Again, less is more for the Porsche 911, which is now available in its most basic form, I think so is the Porsche 911. Not any 911. One is twin-turbo, rear-wheel drive, with huge tires. Who will sprint to 62 mph in the shade for four seconds and flat out will see 180mph on the far side. Some of you will now be thinking of the 993 GT2, but you might just as well have the new 911 Carrera in your mind. This is a new and very entry level 911 Carrera. The amazing thing: homologation grinding performance special built quite recently, in the mid-1990s, it is now possible to pick up the youngest member of the family. Indeed, if you opt for the Sport Chrono package, it drops the new car's sprint time to four seconds, versus 4,4 seconds for the "classic" GT2, but that only serves to reinforce the point. Both cars also have very similar footprints, although the 2019 Carrera's 295-section A-class rear tires are modest, while the 1995 GT285-based 2-sections were almost grotesque by road Porsche standards. The only major difference is that you would then have to spend the equivalent of £173,000 to get such great performance from the 911. Today it costs half as much. Admittedly, the GT2 will also go off the charts at less than 1300kg – 210kg is something that some feel embarrassed about for their offspring, although the benefits of the new car come from aluminum body panels. There's still work to be done on that score. So, the new 911 Carrera: no S, No and 4WD, no convertible, but driven here with an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission instead of the seven-speed manual that will arrive in due course. It's not exactly zero for a modern 911, but it's close. The engine is the same rear-mounted 3,0-liter six-cylinder found in the S, albeit detuned with small turbochargers to deliver a power boost of 380 hp. at 4500 rpm instead of 444bhp. Torque is also down, from 391lb ft at 2300rpm to 332lb ft from 1950rpm, though, positively impacting what appears to be negligible: Carrera's kickdown with batons is 50-70 mph in a claimed 2.2 sec while regular Carrera takes only 2,6 seconds. I'm sure many owners won't notice the difference. Perhaps some road testers, too. Elsewhere, the Carrera gets smaller brake discs than the S, and while it's possible to point out the many extra options available in the range (our test car uses carbon-ceramic brakes), two in particular won't be common on everyone. How much can Carrera owners miss the rear wheels and the 10mm drop in ground clearance that comes with the PASM sports suspension package? We'll see. With no extras at all, the Carrera costs £82,793, making it about £10,000 cheaper than the Carrera S. I should probably add that this test car costs significantly more than the base car, thanks to extras such as a nose-lift system, sports exhaust, the Sport Chrono package mentioned a moment ago, which includes dynamic engine mounts. The car also has an additional 90 liter fuel tank. It should, if the 40mpg touring economy Carrera recorded road-testing with the car earlier this year, then yield an almost incredible highway range of 800 miles. Inside it's just like the atmosphere with the Carrera S, with the same 10.9 in touchscreen and wrap around 7 inch digital screens in the instrument binnacle. For purists, this place will take some getting used to, but one push car at the event makes up for the progressive atmosphere with truffle brown leather and Paldao' wood inlays.
Porsche 911 Carrera 2019 comment
