Thanks to an extremely generous family member, Cars Technica spent some quality time with Porsche’s latest flavor of 911 on a recent vacation. And since we just reviewed one of its oldest and deadliest rivals (the Corvette), we thought a mini-review of the rear-engined German icon was in order. We only had a day—rather than a week—behind the driver’s seat, so there are some aspects of the car that we didn’t test too closely. But the impression that emerged over the course of our time with the vehicle was this is a car with some clever tricks up its sleeve, enough to disguise the fact that its engine is in the wrong place. In particular, the 911's dual clutch gearbox really is a technological marvel.

Porsche has been building rear-engined sports cars since the post-war period, and the first 911 (originally to be called the 901 until Peugeot pointed out they owned the rights to three-digit numbers with a zero in the middle) debuted in 1963. The car we drove was the latest iteration, known internally (and to Porschenerds) as the 991. It’s the most digital 911 yet. It boasts computers in charge of the suspension, that clever dual clutch gearbox (called PDK, or Porsche Doppelkupplung), and the new range of direct-injection gasoline engines. Because of those electronics governing the way the 991 stops, steers, and goes, it hews to the current trend of being able to switch between different flavors of car with the push of a button. As our test car—a 3.8 L Carrera S Cabriolet—was equipped with the Sport Chrono option, we sampled three different flavors: normal, Sport, and Sport Plus.

For driving around crowded and narrow city streets, its most sedate mode is the way to go. Visibility is good, and with the seven-speed PDK gearbox in D it handles stop-go traffic like a champ. The PDK box also works well with the engine’s start-stop ability (where it shuts off if you’re stationary for more than a few seconds). Certainly, the car is much more seamless than manual ones we’ve driven with start-stop in the past, which seem designed to stall at every intersection. The 911 has some other fuel saving tricks too; when cruising on a motorway the gearbox can declutch from the engine and let the car coast. And although that clever direct-injection technology was impressive, French Alpes-Maritimes mountain roads were beckoning, so damn the fuel efficiency.

The latest 911’s steering has been much-maligned by fans of previous generations. Not having experienced those cars we can’t really comment, but looked at in isolation we felt it adequately communicated what the front tires were doing. The power assistance wasn’t overbearing either, asking the driver to put in a bit of effort to turn those 20” wheels. Dynamically, you’d never know the engine was in the back. Just over 50 years of experience with the 911’s layout has evidently taught Porsche’s engineers much about taming the potentially wayward nature of a car with so much mass the wrong side of the rear wheels (meaning a greater polar moment of inertia).

Specs at a glance: 2015 Porsche Carrera S Cabriolet Body type 2-door convertible Layout Rear engine, rear wheel drive Powerplant 3.8 L naturally aspirated flat 6 Transmission Seven-speed dual clutch gearbox Horsepower 350 bhp @ 7500 rpm Torque 325 lb-ft Steering Electromechanical power steering with variable steering ratio and steering impulse Suspension Macpherson Strut (front), LSA multilink (rear). Porsche Active Suspension Management dampers Tires Front: 245/35 ZR 20

Rear: 295/30 ZR 20 Top speed 185 mph Fuel economy (City/highway) 19 mpg/27 mpg Weight 3,241 lb (1,470 kg) Wheelbase 96.5 in (2,451 mm) Dimensions 176.8 in (4,491 mm) x 71.2 in (1,809 mm) x 51.3 in (1,303 mm) (LW*H) *width not including mirrors Base price (2015 model) $114,880

It really can't be said enough: the PDK gearbox is really quite good. Did we mention that yet? Left in D, even in Sport and Sport Plus, it tends to always choose the right gear ratio for the occasion, shifting seamlessly up or down when needed. But it’s more enjoyable to use the gear change paddles mounted behind the spokes of the steering wheel, with almost-instant changes available at the flick of a finger. Porsche only quotes "millisecond shift times" for the PDK gearbox—we doubt more than 0.1 seconds elapse as it switches cogs. And thankfully, Porsche have finally ditched their old habit of having both buttons and paddles to shift (that work the same on either side of the wheel), getting with the program so that you shift down with the left paddle and up with the right.

As with the rev-match feature on the Corvette Stingray, the practical result is a car that simplifies the driving experience, allowing you to focus on your steering, accelerating, and braking. On the extremely windy road from Sospel to Tende (which just a few days earlier was used by the World Rally Championship for the 2014 Monte Carlo Rally), that meant being able to concentrate on what may have been an endless series of hairpins without having to worry about unsettling the car or flubbing a shift. With quite steep drops lurking just the other side of the road, that was quite a comfort!

Subjectively, the 911 Carrera didn’t feel quite as fast with the Stingray. It’s 3.8 L flat-six engine is 60 bhp down on the Chevy, and it needs to be revved to 7400 rpm to make its 400 bhp, but it’s also 120 lbs lighter than the yellow American car. That’s not to suggest it’s a slouch. Between those lightning-quick gear changes and an engine that loves to rev, 0-60 should be possible in 4.3 seconds (we didn’t try out the launch control feature) and top speed is a claimed 185 mph.

That engine combined with the sports exhaust made for one of our favorite aspects of the car—the noise it makes. When you drive through a tunnel in second gear with the roof down and then accelerate hard, the “BWAAAAAAAHHHHH” noise increases in intensity and hardens as you pass 5000 rpm and head towards the 7500 rpm redline. As you lift the throttle (to keep speeds the correct side of the law or to prevent the PDK from shifting up to third), you’re rewarded with a marvelous “RUMBLErumblerumble” on the overrun. It even managed to attract the attention of that most crucial demographic, the gaggle of teenage boys. This was actually a feat more impressive considering we were driving it around a place where every other car really is a Ferrari, but the noise it made driving around Monaco’s famous hairpin was greeted with enthusiastic appreciation.

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin

Jonathan Gitlin



It’s even relatively practical, easily coping with airport duty (although the largest suitcase did have to sit in one of the back seats). The interior is well-appointed, with lots of leather covering everything and good quality plastics for the knobs and buttons, of which there are legion. Each different function gets its own button, and until one develops the muscle memory to know where they are instinctively, finding the right one can be confusing.

The infotainment system does its job without too much fuss, happily being a conduit for our iPhone’s music via a lightning cable and pairing easily via bluetooth, although as with most other OEM systems the navigation is still not as user-friendly as Google Maps or Waze. The information display to the driver is one of the few let-downs in our opinion, however. For decades, Porsche 911 dashboards have featured five circular dials, and the current car replaces one of these with a TFT screen. It’s small and didn’t appear to be particularly configurable. The main screen in the center stack is better, but if you’re expecting pages and pages of real-time information (the way one might with a BMW or Audi or Tesla), prepare to be disappointed.

It’s not a cheap car, either. Here in the US, the base price for the Carrera S Cabriolet is a hefty $114,880 before adding any options, of which there are many that quickly add up. For some, that’s enough to remove the car from contention, particularly against that aforementioned Stingray which is about 50 percent cheaper and a little faster. On the other hand, the Porsche is more practical, with just-about functional rear seats (or much greater luggage capacity if you don’t subject someone to sitting back there). Coupled with the PDK gearbox that means a 911 would work much better as a daily driver or only car, and there’s no escaping the cachet its badge confers (or the far more elegant interior), all of which goes a long way towards justifying the cost. Just make sure you opt for the sports exhaust.

Correction: originally the author incorrectly wrote that the car was the 3.4 L Carrera Cabriolet, in fact it was the 3,8 L Carrera S Cabriolet. The article has been corrected.