Porsche 911 Review

Name: Porsche 911
Brand: Porsche

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The Porsche 911 is the definition of a usable sports car. It’s devastatingly quick in all its forms but also easy to live with every day, just so long as you don’t need proper rear seats.

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9/10

wowscore

This score is awarded by our team of after extensive testing of the car

What's good

Huge cornering grip
Strong performance
Everyday ease of use

What's not so good

Options are expensive
Back seats best for storage
Won't turn heads like some sports cars

Porsche 911: what would you like to read next?

Is the Porsche 911 a good car?

The Porsche 911 is an iconic sports car with room for four (just) and the ability to dominate country roads as well as it does commutes through town.

We assure you this latest 911 is all-new – even Sherlock Holmes would struggle in a spot-the-difference test with the old model. However, this new one has been built to be even easier to live with and – more importantly – to be even quicker than the car it replaces.

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 now produces 385hp. It’ll get from 0-60mph in just 4.0 seconds and crack 182mph, while it’s wide powerband means you always have oomph when you put your foot down. There’s are also even faster Carrera S and super car-fast Turbo S model should this be insufficient. The Turbo S model won Best Performance Car in the 2021 carwow Car of the Year Awards.

The way all Porsche 911s deal with corners is as impressive as its performance in a straight line. Its 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.

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 autonomous 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.

There isn't a bad 911, but the Turbo S is perhaps the most impressive all-rounder. Check out lease deals for the best prices on one!

Mat Watson

carwow expert

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 that include 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 infotainment 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.

It’s even hard to find fault with the space you get. Upfront, 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 happy in the back, but then alternatives like the Ferrari 488 and Audi R8 have no rear seats at all. Even the Porsche’s boot has enough room to cram in a weekend’s luggage.

And that pretty much summarises what’s good about this 911. 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.

How practical is it?

The Porsche 911 feels spacious and airy up front, but the back seats will only do for small kids – often you’ll be better off using them as an overflow for the small boot

Dimensions

Boot (seats up)

163 - 264 litres

Boot (seats down)

Passenger space

One of the things that make the Porsche 911 so usable is its excellent driving position. You get acres of adjustment for the steering wheel and the driver’s seat, and even when you’re sitting low in the cabin it’s easy to judge the corners of the car.

The seats in this latest model are all new – they make a 3kg weight saving on the old ones, but are still comfortable and supportive. The optional seat cooling system meanwhile, is one of the most effective we have experienced and heated seats are also on the options list.

The back seats sit at the opposite end of the scale. You might just squeeze a couple of adults in there – but only for short, emergency drives. Really, they’re only suitable for small kids.

Storage space

The Porsche 911 can’t match the interior storage you get in a family car, but it isn’t too bad. For example, you get a handy pair of cup holders – one that folds neatly out the passenger side of the dashboard and a less elegant solution that messes up the clean lines of the car’s centre console.

Under the front centre armrest, there’s space for a couple of phones and you get two USB ports for charging. Although the pockets in the doors are too narrow for a bottle of water, you do get two on each side. The glovebox, meanwhile, is weighed down with manuals, but find another place for them and you will fit a bottle of water in there.

Boot space

With the 911’s engine at the back, you’ll find the boot of the Porsche 911 at the front. Called the ‘frunk’, its 132-litres gives you less luggage capacity than you’ll find in a supercar from McLaren or Ferrari – and is nearly 50% smaller than you’ll get in a tiny car like the VW Up.

Its shape makes it best suited to squidgy soft bags – you’ll have enough room in there for a long weekend away for two, but longers trips will mean storing luggage in the back seat.

What's it like to drive?

The Porsche 911 is available in various different flavours, some with two-wheel-drive, some with four, but all blinding quick in a straight line.

Performance and Economy

Revised turbochargers and a host of other revisions mean even the entry-level Carrera now produces 385hp. It’ll get from 0-60mph in just 4.0 seconds and crack 182mph, while it’s wide powerband means you always have oomph when you put your foot down.

The Carrera S and 4S get the same twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre flat-six but produce 450hp, 530Nm of torque and an earthy howl that’ll get the hair standing up on a petrol head’s neck.

In raw performance terms, the Carrera 2S gets from 0-62mph in 3.3 seconds, while the 4S’s extra grip off the line means it hits 60 fractionally quicker – in 3.2 seconds. Both cars scythe from 0-120mph in under 14 seconds and with enough room can hit 190mph flat out.

But beyond these lies the Turbo S, which produces a monstrous 650ps and is to good at transferring it to the road via its automatic gearbox and all-wheel-drive that it’ll execute 0-60mph in just 2.5 seconds. Top speed? 205mph no less.

Apply the figures from any 911 to real-world situations and you have a car that offers great get up and go from low revs with bags of acceleration no matter which gear you’re in or what speed you’re travelling at. That usable performance comes about thanks to turbochargers that deliver full torque from not much more than tick over.

You can also thank the turbos for the 911’s admirable official combined fuel economy of just under 32mpg – the best you’ll get out of the comparable BMW M4 is 28mpg and it’s slower in a sprint.

The Porsche’s standard eight-speed automatic gearbox also makes it more usable. Its higher top gear (the old 911 only had seven speeds) means the car cruises more quietly on the motorway and doesn’t burn so much fuel while doing so.

Driving

The Porsche 911 isn’t just a usable sports car it’s one of the most fun-to-drive sports cars you can buy, which makes its easy-to-live-with nature even more surprising.

Communication is what the 911 is all about. Head down the road in the Porsche and its controls make it feel like you’ve been driving alternatives – such as the BMW 8 Series – by remote control.

You can steam up to corners using the firm pedal to modulate the powerful brakes perfectly, turn in quickly as the front tyres grip the Tarmac hard then power out using the immense traction created by having the engine sitting over the back wheels. It’s so good that you only need the four-wheel-drive Carrera 4S if you live somewhere where the roads are always slippy. In terms of involvement, it’s hard to think of a normal car – or anything that’s vaguely practical – that offers more.

And the more you drive it the more you learn to trust it, knowing that the car’s electronic safety net will come to your rescue even if you do push beyond your abilities.

That safeguard’s bolstered further by a new feature called Wet Mode. Acoustic sensors in the front wheels detect the pitter patter of moisture sprayed up by the tyres and warn you when the ground’s getting slippy. You can then switch to Wet mode – which raises the rear spoiler for more downforce and puts the car’s stability programmes on red alert – so it’s impossible to get the 911 out of shape no matter how stupidly you drive it.

You don’t have to drive like a loon to enjoy the Porsche, though. Pootling about town you can revel in the car’s excellent forward visibility and short nose that makes it easy to thread down tight streets. And, even if you don’t spot incoming disaster, the car’s automatic emergency brakes should stop an imminent collision.

There’s a whole suite of optional electronics that can also take the monotony out of motorway driving. Specify adaptive cruise control, along with lane-assist with traffic-sign recognition and you’ll end up with a 911 that can drive itself down any road with a white centre line while autonomously observing the speed limit. It can even bring the car to a complete halt and make off again automatically when the traffic starts moving again.

What's it like inside?

The Porsche 911 interior has a smart design, excellent quality and a list of options that make it highly customisable, even if it doesn’t make you feel as special as more exotic supercars.

Next Read full interior review