Our new 991: 2019 911 Turbo, Arenarot
A few weeks ago Rossi wrote his wonderful story about a new Italian girl in his garage and life – I mentioned that I would have a similar one coming, and here it is….
Background:
Our 2009 Porshe Racing Green 997 C2S has been with us since early 2010, is now a ten year old car with the advanced mileage of almost 70,000 km (Carlos you can stop laughing now…
). While it drives as well as ever, the power no longer seems amazing, and the PDK in particular is quite a bit slower and less refined than anything being made today. As we contemplated replacing our 2009 with a newer 911 model, we test drove many options, but came away with no clear winners.
GT models: always love the engine in these, but overall useability as a daily driver, where we live, is not great. We need a daily and long trip car that is still fun, not a weekender – our 911 is my wife’s daily driver in the city, and we split driving on all road trips. She is not a fan of the wing either… 
991.2 Carrera models: we were disappointed in the engine; to us it feels weak in the bottom of the range, always aware that it is now just 3.0 litres. Rest of the car is fine and improved where it needs to be. But nothing that said “order one now”. My wife felt it confirmed what she always believed, that she did not like turbo cars and preferred the throttle response of a NA engine in the bottom part of the rev range where it is mostly used and felt.
Enter the true Turbo!
Then late last summer, our local dealer happened to have a 991.2 Turbo, nicely optioned, which they let us drive extensively. I was always curious about the Turbo but never had the opportunity, in our small market, to really drive one. The curiousity was in part fed by many here on RT who clearly respect, or own, the Turbo models, such as Whoopsy and his various turbos (now on the track!), Leawood who I recall observed that for him, the Turbo power/torque is not wasted as he uses it somewhere on almost every drive, Markus who has had numerous Turbo models, etc. I also recall a test by Chris Harris, who made the comment that “if you are going to turbocharge the 911, THIS is how you should do it….!”
Test driving our Turbo, we were impressed with the huge low rpm torque as expected, which gives the car somewhat of a big American V8 feel, but also how improved steering feel and precision have become, very fast PDK shifting speed which is now very close to the GT models, and overall how the constant feel of easy power produces a feeling of lightness. Do we need AWD? No, but I appreciate that with this level of torque, AWD is mostly a traction therefore safety aid to avoid the wilder side of say, a GT2. We also had a shorter drive in a (year older) S model; decided that for us, the extra power is almost undetectable on our roads, and the ceramic brakes, while amazing, are not themselves worth the extra money for an S since Porsche steel brakes are just so good.
The value argument
On the value side, I also realized how, at least in our market, the base Turbo is very well equipped at $CDN 184k (or about EUR 122k), with full leather, RWS, higher end seats, etc. Our dealer has had numerous Carreras with final price higher than this, simply through clients optioning up. So if we could order a close-to-standard Turbo, the price would not really be much higher than we might have achieved by optioning a C2S with similar equipment, and the driving experience would be much different. Why not wait for the 992 Turbo? I don’t see a huge advantage in waiting, and possible disadvantages is the 992 Turbo is as expected larger (don’t want) and hybrid (ditto). Put another way, the 991.2 Turbo could be “the last of the non-hybrid full Turbos”… because it is a Rennteam fact that all Porsches are the last…. of something.
So we made the decision in October to request an allocation, for a 2019 Turbo with very few options, but also asked for a PTS slot, as I had the idea to make this car slightly an homage to a 993 Turbo, in Arena Red which of course was one of the classic 993 colours. Wife wanted beige interior again to brighten it, and reduce heat in our hot summers, and our spec had very few options: Sport Classic wheels, LED lights, white dials, painted sill and mirrors, lane change, but importantly we did get the PTS slot and approval for “Arena Rot”. So all in, with a small dealer discount and including film and ceramic coating, our base-spec-plus-PTS 991T came in at $CDN 207k (about EUR 137k), before taxes and before our trade-in. The allocation was for a March build and PTS slot.
And its here!
Having survived the exhaustive dealer explanations process, and denied Porsche’s current and slightly off-putting insistence on every car being made into an internet device via their Connect system, the car is now with us, still not driven too much but this will follow now that we are well into summer weather conditions. Very initial impressions are: My god the hips look huge in the mirror! And that off-ramp exit ended up at 130 kph speed without trying! More to follow as ArenaRot gets into some road trips…. and yes I will be asking my dear wife to drive the Range Rover sometimes so I can get more seat time in; we will see how successful that ploy is!
Photos of course are not required as this is already the “last model” 911 and everyone knows what it looks like….
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2017 Range Rover Sport S/C, 2009 Porsche 911S
love the comparison pic with the 1997 993.
I love the 911 too, but her lifestyle and daily activities much better suit using it as her DD; I am often off doing a bike ride (use the Range Rover to haul the bike) or doing my nature photography (again with the RR on remote gravel roads), so right now the SUV is what I need daily. On long road trips we just change up drivers every 2 hrs. 
Now I will see if the urge to own the matching 993 turbo hits me too.... 
