Monday 23rd October 2017

Porsche 911 Carrera T revealed

A poor man's 911 R or exactly the sort of thing Stuttgart should be making for the masses?

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More than enough has been written about Porsche's 911R at this point, but comparisons to it and the more recent GT3 Touring are going to be hard to avoid here.

Manual gearbox? Check. Stripped back interior? Check. Driver focussed? Check. Welcome to the latest new 911 Carrera T. Based on the standard 911 Carrera, it can be differentiated from that car thanks to a new bumper, with a more prominent splitter at the front; metallic grey mirrors at the side; black, centre-exit exhaust pipes at the back; and 20-inch alloy wheels. Nine colours are available, including Lava Orange, Guards Red and Miami Blue.

Inside you'll find lightweight four-way electronically adjustable cloth seats, nylon door loops in lieu of handles, a leather GT sports steering wheel and a special shorter gear stick - when specced with the standard seven-speed manual gearbox that is, which itself has shorter ratios than standard.

A seven-speed dual clutch PDK automatic with launch control is also available, but that would somewhat undermine the evident focus on driving purity and weight saving. To achieve the 20kg reduction versus standard, Porsche has used lightweight glass in the rear and rear-side windows, removed the rear seats - naturally - reduced sound deadening insulation and added the option to delete the infotainment system.

That said, features not otherwise available on a standard Carrera - such as, 20mm lower, PASM sports suspension as standard and the option of rear-wheel steering - are available, as well as a rear mechanical locking differential.

The 911 Carrera T is powered by the same 3.0-litre turbo engine as the standard 911 Carrera, still developing 370hp and 332lb ft. With the manual 'box, 0-62mph can be taken care of in 4.5sec - 0.1 seconds less than a standard Carrera - but a further 0.4 seconds can be shaved off that with the PDK.

A poor man's 911 R it may appear to be, but with a starting price of £85,576 it's hardly a poor man's car. It isn't difficult to see the appeal though; back to basics driving machines have made something of a resurgence recently. And despite lacking additional power over a standard Carrera, any reduction in weight, tech and resulting faff, will surely lead to a more involving driving experience from what is already a very good car.

There is one elephant in the room though, because for the same money you could get a hold of one of the best driver-centric cars Porsche has made in recent years, the Cayman GT4. Which would you choose?

 

[terryb]

Awesome - I think this could be a popular choice - if they make enough available to meet demand.

[DoctorX]

Lovely. I think I’d have to fill that hole in the dash though.

[Diesel Meister]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Sadly, nail on head.

More sadly, first world problem in that the requisite means to obtain such toys have yet to be attained!

[73RS]

I think "stripped back" is a bit of an exaggeration. It's 20kg. Still has electric seats, aircon, infotainment, more speakers than a political party conference, carpeting from a stately home, mega sound proofing,......

[FestivAli]

I don't really see much point in this. Why not just buy a base 911. Surely optioning (if you have to) aircon, manual gearbox and say leather seats - which I'm sure are all standard - doesn't add much weight compared to this.

[RSchneider]

The current supersize-me 911 generations will never be light driver-focused runabouts. They are too far down the road of a 911-shaped GT. Looking at the price of that 911T, and if you are in the market for a Porsche runabout, I say get a nice air-cooled veteran from the 70's or 80's.

[Johnny5hoods]

73RS said:

I think "stripped back" is a bit of an exaggeration. It's 20kg. Still has electric seats, aircon, infotainment, more speakers than a political party conference, carpeting from a stately home, mega sound proofing,......

+1
If Porsche had really meant to, they could have more than doubled this weight saving

[Johnny5hoods]

RSchneider said:

The current supersize-me 911 generations will never be light driver-focused runabouts. They are too far down the road of a 911-shaped GT.

Agree with this too. Even the Boxster/Cayman, sharing similarities with the 911 platform, is not exactly small. A GT86 is shorter, and it has four useable seats. An Elise is MUCH shorter. Porsche should start a sub brand, and make a (really) light, small, extremely chuckable, cheeky little sports coupe/convertible. 1000kg, very narrow, very short, moderately quick only, set up as a fun road car, not one that only fully be appreciated on a track.

[anonymous-user]

Aes87 said:

73RS said:

I think "stripped back" is a bit of an exaggeration. It's 20kg. Still has electric seats, aircon, infotainment, more speakers than a political party conference, carpeting from a stately home, mega sound proofing,......

I agree. That will be the next one - no carpets, no soundproofing, no aircon, no speakers, no passenger seat(?), and more expensive.

Only once the T has sold out mind!

I wonder what they would call it.... The T minus, perhaps?

I'll get my coat.

[Blink982]

Porsche marketing BS at its best. I like it, so that means I've fallen for it. The weight savings aren't much to shout about though and I've never got this door pull strap or no-aircon/stereo thing.

I like it a heck of a lot more than the tacky British legends GTS models.

Edited by Blink982 on Monday 23 October 07:38

[Robbo66]

I stopped at 'turbo'...

Why not just by a manual GTS with 80bhp more ....

Edited by Robbo66 on Monday 23 October 08:17

[Filibuster]

Johnny5hoods said:

73RS said:

I think "stripped back" is a bit of an exaggeration. It's 20kg. Still has electric seats, aircon, infotainment, more speakers than a political party conference, carpeting from a stately home, mega sound proofing,......

+1
If Porsche had really meant to, they could have more than doubled this weight saving

Well, that would be a GT3 then... Don't want the big wing? That would be the GT3 Touring then...

Aes87 said:

I agree. That will be the next one - no carpets, no soundproofing, no aircon, no speakers, no passenger seat(?), and more expensive. They should do an ultra-lightweight stripped out tin can 911 with an uprated 4-cylinder like from the A45 AMG and a manual tranny

Not quite sure if serious... *Joker meme*
First part, see my comment above and re 4 cyl: really?? from a Mercedes??
Ok, so we are talking about a GT3/racing version of a new 912 then. Fair enough, but why not take the 718 b4 engine??

Edited by Filibuster on Monday 23 October 07:48

[E65Ross]

73RS said:

I think "stripped back" is a bit of an exaggeration. It's 20kg. Still has electric seats, aircon, infotainment, more speakers than a political party conference, carpeting from a stately home, mega sound proofing,......

My thoughts exactly 20kgs, by the time it's got a driver, some fuel etc it's barely over 1% difference!

[CABC]

still lardy.
i also found the GT4 a bit big and not as focused as i was expecting. guess i fell for the hype.
The technology and engineering Porsche have is simply superb. So, if the other manufacturers can go from super mini to luxo barge without brand dilution why can't Porsche give us a true lightweight?? Even make it distinctive in looks so as not to leave the average onlooker confused at its 'poverty spec'.

[culpz]

73RS said:

I think "stripped back" is a bit of an exaggeration. It's 20kg. Still has electric seats, aircon, infotainment, more speakers than a political party conference, carpeting from a stately home, mega sound proofing,......

I'll agree that it's very poorly-worded and the actual figure of the saved weight is definitely not sufficient to call it as such. However, there is already a proper stripped out model and it definitely ain't called a Touring!

Seems like a typical Porsche marketing exercise, unfortunately.

[twinturban]

"lightweight four-way electronically adjustable seats"



It's only 20kg lighter if you delete the infotainment system.

"any reduction in weight, tech and resulting faff, will surely lead to a more involving driving experience"

Perhaps, if there was any reduction in weight. Proper barrel scraping here Dafydd!

[AmosMoses]

I love it! This is the sort of thing Porsche nerds will flock to. But shouldn't it be less than the standard base 911?

[Porsche911R]

£85k base 370 hp, 4.5 to 60 and 1425 kg

I don't get the car

GT4

£65k base 385hp, 4.4 to 60 and 1340kg

again showing the GT4 to be the mega bargain and far lighter. ALso the RS electrics, GT3 sus and brakes.

[culpz]

AmosMoses said:

But shouldn't it be less than the standard base 911?

The less they sell to you, the more they charge. It's the Porsche way.

[Trophy-GTA]

New week - new Porsche article on Pistonheads.