I hope you’ve read Andrew’s Porsche 911 triple test already – if not, you can do so right here. That story has performed extremely well on our app and website, suggesting the 911 has lost none of its draw among enthusiasts.
We’ve just published my video of the test too, which you can find here. I have a clear favourite among the GT3 Touring, Carrera GTS and Carrera T, as you’ll see in the vid. In this short blog, I wanted to explore one aspect of the test in more detail.
It has long been said that less is more when it comes to sports cars, not least the Porsche 911, but I’m beginning to think that’s never been more true than it is right now. That’s not necessarily to do with the 911 specifically, but the direction all such cars appear to be heading in these days. What you can’t deny is that the GT3 Touring has the finest powertrain of the bunch – it arguably has the best powertrain of any car on sale today, matching a firecracker engine to a sublime six-speed manual transmission. Neither of the Carrera variants can hope to match the GT3 Touring’s soundtrack, shift action or the excitement of its power delivery. Neither looks as good as the more hardcore model either.
Plenty has been written and said about the latest GT3 Touring’s increased springs rates, which make it a more uncompromising kind of car. What the new suspension settings do give you is enormous body control, no matter how fast you’re clipping along, no matter how undulating the road beneath you might be. The GT3 Touring just seems to remain in control of its mass regardless. Its sticky tyres, meanwhile – either Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s or Pirelli P Zero Corsas, as fitted here – generate massive grip too, at least on a dry, warm road.
But almost by definition, you don’t need more body control than you get from a Carrera GTS or Carrera T, and you don’t need more mechanical grip than offered by either of those, unless you intend to drive along a road faster than they could go when wrung all the way out. Only if you came screaming past the Carreras in the GT3 Touring would its extra control and grip be doing anything for you – otherwise it’s just latent potential, hanging around in the background.
Even with ‘just’ 380bhp, the Carrera T can find its way along a stretch of B-road at one hell of a lick, certainly quickly enough for me. There was a time when a base model Carrera (which the T is, plus a few extra bits and pieces) might have been short on power and performance for some, but even the cheapest 911 has become such a potent thing that most people would surely find it sufficient.
Which isn’t to say cars like the GT3 Touring are somehow redundant. There are moments when you can really stretch their legs and feel the advantage of their lower mass, greater body control and higher levels of grip, and in the case of this car in particular, that engine and gearbox alone are reasons enough to covet a GT3 Touring over a Carrera. (Track driving is a whole other discussion, of course.)
But for driving on the road, more so if we’re talking about everyday cars, there clearly is an optimal amount of performance, the right power-to-weight ratio, an ideal level of grip, and the most appropriate blend of ride comfort and body control. And I find myself searching for those attributes in a sports car more today than ever before.
