Porsche 911 Review & Prices

The Porsche 911 is an icon among sports cars, with nearly seven decades of heritage and improvements. But the untrained eye might not notice.

Unless you’re a die-hard fan you might look at the latest 911 and assume it’s the same as the one before, and the one before that, and so on. So you’ll need Sherlock Holmes for the spot-the-difference game, but we can assure you that this new 911 is, actually, completely new.

The traditional 911 mission statement remains: it has to be useable and comfortable every day, but also one of the most rewarding driver's cars on the market. Not only has the new car been built to be even more of a breeze to live with, it’s much quicker than the car it replaces, too.

The latest evolution of the company’s twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre flat-six petrol engine has that particular requirement covered. Revised turbochargers and a host of other revisions mean even the entry-level Carrera produces 385hp. It’ll get from 0-60mph in just 4.0 seconds and cracks 182mph, while its wide power band means you always have oomph when you put your foot down.

On top of that, there are the even faster Carrera S, Turbo S and track-focussed GT3 models – should the standard car not be quite hardcore enough for you. In fact, the Turbo S model won Best Performance Car in the 2021 carwow Car of the Year Awards, and its astonishing performance has claimed many a scalp in our drag races.

Watch: Porsche 911 Turbo review

The way all Porsche 911s deal with corners is as impressive as its pace in a straight line. Powerful brakes give you bags of confidence to barrel into bends, cornering grip in the dry is almost infinite and, even when it does eventually run out, you get fair warning because the steering feels hard-wired to the front tyres. The four-wheel-drive Carrera 4 and Carrera 4S models are even better in this regard.

But the 911 is just as good at rolling up its sleeves and getting to work on the dirty business that is everyday driving. On the motorway it’s a quiet cruiser, has plenty of standard safety kit and is available with high-tech driving aids that pretty much do your job for you.

The excellent forward visibility that helps you place the 911 perfectly in bends pays dividends in town when you’re inching through width restrictors. It’s even a piece of cake to park thanks to its large back window and standard high-definition rear-view camera. It’s this all-round ability that marks the Porsche out from uncompromising sports cars from the likes of Ferrari.

The Porsche’s interior might not look quite as exotic as a Ferrari’s but it feels miles better built and comes with no less than three infotainment screens, including a sat nav system that’s as good as you’ll find in the best executive saloons from BMW, Audi and Mercedes.

In fact, the screens are used for most of the car’s controls – you only get nine physical buttons on the top half of the dash – leaving the way clear for a flash of trim that runs the width of the car.

Leather upholstery comes as standard (you can extend it onto the rest of the interior at extra cost) and a wide range of interior colour options make it possible to have a 911 with its own unique feel. The Turbo S and GT3 models can be had with Alcantara upholstery too, for an even sportier appearance.

It’s even hard to find fault with the space you get. Up-front, there’s loads of room even if you’re a towering giant, and the range of adjustment offered by the seat and the steering wheel lets you get all controls exactly how you want them.

Admittedly, only small kids will be truly happy in the back (adults can fit, but only for a lift to the pub), but then alternatives like the Ferrari 488 and Audi R8 have no rear seats at all. Even the Porsche’s front boot has enough room to cram in a weekend’s luggage.

All in, the Porsche 911 is a fantastic sports car. It might be an entirely different car to the original model but what hasn’t changed is its ability to fit your life, rather than you fitting around it.

If that has sold it to you, make sure you check out our leasing deals for the best Porsche 911 monthly prices.

The Porsche 911 isn’t cheap but when you compare it to the Audi R8 and Ferrari F8 Tributo, it starts to look like the bargain of the century. Okay, so it’s not got the power of these full-blown supercars but it’s no less rewarding to drive.

That said, there are cheaper alternatives than the Porsche – the BMW M4 would leave an entry-level Porsche for dust in a straight line, but isn’t as poised in corners, while the Lotus Emira is not as ruthlessly efficient. By slotting the 911 between these two groups, you could say Porsche has got the price just right.

The Porsche 911 is a talented all-rounder that merges everyday usability with startling performance, if only there wasn’t so much tyre drone on the motorway

In town

The Porsche 911’s USP is that it’s great to drive but also easy to live with every day – not something you can say about most serious sports cars.

Yes, the suspension is jiggly over bumps, but then it is a sports car and you can always set the adjustable dampers in their Comfort setting, which does a decent job of smoothing out the road in town. Another sports car thing is the 911’s heavy steering that gives great feedback, but can be tiring at slow speeds.

Parking is helped by the excellent visibility you get front and back, as well as the 911's impressively tight turning circle and an automatic gearbox that isn’t jerky at crawling speeds. Having said all that, it’s still worth considering the optional ParkAssist which adds front and rear sensors, plus a rear view camera. Another dip into the options list can add a 360-degree camera that you’ll be thankful for if you often have to squeeze your prized Porsche through uncompromising width restrictors.

On the motorway

At higher speeds, the Porsche 911’s suspension does an impressive job of smoothing out the road, its engine is quiet at a cruise and there’s not much wind noise to annoy you. That said, there is plenty of road noise that seems to be transmitted through the stiff chassis, directly into your ears. It’s even worse if you upgrade the standard wheels for a larger set.

At least you get cruise control as standard, with the option to upgrade to adaptive cruise control that can do the accelerating and braking for you while keeping a safe distance from the car in front. Want more autonomy? You can also specify lane-keep assist and lane-change assist.

On a twisty road

The 911 excels on country roads. The grip it generates needs to be felt to be believed and the accurate, well-weighted steering gives you all the confidence you need to exploit it. You can have four-wheel drive if you want, but most of the time the two-wheel drive models do just fine, are cheaper to buy and a touch more involved.

Anyway, all 911s come with a trick stability control system that can detect rain on the road and has a Wet mode that keeps the 911 easy to control even when the heavens have opened. Plus you have some of the best brakes fitted to a car at this price, with the option to upgrade to carbon ceramics that’ll better resist fade on the track.

Even the engine note, which sounds muted from outside, emits (with some digital enhancement through the stereo’s speakers) an evocative flat-six howl that’s pure 911.

The Porsche 911 has an excellent driving position and while the back seats aren’t really able to carry humans, they do serve as a useful overspill for the Porsche’s boot. Which you find under the bonnet

The Porsche 911’s driving position is brilliant, whether you’re tall or small you’ll be able to get comfortable, there’s loads of headroom and the seats are electrically adjustable for height and backrest angle. The steering wheel sits perfectly dead centre and has loads of adjustment, the pedals are exactly where you want them to be and the 911’s low bonnet and curved headlight housings make it easy to place on the road.

Want more comfort? Then you can upgrade to 14-way or 18-way electrically adjustable seats with a memory function that makes it easy to return them to your driving position. Heated and ventilated seats are on the options list, too.

You also get a decent amount of interior storage for quite a small car. You get two door bins which will swallow a small and a large bottle of water between them, with space left over for a couple of packets of crisps. There are also two cup holders – one in the centre console and another that folds out from the dashboard – a big glovebox and a tray under the centre armrest that’ll swallow a big phone and has two USB plugs for charging.

Space in the back seats

The 911 does have back seats but they’re no use for adults – there’s no knee room and so little headroom you’ll have to stoop for the length of your journey. They’re not even that great for kids past primary school age.

Unsurprisingly, fitting a child seat is tricky – if not impossible, because big chairs simply won’t fit – but at least you get ISOFIX points on the front passenger seat and using them is relatively easy.

Boot space

The Porsche 911 rear-engine setup means the boot is found under the bonnet. It’s a deep space that’s best suited to swallowing soft bags, although you will get a suitcase in there if you want to. It has a 132-litre capacity, which drops slightly in four-wheel drive models.

Need more room? Then at least the near-useless back seats take on a new lease of life as luggage space.

The Porsche 911’s interior has a retro design mixed with the latest tech. It’s very well built, but it is a shame the infotainment isn’t easier to use

The Porsche 911’s cabin looks lovely. The dashboard’s design angles outwards to mirror the interior of 911s of old, and you get five dials behind the steering wheel with the analogue rev counter sitting proud, dead centre. The dials’ graphics are clear and easy to read at a glance.

Construction quality is excellent, too. Most of the interior is covered in soft leather and parts like the weighty glovebox and metal door handles feel expensive. Any cheap bits at all? Well, the plastics on the lower half of the centre console feel a bit thin, but that’s about it.

Want to stamp your character on the car? Then Porsche can oblige with a near-limitless choice of options covering everything from seats to trim styles to the headliner and door kick plates. You could design a car that’s one-of-a-kind.

Sadly, the infotainment is more of a mixed bag. The good bits? Well, its graphics are crisp, clear and colourful, the system is incredibly responsive, it’s easy to input a postcode and it can route around congestion on the fly.

What’s not so good? You’ll find its small buttons are tricky to press when you’re driving and some often-used functions – like the button for the sports exhaust – are hidden in the screen and not quick to access. It’s also a shame that the car on your screen doesn’t match the exact specification of your 911. Oh well, at least you get physical buttons for often-used systems like the stereo and ventilation.

That said, a Mercedes S-Class Coupe’s infotainment is easier to use and better overall.

The Porsche 911 is available in numerous states of tune and you can choose from manual or automatic, rear-wheel drive or four-wheel.

You’ll not be disappointed with the basic 911 Carrera. Its 3.0-litre flat-six engine produces 385PS, gets from 0-62mph in 4.2 seconds and hits a top speed of 182mph flat out. It’s plenty quick enough for the road but returns an official fuel economy figure of up to 27.4mpg – not at all bad for a car with this performance – although road tax will cost you £2,015 in year one, with emissions of at least 233g/km.

The only problem is that the 450hp Carrera S costs the same to tax and is slightly better on fuel, it can return up to 28.0mpg. Performance also takes a step up with 0-62mph taking 3.7 seconds on the way to a top speed of 191mph. The 480hp GTS, meanwhile, delivers similar performance but with the brakes and suspension from the Turbo model, it’s even more ruthless from A to B on a country road.

Want lots more power? Then go for the Turbo or Turbo S models, which have 580 or 650hp respectively, and four-wheel drive that makes them devastatingly fast cross-country, although the official fuel economy figure drops to a best of 23.5mpg.

More interested in visceral thrills? Then you’ll want to have a look at the 510hp GT3 or 525hp GT3 RS. Unlike the rest of the range, the GT3 models do without turbochargers so you have to work their screaming flat-six engines hard to get the best from them, although with 0-62mph taking 3.4 seconds (GT3) or 3.2 seconds (GT3 RS), you wouldn’t call them slow.

The Porsche 911 is too niche to be tested by Euro NCAP but you can expect it to be very safe. Having said that, the kind of safety features you get as standard on rivals are an option on the Porsche 911, with kit including Adaptive Cruise control, lane assist, lane-change assist and night vision all costing extra. All models do come as standard with multiple airbags, automatic emergency brakes and stability control with a Wet mode that takes away any worry when you’re driving in the rain.

The 911 consistently scores well in customer satisfaction surveys and you can expect it to be more robust than exotic alternatives from the likes of McLaren and Ferrari. All Porsches come with a three-year/unlimited-mileage warranty that’s decent for a car like this.