RE: Porsche 911 Carrera S (992): Driven

RE: Porsche 911 Carrera S (992): Driven

Saturday 19th January 2019

2020 Porsche 911 Carrera S (992) | PH Review

We've seen, ridden in, spied on and studied the eighth generation 911 - now, finally, it's time to drive it



Let's be honest, there's nothing left to know about the 992 era of 911 beyond what it's like to drive. The covers have been whipped off it in California, the obligatory passenger rides have taken place and the tech deep dive has been endured. This is, as expected, the most capable, most efficient, most tech-laden 911 there has been in nearly 60 years. The only thing left to discover is how it goes.

It has something to prove, too. Keep the 992 too close to the 991 from which it's ultimately derived and the cries of lazy complacency will be heard from here to Hockenheim. Make it basically a two-door Panamera with a flat-six and the protests about Porsche abandoning sports cars for good will make the conversation around Gregg's vegan sausage rolls look sanguine. Maybe. The point being that, despite range diversification, the 911 is Porsche's self-proclaimed icon. Its influence can be felt throughout the range and, while not the best seller for a while, it's quite clearly a very important car.

Moreover, the 992 is not short of rivals. A Carrera 4S is now very nearly a £100,000 car before options, at £98,418; more capable and faster than ever it might be, but a six-figure price is a now a more easily achieved threshold than ever for a 'regular' 911. Once you're there, surely a temptation arises to move into more powerful sports cars, or even junior supercars. This needs to be good.


Time behind the wheel begins at the completely unfamiliar Circuito Ricardo Tormo, with one lap for a warm up and four to try and keep up with the instructor. Who's in a GT3 RS. And telling you to keep up. And getting further and further away, with one hand on the wheel and the other holding the radio.

Despite the stress of the situation, the 911 is very, very good on circuit. For a plain old Carrera it's borderline brilliant. The test car was fitted with the four-wheel steer, 10mm lower PASM Sport chassis, PDCC (Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control, the active anti-roll system) and ceramic brakes; not an unrepresentative spec, basically, apart from maybe the discs, and yet the car was immense. Precise, accurate, fast, engaging, sufficiently tactile and tremendously capable, it surpassed even the loftiest expectations for it as a circuit car.

The turbo flat six was very good before; with reworked turbos, new injectors and extra power it's better than ever. Response is keener from low revs, the reach more exciting higher up and the mid range strong enough to lug out of bends a gear higher than necessary. Because you've forgotten to change down. A chassis that was eager is now even more responsive than before; the steering ratio is 11 per cent more direct which, combined with the four-wheel steer, gives an uncanny directness and alertness to the front end. With some load through the wheel there's information coming back, though any driver familiar with GT 991s - leave alone anything older - may find it a little lacking.


A PDK gearbox that arguably didn't require improvement is more decisive again, with the paddles or without. There's even a chassis that knows a little of 911 adjustability and communication, albeit at pretty high commitment levels: a lift of the throttle accurately trims a cornering line, and trailing the brakes into a corner - or massively outbraking yourself, whichever is preferred - can get the rear swinging usefully to nudge the front somewhere nearer the apex, before the assists subtly but decisively get involved. Oh yes, and the 992 feels wholly up for the punishment, dampers taking gratuitous kerb nibbles, tyres resiliently grippy and brakes resolutely firm. The latter is to be expected, of course, though everything from this brief stint would imply any 992 could take a proper track pasting. Let's hope buyers explore the huge vat of ability that's certainly here.

To switch from an eye-opening track drive to a more sedate road route is always going to be less memorable, though the difference seems the more stark in a 992. It's a familiar grievance from the 911, and will sound as unjustifiably harsh as it did previously, but the car simply isn't as entertaining and engaging as you would either hope or expect at road speeds. In something like a Sports Series McLaren, ordinary speeds proffer opportunity to revel in the steering, or the view out, or the spooky ability of the ride to both communicate and cosset. An Aston Vantage smothers its driver with opulent materials and a rousing soundtrack. Look over the shoulder in an Audi R8 and there's a 5.2-litre V10. Tremendously sorted though the 992 is, assured and able and almost freakishly talented, there's precious little surprise and delight at road speed. Is it relevant when most customers will embrace the extra refinement and comfort? Probably not. But maybe so.

The car is polished, slick, unobtrusive - the gearbox flawless, steering accurate, ride remarkably accommodating despite 21-inch rear wheels. The 992 is perhaps guilty of feeling a little plain at points though, which it can arguably ill afford to do at this money. It's hardly like only rivals know a better compromise, either; the joy of recent GT Porsches - you knew this was coming - has been in their ability to combine focus and excitement with ease of use. It's probably harsh, one person's aloof being another's appropriately luxurious, but it would be nice to have a closer relationship between what the track has proved to be a phenomenally good car and what you as a driver experience on the road .


Of course one solution is to drive a bit quicker. Then the (optional) exhaust comes alive, snorting and howling through that vast powerband, the wastegates chuff like it's a classic turbo Porsche racer and the front will even a bob a tad on bumpier surfaces in the softer suspension mode. Traction can be challenged a bit in tighter turns, the brakes (now standard iron) just get better and better and the steering is lucid and rewarding - the more the driver pushes, the more the 992 gives back. Trouble is, on the road that starts to feel a little irresponsible, such is the ability of the car and the speed that's a direct corollary. That's leaving aside the size as well, which feels a topic to best revisit in the UK. However good those rear arches look in the mirrors, they're never entirely out of mind when driving.

Still, whatever the road scenario, passengers are ensconced in the best 911 interior yet. By a mile, in fact. Of course the important stuff is spot on - driving position, wheel diameter and thickness, other contact points - only now embellished with an even greater sense of material quality and luxury. It feels expensive, contemporary and stylish in a 992, sufficiently so to make a 991 feel decidedly old hat. The interior is more logical than that in a Vantage, more advanced even than an R8 and more responsive than any McLaren. It's really very good indeed. Should it be more exciting? No, not really, because that's not the 911 way, is it?

Which is very much the crux of this car. Everything that buyers will have enjoyed about the 991 Carreras - the usability, the quality, the performance, the refinement and so on - has been tangibly improved for the 992. And thus it will surely prove extremely popular. That the car is now even further honed, even more exciting at the limit, will largely be of little consequence. If it's not been bought for that before, then why so now?


There are a few more points worth noting. From here the steering is slightly preferable in two-wheel drive cars to four, the latter giving a sliver of unwanted resistance. The PASM Sport setting is entirely usable on the road, if initially quite firm; truth be told the standard mode is that good, that impeccably damped, that it's seldom beneficial to swap. Manualrevs or change up at 7,500rpm, which is nice. Any intervention from assists is perfectly judged. For what it's worth, too, from here it looks fantastic both as a static object and on the move: big, certainly, but assertive, attractive and very clearly a 911.

It also, pleasingly, feels excellent going sideways; the sprinkler circuit ostensibly there to test the Wet mode proved so. And that the new mode is very clever, of course, making the car virtually unbinnable in adverse conditions. But be in no doubt: beyond the limit the 992 is great, performing that lovely 911 trick of always feeling to be driving forward no matter how wayward things look. Lovely.

The end result, therefore, is a 911 update in exactly the mould that was expected, and with predictably impressive results. It'll go further and faster on less fuel than ever, lap quicker regardless of your skill level, cosset passengers in greater comfort and provide more technology to keep all safer and better entertained. Those who buy 911s for how they drive might be disappointed to find its considerable talents (and fun, it should be said) trickier to access, though how many people is that, really? The truly committed could spend the same money on an Evora, if they really wanted to. For those after the most complete, capable, effortless-yet-enjoyable sports car around though, this 992 has it sewn up - what on earth else did you expect from a 911?


SPECIFICATION - PORSCHE 911 CARRERA S (992)

Engine: 2,981cc, twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: 8-speed PDK auto, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 450@6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 391@2,300-5,000rpm
0-62mph: 3.7 seconds
Top speed: 191mph
Weight: 1,515kg (DIN)
MPG: TBA
CO2: TBA
Price: £93,110

SPECIFICATION - PORSCHE 911 CARRERA 4 S (992)

Engine: 2,981cc, twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: 8-speed PDK auto, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 450@6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 391@2,300-5,000rpm
0-62mph: 3.6 seconds
Top speed: 190mph
Weight: 1,565kg (DIN)
MPG: TBA
CO2: TBA
Price: £98,418



















Author
Discussion

sidesauce

Original Poster:

2,456 posts

217 months

Wednesday 16th January 2019
quotequote all
Personally I love this update and no surprise, it's going to be a great daily to live with.

Burnham

3,668 posts

258 months

Wednesday 16th January 2019
quotequote all
I know many will say that the design is too similar to the 991 but it somehow still manages to still look so much better...and Ive always felt the 991 was a beautiful shape. This is back to being as pretty as a 993 in my eyes.

I'd love one.

Helicopter123

8,831 posts

155 months

Wednesday 16th January 2019
quotequote all
Iconic and good value for what it is IMO

Wills2

22,666 posts

174 months

Wednesday 16th January 2019
quotequote all
What a machine I think it's fantastic looking inside and out.


D7Cup

123 posts

132 months

Wednesday 16th January 2019
quotequote all
When it dawns on you that the performance of a "run of the mill" modern Carrera model is supercar territory!

Cupramax

10,469 posts

251 months

Wednesday 16th January 2019
quotequote all
PH said twin-turbo straight-six

Really, I mean REALLY! FFS get a proof reader, smash

Master Bean

3,517 posts

119 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
Cupramax said:
PH said twin-turbo straight-six

Really, I mean REALLY! FFS get a proof reader, smash
Well the new 740d is a 4 litre 6 cylinder engine so of course there will be errors in this article.

breadvan

1,985 posts

167 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
D7Cup said:
When it dawns on you that the performance of a "run of the mill" modern Carrera model is supercar territory!
It’s the same engine size and output of a M3 CP and I miss the day when they were rivals. £100k + is quite a lot for the “run of the mill” version.

Sounds very promising for the Turbo and GT cars though.

ginettajoe

2,106 posts

217 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
Well, as the owner of what has been described as "the best sub £100k sportscar", a 981 Boxter S, from what i read here, that comment has been well and truly overtaken!! Hmmm I need to raise some money!!

Nerdherder

1,773 posts

96 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
991 looked better, but I’ll have my (non-S) 992 in aventurine green please.

Panayiotis

503 posts

208 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
I am not a driving god, but I was left a bit cold by the 991 at 'normal speed', asked the dealer for the keys to the S and it was not much different. It is interesting that this is still an issue in the 992 as it was the only blemish in my eyes with the recent iterations of the car. The beauty of the older cars was that they were entertaining on roads when adhering to the speed limits.

Nerdherder

1,773 posts

96 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
Panayiotis said:
I am not a driving god, but I was left a bit cold by the 991 at 'normal speed', asked the dealer for the keys to the S and it was not much different. It is interesting that this is still an issue in the 992 as it was the only blemish in my eyes with the recent iterations of the car. The beauty of the older cars was that they were entertaining on roads when adhering to the speed limits.
Drive a Caterham 310. Really, try it.

arkenphel

484 posts

204 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
Very nice car, but it seems Porsche is not immune to the whole "decreased feedback with every model " thing.

I suppose they save that for the GT cars, whereas the carreras are aimed at a different clientele

British Beef

2,191 posts

164 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
D7Cup said:
When it dawns on you that the performance of a "run of the mill" modern Carrera model is supercar territory!
Then it dawns on you that the price of the "run of the mill" Carrera is in supercar territory :-)

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

197 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
So it takes from 996 Turbo S X50 to 992 Carrera S to match power / 20 years.

God only knows how fast the fastest GT2/Turbo S will be this time round.

Sandpit Steve

9,885 posts

73 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
Panayiotis said:
I am not a driving god, but I was left a bit cold by the 991 at 'normal speed', asked the dealer for the keys to the S and it was not much different. It is interesting that this is still an issue in the 992 as it was the only blemish in my eyes with the recent iterations of the car. The beauty of the older cars was that they were entertaining on roads when adhering to the speed limits.
I think that’s a natural consequence of cars getting bigger, heavier and much more powerful over the years. The base Cayman is fantastic on normal roads with speed limits, and you can put your foot down for more than three seconds at a time without threatening your licence - and it’s half the price of the tested 992 Carrera. Okay I’m biased as I drive the Cayman, but if I had a £100k budget I’d be seriously looking at 540C or R8 V10 rather than the 992. Where the 911 wins is with the four seats, for a lot of customers getting rid of the back row isn’t an option.

Dale487

1,334 posts

122 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all

I hope the manual adds some involvement at sensible/normal speeds which the PDK car seems to miss, at a little expense of it's daily usability. And the base Carrera's limits should be a tiny bit lower to boot.

NicoG

640 posts

207 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
arkenphel said:
Very nice car, but it seems Porsche is not immune to the whole "decreased feedback with every model " thing.

I suppose they save that for the GT cars, whereas the carreras are aimed at a different clientele
Since the 991, the 911 Carrera including the 'S' has increasingly morphed into the GT of the range, less and less raw and incisive handling, leaving the Cayster and 918 when the 996 / 997 were, chuckable and involving....

This new 992 seem to continue that departure of the Carrera to become a GT car, however adept it would appear to be on a track...

Paradoxically however, the GT variants of the 911, and anything but Grand Tourers !

As another poster has said, the Carrera S is (I think) now a mere 3 tenths off of a 991 (yes NINE NINE ONE) TURBO to 62mph.
The progress is astonishing.

What do we expect for the 992 Turbo S? - 2.6 Seconds?

I suppose when one consider the on-paper performance figures of the Carrera S to the previous Gen Turbos and ignores the letters fitted to the back of the car, it makes the relentless march toward a £100K "base Carrera" seem a bit easier to swallow, given turbos have long since been north of 6-figures


Edited by NicoG on Thursday 17th January 08:17


Edited by NicoG on Thursday 17th January 08:37

323ti

128 posts

120 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
The proportions on the 992 are just hopeless, especially with ridiculous 21 inch wheels at the back.
It's like the rear has been blown up 25 percent,
leaving the nose of the car looking tiny.


Wills2

22,666 posts

174 months

Thursday 17th January 2019
quotequote all
breadvan said:
It’s the same engine size and output of a M3 CP and I miss the day when they were rivals. £100k + is quite a lot for the “run of the mill” version.
The 911 was always a step up in money from an M3, I paid 39k for a new 420hp M3 in 2008 a year later I paid 70k for a new 385hp C2S...