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Porsche 911 Turbo
By Tim Rayment of The Sunday Times - - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER



A hundred grand of perfection

Pub wisdom on the Porsche 911 Turbo goes something like this. It’s faster than its stablemates but less soulful. It attracts customers with more cash than knowledge, who buy it for the badge. It might sit at the top of the 911 range but its home is not the road or track but a bedroom poster.
True, the new Turbo may be the choice of bankers with bonuses burning holes in their suits, but just because it’s bought by the undiscerning doesn’t mean it’s not for the cognoscenti. In fact it is impressively competent. It’s not just the 193mph top speed or the 0-125mph time of 12.2sec, or the trick four-wheel-drive transmission that lets unskilled drivers play with the power in relative safety. It’s everything.

The engine might be turbocharged, yet it sings and has almost no lag. The grip levels are close to insane and yet the car rides well. Running one would not be cheap, but it is built so well that you could do 15,000 miles a year without too many visits to the dealer.

The improvements over the last-generation Turbo are incremental. And because of the way the increments come together, the drama lies not in any single advance but in the car as a whole. Take the engine. The most powerful production 911 of all time produces 480bhp, an increase of 14% from the same 3.6 litre engine size. Yes, all engines are growing more powerful but the speed range in which this power is available is wider than before, which almost defies logic. Meanwhile, advances in software mean the automatic is quicker than the manual for the first time. And we’re talking about a fully automatic gearbox here, not a robotised manual.

As if this were not enough, for an extra £500 above the £97,840 asking price you can specify the Sport Chrono package. This includes a pretentious stopwatch and a button allowing extra turbo boost for up to 10 seconds. Pressing it unleashes volcanic maximum torque of 501 lb ft, making the new Turbo 24% faster when overtaking in fifth gear than the old model. Which was not a slouch.

You will never, ever need the extra power but pressing Sport is fun and the car is not complete without it. You need it to protect the resale value.



So, how does it drive? When a standard 911 is £59,070, can this car possibly be worth the best part of 100 big ones? If you enter a fourth-gear bend on a mountain road at more than twice the speed advised by the road sign, you will provoke a small protest from the inside front tyre. Try even harder and you will get a touch of understeer. Try harder than that and you should be certified, then jailed.

Using technology transferred from Porsche’s 4x4 Cayenne, the Turbo spends most of its time sending 90% of its power to the rear wheels. But it can send every horse to the front if need be — on ice, for example — and brake each wheel individually if you are doing your utmost to crash.

This is a machine that makes 125mph possible on the briefest straight. On a bumpy but empty stretch of a very minor road somewhere in Europe I saw 153mph.

Traction is astonishing: only with the Sport button could I break the grip of the tyres in second gear. Even then the shriek from the rubber was brief.

In the pub they will say: ah, but the 911 Carrera GT3, also 193mph and £18,300 cheaper, is purer. Or you could take a Carrera S and leave £31,980 in the brown envelope. Well, friends, the Turbo has a better manual gearbox than either, and an optional automatic, and a refined ride, and ability so deep you would need to be a Le Mans winner to criticise.

In Britain nearly two-thirds of these cars are ordered with an automatic gearbox, and for the first time this is the one to have for headline speed. The engine’s computer talks to the box to see what it is doing next, reapplying boost during shifts to cut turbo lag from barely there to zero. The result is 0.6sec off the 0-125mph time. It’s a good box, which now has software to hold on to each gear when you are in attack mode on a twisting road. But the shifts when in manual mode are still a touch slow, and demanding drivers should stick to the six-speed manual.

Rivals? The Aston Martin DB9 has beauty, but is not as accomplished. Four-wheel drive makes the Lamborghini Gallardo an obvious competitor, but it costs more, is unlikely to prove as durable and is raw in character compared with this. A Ferrari 430 is hard to resist, but again it’s a question of everyday usability: in an unexciting colour such as silver, the Turbo looks to most people like another 911, which means you can use it without worrying where it is parked.

A triumph of engineering, then. The new Turbo has more equipment than before, including “variable turbine geometry”, bigger wheels, bigger brakes, extra side airbags and a tyre-pressure control system. Yet, thanks to an aluminium front luggage cover and aluminium doors, it weighs 5kg less than the last model.

The car has grown nearly an inch wider and swallows more air to cool the radiators, turbos and brakes. But with a drag coefficient of 0.31 it cuts the air as cleanly as its predecessor. At speed there is more downforce on the rear axle than before. Which, like the extra width and cooling air, means extra drag. But there isn’t any. Again, it seems to defy logic.

I have a criticism and one black mark. The criticism is that the centre of the dash looks a bit Dixons, or should I say Currys Digital. The black mark is that above 90mph wind and road noise is barely acceptable. An AMG Mercedes convertible I drove recently was quieter, even with a fabric roof.

This is a loud companion for driving to the south of France. But what an astonishing friend when you get there. The City types who buy these cars will ask one question, and here is the answer. Yes, boys and girls, it’s the nuts.



-Model: Porsche 911 Turbo (Tiptronic S)

-Engine type: 3600cc, six cylinders

-Power: 480bhp @ 6000rpm

-Torque: 457 lb ft @ 1950rpm

-Transmission: Five-speed tiptronic

-Fuel: 22.1mpg

-CO²: 326g/km

-0-62mph: 3.7sec

-Top speed: 193mph

-Price: £97,840 (plus £1,961 for Tiptronic S)

-Rating:

Verdict: The best real-world supercar money can buy

_________________________________

THE OPPOSITION

-Model: Aston Martin DB9
-Price: £106,850

-For: Lots of power
-Against: Expensive upkeep, and you’ll look like a sad Bond wannabe
______________________________

-Model: Lamborghini Gallardo
-Price: £121,000

-For: Design, four-wheel drive, raw character
-Against: Not as durable, and less rounded

Deutsch

pretty cool, but the fact that the car has never been used in a Bond movie doesn't give the writer the right to throw his pile of poop at it for not being a camera whore car. While I'm interested to see how the E92 M3 will impact the sportcar segement, I can't help but think it will only be able to lay on smudge on the hiney of this new 911 Turbo. It's like trying to cut a slice of thick and rich raw meat, scalpel or a cleaver?

donau

This is almost like an executive's dream: faster, simpler, easier, safer, cheaper..oops, not the last one....

On a serious note: Yet another marvel of technology from the #1 sportcar manufacturer in the world....

Centurion

It seem to be an awsome car but I think that the GT3 is the enthusiasts choice. Many magazines which have driven the car claim that it is a fabolous sports car but isn't as exciting as the thought it would be. I think that is due to the new four wheel drive system which might be too good. The case is the same with Lambos and Audis which have been said to be less thrilling than their competitors.
Additionally the GT3 is signifigantly cheaper, the ones with real dough will probably wait for the GT2 which will have more power than the Turbo but be as exciting as GT3.

SDNR

This really is an incredible car ...I simply cannot decide which I like more, the Porsche 911 Turbo or the Ferrari F599 GTB Fiorano

Centurion

Does anyone know how much the 599 GTB cost? Even if you have the money the car is more or less sold out for the rest of the year and probably for 2007 too. Additionally many dealers have a markup of atleast 30-70k.

Alx

It is by all measn the perfect car it seems...

The Aston is very hot too.

BMW_Dude

So are you going to buy that DB9 Alex?

Alx

I had bid on a few of them, and was winning one at $110K, but it zoomed up to $130K. Every once in a while they go in the auction for low $120's.

Basically i am in no rush so i just wait for the right deal. I have cars, trucks, motorcycles.... so im not left without a car. Im really leaning towards two cars.

The DB9 and the 997TT. I might just wait it out till i sit in the Porsche first. Then just grab one. The DB9 is very comfortable btw. And extremely beautiful in dark colors...