“I don’t think I’d vacation in Germany,” declared our British photographer and now German resident, Tom Salt, as we poured along the A7 autobahn in a 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera S at a blissful 130 mph. Salt’s words echoed in my head, but he didn’t get an amen or even a response from me. My plans for a return trip were already forming.
Why wouldn’t I want to come back? Germany is a magical place where courtesy, lane discipline, paying attention, and adhering to rules give human beings the freedom to use their judgment and drive as fast as their cars will go.
Not that there was ever any doubt, but traveling only a few miles in Germany reveals the vast cultural differences between American and German drivers. Germans check for traffic in their mirrors, use their turn signals religiously, and don’t panic when you fly past them at well over 150 mph. And—this might blow your mind—they treat pretty much anyone who wants to go fast as if he were an ambulance driver. Zero animosity, no high-beam flashing, no middle fingers. No one seems to take your speed to be a personal affront to their delicate ego.
Many Germans enjoy driving cars hard, something abhorrent to the average American. And unlike us, Germans have to weigh their love of speed against premium that costs $8.00 a gallon, and, bless them, many of them decide that a pegged speedometer is worth the money. That’s love.
Speaking of love, we’re warming up to the new 911. Internally, Porsche calls this generation the 992 to make it easier to differentiate it from its predecessor, the 991.2. And this 911 does look a lot like the outgoing car. There’s a different treatment at the rear, and the front end is slightly reshaped, but the design is unmistakably familiar.
Big speeds are easy to call up when the autobahn goes from the nominal 130-km/h (81 mph) speed limit to unrestricted. As we opened up the 911 on a straight and empty stretch, the digital speedometer indicated a likely optimistic but unerringly stable 196 mph. Optional carbon-ceramic brakes keep you from leaving sweat stains on your shirt and stopped our Racing Yellow bar of soap from 70 mph in 140 feet. Ease into them or jump on them, the brakes simply don’t mind being asked to absorb 150 mph’s worth of energy when a Nissan Qashqai (Dutch plated, of course) suddenly pulls into the left lane.
If opening the engine cover actually revealed the engine instead of some cute little fans, you’d see a heavily revised 443-hp 3.0-liter flat-six hiding behind the rear bumper. Roughly the size of three shoeboxes, the compact flat-six has two turbos like its predecessor, but those turbos are now mirror-image twins, allowing for symmetrical plumbing on the two cylinder banks. The intercoolers have also been relocated to improve their cooling capacity and reduce—but not eliminate—turbo lag. From a stop, the engine isn’t exactly a softy, but the real neck bending starts at 3000 rpm. That delay is apparent in our 5-to-60-mph test, which measures acceleration from a roll (i.e., without the benefit of launch control). Stomping on the throttle in that test results in a 4.2-second run. We’re not imagining it. The lag is measurable and costs this 911 four-tenths of a second compared with the last-gen 911 GTS, which made seven horsepower more.
The eight-speed dual-clutch automatic—the only gearbox currently available, though a manual is promised—brings launch control, which avoids the lull below 3000 rpm by revving the engine to five grand before engaging the clutch. Just try not to giggle when the rear tires hook up. And feel free to do it again and again; the dual-clutch is only too happy to accommodate. Using this procedure, we hit 60 mph in 3.0 seconds and passed the quarter-mile in 11.3 at 125 mph.
One possible reason for such significant lag is that our Europe-spec test car came equipped with a particulate filter, which is akin to stuffing a high-tech sock into the exhaust stream. We won’t get the filter in the States when the 911 goes on sale this fall. Porsche gives Euro versions slightly more boost and some engine-management tweaks to offset the filter and promises that the U.S.-market models will perform identically to the ones sold in Europe, but we’re hopeful that American versions, without the equivalent of COPD, will have better low-rpm response.
It’s no surprise that when the 992 is launched correctly, its performance matches that of the outgoing rear-drive Carrera GTS. Porsche touts an increased use of aluminum in the car’s structure, but compared with that GTS, the new 911 Carrera S has put on 60 pounds. The weight gain isn’t noticeable from behind the wheel, but when you walk up to the new car, it does seem a bit larger than before. What’s more obvious is the easy stability and the front-end grip that come from the 1.8-inch wider front track. Before you look at the test results, we should inform you that the airport where we tested in southern Germany didn’t have enough time for us to perform a proper skidpad test. We’ll put our calibrated inner ears on the line and say there’s likely more than 1.05 g’s of grip in the Porsche-spec Pirelli P Zero PZ4s.
The steering is hyperresponsive, but the variable rack has a more leisurely ratio when pointed straight, which means there’s no dynamic nervousness at high speeds. Some of that unshakable feel is due to aerodynamics and the big banana spoiler that lifts into the wind when the car exceeds 56 mph. Optional rear-wheel steering works imperceptibly and does its part to add stability in high-speed corners. On the roads that climb into the Harz Mountains, the steering quickens the farther it is turned, enlivening responses. At even slower speeds, the rear steering helps to mask the 911’s size, making it easy for the driver to flip around on narrow cobblestone streets.
Maneuvering in tight spaces is only annoying because the parking sensors never stop warning of impending doom. There’s a disconnect here. At 5 mph, the car assumes that I’m a bumper-tapping dolt. Look, friend, I’m the same dolt who just went nearly 200 mph and didn’t hit anything—parking is pretty easy. It took about a day to figure out how to permanently silence the sensors. We would’ve done it sooner, but the manual reads as if it was written in German.
The infotainment system did improve after we spent two 12-hour days tapping the 10.9-inch screen. That was in part because we started learning the menu structure and in part because we just gave up on figuring out anything more than what we already had. Fortunately, for the major stuff, the small knob on the steering wheel will allow you to select Individual mode, where you can personalize the 992 with your favorite settings for the suspension, transmission, start-stop system, and—if your car has the electronically controlled Sport exhaust—the sound coming out the back. Having to reselect this setting every time you start the engine doesn’t get less irritating the more you do it. Another annoyance is that you have to pull the inside handle twice to open the door when the key is in the ignition, even when the car is unlocked. Let. Me. Out.
While you’re momentarily trapped, look beyond the leather wrappings and you’ll see some lower-dashboard plastics that appear to be out of a $30,000 car. But at eye level, you get stitched leather and, for $1360, Alcantara above your head. The classic five-dial instrument panel remains, but the only analog gauge is the central tachometer. The rest are virtual gauges that can display maps in addition to various vehicular vital signs. Porsche went retro with the tachometer’s look, but to 911 fans, the chosen font is a departure from about 30 years of 911 convention. We were bothered that the steering wheel blocked the two outside gauges, but the critical information remains front and center, as it has since Porsche started doing the car thing in 1948.
Even after two long days in the 992, we never tired of it. That has always been a trait of 911s. They are usable sports cars that don’t constantly remind you that you’re on the wrong side of 40 years old. And after living that triple-digit life, the 992 managed a respectable 17 mpg. It’s not particularly loud, either, registering a calm but not-exactly-luxury-car 69 decibels at 70 mph—not that we went 70 mph much. Even at high speeds, the characteristic hum of wide tires seems to have been turned down. Mostly you hear the wind rustle, a gargle from the engine, and whatever thoughts are entering your mind about how you might be able to get back here for more.
New 911s are judged against the old ones, and this Carrera S is every bit as good to drive as its predecessor. Aside from handling limits that are easier to exploit and a slight decrease in NVH, this isn’t a big leap forward. Porsche making the interior more like those of the Panamera and Cayenne does feel like the tail wagging the soul of the brand, though. It doesn’t help that the cabin lacks the ease of use and quality of the old one. Still, we hold out hope. This 911 is the first of its generation and it’s a spectacular car, only marginally better in some areas and marginally worse in others.
Not that we ever felt nostalgic for old 911s during our 700-mile drive. In the moment, foot to the floor, we found the 992 comports itself in a way that makes you wish for more time, even at the end of your second 400-mile day. Driving a 911 hard in Germany is restorative, not exhausting. From the surge of the six climbing to 7400 rpm to the grab of the brakes at 150 mph to small things like the feel of the turn-signal stalk, every component appears to have been created to shine in this uniquely wonderful environment. That’s still a differentiator for the brand, even if the 911 itself isn’t radically different from the one before it.
Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com
