Porsche is in the process of updating the entire eighth-generation 911 family, with the headline being the introduction of a hybrid drivetrain for the first time in the model’s long and illustrious history in the Carrera GTS. But while all the inevitable headline sporty variants of the ‘992.2’ family might be the ones Porsche fans eagerly turn their eyes to (think GT3/RS, Turbo and GT2), the basic Carrera has gained a little bit of power of its own. So, is it the car of choice in the 911 range, or a version to simply overlook?
How much is the Porsche 911 Carrera in Ireland?
When we say the Carrera coupe is the most affordable new 911 of them all, you have to remember all things are relative. With most of the 911 family now all six-figure cars beginning with a ‘2’, the fact the Carrera starts at €195,840 might almost look tempting... were it not a colossal amount of cash in the wider scheme of things. The car is magnificent in pretty much every respect and even the standard equipment roster is decent enough, although - as with any self-respecting Porsche - the Carrera is privy to a huge and pricey options list that can swiftly push its price deep into the €225,000-€250,000 bracket.
What’s different on the outside of the Porsche 911 Carrera?
All updated 911s have a sleeker look at the front, because all their lighting functions are now contained in the familiar, circular headlamp units, which cleans up the bumper and allows for reshaped cooling apertures in the Porsche’s nose.
At the back, the full-width light strip and the vanes either side of the high-level brake light have been amended, and while that might not sound like a lot, when you’re looking at the facelifted 911 from the rear, you’re subconsciously always aware it’s discrete from what went before.
A look inside the Porsche 911 Carrera
Material quality in the Porsche 911 is fantastic, as is the seating position for the driver. Couple that with an interface that’s a wonderful blend of eye-catching technology and yet intuitive usefulness (courtesy of plenty of physical switchgear) and, as far as sports cars go, the 911 has one of the best cabins in in the industry.
The interesting change for the facelifted models is that coupes like this car are two-seaters as standard - if you want the ‘+2’ small rear seats, you have to actively tick an order box to say so when you’re configuring the car. It’s a no-cost option, but interesting that you have to ask for four seats in a 911 these days.
The idea behind it is that not fitting the vestigial rear seats boosts the otherwise-poor practicality of the 911 overall, as you can use the space behind the front seats for storage. Due to the traditional placement of a 911’s engine, there’s absolutely zero boot space at the back of the car, your main stowage being a deep, cuboid receptacle under the ‘bonnet’ at the front, which holds just 135 litres. But we’d say even if you do option up the rear seats in your Porsche, you can still use them for stowing stuff rather than carrying human occupants if you want, so we’d be inclined to get them to have the option either way.
The Porsche 911 Carrera’s on-board technology
The updated 911, Carrera or otherwise, now has the 12.6-inch fully digital ‘Curved Display’ instrument cluster, which looks crisp and clear and has plenty of configurability. Ditto the 10.9-inch Porsche Communication Management (PCM) infotainment system, which is one of the finest touchscreen set-ups of its type - yet Porsche keeps separate, physical climate controls in the Carrera (operated by lovely little mini-razor stubs that echo the design of the gear selector), as well as other key switches elsewhere, including a rotary drive mode dial on the steering wheel, a new engine start-stop button next to the driver’s door and a bank of shortcut toggles underneath the touchscreen for the dampers, traction control, the noisiness of the sports exhaust (if fitted) and also a little diamond which can be configured to various features on the car to your liking.
Driving the Porsche 911 Carrera
The irony of the new performance-oriented GTS derivative becoming the hybrid of the 911 family is only exacerbated in the Carrera, because it gains the twin turbochargers that used to boost the old 992.1 GTS variant’s flat-six. Bolted onto the 3.0-litre unit in the back of the Carrera, as well as the entry-level 911 now employing the intercooler from the mighty Turbo (that’s Turbo with a capital T, an important distinction to make in an almost entirely forced-induction-911 age), the power is increased, but only by 9hp to a new peak of 394hp.
Maximum torque remains the same 450Nm as before, which is healthy enough for a car which weighs scant more than 1.5 tonnes at the kerb, but doesn’t seem a massive amount for a 3.0-litre six-cylinder when you consider a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder in a Volkswagen Golf can churn out an almost-equivalent 420Nm.
Nevertheless, this is the first Carrera in more than 60 years of 911 service that can run 0-100km/h in less than four seconds... as long as you have the Sport Chrono Package with its launch control function fitted. It’s no slouch without it, naturally, managing a 4.1-second sprint, and so there’s nothing ‘baby’ or ‘slow’ about a car which has nearly 400 horsepower, a power-to-weight ratio of 260hp/tonne and a (largely irrelevant) top speed knocking on the door of 300km/h. Sounds fabulous and properly snarly with the (yes, optional) Sport exhaust fitted too, overlaying its significant speed with a great voice.
All of which means the 911 Carrera is quite majestic in every regard to drive. As the entry-level car, while it has to be sporty to suit Porsche’s company ethos and the fact it’s a 911 at heart, the Carrera can also afford to be the softest, smoothest variant of them all in the range. Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) adjustable dampers are fitted as standard and, even with an optional set of 20-inch front, 21-inch rear alloy wheels fitted, the Carrera is remarkably comfortable, quiet and refined at a cruise. It doesn’t suffer from anything like the tyre roar that can cavitate around in the back of the more focused models on road-roller tyres which sit higher up in the 911’s range, while the suspension is supple and adept at soaking up lumps in the tarmac.
But the Carrera always has good control of its body and wheels, so that you can switch the PASM from Normal to Sport and back and it’s never either too sharp-edged or overtly soft. It just strikes a splendid balance between ride and handling. And, on the latter score, it’s as brilliant as you’d expect of a 911 by this stage, honed as it has been across six decades of careful and continual evolution. The steering is accurate, beautifully weighted and full of feel, plus you control it with the best wheel in the industry - just the right size, just the right shape, just the right thickness of padding. It’s perfect.
And the 911 Carrera manages to tread that super-fine line that separates fast cars which are very capable but boring to drive, from vehicles which are exciting but a proper handful in anything but ideal conditions. You can coax the rear-wheel-drive Carrera without ever feeling like it is going to violently snap or do anything wildly unexpected mid-corner, yet on the other hand there’s an ever-present sensation that it is indeed pushing from the rear and that the foolhardy behind the wheel won’t ever get the best from it.
Or, put another way, it’s a car in which you feel like you could learn something new from it on each and every drive - and as we had it for an extended test period in which we did the guts of 800km, that gives you just a small idea of how rewarding the latest 911 Carrera really is.
The reasons you’d buy a Porsche 911 Carrera
What’s so special about any model in this historic line of cars is that they’re all inherently the same at heart, yet so, so different in practice. In fact, we can’t think of a single model of car that can spin such disparate and memorable driving experiences out of one basic vehicle that’s so highly specialised to start with. The simple fact is that a 911 Carrera is different to a 911 GT3 RS, and a 911 GT3 RS is different to a 911 GTS, and a 911 GTS is different to a 911 Turbo S... and all of them are talented in their own, distinctive ways.
The new 992.2 Carrera is arguably the most GT-focused of the family, the model you’d most want to spend time in when taking on a mammoth journey in one hit, but that doesn’t make it any the less desirable or special as a result, as on the flip-side of the coin it remains a mesmerising sports car of immense ability. It’s just a spectacular thing, through and through.
Ask us anything about the Porsche 911 Carrera
If there’s anything about the Porsche 911 Carrera we’ve not covered, or you’d like advice in choosing between it and other cars, you can avail of our (completely free) expert advice service via the Ask Us Anything page.
