Automotive Guide - Porsche 911 Turbo
Knoxville, Tennessee

Porsche 911 Turbo has few flaws,
lots of driving excitement

More than four score years ago, the 911 arrived as the pinnacle of Porsche's special expertise in engineering unique sports cars.

It was a radical change from its overturned-bathtub-styled predecessors. Over the years since, however, the changes have been evolutionary rather than revolutionary, even in the styling, as the 911 has hewn to the same concept of a slope-nosed 2+2 coupe with a rear-mounted six-cylinder boxer engine.

The boxer, a Porsche trademark, is another name for a horizontally-opposed engine, which has its cylinders lying flat, feet to feet, on both sides of the crankshaft, instead of leaning sideways or standing vertically, as in V8 or in-line engines.

Germany's Dr. Ferdinand Porsche not only created the car that bears his name, he also designed the original Volkswagen Beetle. Though Volkswagen no longer uses boxer engines, the tradition has been carried on by Subaru of Japan, the only mainline car company other than Porsche that uses boxers. Subaru, more of a purist now than Porsche, uses boxers exclusively, while Porsche has conventional V6 and V8 engines in its Cayenne SUVs.

The 911 was only 10 years old when, in 1975, Porsche bolted a turbocharger onto the boxer to boost the horsepower to 260—a milestone at the time—which enabled the 911 to accelerate to 60 miles an hour in slightly more than five seconds.

Twenty years later, a twin turbo joined the first, boosting horsepower to 408. All-wheel drive also was added to get the power to all four corners. In 2000, liquid replaced air for cooling, and the horsepower jumped another notch to 420.

Now the sixth-generation Porsche 911 Turbo bows with a host of new design and engineering changes intended to make this iteration the most powerful, fastest, best-handling and safest of the breed ever offered.

The six-cylinder boxer now delivers 480 horsepower to all four wheels through either a six-speed manual gearbox or Porsche's Tiptronic automatic transmission, which can be shifted manually.

An indication of some of the engineering advances in the new 911 Turbo is Porsche's test numbers, which show that the Tiptronic transmission moves the 911 to 60 miles an hour three-tenths of a second faster than one with the manual gearbox—3.4 seconds versus 3.7 seconds.

Moreover, even with the additional power, the 911 Turbo's engineers have managed, for the first time, to escape the U.S. gas-guzzler tax. The EPA city/highway rating for the manual-gearbox 911 Turbo is 18/25 miles to the gallon; for the Tiptronic it is 17/25.

Its exotic-car performance places the 911 Turbo up there in nosebleed price territory, though it is not as expensive as some other super cars like the Ford GT, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati.

The base price is, for most people, a mind-bending $123,695. As is usual with Porsche, however, an options list stretches out to the horizon—there, Porsche people say, because their customers like to personalize their cars and have the money to pay for the modifications.

As a result, the test 911 Turbo had a bottom-line sticker price of $142,510. Big-ticket items on the car were a $2,380 cobalt blue metallic paint job and a whopping $8,840 for ceramic composite brakes.

It's not that there's anything wrong with the standard brakes. They work fine. But the ceramic binders have superior stopping and anti-fade characteristics for serious racetrack work, should the owner so choose.

Moreover, they are said to hardly ever wear out. A Porsche engineer said the ceramic composite brakes, including the rotors and pads, had an expected life of more than 180,000 miles. Given the cost of Porsche repairs and replacements, the $8,840 could be a good investment.

As might be expected, the 911 Turbo has few flaws and a heap of driving excitement. Though an increasing number of buyers are choosing the Tiptronic, die-hard enthusiasts likely will stick with the more satisfying manual gearbox. The linkage is stiff, but you'd have to be a rank amateur to miss a shift, and the ratios are well matched to the engine's massive torque.

Handling is nearly neutral. After the early years of end-swapping oversteer because of the weight of the rear engine hanging out there, the Porsche engineers have developed a car that stays planted and hustles around curves rapidly and without fuss.

The all-wheel drive, enhanced by traction and stability control, takes over to keep the 911 where it's pointed, even in wet or other slippery conditions. Of course, no car can maintain traction on glare ice or grease, but if any car comes close, it's the 911 Turbo.

The test car had the optional sport seats, which hug the torso in violent maneuvers. A multitude of adjustments, combined with a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, accommodates a variety of driver sizes and shapes.

With its rear-engine design, the trunk is up front. So there's not much out-of-sight storage space. The trunk measures slightly more than three cubic feet. But there also are small 2+2 seats in back which are useless for humans but perfect for odds and ends, though access requires some finagling.

By FRANK A. AUKOFER
Scripps Howard News Service