Unless you’ve been hibernating in a cave you couldn’t have missed the Porsche 911 leak that circled the virtual world like wildfire last week.
Well, now it’s official, and the new 991 Carrera and 991 Carrera S are reaching their first GCC customers as early as Q1 next year. That is, of course, if they place their orders now: Dh334K for the Carrera and Dh396K for the Carrera S. Form an orderly queue people!
After 48 years of the venerable Porsche 911, the completely redesigned new version – don’t argue, if you know your Porsches this shape is a big step forward for this traditionally and stylistically stagnant model – struts its stuff with a flat, stretched silhouette, and old-school upswept headlights.
Porsche designers added 100mm to the wheelbase and lowered the whole body on its 20in wheels, and widened the wings and front track. Meanwhile, the engineers dabbled with lightweight construction to come up with a mix of aluminium-steel construction to reduce the total mass by 45kg while increasing chassis rigidity.
Inside it’s all Panamera, with a classis upright and shallow dash complemented by a tunnel console adorned with myriad switches, and naturally, that PDK shifter – standard fitment in our region. For the sake of tradition, Porsche kept the five round instruments of which one is a high resolution multifunction screen, with the rev counter in the centre where it should be.
Now the interesting bits. Zuffenhausen lowered the fuel consumption across the range, with technology such as auto start/stop, thermal management, electrical system recuperation, as well as the world’s first seven-speed manual transmission which will sadly only play a bit-part in the GCC. The steering system is electro-mechanical which scares us as to how it will feel, but Porsche promises typical precision and response while increasing efficiency – no cumbersome pump to sap power and fuel.
Sitting way out in the rear where it always has been, is a new 3.4-litre flat-six engine pushing 350bhp to the rear wheels in the base 991 Carrera. The Carrera S retains a 3.8-litre boxer packing 400bhp, and sipping 14 per cent less fuel when paired with a PDK. Both models are naturally quicker, with the Carrera S reaching 100kph from rest in 4.1 seconds if you shell out for the optional Sport Chrono package - that’s as quick as a 997 GT3 and quicker than a 407 horsepower Carrera GTS.
To characteristically demolish the corners, Porsche has ensured the new generation 911 exhibits better longitudinal and transverse dynamics through the longer wheelbase, wider track, a new rear axle and active control systems such as Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC).
We’ll get a closer look at the new 991 generation Porsche at the Frankfurt motor show on September 13, but until then, you’ll find us scratching lottery cards with a fever.