THE PORSCHE 991.2 is the next generation 991.
Sideways at speed and loving it.
The new 911 Turbo and Turbo S get sideways pretty easily. This is not really anything new.
From the very first such model, the 930 Turbo, the thing had so much weight at the back and so little in front combined with an insane (then) amount of turbocharged boost kicking in or dropping off with the slightest difference in right pedal commitment that getting sideways was a very dangerous if not inevitable occurrence.
The question always was: Could you handle it? Or would it man-handle you by slapping you back and forth and leaving you with bruises and a very big repair bill?
Over the years, this has changed, with the Turbo models of the 911 becoming wilder in terms of power and boost.
Then things became a bit calmer with the help of such modern technologies like water cooling (purists still argue about this one) and then the computer technology that allows increasingly precise control of suspension, brakes, throttle, and attitude both physically and also almost psychologically.
Many enthusiasts argued that the 911 was losing its soul by becoming more driveable. Increased levels of technology, better rubber creating better grip, even having engine weight inch forward to help improve balance all made the 911 a better, more predictable machine, but not everyone liked that.
Whether or not they could actually handle the car the way it was meant to be run anyway was almost beside the point; they bemoaned the perceived stray from purity.
The new 911 Turbo uses the model designation 991.2, and is what Porsche calls the next generation 991 and considers a 2017 model year vehicle.
This may sound like the usual automotive industry way of making old stuff sound new but in reality it is amazingly accurate.
Yes, the body shape is generally within the 991 family, but the way the car behaves and handles shows you how truly rethought and reworked the whole concept is.
One key point? Enthusiasts seem pretty happy, even going so far as to say that Porsche really listens to them. These hardcore and very knowledgeable fans felt that when Porsche went from the previous 997 model to the now outgoing 991, they lost a lot of the frisky and fun handling.
The 991 was quicker, no question, but it didn’t seem as fun.
The 991.2 answers that.
Driven correctly, it has a level of slipperiness that is more like the 997 and those even further back in the timeline, and this is all thanks to the technologies that make the car safer and more efficient in everything it does.
Driven correctly, it can bring wonderful joy, and is definitely quicker than those before it.
Driven incorrectly, it will no longer try and kill you.
One of the most important things about this new 911 Turbo is actually that all the other current 911s are also turbocharged.
It brings up the question of how really different the “Turbo” is from the others since they all use forced induction. There are physical differences, of course, but the main difference is in the execution and the tuning.
The previously normally-aspirated 911s had this wonderfully linear power curve, and were relatively predictable. You could go into a corner, get the tail a little out, and use the throttle position to aim the car as you wanted, and all with this wonderfully unfettered sound.
MORE power from less weight and smaller engine
That is why the Porsche purists are often divided between turbo and nonturbo guys.
So when Porsche decided to use turbocharging for all of the 911s, they had to keep as much of that feeling as possible. This meant smoothening things out while still getting the advantages of forced induction (more power from less weight and smaller engine).
For the “Turbo” badged cars though, they needed that higher level of bleeding-edge performance. The difference between the driving characteristics of the “Turbo” badged 911s and the nonbadged 911s is quite impressive, most especially in the Carrera 4 and 4S variants which run power to all four wheels just like the Turbo and Turbo S.
On the same changing-height corner at the legendary Kyalami racetrack in South Africa that comes after you exit the main “straight” and pull down from almost two and a half, the Carrera 4 and 4S would be firmly planted, gripping the newly-laid tarmac with all its might and bringing you around the curve as if on rails.
The Turbo S would scream into the same downhill curve a little quicker (though both were still above a hundred at this point, aren’t ceramic brakes wonderful?) then as you exited and went uphill and hit the gas, the tail would hang out a bit. Unlike previous Turbos where things might get rather harsh in snapping you back, this one held an angle for a while and let you throttle steer a bit.
You didn’t get the holding of power that you used to get when cars decided you weren’t getting enough traction; you never felt held back.
The tires would answer the call of your foot, and they would churn but not overly so. What they would not do is fishtail as easily as the Turbos of days gone by.
Perhaps the most telling indication of how tuned this new car was to the Porsches of the past were the instructions given by the driving instructors on hand and leading us around, telling us to rotate the cars and use the angle to aim the car.
That is how racecar instructors talk to you, and that is what old Porsche hands warily try and bring you to do. All this with aerodynamic features that let you take a long two-leg track section and treat it as a straight.
So yeah, I think the hardcore enthusiasts were right. Porsche listens.
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