The car is a rocket, and I never tire of the flat-six’s awesome sounds. Personally, I’d prefer Porsche’s PDK transmission, but there is nothing wrong with this manual.
With two people and a little luggage, this car borders on practical and makes for an awesome long-distance cruiser. This latest 911 is quite a bit more refined than the outgoing model.
SENIOR EDITOR FOR NEWS BOB GRITZINGER: There might be more sensible ways to spend $100,000, especially when it comes to transportation, but there might not be a better way to spend $100,000 on a sports car. Wes is right: This car is simply a joy to drive, from the moment you twist the key in that left-handed ignition, bang first gear, and go. Everything is taut, ready to response to driver inputs, without being overly twitchy or needy. The steering feel alone might be worth the price of admission–every little divot, paint line, crack and deviation in the road surface is telegraphed directly to your fingertips holding the steering wheel. In hard cornering, you can feel the suspension fighting for tire contact even as inside weight unloads and bumps try to unsettle the chassis. As a result, there’s never any doubt about exactly what the car is capable of at any given moment.
Add a perfect pitch level of power and the right gear ratios, uncommonly good brakes and styling inside and out that seems luxurious and timeless, and it’s hard to find any complaint about this Porsche.
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT JONATHAN WONG: No matter what variation of Carrera we’ve had come through here, I always think back to our black long-term Carrera S. Between the time it left and now, we’ve had base Carreras, the Turbo, all-wheel-drive models and ones with the new PDK transmission. None of them was the S model with a six-speed manual until now.
Why do I look back on that car so fondly? Well, because it was the perfect car with just the right amount of power in a traditional rear-wheel-drive and manual-transmission setup. It’s the ideal combination of hardware to draw a driver in and get him involved. The feedback provided by the 911 is something that few cars can match when it comes to higher-production vehicles. It’s only when you get into the smaller-volume makers such as the Lotus or kit-car vehicles such as the Nobles/Rossions of the world that you can find something that’s an equal to the Porsche, but then you’re talking about cars where average-sized adults struggle even to get into them.
The flat six-cylinder at wide-open throttle is a great driving soundtrack. Yank the steering wheel in any direction, and the car reacts instantly to make placing it in any desired spot a breeze. Everything is so well dialed in–pedal placement, shifter and instant throttle response–to make driving this car a real joy.
In corners, the grip is tremendous and requires you really to try to make the back end step if you want. This is a real driver’s car that still has enough functionality with a decent-sized trunk up front and a back seat that is there for emergency situations.
MOTORSPORTS EDITOR MAC MORRISON: Terrible color combination. How did red and tan become a classic mix? I can live with the red, though not as my first or third or fifth choice. But tan interior? Ugh, is this 1985?
Everyone knows I love these cars–still my favorite, in fact. This latest version with the direct-injection engine is yet the latest of 18 billion 911 evolutions Porsche has managed in the last 40-something years, and, as always, it’s impressive that the company keeps pulling more out of this car.
You now get 30 hp more, peaking 100 rpm sooner than before, plus 15 additional lb-ft of torque peaking 150 rpm later. And you feel the improvement. The 911 S is still not a devastatingly fast car, but it knocks on 60 mph’s door in just a tick more than four seconds–eesh, how crazy is it that cars have come so far that I don’t consider 0 to 60 in the low fours to be devastatingly fast?–and pulls stoutly in every gear. Speaking of which, this shifter is one of the finest in the world, even without the optional short-shift kit. And I’m always struck by the firmness of Porsche’s pedals. Some people might think that sounds like a strange thing to praise, but it really is quite something and makes it so easy to engage clutch, brakes and throttle with extreme precision. Add the widely lauded steering, and it is very, very difficult to think of a stock sports car that communicates to drivers the way this one does. And that is the 911’s real selling point. Don’t even mention niche cars such as the Lotus Elise, either, as that’s an entirely different type of experience in a far less practical package.
Though this car is far more refined than older cars (except perhaps the reviled 996), the Carrera is visceral enough in its every move and feedback that you never forget that you are driving a real weapon. That’s the kind of thing that I think is missing from, say, Audi’s R8. It’s a small thing in a way, a perception thing. But don’t discount how much of a role perception, rather than pure performance numbers, plays in your overall impression of a car–especially when driving on the street.
I’d also like to note that Porsche offers arguably the world’s best seats and driving position, at least for me. You wouldn’t think so to look at them, but once you sit in these things, you realize just how poor so many car seats are. After driving the Audi S5, which also has great seats and position, and then this Porsche, my back cringes at the thought of returning to anything less. It’s just another thing that contributes to the symbiosis of driver and car. And that remains the 911’s strongest selling point. As usual, you can’t help but ponder what the next generation will offer.
2009 Porsche 911 Carrera S
Base Price: $87,150
As-Tested Price: $100,355
Drivetrain: 3.8-liter H6; RWD, six-speed manual
Output: 385 hp @ 6,500 rpm, 310 lb-ft @ 4,400 rpm
Curb Weight: 3,208 lb
Fuel Economy: (EPA/AW) 21/17.2 mpg
Options: Sand beige full leather interior ($3,655); navigation for PCM ($2,110); power comfort seats with driver memory ($1,550); Bose high-end sound package, including 5.1 discrete digital surround sound, 13 speakers including subwoofer, seven channels, 385-watt amplifier, microphone for monitoring interior noise to optimize volume and tone ($1,440); seat ventilation ($800); XM satellite radio ($750); ruby red metallic paint ($710); dynamic cornering
