crucially, this new 911 respects nearly all the historic charms of its predecessors while offering markedly improved performance and build quality. And it even occupies the same basic pricing zip code, starting at $82,100 for the standard model and rising to $96,400 for the Carrera S. Apparently moving can be cathartic after all.
Unfortunately, with my new house payments, I guess I'll have to settle for another diecast...
