Auto Test

Raising the bar

Raising the bar further is, of course, not that easy… well, certainly not for any rival marque. This is the case when it comes to the Porsche 911 and any who would seek to compete with it directly in the stock sports car segment. And if there is suddenly a new 911 to contend with then the bar is inevitably going to be raised a good bit. When the rivals begin to think that they have managed to reach a comparable level, then along comes the next 911 generation and the competition has to start all over again. This is precisely what happened when the new 991 series was launched, the series now extended through the introduction of a convertible version. And it was the hot Carrera S variant… hardly a month after its première at the Detroit Motor Show… that we were able to test both on the race circuit and on winding country roads.

911 driver routine

As soon as we landed at Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria it was off to the contorted test circuit directly on the coast. Experienced 911 drivers know what they have to do, even in the new auto… key in the ignition to the left of the steering-wheel, turn it to the right and listen for the wonderful growling Boxer sound… then press the ‘Sports Plus’ button and put the seven-stage dual clutching transmission into manual mode. It is, of course, a huge temptation to immediately hit the PSM switch glowing red… but one hesitates to be so conspicuous so soon. It is not the drifting capability of the new open 911 that we are here to verify but the overall driving dynamics of the car.

As soon as we landed at on the it was off to the contorted test circuit directly on the coast.

Check-list priorities

It takes only a few laps to verify… here we have a driving machine which takes the traditional qualities of a 911 and accentuates them. Responsive acceleration? Check! Biting brakes? Check! Snappy steering? Check! Perfect lane holding? Check! Massive traction? Check! Raw and gruff Boxer sound? Check! And the driver is only on his maiden voyage! In the following laps there is the incitement to go closer to the limit. Limit? “What limit?”… the Carrera seems to say as it responds with alacrity. And continues to respond with one faster lap following the previous one. What was that about ‘raising the bar’?

This is the command bridge of the new Porsche 911 Cabrio… here the decision will be made as to how hard the Sport Chrono package will make the car… and whether the top should be up or down.

High-tech highlights

In order to be the best top-down stock sports car model of them all the new 911 Cabrio has taken on some of the high-tech goodies from the 991 Coupé and added a few more besides. The longer wheel-base and the track widened at the front by 5.2 centimetres already account for a superlative driving experience in the hardtop. Then there is the PTV torque vectoring which distributes the torque between the wheels to perfection. The anti-roll PDCC also makes a big contribution in the open 911. Then there are some features specific to the convertible version… particularly those which keep the car’s weight down. For example the roof bows are made of ultra-light magnesium and the roll-over construction is twenty-five percent lighter than that of the open 997. Furthermore the engineers have been able to increase the torsional stiffness of the carosserie by eighteen percent.

When the top is in place the profile of the new Porsche 911 Cabrio is exactly that of the Coupé version. More important, however, the roof construction is considerably lighter than that of the 997 convertible.

One car, three aspects

This becomes evident after just a few kilometres driven through the hinterland of Gran Canaria. Here the roads are rarely in good condition but we are inclined to recall the boast of VW boss Dr. Winterkorn… “There’s no rattling here!” And here is where there is the proof that the comfortable suspension setting is able to provide for enjoyable cruising. At the same time there are fewer decibels coming from the exhaust when the PDK set to automatic makes the upwards gear-shifts sooner. The driver who insists on being personally in control of his destiny will select the ‘Sport’ configuration and the even more adventurous will go for the raunchy ‘Sport Plus’ setting. Then there is undiluted race car action to be relished. For the exhaust unit it means ‘all systems go’, the response to the accelerator seems to be milliseconds before the pedal has even been touched and the suspension appears to anticipate the next bend in the road. To be sure, the crankshaft will be rotating almost at eight thousand RPM and it will prove an impossibility to achieve the announced averaged fuel consumption of 8.9 litres per hundred kilometres driven… to be honest this is a value only attainable when the driving is exclusively in ‘Cruise’ mode.

The seven-stage dual clutching transmission of the new Porsche 911 Cabrio shifts smoothly and shifts either fast or very fast. And there is a ‘Sail’ function which means that on that on the autobahn the fuel supply will be gradually reduced until the car is coasting fuel efficiently, although this remains imperceptible to the diver.

Sports car Nirvana

But so much for marginal notes. Because anyone tanking expensive Super Plus fuel will already have invested not less than 114,931 Euros in his Porsche… and probably a good deal more, given that the Sport Chrono package, the PASM active suspension, the PDCC anti-roll system and the Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus are all features which become absolute essentials for anyone who has tried them out. And that means a few costly ticks on the extras list. At the end of the day 130 thousand Euros can easily be spent… another way in which Porsche has seriously raised the bar.