PH Blog: the new Porsche 911
Early titbits and teasers from the 991 launch in California
Lots of new 911s, none of them manuals
As I wrote earlier in the week I did have some concerns about whether the tech overload on the new 911 was in danger of drowning out the stuff that makes the car special. And this wasn't calmed when I heard all the cars on the launch were going to be S models and, as predicted, fully decked out with all the acronyms Porsche could throw at 'em. Which is to say, a lot. I mentioned the flow chart I had to draw to make sense of them all? Here it is!
991 chassis options explained - clear now?
Fear not though, I did manage to get a manual and a decent go with one at that. The mid-way station at an airfield, was base for the day from which cars could be taken out on various local test routes and I managed to bag the manual for this. There were also various classic 911s to sample too, the rare 1986 G series Clubsport prototype especially enticing. It was also handy to have a 997 on hand for comparisons. Not only that, Porsche had actually laid a fresh tarmac handling circuit on an old bit of runway specifically for the launch. Sounds over the top but over 450 journalists will be going through this programme over the couple of weeks it's running so you get an idea of the level of investment.
1970 911 face to face with its 2012 equivalent
Any other teasers? Well, I can comprehensively tell you the new Porsche 911 can corner harder than a Hyundai Accent. How do I know this? Well, after the driver of such a car attempted to match our speed around a tightly turning Freeway exit ramp. Suffice to say, it didn't end well for him.
 993 and 2,000km 964 among the old 911s |
 997 Carrera 4s brought for comparison purposes |
 1986 Clubsport prototype from the Porsche Museum |
 Mm, stripey! Old school Porsche goodness... |
 The mythical beast that is the manual 991 |
 Still the preferred option? Wait and see! |
How anyone in a modern car finds any time to actually look where they are going beats me! I recently test drove a car, and the salesman was incredulous that i really didn't give two hoots about all the techy stuff like sat nav, variable headlights, Ipod interfaces, and the other million bits of "convienience" electronics that the car possessed.
No, i just wanted to know how the steering weighted up, was there any on-centre feel, was the primary and secondary ride decent, could you slot home nicely timed rapid gearshifts (with a throttle blip on the way down) and stuff like that !! These days any manufacturer can shove 10gigabytes of processing power into an very average car, and distract the buyer from the fact that the car is really rather pony.
For me a "car" is still the mechanical interaction with the road and driver. You can put as much bling as you like on the inside, and as much tinsel as you can fit on the outside, but I want a car that is a well honed mechanical device first
So, put simply, bureaucratic camouflage!
At least when you learn when the buttons are you can use them by touch rather than having to take your eyes off the road.
put simply, once your car is set up how you like it, for 99+% of the driving you do, be it through day/night etc you don't really need to use iDrive.
i've only used it on 2 cars though, an E92 M3 and that hideous looking (but sublimely comfortable!) 5 series gt thing.
Not enough buttons for my liking
At least when you learn when the buttons are you can use them by touch rather than having to take your eyes off the road.
Or is that a pretty crappy picture of twin exhausts?
I do like a button with a light on it. And military grade accessories.
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