A season’s impressions; Porsche 991.2 Turbo
After almost 7000km of varied driving in three western provinces since taking delivery of our Arenarot 991T, a few impressions; mostly mine, of this car:
- The car still feels big around the city, after eight years with our 997 Carrera. This disappears once on the highway.
- Despite driving big, it maneuvers small – I had underestimated the impact of the RWS system on reducing the turning circle and making the car maneuverable in tight spaces. With RWS, you virtually never need a 3-point turn, and can U-turn even on the narrowest of roads. I find it hard to sense RWS on the highway, with the exception of very tight turns driven aggressively where it can be sensed as reducing understeer and assisting turn-in.
- Overall, the massive torque at such low revs defines the driving experience, just as the high revs define the driving experience of the GT cars. As my wife noticed after a few weeks of driving it, the Turbo just doesn’t care what gear you are in… it just goes.
- We both use paddles 95% of the time; using the paddles highlights how far ahead the current PDK is from our initial PDK in the 997, both on up and down shifts.
- The knock on the Turbo historically has been “not involving”, but it is harder to claim this with these new Turbos. The car has an edge and an attitude beyond its speed and fast shifts, as the exhaust note(s) are definitely louder, and different, than the 997, which is not what I was expecting from most people’s reviews. Clearly Porsche has been gradually tuning the exhaust to mitigate the complaints.
- As an example, from my upstairs office, I never used to really hear my wife pulling out from the garage and driving away in the 997. Now I hear the more aggressive start-up blip, the more bass-heavy exhaust as it warms for a bit, the drive away and the first sharp “pung!” of the 1-2 shift 100m down the street…. not exactly the mild mannered reputation the Turbo has! no complaints from neighbors so far…
- one gets used to other new noises… many from the turbo-related heat cooling down, and crackling and tinkling a long time after shut-off.
- final words from my wife “it would be hard to imagine driving a sports car without this power any more…I take back what I said last year about not liking turbo cars”. Hmmmm…
So overall no regrets about this factory order for the last of the 991s; it is a car we can imagine keeping for some time and enjoying on our wide open roads here in Canada. It is a very large step from the 997 while still keeping most of what we love about the 911 range.
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2017 Range Rover Sport S/C, 2019 Porsche 911 Turbo
